Hospital propaganda must end, says Danczuk

Simon Danczuk

Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate Simon Danczuk has called for an honest reassessment of the health services being provided in Rochdale and urged the Liberal Democrats to stop "misleading the public about the NHS".

He said: “I have met many people on the doorstep recently who genuinely think our hospital is closing down and they are living in fear. Some of these people are elderly and very vulnerable and it is not acceptable that they should have these unfounded fears. I believe this can be attributed to a long-running campaign by the Lib Dems to undermine the NHS.”

He added that he had recently met up with the Patients’ Council to discuss this matter and was shocked to hear that they had received over 50 calls from "terrified" residents wanting assurance that their hospital wasn’t closing. “It is appalling that elderly residents in Rochdale are being paralysed by fear because the Lib Dems are deliberately distorting the facts about our health services, he said.”

He called for a more open and sensible debate about the future of health services in Rochdale and argued that a number of facts needed to be made clear for all residents.

“Under the reconfiguration it is important to remember that A&E services are not closing down,” he stressed. “Around 85 per cent of people requiring A&E will continue to use the Infirmary and the changes have not been introduced yet as some people seem to think. They will happen in 2011. The only people who will no longer be treated there are those who are in a very critical condition. These will be taken by paramedics to services in Bury, Oldham or at North Manchester General Hospital.”

Mr Danczuk also took the opportunity to stress that he had not been in favour of all the reconfiguration changes and would be lobbying the Secretary of State for Health to ensure that certain conditions are put on the proposals. “It has become clear,” he said, “that some change is necessary, but these changes must support the health needs of the people of Rochdale.”

He went on to explain that he accepted the associated changes to A&E in Rochdale under the provision that 24 hour access to life-threatening emergency care is maintained, i.e. the Infirmary will not routinely deal with trauma cases but if someone turns up with an arm or leg hanging off they would be stabilised as necessary before they are transferred.

He added: “The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death has recently argued that care would improve if services were centred at fewer sites. There is a compelling argument that centralising services can save lives by improving the quality of care.”

“However, we should not be agreeing with any reductions in emergency medical admission beds until effective management of long term conditions such as diabetes and other chronic conditions in the community is demonstrated,” he argued.

“Our population has a higher than national average proportion of people suffering from limiting long term illness and their health needs must be paramount. The ongoing work in primary and community care will help to reduce episodic flare ups, and so reduce the need for emergency access, but this has not been adequately demonstrated yet. We also should ensure at the very least that mid-wife led facilities are available in Rochdale. 

“I made a lengthy submission earlier this year to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, which highlighted these concerns when the Healthy Futures proposals were being considered, and I will continue to argue the point to ministers that decisions about changes to health care provision in Rochdale should be based on the principles of equitable access to care, strong evidence and should be locally accountable.”

Mr Danczuk also strongly welcomed the recent decision by the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, to identify Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust as being among the first to benefit from a £250m access fund to introduce new GP-led health centres as part of a three-year roll out programme in under-doctored areas.

“It is not acceptable that in some areas there are twice as many GPs per head of the population as there are in others,” he said. “The new practices announced by the Labour Health Secretary will increase capacity in places like Rochdale that need it most and offer a range of innovative services such as extended opening hours and extended practice boundaries as well as increasing patient choice.”

He concluded by urging his Liberal Democrat opponent, Paul Rowen, to change his campaigning stance and focus more on "achieving positive health outcomes rather than scaremongering".

“It has to be said that Paul Rowen has made a lot of noise about health in Rochdale but what has he honestly achieved? As our MP it is clear that he does not enjoy a very fruitful dialogue with anyone in the Department of Health. I am starting to believe that he is more concerned about creating a culture of fear rather than working to get the best deal for Rochdale.”