Lowest Ranked Brent NHS Needs Extra Help

12.11.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 11th Dec 2007

Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather has called on the Government to make Brent's NHS a priority after news that the borough has the longest waiting times in Britain.

Health ministers have boasted that across the country 72% of patients are waiting less than 18 weeks for treatment. But in Brent waiting times may be getting worse, with just 31% of patients receiving treatment within 18 weeks - the worst performance in the UK.

The news comes as a further blow to the Government's record on health in Brent. Brent Primary Care Trust (tPCT) is struggling under a £24million deficit, with the Government forcing a programme of cuts which will hit vital services across the borough.

Local Liberal Democrat MP for Brent East Sarah Teather said:

"Brent is one of the most needy places in Britain. It is outrageous that my constituents, including the elderly and vulnerable, have to wait longer for treatment than anyone else in Britain.

"It's clear that those PCT's in high levels of debt are more likely to be struggling with waiting times. With health ministers breathing down the PCT's neck it is little wonder that they are focused more on cutting our services than improving them.

"The Labour Government have failed people in Brent on health. They need to urgently promise that disadvantaged areas such as ours will not be left lagging behind the rest of the country."

Notes:

(1) The 18-week target measures the amount of time a patient waits from the time a GP refers them to a specialist to the time they receive the treatment.

Source: The Evening Standard

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23420229-details/NHS+still+keeps+one+million+patients+waiting+for+more+than+a+year/article.do

(2) Sarah Teather recently raised the issue of health cuts in Brent in the House of Commons:

In the final two minutes available to me, I wish to turn to the issue of health. I have mentioned the discrepancy in funding for inner and outer London, which affects health as well. The projected population statistics affect the money available for health services in Brent. The problem is compounded by mismanagement and pressures on the doctors' contract, targets and top slicing by the London strategic health authority, which have impacted on the capital's primary care trusts. PCTs in Brent managed to reach the heady heights of being in debt to the tune of £53 million earlier this year, and have undertaken devastating cuts to preventive health care. We have seen a retreat to reactive services-I believed that that health service policy was long gone-so while the Government have made all the right noises on preventive health, I am afraid that in Brent the impact of health cuts has produced a different result.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-11-08a.260.3&s=health+speaker%3A11350#g352.0