7 July 2005
MP urges County Scrutiny Committee to refer financial mismanagement to the Secretary of State.
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead constituency, has written to all local MP’s, County Councillors and Borough Councillors urging them to pressurise the Hertfordshire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to refer budget overspend and proposed cuts in services to the Secretary of State at their forthcoming meeting on 20th July.
Mike’s letter is reproduced here:
Dear Colleague,
The Secretary of State for Health had agreed to meet with me and a delegation of local MP’s on Wednesday 29th June to discuss the crisis facing our local health finances and services in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. At the last minute the meeting was cancelled by the Secretary of State.
My guess is that the Government want to delay this meeting until after the Hertfordshire County Council Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee has approved the SHA’s financial recovery plans to be proposed at the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to be held on 20th July. They will then be able to say that local democracy looked at it at the Overview & Scrutiny meeting, had the chance to refer the matter to the Secretary of State, but did not do so.
We need all the County Councillors to be alerted to just how dangerous these plans are for the whole of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and for them to influence the committee to reject and refer the plans to the Secretary of State. The SHA are forecasting an overspend for 2005-06 of £74 million and their plans to address this involve significant, and in my view dangerous, cuts in health services. The proposed programme of cuts is extensive and is driven by financial and not clinical needs.
I would urge you all to contact the members of the Scrutiny Committee and ask them at their 20th July meeting to refer this pending disaster to the Secretary of State. I attach a list of the committee members with their contact details.
We also need, if we can, to organise a mass demonstration at County Hall on the day of the scrutiny meeting. To this end I have asked the Dacorum Hospital Action Group and the Hemel Hempstead Gazette to help.
This issue is no longer just about whether hospital services are based in Hemel or Watford it is about stopping massive cuts in health care across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. In a letter from Mr de Braux, Chief Executive of the SHA, he actually states that a reason for the cost overrun is an unexpected increase in demand for services. The planned action in response to this of cutting services is just unbelievable.
It is critical that we all work together to stop this nonsense and to address the cause; either Government under funding or NHS financial mismanagement. If any of you have any suggestions or ideas for additional action on these matters please contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Penning MP
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead constituency, has written to all local MP’s, County Councillors and Borough Councillors urging them to pressurise the Hertfordshire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee to refer budget overspend and proposed cuts in services to the Secretary of State at their forthcoming meeting on 20th July.
Mike’s letter is reproduced here:
Dear Colleague,
The Secretary of State for Health had agreed to meet with me and a delegation of local MP’s on Wednesday 29th June to discuss the crisis facing our local health finances and services in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. At the last minute the meeting was cancelled by the Secretary of State.
My guess is that the Government want to delay this meeting until after the Hertfordshire County Council Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee has approved the SHA’s financial recovery plans to be proposed at the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to be held on 20th July. They will then be able to say that local democracy looked at it at the Overview & Scrutiny meeting, had the chance to refer the matter to the Secretary of State, but did not do so.
We need all the County Councillors to be alerted to just how dangerous these plans are for the whole of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and for them to influence the committee to reject and refer the plans to the Secretary of State. The SHA are forecasting an overspend for 2005-06 of £74 million and their plans to address this involve significant, and in my view dangerous, cuts in health services. The proposed programme of cuts is extensive and is driven by financial and not clinical needs.
I would urge you all to contact the members of the Scrutiny Committee and ask them at their 20th July meeting to refer this pending disaster to the Secretary of State. I attach a list of the committee members with their contact details.
We also need, if we can, to organise a mass demonstration at County Hall on the day of the scrutiny meeting. To this end I have asked the Dacorum Hospital Action Group and the Hemel Hempstead Gazette to help.
This issue is no longer just about whether hospital services are based in Hemel or Watford it is about stopping massive cuts in health care across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. In a letter from Mr de Braux, Chief Executive of the SHA, he actually states that a reason for the cost overrun is an unexpected increase in demand for services. The planned action in response to this of cutting services is just unbelievable.
It is critical that we all work together to stop this nonsense and to address the cause; either Government under funding or NHS financial mismanagement. If any of you have any suggestions or ideas for additional action on these matters please contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Penning MP
