Crispin Blunt

Conservative Party | Reigate

LOCAL MP CHALLENGES MINISTER OVER HOSPITAL DEBT

Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, today challenged the Government to take responsibility for its actions and write-off the debt of the Surrey and Sussex NHS Trust. The Trust currently owes £56 million at a cost in interest payments alone of £2.7 million each year. In a debate in Westminster Hall Mr Blunt set out the historic causes of the deficit – notably the intervention in 2001 by the then Secretary of State for Health. Crawley MP, Laura Moffatt, had asked Alan Milburn to delay transfer of acute services from Crawley to East Surrey fearing the effect a hospital closure might have on her marginal seat. As a result the hospital ran on two sites for four years at an annual cost of £10 million. Mr Blunt asked that as the cause of the debt was ministerial intervention, the Minister for Public Health, Dawn Primarolo MP, to act to write-off the debt. Mr Blunt was supported in the debate by East Surrey MP, Peter Ainsworth, and Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley.

Mr Blunt praised the efforts of doctors and nurses who have continued to serve patients at East Surrey Hospital in very challenging circumstances. He also acquitted the management of blame: “I have seen the very debilitating effects of a management being constrained from doing the right thing.   The consequences today are that the patients served by this hospital could be enjoying nearly five million pounds a year invested in improving services and the prospect of a management delivering further improvements under foundation status.” 

In her reply Dawn Primarolo refused to acknowledge the impact of the Government’s intervention in 2001 but said instead that measures were in place to enable the Trust to restore its own finances. Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is one of 17 classified as “financially challenged”.

Speaking after the debate Crispin Blunt said:

“The Government still refuses to accept the devastating consequences of delaying the reorganisation back in 2001 and instead repeats the same mantras about Trusts living within their means.  It is wholly unreasonable that the Trust should be held responsible for the costs of an intervention from the Secretary of State. I am very pleased that the efforts of the management at the Trust have turned things around. However, there remains the issue of the loan repayments and the interest on that loan. Since the Trust has been classed as “financially challenged” there is an opportunity for Ministers to address this. We must now wait to see the effect of this debate and the Government’s internal review of the finances of this Trust.”

Please find attached a draft text of the speech delivered this afternoon.