Speaking in the Health and Care Bill debate, Sir Mike Penning calls for more accountability for NHS Hospital Trusts to pay attention to the wishes of local people such as a new hospital on a greenfield site to serve all the people of west Hertfordshire.
Sir Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con)
I support new clause 19, which I signed, and will wait to see what the Minister says about it.
I want to take issue with the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin Madders), who turned around and said to Ministers, “Be careful what you wish for.” Our constituents send us here to represent how their taxation is spent in the NHS. When trusts are refusing to build new hospitals in our constituencies when they have the money to do so, and they want to refurbish hospitals and ignore public opinion and their local MPs, that is where the system goes wrong. I am not saying we should go all the way back to the old system, but there should be accountability in trusts when they do not do what our constituents would expect from them. My constituents would expect me to stand up and say this, because we want a new hospital on a greenfield site to look after the people of west Hertfordshire and our trust is refusing. If the shadow Minister ever becomes a Minister, I hope he has those powers.