Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a disgrace that these cuts are being implemented for reasons not of clinical need but of financial mismanagement?
Grant Shapps: My hon. Friend is right to pinpoint that issue. When the children's services were first being closed, the bosses of my NHS trust made it sound as though the cuts were all to do with clinical outcomes. Now, however, they do not even pretend that that is the case. They simply say, "We must cut this deficit." The carrot that they hold out in regard to these significant cuts to hospital services is that one day, somewhere along the line—perhaps in about 2013—we might get a hospital in Hatfield. A £550 million private finance initiative project has been on the cards for some years, yet as it supposedly gets nearer, the completion date gets further away. It is three years since the project was announced, yet its completion date is now three years further away. |
