MP calls meeting of GPs to discuss Trust’s proposals

15 June 2005

Grantham Hospital

Quentin Davies MP today issued the following statement:

“I am deeply concerned by the announcement made this week by Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and by the PCT.

In a number of respects I think they are moving in quite the wrong direction.

Firstly the way to reduce unit costs at Grantham Hospital - and in the NHS generally – is firstly to reduce bureaucratic overheads and non-medical staff, and second to increase the number of patients and the services provided, so that the inevitable fixed costs of the hospital are spread over the maximum number of procedures and patients.

Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and the PCT seems to be doing precisely the opposite – cutting beds and facilities. The result will be both longer waiting times, and more patients being treated at distant hospitals.

We are heading for higher unit costs for Grantham Hospital, making us less competitive in the future, and for lower standards in patient care.

I shall be calling a meeting of all local GPs to discuss these proposals, and to decide the best way forward.”