200 NHS bed losses may be tip of the iceberg, says Martin (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

200 NHS bed losses may be tip of the iceberg, says Martin

February 19, 2010 4:38 PM

Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood has arranged an urgent meeting with NHS chiefs to discuss the planned loss of 200 beds from Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General. Martin will be meeting NHS Gloucestershire chief executive Jan Stubbings on Friday 26 February at 12:00. The cuts were announced by the hospitals chief executive Dr Frank Harsent but it is NHS Gloucestershire that is in charge of spending government money on all NHS services in Cheltenham.

Martin had already warned in January that the local NHS faced potential cuts to vital services because of a government spending squeeze: 'If the government holds NHS budgets to inflation but NHS costs rise faster because of rising drug spending or even pay awards that have already been promised, something has to give. I was assured that vital services like A&E or the maternity ward were not at risk. We're now told that these bed reductions will be made possible by people being discharged more quickly and cared for more at home. But my fear is that this is just the tip of the iceberg.'

'This sounds horribly like 2006 all over again' said Martin. 'We faced 27 different cuts and closures then but all with lots of reassurances that services would be more efficiently delivered. But St.Paul's maternity ward was threatened with closure, we lost inpatient beds from Battledown childrens' ward, IVF was stopped and mental health services were terribly disrupted. We saved the maternity ward in the end, IVF was restored and mental health services are getting back on their feet but it always worries me when the first priority is to save money.'

'And worse may be to come after the election. It's going to be tough whoever wins but the Tories want to make the fastest, deepest cuts and George Osborne hasn't said how they would balance the books. I fear for our local health service in that situation and we need to be ready to fight for a free, local NHS whoever gets into power.'