Email from Martin Horwood MP
Posted by Martin Horwood, MP for Cheltenham, at 18:33, Thu 27 April 2006:
Hello.
HearFromYourMP.com tell me that there are now at least 25 of my Cheltenham constituents who have signed up to hear what I have to say and comment on it. I think this is a really interesting way to provoke debate between MPs and constituents and I'm delighted to take part.
The biggest issue in Cheltenham at the moment is clearly the state of the NHS. I'm pleased that Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, is coming under real pressure. She deserves it. After all, we have a Primary Care Trust that has never been in deficit, a Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that provides healthcare at lower than the national average cost and even a mental health Partnership Trust that was applying for the much-vaunted foundation status itself. All three of them awarded 'three stars' by the government for doing all the right things.
So why are we losing Battledown children's ward as an overnight inpatient ward, losing St.Paul's maternity unit, seeing the Delancey close and facing cuts in everything from health visitors to adult mental health services? Because the government got its sums wrong. Inititaive after initiative - like the now infamous GP and consultant contracts - without giving local NHS managers the funds to pay for them and all the targets they were expected to meet. So some neighbouring trusts have got into real trouble. We are now not only having to bail them out but losing frontline NHS services that we share with them so that they can save money.
And of course this is a political decision. Why is it that other NHS trusts like ours have to bail out the failing ones? Why should frontline NHS services be cut? Why shouldn't the hugely expensive ID cards scheme be cut back or delayed? Or the 'cultural Olympiad' planned to go with the 2012 Games? Or a few units brought back early from Iraq?
It's just a shame the local elections in May don't offer us in Cheltenham much chance for a protest vote against the government. It's a straight fight here between the LibDems and the Conservatives. As your MP, I probably shouldn't use this message for a party political broadcast so let's just say I will be knocking on doors over the next week or so for local LibDem councillors I think have worked hard on issues like recycling, crime and disorder and the regeneration of some of the least well-off parts of Cheltenham. I'm sure there are worthy candidates in other parties too and whatever you do, please vote. You can't complain about them afterwards if you leave it up to other people.
So I might see you on the doorstep during the campaign. Or even afterwards. I do a bit of door-knocking all year round. It may be old-fashioned but I don't think there's any substitute for going round the streets meeting people even when there isn't an election on to find out what people think. That and HearFromYourMP.com of course!
Best regards Martin
Martin Horwood Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cheltenham martin@martinhorwood.net
working for a fairer, greener, safer Cheltenham
House of Commons London SW1A 0AA
Constituency office: 16 Hewlett Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL52 6AA
Head of constituency office David Fidgeon 01242 224889
Comments
Commenting on this message is now disabled.
Posted by Edward Ratzer, 17:58, Tue 2 May 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
Thank you for contributing to this open forum. The forum seems like an interesting exercise in the accountability of democracy and it will be good to see how it develops.
I am pleased to see the identification of a national issue affecting Cheltenham. However, as well as questions, it would be good to hear concrete proposals on how you and your party are planning to take action on these issues. You raise three suggestions in the form of questions (Iraq, ID cards and Olympics), but the only significant current cost seems to be the cost of the war in Iraq. But what would be the cost of lives in Iraq from cutting back our presence?
The other costs you mention (ID cards and Olympics) seem to be primarily future costs; are they already impacting on NHS spending? Wasn't the Battledown ward threatened (2004) before we won the Olympic bid (July 2005)? It would seem there must be more areas of current action which could make a difference here. Is there an answer within the NHS? Or does the increased cost of modern medical techniques require an increase tax/NI cost to be reflected back to the tax-payer?
Posted by Martin Horwood, 12:30, Wed 3 May 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
As Edward points out, the government has already spent a lot of money on the invasion and policing of Iraq - more than £3 billion to date - and I don't think there should be a cost in lives to the withdrawal of British troops at some early stage, providing other international troops take our place and the opportunity is taken to separate the security issue from the role of the invaders, which is inevitably how our troops and the Americans are seen. ID cards will cost nearly £600m each year even on the government's own conservative estimates and that spending will start soon - indeed costs may well have already started on a preparatory basis and certainly in civil service time preparing the bill. Our concrete proposal is to scrap the whole scheme saving billions.
The cultural Olympiad is certainly a future cost but a measure of the things for which the government is willing to find new money in contrast to supporting the NHS out of the problems into which the government has itself landed it. New drugs are some of the problem but far from all of it. The new GP contract alone has led to an overspend estimated at £300 million.
Once the NHS deficits have been allowed to grow as they have, it is a political decision how to tackle them. By taking money away from staff and frontline care in successful NHS trusts like ours that have balanced their books or by looking at their other priorities. My point is that we should look at other priorities first.
In the longer term, the solution has to be in increasing local democratic accountability in health care. So that if local people want to save £220,000 for the nurse led ward at Battledown, then a realistic discussion would have to be held over how that could be fitted into a balanced budget. But Cheltenham and Tewkesbury was balancing its books in any case so the difficult discussions would be in the overspending trust areas.