Mike Penning has welcomed an open letter sent by Dacorum GPs to hospital bosses which condemns cuts to local health services.

Dacorum’s GPs have sent an open letter to the West Herts Hospitals Trust saying that they “are concerned by the increasing risks to patients caused by the planning panic that has gripped West Herts health services in recent months”.

The letter adds:

“The changes to Hemel Hospital carry risks since we do not have the infrastructure in place to reduce hospital admissions when beds are cut.”

In welcoming the letter Hemel MP, Mike Penning, said:

“I welcome the letter from our local GPs. Its one thing for politicians to voice our concerns but when our local medical practitioners come out and say that they are seriously worried about the risks to peoples’ lives it adds a lot of weight to our arguments.”

“They are quite right to point out that the changes are happening too fast and for all the wrong reasons. It is ludicrous to close the A&E at Hemel, for example, without giving thought to the difficulties in travelling to Watford and Watford’s ability to cope with the extra burden.”

Simultaneously, the West Herts PCT has written a letter to GPs headed “Serious Financial Position” instructing them to cut referrals to hospital and especially not to refer patients “for treatments that have limited clinical benefits”.

Mike commented:

“The local NHS is being squeezed at every level and it is the patients who lose out. It seems nonsense to me to tell GPs to cut referrals – either a patient needs to be referred or not. You can’t just reduce the number by 10%. It is madness to allow our healthcare to be run by accountants and as a result decisions are being made on a basis of cost rather than clinical need!”