HC Deb 21 October 1986 vol 102 cc939-40
11. Mr. Dubs

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has as to which hospitals in the London area are currently under consideration for closure.

Mr. Newton

In the London area, and I refer to the former GLC area, there are five hospitals whose total closure is either under formal public consultation, or where the consultation procedure has been completed but no final decision has yet been taken.

The hospitals are Neasden hospital in Brent, the West London hospital in the Riverside health authority, New Cross hospital in Lewisham and north Southwark, St. James' hospital in Wandsworth, and New End hospital in Hampstead.

Mr. Dubs

Is the Minister aware that many of my constituents are very angry at the threatened closure of St. James's hospital because of the valuable service that it provides, and, furthermore, that they are angry at the misleading way in which the Secretary of State bandied lists of hospital openings at the Tory party conference? Will he confirm that the truth about the hospital openings and closures list is that since the Government took office, 53 hospitals have opened or are planned to be opened, while 217 have been closed? That is the list, in my hand.

Mr. Newton

I accept that the Government are carrying through a larger than ever building programme in the National Health Service system. I noted in the Daily Mirror this morning the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) expressing some doubt about whether that programme would be completed. There is no doubt that his remarks are a throwback to his experience with the Labour Government.

Mr. Robert B. Jones

Is my hon. Friend aware that over the past 20 years millions of people have moved out of London, and that the extra resources that are needed in constituencies such as mine, because people have moved there, must come from their getting a fairer share of the money? Is it not the case that the inefficiency of many London hospitals is responsible for squeezing resources in our areas?

Mr. Newton

I certainly endorse the thrust of my hon. Friend's remarks that it is right to continue to ensure an equitable distribution of health resources around the country.

Mr. Meacher

Why does the Government's health record always involve fiddling the statistics? Is the Secretary of State aware that his deputy, the then Minister for Health, stated in a parliamentary answer on 4 July that the total number of building projects under this Government was not 380, as the Secretary of State boasted at the Tory party conference, but only 153? Is he aware, as the Daily Mirror correctly stated today, that many of those projects will not start until the mid-1990s and that many will probably not start at all? Why cannot the Secretary of State be more honest and inventive about running the Health Service and less anxious about trying to save his political skin by fiddling the statistics?

Mr. Newton

Before the hon. Gentleman accuses anybody of fiddling the statistics, I invite him to recognise that he has compared figures for projects of over £2 million with projects of over £1 million. Let him stop fiddling the figures. The Government have no need to fiddle the figures. The hon. Gentleman has to resort to fiddling because he is so ashamed of the record of the Government of which he was a member.