§ 8. Sir Roger MoateTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement about capital expenditure on hospital projects in Medway and Swale. [27718]
§ Mr. SackvilleSome £70 million is being invested in hospital projects in Medway and Swale. I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that this represents a substantial investment in the health care of his constituents.
§ Sir Roger MoateIs my hon. Friend aware that people in north Kent and north Kent Members of Parliament have been battling for years to get that type of investment in our local health service? It is marvellous news that the Government are delivering the next phase of the Medway hospital; that the Sittingbourne hospital is under construction; and that the construction of Sheppey hospital is due to start this year.
144 Is that not further evidence that the health service under the Government is being sustained and improved as one of the best health services in the world? Would it not make a change for those on the Opposition Benches to welcome such good news instead of adopting a constant carping, critical and negative approach, which undermines confidence in our health service?
§ Mr. SackvilleThose developments at Medway, Sittingbourne and Sheppey represent a huge number of projects—600 in the past 15 years—and they represent a constant upward trend in the hospital capital programme over that time. In fact, last year, that programme reached a record of £1.8 billion. Although I would be the last person to try to make political capital out of that, I must point out to the House that the late 70s was the only time when that trend was reversed, when the so-called Treasury team of the Labour Government drove this country to the moneylenders, and their first instinct was to slash the hospital capital programme. That is some commitment to health from a Government of which the right hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett) was a member.