Save our hospital - where the money is going
It is extremly strange that when such vast amounts of money are being extracted from taxpayers, and a large proportion of it earmarked for the NHS, that hospitals such as the West Cumberland Hospital, Millom Community Hospital, and Keswick Hospital are under threat because of lack of funding.
One part of the explanation is the bureaucracy required to operate Labour's 400 NHS targets. Most of the people taken on by the NHS since Labour came to power were administrative staff rather than doctors or nurses, and the NHS now has more estates and administrative people than beds.
But another problem is the ghastly failure to manage PFI contracts properly.
Let me be clear on what I am and am not saying. Both Labour and Conservative governments have sought to obtain private money for the NHS and there is nothing wrong with the principle of this. However, it must be managed, whoever is in government, in a way which is good value for the taxpayer. And that is not happening.
Replies by the government to parliamentary questions asked by Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have revealed that over the next 30 years the National Health Service will have to pay private sector contractors £53 billion for hospitals worth only £8 billion.
There must be a full investigation into why this is costing so much and whether better value for money can be obtained so that the resouces are available for patient care.
One part of the explanation is the bureaucracy required to operate Labour's 400 NHS targets. Most of the people taken on by the NHS since Labour came to power were administrative staff rather than doctors or nurses, and the NHS now has more estates and administrative people than beds.
But another problem is the ghastly failure to manage PFI contracts properly.
Let me be clear on what I am and am not saying. Both Labour and Conservative governments have sought to obtain private money for the NHS and there is nothing wrong with the principle of this. However, it must be managed, whoever is in government, in a way which is good value for the taxpayer. And that is not happening.
Replies by the government to parliamentary questions asked by Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have revealed that over the next 30 years the National Health Service will have to pay private sector contractors £53 billion for hospitals worth only £8 billion.
There must be a full investigation into why this is costing so much and whether better value for money can be obtained so that the resouces are available for patient care.
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