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Health Care in London

I welcome the opportunity to follow the hon. Member for Islington, North (Jeremy Corbyn). I, too, received an e-mail from a commissioner, which contained the worrying words:""Targets and centralisation have driven morale to an all-time low, with money wasted and no flexibility to be innovative or unique."" I go to regular meetings on this issue with my two colleagues from the other Hillingdon constituencies, and the terminology that we hear worries me. There is talk of turnover, margins and targets, which are of more use in the retail sector. A secret operation has been going on. The Minister said that it was clinician-led, but I have a copy of a letter sent by the deputy director of service transformation at NHS London to the sector chief executive of north-west London. I have not got time to read much from it, but some of it should strike terror into our hearts, because it shows that the proposals are not about clinical decisions. It states:""Overall, there is a considerable amount of work to be done to produce a high-quality strategic plan for transforming services in NWL, one that captures priority actions to be taken, by whom ""and by when. You should work with your PCT chief executive colleagues to ensure the PCTs' contributions to delivering the strategy for NWL are clear and coherent and that their plans are properly aligned, where necessary, with yours. You are accountable for ensuring that the NWL Sector exhibits the right leadership to ensure that NWL's strategic plan is robust, to ensure the delivery of Healthcare for London at the pace that the changed economic context now demands. We are confident you have the right governance structure in place to make this happen."" Those words mean, "Make sure you get it right, like we've told you to do. These are the plans we want." The letter continues:""Turning to your proposals for Local Hospitals and Elective Centres, there is no reference to the numbers you believe to be sustainable across the sector. I know that you have a programme in place for reviewing all hospital care settings and the plan should, at least, signal the likelihood that not all the current sites will make the transition to either MAH or Local Hospital."" I could go on, but I do not have the time. The Government have undoubtedly put money into the NHS, but where has it gone? Like the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), I think that it has gone into the new structures and bureaucracy and not necessarily where people expect it to be. The NHS has become like a huge sponge, with water being poured in, the money being poured out, and only drips coming down. I regret that the situation has arisen so near the election, because I do not want this to be a competition—it is not about that. I want to save my local hospital and services more than anybody else. The hon. Member for Islington, North talked about demonstrations and marches in his constituency and about the all-party support for them. In Hillingdon, there is nothing but unity among all the local Members of Parliament and the other parties there. This is about trying to preserve what we want for our constituents and fellow residents; it is not about trying to score party political points. In A and E departments, members of staff do not hang around waiting for work to come in; they are overstretched as it is. If, as is the suggestion in north-west London, three hospitals are left with an A and E department, Hillingdon will be saved. Of course, I would be delighted were that the case. However, if only two are to remain, I am afraid that Hillingdon will go, according to the plan. If Hillingdon is saved, however, Ealing is on the list to go—and where will all those people currently going to Ealing go? Are they all suddenly going to pour into Hillingdon hospital? There is not the capacity—never mind the difficulties of actually getting there and the geography of it! The matter must be put into the open. People should know exactly what is being proposed at an early stage.