Articles and Speeches

A Decent NHS for All
07-Mar-05, Windsor Observer.

Having spent Saturday on the doorsteps, many people were asking me about the NHS now it's in the headlines again this week. So I've dedicated today's constituency briefing to the subject.

Over the last 18-months I have toured local hospitals including Heatherwood and The King Edward VII. We certainly have some top rate hospitals in the Windsor area; but things could be so much better.

Speaking with nurses, doctors and consultants I am struck by their hard work and dedication. But our professional front line staff are held-back by the burden of Government targets and bureaucracy. They are forced to report to pen-pushers and an army of checkers who contribute little to patient care.

Under Labour:
- Managers and bureaucrats have been recruited at 3 times the rate of doctors and nurses

- Average waiting times have increased from 90 to 95 days since 1999

- There are 9,500 fewer beds since 1997 - 5,000 people die of infections picked up in hospital each year

69 year old Margaret Dixon's high risk operation was cancelled 7 times. Whilst 7 cancellations is uncommon, there are 67,000 operations cancelled each year - 10,000 more than when Tony Blair came to office!

After 8 years of heading in the wrong direction, even Labour know they have failed. So expect to hear plenty more knee-jerk promises about the NHS in the coming days and weeks.

With Conservatives:
- Doctors and nurses will be free to care for patients - rather than form-filling for the army of Government bureaucrats & checkers

- People will be free to choose where they are treated - thereby shortening queues

- Tax-payers will enjoy better value from the NHS with more money spent on doctors and nurses - Patients will be safer in cleaner hospitals wards with a matron in charge of hygiene

Conservatives believe in an NHS which brings better treatment for patients free at the point of delivery.

So people have a clear choice: more promises and long waiting lists under Mr Blair or cleaner hospitals and shorter waiting lists with the Conservatives.

I want everyone to have the choice that only people with money can buy today.

Above all, I want a decent national health service that works for all.