MP slams Hewitt in meeting
23rd November 2006
Hemel’s MP Mike Penning furiously rounded on Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt at the meeting of the Commons Health Select Committee on Tuesday.
“There are serious problems around the country with the way in which the funding formula is allocated,” he said and he asked Patricia Hewitt to explain why people living in her constituency of Leicester West received £1,300 per head in NHS funding compared with £960 per head for people from Hemel Hempstead.
In a heated discussion, she told him:
“In my constituency it is around £1,300 on average per head. I believe that that reflects the very real differences in health needs, in illnesses and in prevalence of disease, between our two constituencies. Your constituents have the good fortune to be significantly healthier than my constituents and ---“
Mike responded, ”I think my constituents will not believe the arrogance of that answer.”
Afterwards, Mike Penning said Ms Hewitt had given "the most complacent, arrogant and patronising evidence I have ever heard."
"She gets nearly £400 per head more than I do for the NHS because my constituents aren't as sick. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."
It would take less than an extra £100 per head for the West Herts Hospitals Trust to be taken out of deficit – still significantly below the funding given to areas such as Patricia Hewitt’s constituency in Leicester.
