Cost-driven Cuts Will Have Dangerous Consequences

4.29.32pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 4th Dec 2006

Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam cornered Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt today, when he questioned her in Parliament about the impact of job cuts and bed closures at St Helier hospital.

St Helier Hospital trust announced in October that it planned to close 200 beds and cut nearly 500 jobs in an effort to save £24 million required of it by the London Strategic Health Authority.

Mr Burstow asked Ms Hewitt to promise that bed closures would not result in more mixed wards, with male and female patients in neighbouring beds. He also asked her to assure him that staff cuts would not result in higher infection rates at the hospital, already one of the worst in the country for cases of superbug Clostridium difficile.

On Saturday 25th November, Mr Burstow led over 2,000 local residents and hospital staff in a march to protest against the cuts.

Speaking about his questions to the Health Secretary, Paul Burstow MP said:

"These cuts will force staff to make compromises: patients may be discharged early to free up space, while increased pressure to use beds as soon as they become free will mean less frequent cleaning and higher rates of infection."

"It is time that Patricia Hewitt and the London NHS came clean about these cuts: they are driven by financial need, not clinical efficiencies and they will result in a lower standard of patient care."

"People here in Sutton turned out in their thousands last month to send a message to Ms Hewitt; I am determined to continue to hold her to account."