Mike Penning: "It's a set up"

Hospital Trust hires former Labour PR man's company to conduct 'independent' review of Accident and Emergency closure.

Responding to the incredible claims made in the Mail on Sunday at the weekend, Hemel MP Mike Penning said: “The so-called ‘consultation’ has been a sham all along. They were never going to listen to the people of Hemel Hempstead and they will go to great lengths ”.

The Mail on Sunday investigation discovered West Herts Hospitals Trust hired former Labour Director of Communications, John Underwood to conduct an ‘independent’ report into the plans to close Hemel’s A&E – a legal requirement whenever major cuts are planned. Not surprisingly the report endorsed ‘without reservation’ the cuts planned by the trust.

Mike Penning told the Mail on Sunday: “It is entirely inappropriate for anyone with such intimate links to the Labour Party to be asked to conduct supposedly "independent" summaries.

"I will write to the chief executive of the NHS demanding an investigation. I will also be asking if there are any other reports Mr Underwood has written for hospital trusts.

"The way the Government is closing hospitals in Conservative areas and moving the facilities to seats with slender Labour majorities is utterly unacceptable."

Did you reply to the West Herts Hospitals Trust consultation on the closure of A&E services at Hemel hospital? If so, the report produced by John Underwood’s company says you didn’t understand the question.

“…many respondents did not fully understand the options being placed in front of them” states the report.

Given that the two options didn’t include the most favoured option – that of keeping the A&E in Hemel open, it is not surprising that many of the respondents to the consultation weren’t able to opt for either option.

A furious Mike Penning said: “This is a shocking insult to the people of Dacorum. To suggest that local people don’t understand what is happening to their hospital is outrageous! The whole thing stinks – the more we look into it the more we find!”