Press statement from Sally Marks regarding NHS funding in Surrey 6th December

During the Full Council meeting in October members of the Council signed a petition asking for the large deficits incurred by Surrey’s hospitals to be written off, and this was sent to the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt.

A response was received earlier this month, from Caroline Flint, Minister of State for Public Health and ‘regional Minister for the South East Coast’, and at the meeting of the Council on November 28th Sally Marks, the Executive Member for Adults and Community Care, commented on the reply received. Below follows and edited transcript of her statement;

“Members will recall that there was cross-party support for a petition to the Secretary of State for Health at the last full Council Meeting.

I sent the petition off as promised asking for the large deficit incurred by the previous Surrey PCTs to be written off.

I have now received a response, of sorts, from the Minister of State from the DoH – Caroline Flint – who incidentally writes as the ‘regional Minister for the south east coast’.

It will come as no surprise to anyone to hear that no write-off of the Surrey deficit is envisaged.

Indeed, Ms Flint says in her letter that “NHS bodies must live within their means and there can be no question of us simply writing off debt when particular trusts have failed to operate within their budgets”.

In my opinion this statement ignores the fact that the current newly formed PCT has had to start life with the legacy of a massive overspend of a previous regime. The deficit is large and is even set to increase in the near future, presenting the PCT and local people with the prospect of reductions in services.

Ms Flint also tries to “be helpful and explain the basis on which revenue allocations are made to PCTs. They are made on the basis of the relative needs of their populations”. It has become apparent in the last few days that this Government in general, and Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt in particular, appears to think that unless the area is controlled by Labour then it is not deserving of adequate funding. She put this down to the fact that constituents in traditional Conservative authorities “have the good fortune to be significantly healthier” than her Leicester constituents. She ignores one vital piece of information: that healthier residents tend to live longer which in turn means that as they age they tend to get sick and therefore need more healthcare.

I shall write back to the Minister of State of course, and urge colleagues to do the same.

In the final analysis this bodes ill for the future of Surrey’s Health. Where health delivery is reduced there is an inevitable extra pressure on social care. Despite good intentions from ourselves and the new leadership of the new Surrey wide PCT and a joint determination to work collaboratively, there must be cause for concern for the well-being of our residents”.

Mrs. Marks urges as many people as possible to write to the Minister of State to urge the Department of Health to write off the deficits of Surrey’s Primary Care Trusts, and the Conservative Group on Surrey County Council will continue to lobby the government for a fair deal for Surrey’s residents and the NHS in Surrey.