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Adjournment (Summer Recess)

I am afraid that my contribution may be repetitious in that it, too, relates to health. Later today, I will have the honour and privilege of presenting a petition bearing some 20,000 names organised by John and Margaret Baker on behalf of the Friends of Conquest Hospital in Hastings. That petition—the 20,000 names are only ““on account””, as many more thousands are still signing—will tell the health authorities and the Government that we will not agree to the closure of our accident and emergency department. Given the massive record investment in health by this Labour Government, which has produced so much in recent years, it seems bizarre that such a petition is necessary, so what on earth is happening? I worry that many of the decisions being taken are similar to those described by other hon. Members—decisions by managers that create a democratic deficit even greater than any apparent financial deficit. Why is it that at the top Ministers seem to make sound and sensible proposals, but at the local level we Members of Parliament appear to be impotent, incapable and unable to be any part of the decision making? I appreciate the hon. Lady’s concerns for her own area. Of course I do not know the details, but what is happening there might be similar to my local situation. The position is even worse than I have suggested, because the problem is not just the decisions but the way in which they are taken. Every week, we see graphic, dramatic, crisis-ridden headlines saying that 1,000 jobs are to go. Of course they are not, but the fact that such statements are allowed to be made is creating trauma in the local community. It is bad for our blood pressure as Members of Parliament to see such bizarre headlines. In any case, they are making a drama out of a non-crisis, because in fact the funding is not far behind—it is the decision making that is far behind. I want to encourage my very able right hon. and hon. Friends in the Department of Health to take back control—not only to take responsibility, which I know that they do, but to become more hands-on and work out for themselves what is happening in trusts that are allowing such decisions to be made. I appreciate that we are conducting the annual whinge debate, during which we all have a go about the terrible things that are happening in our constituencies. In fact, many wonderful things are happening in Hastings and Rye. Regeneration progresses apace and the health service is wonderful. Why do we keep pretending that it is not? Why do we keep threatening our local community with unnecessary dire predictions of closing various services? The history of that began when our local strategic health authority published a paper called ““An NHS Fit for the Future””. The SHA said that it supported the Government’s view that investment and reform were necessary. We all agree with that. However, it also said that in areas such as Hastings and the Sussex coast, accident and emergency services should be provided only in areas containing 400,000 people. That immediately makes people believe that Hastings and the other towns along the coast such as Eastbourne will lose their accident and emergency departments—although we do not know that. It gets worse, because the local media then start talking about downgrading to cottage hospitals. I thought that that was all right, because I could simply ask the chief executive to cross out the words ““cottage hospitals”” so that we all knew that we were not considering that. However, she said no, that she had a blank sheet and she had to think things through from the beginning. Of course the hospital in question will not become a cottage hospital—but why on earth can the SHA not say so? Why can it not say that some changes will take place but that all the dramas and crises, with people worried about their jobs, are unnecessary? When people are worried about their jobs, staff numbers reduce because those who are most able to leave will go. We can then end up with staff who are not necessarily the most able. Of course many are able, and we are fortunate that the staff in our local hospitals are so good. However, behaviour such as I have described leads to an unnecessary predicament that, in management terms, defies belief. My hon. Friend is right. The media will always jump on a bad story—but why do we give them the story? Why do we create crises? No. I do not know how competent the hon. Gentleman’s PCT is; mine is extremely competent, and in balance. I am sorry but I shall take no more interventions, because of the time. It is not only the SHA decisions on accident and emergency departments that cause problems. When one encourages hospital trusts to consider such possibilities, other bizarre ideas are formulated. Three or four weeks ago, our local hospital trust decided overnight to close the maternity department. That decision lasted only 48 hours, and is now to be considered over six months. Doubtless my threat to mention the matter to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister helped. Whatever the reason, the decision caused unnecessary alarm and despondency. We must get to grips with such decisions. Apart from being the centre of the universe and the place where everyone wants to be born—and there will be no future Hastingsers if the maternity department shuts—Hastings is the 27th poorest town in Britain. It has no network of roads. It is 30 miles to one hospital and 20 miles to another, with no motorways and only six miles of dual carriageway in the county. Forty per cent. of my constituents have no car of their own. How could they travel that sort of distance, and why should they have to do it? There is therefore special pleading to be made for areas such as Hastings. However, my greater point is to ask why the people of Eastbourne should lose their A and E department. There is simply no reason for this kind of dramatic decision making, and 20,000 people in Hastings—and no doubt many more to come—are saying no to the closure of their A and E and maternity departments. If that were the only problem, it would be bad enough. However, there are so many more— I cannot give way. I would, of course, but I have no time. I want to talk about the strategic health authority making decisions about our primary care trusts. A few weeks ago, it decided that we were to lose our focused, excellent primary care trust, which is within budget, on delivery and all the rest of it. Thankfully, however, Ministers intervened and decided that we should retain our local PCT. The subsequent decision of the SHA—some have described it as the revenge of the SHA, although I would not use that word—was to say that we could have two primary care trusts, but we could only have one chief executive to run them. That is meaningless. The SHA appointed a new chair for the PCT—an excellent individual—but it was not surprising that when he learned that he was to work with only half a chief executive, he decided not to take the job. That is the nature of what is going on in the NHS in my area. Of course, at the lowest level it is delivering brilliantly. People are being seen much sooner than ever before, all the bells and whistles are there in the heart department, and all sorts of wonderful things are happening. People are generally happy with their NHS— [ Interruption.] They might not be in some Conservative areas, but perhaps that is because they just want to complain. However, in my area and most others, people are certainly happy with the NHS. Given that that is the situation, I want to encourage my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Department of Health to seize the opportunity provided by the success that they have achieved recently, and to urge them not to let the bureaucrats mess it up.