Message From Nadine Dorries MP (Mid-Bedfordshire)
Posted by Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Bedfordshire, at 13:30, Wed 7 June 2006:
I am delighted that residents in Mid-Bedfordshire have signed up to the service provided by www.hearfromyourmp.com and look forward to communicating with you in this way.
To contact me and find out about my work as your MP residents can visit my website at: www.dorries.org.uk The site was recently re-launched and includes regular updates on news items and interactive features such as any appearances on television and podcasts.
I was first elected as the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire in May 2005 - I am everybody’s MP in Mid-Beds regardless of who you voted for at the general election and I take this responsibility very seriously. I work well with all MP’s in the House of Commons and first and foremost it always about what is best for Mid Bedfordshire that is important to me.
Amongst the main local concerns is the financial crisis facing the National Health Service in Bedfordshire. Beds Heartlands PCT has debts of £19.5 million and Bedford Hospital NHS Trust is facing debts of £8.5 million – a total of £28 million pounds. Staff are being laid off and wards are closing. Bedford Hospital have closed the John Bunyan and Richard Wells Wards, as well as cutting back on 10 theatre sessions a week. Other cuts include closing the Mulberry Unit, closing one ward at weekends, temporarily restricting the activity of the neo-natal unit, 30% cut in agency nurses and a 20% cut in agency medical staff such as doctors.
Bedfordshire Heartlands PCT £19.5 million recovery plan is to ensure there is no increase in demand for hospital activity for acute and emergency services. Despite these difficulties doctors, nurses and other medical staff are working hard to provide the best level of care available to patients in Bedfordshire. PCTs and Hospitals across the country are in a similar situation with the national NHS deficit expected to reach £1 billion before the end of the year.
More recently I am very concerned about the announcement that nearly 100 jobs will be cut at Bedford Hospital NHS Trust. Some of the proposed job cuts include front-line staff such as nurses and assistants, such as those on the Children’s ward, Riverbank. I am extremely concerned about the impact these cuts will have on front line services and patient care, particularly for children in Bedford Hospital.
For nearly 12 months I have been warning about cuts at Bedford Hospital caused by record financial deficits. Too much government interference and an obsession with national targets is damaging our NHS - as a former nurse myself it particularly sadens me to see nurses made redundant, especially on a children's ward.
For the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt MP to claim that the NHS is as strong as it has ever been is a joke. In the real world our local Hospital is forced to make cuts in front line services that will effect the most vulnerable.
If you have any queries on this or other matters then please feel free to contact me via email: dorriesn@parliament.uk or write to me at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. Regards
Nadine
Nadine Dorries MP Member of Parliament for Mid-Bedfordshire.
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