Blatant Attack on Our Local NHS - "Cuts from Whitehall"

Questioning by local Lib Dem MP, Edward Davey, has brought confirmation that Kingston’s health budget crisis has been created by Labour Ministers and London health bureaucrats.

In an astonishing reply to Edward Davey’s letter questioning the validity of top-slicing[1][1] Kingston’s budget to help out elsewhere in London and a £2 million interest rate payment being demanded from Kingston’s PCT, Labour Health Minister, Andy Burnham confirmed that PCTs like Kingston would be hit with a penalty 10% charge and with a clawback now estimated at £7 million. Edward Davey said:

 
“While Kingston’s NHS has reduced spending by £8 million this year – partly through cuts affecting local patient care - Labour in Whitehall is taking £9 million from local health budgets.

 

“Labour Ministers have created huge uncertainty with its management of health budgets, and have made a difficult situation in Kingston almost impossible. This is a blatant attack on our local NHS.

 

“When a Minister describes a 10% penalty charge as a “Secretary of State allocation adjustment”, it’s clear we’ve entered a 1984 Big Brother world of “Newspeak”. Labour are simply desperate to avoid the word “cuts”, in case it seems as if we are going back to the bad old Tory days.“The truth is, these are damaging cuts to Kingston’s NHS, and they come from Whitehall. I hope local people will back my campaign to stop the NHS cuts.”

“We had the good news recently of funding to revitalise the Broadway, and our campaign to oppose Tesco’s plans that will throttle Tolworth has been receiving national coverage. So just as we are beginning to make progress, the last thing we need is to lose the Broadway’s post office permanently. I will be working with local councillors to ensure this does not happen.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

[1] Top Slicing is a financial tool to allow a fee to be paid by a PCT (in this case) to the Strategic Health Authority for London.  This year Kingston PCT has to pay £7 million. Ruth Carnell, Chief Executive of London NHS, stated in her letter of 4 December 2006 “This reserve will be used to support those organisations in deficit” yet in the letter to Edward Davey from Andy Burnham such justification was lacking and the government minister advocated that such a fund was merely an accountancy tool stating, “SHA’s will not redistribute the resources to overspending organisations, but the system will allow them to record balance across the patch.”