§ 9. Mr. Bill O'Brien (Normanton) Lab)What role the West Yorkshire strategic health authority plays in securing the new hospital development in the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement. [155726]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health(Miss Melanie Johnson)West Yorkshire strategic health authority is working closely with Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and local primary care trusts on plans to redevelop Pinderfields general hospital in Wakefield and Pontefract general infirmary to the maximum benefit of patients.
§ Mr. O'BrienThe Mid Yorkshire trust provides services at three sites—Dewsbury, Pinderfields general hospital in my constituency and Pontefract general infirmary. There are extenuating circumstances affecting funding and, as the primary care trusts are limited in the contributions that they can make, the strategic health authority should contribute substantially to safeguard the business plan put in place following an assurance by a Labour Minister that new facilities would be provided at Pinderfields and Pontefract. Will my hon. Friend give an assurance that the strategic health authority will provide the resources to ensure that plan goes ahead?
§ Miss JohnsonI can assure my hon. Friend that the trust's private finance initiative remains on schedule and will provide an improved physical environment and better health services. The strategic health authority is closely involved in resolving the financial difficulties of which he is aware. A recovery plan is being put in place and a fundamental financial stocktake has been undertaken. I further assure him that the Government, together with the SHA, will keep in close touch with the progress of those plans.
§ Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)May I say that the recovery plan was explained to hon. Members with constituencies in the Wakefield area just the other day? The population is particularly ill as a result of the area's mineworking history, and it is impatient to see the investment that we desperately need and the fruition of the plan, which has been wisely and patiently constructed under the chairmanship of Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract in partnership with the strategic health authority and the Department.
§ Miss JohnsonI assure my hon. Friend, as I have already assured my hon. Friend the Member for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien), that we take a close interest in the matter. I understand the deprivation in the communities that he represents and the issues that arise. Forward work on the PFI and the regeneration of services at primary care level are crucial in substantially improving the health of the local population.
§ Mr. David Hinchliffe (Wakefield) Lab)As a child in the 1950s-I hasten to add that I was a very young child—I remember visiting a family member at Pinderfields hospital, Wakefield, who was accommodated in a hut built to hold casualties of the 137 second world war. Two weeks ago, I was in the same hut visiting another family member. The hut—a temporary building constructed during the second world war—is still in use. The third-world conditions at Pinderfields hospital are totally unacceptable, and I want to reinforce the points made by my hon. Friends the Members for Normanton (Mr. O'Brien) and for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) about the urgent need for the capital scheme. I welcome the Government's support, but can we have further support to ensure that the scheme moves ahead as rapidly as possible?
§ Miss JohnsonIndeed. I reassure my hon. Friend that the scheme is on schedule, and I expect the strategic health authority to approve the full business case in September with the aim of starting work during 2005. I appreciate his points, which highlight the lack of investment in the NHS for many years under the previous Government. We are radically increasing investment, and I point out to him the massive decrease of almost one quarter in heart disease and strokes in his constituency during the past few years of the Labour Government. The investment is already making a difference on health issues in his community.