Warrington Born Minister Lays Down The Law To The Strategic Health Authority

Warrington North MP HELEN JONES questioned the Minister for Health, Warrington born Liam Byrne MP,  about the future of Warrington hospital in a debate in Parliament on Wednesday. The MP was speaking in a debate instigated by her colleague Rosie Cooper MP.  Mrs Cooper also believes that chief executives are colluding over deals to merge trusts.

HELEN JONES is strongly opposed to plans,  which were leaked in the last fortnight, to merge North Cheshire NHS Hospital Trust with Whiston hospital. Intervening in the debate HELEN JONES said plans for the merger “are undertaken by stealth,  without any community engagement" andaccused the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) was “skewing the evidence” in order to achieve the outcome it wants. 

The Minister Liam Byrne announced that he was pleased that Warrington Hospital had been mentioned because he had been born there. He agreed with HELEN JONES that merger talk could divert attention from tackling the real problems trusts face and assured her that the SHA would have to show that any conclusions they reach would have to be “demonstrably in the patients interest.”  He would hold the SHA to that criteria.

Mr Byrne went on to say that any future plans would have to satisfy three tests. Firstly they must be consistent with the NHS plan on care close to home; secondly they must unequivocally produce better standards of care; and thirdly any proposals must be subject to a full public consultation. He finished by saying that “managerial convenience is not one of the tests that the proposals must pass" and that "there must be no faits accomplish, no cabals and no decisions made behind closed doors."

Following the debate HELEN JONES said:

"I think we are making progress. The Minister clearly spelt out to the SHA and others that bureaucratic convenience is not the way to proceed. These secret proposals for Warrington hospital should now be made public so that we can see exactly what the SHA are up to. I don’t think that such proposals would stand up to the tests the minister outlined.

I am sure that having been born in Warrington the minister will take a keen interest in any future plans for our hospital."