Written question asked by Mike Hancock (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 14 January 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 22 January 2003. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Wednesday, 22 January 2003 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are no consequences for the level of service provided by Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust should medical staff working there be required to join troops in the Middle East or be required to serve in war with Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that there are no consequences for the level of service provided by Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth and Portsmouth hospitals NHS trust should medical staff working there be required to join troops in the middle east or be required to serve in war with Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [91395] Ms Blears: The Portsmouth hospitals national health service trust has worked for many years with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that the provision of hospital services is not adversely affected when military medical personnel are required to deploy on exercises and other military commitments. Contingency planning is ongoing between the Department of Health and the trust to minimise the effect of any call up should further deployments be required. The NHS community in Portsmouth and Hampshire is working with the trust in support of these contingency plans.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 91395; 398 c394W;398 c393W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Deployment Hospitals Health services Iraq NHS trusts Reserve forces Middle East Portsmouth Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Queen Alexandra Hospital
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk