HC Deb 21 January 1997 vol 288 cc728-9
4. Mr. Skinner

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what are the latest figures for the number of hospitals closed since 1979. [10359]

The Minister for Health (Mr. Gerald Malone)

This information is not available centrally.

Mr. Skinner

I am surprised that the Government have not fiddled those figures as well. All of us on Opposition Benches know the figures—they are in the Library. Since 1979, 20 per cent. of all hospitals have been closed by this lousy, rotten Government. That is the truth.

On a day when we are told that 400 critically ill children have been turned away from intensive care in the past three months by the tawdry lot opposite, is it not a fitting epitaph for this Government that the national health service is now filled with patients on trolleys in corridors from the cradle to the grave? It is time that the Government got the sack.

Mr. Malone

The hon. Gentleman's reference to the exercise by his own party earlier this morning will be exposed by my right hon. Friend in the debate that follows as a disgraceful ruse. The statistics for hospitals have never been collected centrally. That has been explained in a number of written answers, as the Opposition know. For a party that wants to cut bureaucracy, it would be bizarre if Labour started to collect those figures now, as they are far less relevant than the figures that show how many people are being treated in the NHS, which is what counts.

The hon. Gentleman might be interested to know that, during the past few years, there has been an investment of £15 million in capital building in his health authority. Why does he not welcome that, along with the fact that more patients are being treated? That is what counts.

Dame Jill Knight

Is it not also true that a great many new hospitals have been opened since 1979? Furthermore, is it not true that some hospitals, which were very old and not in a suitable state to serve the public properly, have been renovated, such as the general hospital in Birmingham, which is being converted to the new children's hospital? When Opposition Members speak like the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner), they show that they are dinosaurs who want hospitals built in the early 1900s to remain unchanged and unimproved.

Mr. Malone

My hon. Friend is right to point that out. The hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) an expert in supporting outdated Victorian industrial practices, now seems to want to do the same for Victorian buildings and hospitals. There has been substantial investment in real estate in the NHS. That investment is now threatened by the Opposition, who do not accept the private finance initiative which will be responsible for the building of more hospitals in their constituencies. They would put that at risk.