Crispin Blunt

Conservative Party | Reigate

St Helier hospital scandal Crispin Blunt demands a reply – so far in vain.

Now a judge forces Health Secretary to account

Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, today called for Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Health, to respond to his letter after a wait of six weeks. On 11th May Mr Blunt wrote to Mrs Hewitt to ask her to reconsider her decision to overrule local professional opinion and place a new critical care hospital at St Helier instead of at Sutton in conjunction with the world-famous Royal Marsden. In that letter Mr Blunt suggested that Mrs Hewitt save her department the expensive legal fees required to defend her decision in court: “I urge you to reconsider…at the earliest possible date. The happy consequence of this action by you will substantially reduce the fees that would otherwise be paid to a large number of barristers…” Mr Blunt has yet to receive either an acknowledgement or a reply.

In a point of order raised in the House of Commons this afternoon Crispin Blunt asked the Speaker what measures he could take to see that his letters were answered and has tabled a parliamentary question asking the Secretary of State when she intends to reply to him and whether she will refer to the fact that her decision is now being judicially reviewed. Earlier this year Surrey County Council and Reigate and Banstead Borough Council submitted their case to the Honourable Mrs Justice Dobbs who concluded last week that there was indeed a case to answer.

Speaking earlier today Crispin Blunt stated:

“The fact that the Department of Health cannot reply to a letter from an MP on a matter of huge importance to his constituents is appalling but hardly newsworthy as the administration of this department and its correspondence in particular is a notorious shambles. At questions to the Health Secretary yesterday MPs on the Labour benches were calling on Patricia Hewitt to get her act together. I understand how Lindsay Hoyle feels - as though the department simply does not care.

Mr Blunt went on to say:

“When Patricia Hewitt made her decision in December she was motivated by a desire to place a hospital next to the St Helier ward in the constituency of Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh. I am delighted that the Secretary of State will now have to explain before a judge why she felt it appropriate to ignore the local medical establishment in favour of the perceived political interests of the Labour party.”