§ 1. Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire) (Con)If he will make a statement on the financial situation of the Worcestershire health economy. [142542]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health(Mr. John Hutton)Primary care trusts in Worcestershire will receive a total increase of £118.9 million over the next three years, representing a cash increase of more than 30 per cent. All primary care trusts in Worcestershire are forecasting financial balance for this financial year. However, as the hon. Gentleman will know, discussions are continuing between the strategic health authority and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS trust to ensure that the trust achieves financial balance over the next two financial years.
§ Mr. LuffI am grateful for that answer. The Minister will know that the budgetary problems of the South Worcestershire primary care trust, which were caused at least in part by an obligation to meet centrally imposed targets, led to significant cuts in local health services early this year. As the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS trust struggles with its own precarious financial position, caused in part by an obligation to meet the new waiting time targets, can the right hon. Gentleman assure me that there will be no further cuts to patient services in Worcestershire, and that the new GP contract will be fully implemented?
§ Mr. HuttonYes. There will not be any cuts in front-line health care services in Worcestershire—quite the opposite: we are looking to expand health care services in the county because there is a need for that. The new GP contract will be fully funded and it will be properly implemented, as we have repeatedly made clear. We are trying to address the issues, of concern to the hon. Gentleman and many others in Worcestershire, affecting the hospitals trust. That task would be greatly furthered if we had the hon. Gentleman's support for the additional investment that we are providing.
§ Mr. Michael Foster (Worcester) (Lab): Has my right hon. Friend made an assessment of the impact on the 894 finances of the Worcestershire health economy of diverting cash from the NHS to pay for tax relief on private medical insurance?
§ Mr. HuttonYes, I have made such an assessment—and it would wipe out the additional £118 million of investment, so I really do not think that the Conservative party's proposals would help to enhance the NHS in Worcestershire. Indeed, they would make the job of the NHS in Worcestershire immeasurably more difficult.
§ Sir Michael Spicer (West Worcestershire)(Con)When will work begin on the long awaited new hospital in Malvern in Worcestershire? If the Minister does not know the answer to that, will he write to me about it by the end of the week?
§ Mr. HuttonI do not know the answer, but as the hon. Gentleman has asked me to, I will write to him by the end of the week.
§ Mr. Tim Yeo (South Suffolk) (Con)Are not the people of Worcestershire being let down by the Government? Tax is up, spending is up, but activity has barely increased. Only six days ago, the NHS chief executive admitted that average waiting times are getting longer. Last year only one patient in 400 was able to exercise choice and then only if they had been waiting for more than six months. Against that background and in view of the delays to the NHS information technology project, will the Minister confirm that the promises made this morning by the Secretary of State in No. 10 Downing street about increasing patient choice are just pie in the sky?
§ Mr. HuttonNo, I would not accept that, but I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his new responsibilities. There are no delays to the NHS IT programme, which will be delivered and implemented on time—because of the additional investment that we are putting into the NHS, which the hon. Gentleman is obviously not prepared to match. As to waiting times, they are falling, rather than rising as they did under the previous Government. Given the hon. Gentleman's desire to represent a new type of politics, he might have had the courtesy and the manners to acknowledge that in the House today.