Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom BLenkinsop, today (January 19th 2012) slammed what he called the ‘utter indifference’ and ‘abdication of responsibility’ by Health Minister, Andrew Lansley over plans by the South Tees Hospitals Trust to close a ward at Guisborough Hospital.

The Truest plan to shut the Chaloner ward with a loss of a number of beds, a move that, according to Tom ‘could presage the total closure of the site over time’.

Tom said “I have vowed to try and halt the closure of this hospital ward which specialises in recuperation, respite care and care for the frail elderly, as I fear that the loss of the whole ward would raise costs and thereby give a reason for the total closure of the hospital at a later date.

Only a week or so ago I asked Mr Lansley how he valued such local hospital facilities and I got a honeyed reply saying that issues like local care and local recuperation were essential for a fully responsive health service. Given this, I then tackled him on why he could not put a block on the plans to shut the Chaloner Ward. He ducked an open answer, saying he would write to me.

I now have his letter, and it is clear that he is going to make no move whatsoever to take action on this local issue. He says that patients will not suffer and ‘he has been told that there are no current plans to shut the hospital’. Evasive language like that fools no-one. What does ‘current plans’ mean? It is the language of bureaucrats not wishing to make a full honest commitment to the maintenance of services on the site. It shows the utter indifference on the part of Andrew Lansley towards the patients and staff at Guisborough, and is an abdication of his ministerial responsibility to maintain a local NHS hospital presence in East Cleveland.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today (November 22nd) demanded that NHS chiefs on Teesside seek a way of blocking new bedside TV advertising from Coalition Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, which is now being piped into hospital patient TV systems.

Andrew Lansley has today launched a so called ‘welcome message’ which is played on a continuous loop in English hospitals and in which he tells patients their care “really matters to me”. His face appears on bedside screens every few minutes, asking people to thank staff looking after them.

Tom said “this is utterly grotesque, and reminds me of George Orwell’s novel ’1984′ where every citizen had to have a compulsory viewing screen in their rooms so that Big Brother could watch them at all times.”

“But this is not only grotesque, but potentially harmful. After all, the last thing anyone recovering from surgery or illness needs is seeing the health secretary’s mugshot on a permanent loop. Hospital TV’s are useful as they can give information about a hospital and its services. If people end up – as I believe they will – turning these sets off to escape Big Brother Lansley, they may well also miss vital information from the hospital itself.”

“I want to know from Hospital Trust chiefs across Teesside if these messages will be appearing on screens at James Cook University Hospital, North Tees Hospital and local community hospital units, and if there are ways in which their senior managers can try to bar Lansley’s propagandising at the taxpayer’s expense.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today (November 7th 2011) revealed that GP’s and health professionals are now being asked to sign up to educational modules on ‘how to make cuts to services’ following any implementation of the Coalition Government’s Health and Social Care Bill which seeks to make GP’s direct commissioners of medical care.

Tom said “The respected medical magazine ‘Pulse’ is now advertising these courses, which, in their words, will advise GP’s and local practice managers on ‘a step-by-step guide to decommissioning – boosting productivity and helping keep budgets under control’.”

“Pulse says the objectives are to give ‘GP-focused advice on decommissioning’, including:

* Understanding what you are currently commissioning, and patient needs
* Identifying services that may not be providing value for money
* Holding a contract review meeting with provider
* Ensuring robust stakeholder engagement
* Ensuring that you comply with competition rules

In other words – how to make cuts, deal with the new private outside competitors who are emerging and how to deal with the resulting patient criticism!”

“I need to say that I am not blaming Pulse Magazine for doing this. They are merely having to deal with what will come from this ill-advised and damaging Bill when or if its provisions are enacted. The fact that courses like this for your local GP’s are even having to considered, is an indictment of the Government’s claim that this Bill was in the public interest. Clearly, this shows it is not.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today (2nd October 2011) said he “was incandescent” over the sheer scale of cuts to local hospitals that have been unveiled, and that David Cameron “has lied to every man, woman and child on Teesside and East Cleveland about the scale of cuts to local health services”.

Tom said “We are talking mega millions here – £134 million for Teesside as a whole in the three main hospital trusts, with £69 million of that to come from Teesside’s most modern and well-equipped hospital, the James Cook University Hospital which caters for my constituents.”

“And what worries me even more is that today’s announcement only covers the existing hospital trusts. We have yet to learn exactly how much will be cut from the budgets of the local Primary Care Trusts – who also, in my constituency, run smaller hospitals like the East Cleveland Unit in Brotton and the Guisborough General Hospital”.

“This is the living proof of the sheer scale of the local NHS cuts being ordered by David Cameron, Nick Clegg, George Osborne aided and abetted by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. Teesside – an area where people on average have shorter life spans and more chance of contracting serious life threatening illnesses – is being put to the sword by this Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition.”

“Local people should now rise up as one as say ‘enough is enough’ and that the government must pull back from imposing such draconian cuts, cuts that could well mean an early grave for some of my constituents.”

“I and my Labour colleagues on Teesside will be looking closely to see what our two local coalition MP’s will say about this announcement. Will they side with public opinion, or will they follow the orders given to them by their party leaders? Teesside will want to know.”