This morning, David Cameron launched the Conservative health manifesto at a press conference with the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne and Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. You can view the document on the Conservative Party website.
David Cameron has rightly exempted the NHS from the reductions in spending that are inevitable if we are to tackle Labour’s appalling debt, and I’m delighted with the approach that the Conservative health team have set out today.
Of particular interest locally are Conservative plans on maternity services. A Conservative government will give mothers a real choice over where to have their baby, with NHS funding following their choices; this means that under a future Conservative Government, the maternity unit at Salford Royal Hospital could and would be kept open if the demand existed from the local community, and I firmly believe that is the case.
We will also introduce local ‘maternity networks’ to ensure that mothers can safely access the right care, in the right place, at the right time. All mothers should have the right to choose a safe and comfortable place to give birth, with the necessary facilities on hand should a complication arise.
A Conservative Government would also provide separate public health funding to local authorities, which will be accountable for – and paid according to – how successful they are in improving their local communities’ health. And, as a progressive government, we will weight public health funding so that extra resources go to the poorest areas with the worst health outcomes through a new ‘health premium’.
This means more resources for the NHS in Salford, providing that Salford City Council and our Primary Care Trust can spend them effectively.
Local residents can be assured that their health services will be protected under a Conservative Government.
You’re a born politician Iain – you’ve chosen your words very carefully but you’ve very heavily implied that under a Tory government, Salford Royal’s maternity wing would be kept open/re-opened, when the draft manifesto promises nothing of the sort.
What it does say is that you would “allow new providers to deliver maternity care – especially services like ante- and post-natal support” – so you can have your baby on the NHS but you’ll have to pay for any before or after-care? For “choice”, read “privatisation…”
Having said that, the Tories could hardly do a worse job than Labour have done, but given your party’s previous record on the NHS, I’m not holding out much hope for improvement if you do get in this time…
Thanks for your comments, Rick.
Of course the draft manifesto does not mention specific hospitals, nor would anyone expect it to do so. We have been very clear, however – and Andrew Lansley reaffirmed this today – that we would halt Labour’s closures of maternity units. What we have seen today is some more flesh on the bones of what a Conservative approach to maternity services would be – and that means retaining comprehensive maternity services (including doctors, who would not be part of a midwife-led unit) here in Salford.
Local residents have a clear choice between a Labour Government that will close our maternity unit down, and local Conservative candidates who will support it. Fortunately Labour cannot even close hospitals efficiently, and the laughably-named “Making It Better” programme is running at least a year behind schedule, so local people will have the chance to vote this rotten Government out before they actually close the unit.
With regard to your second point, ante- and post-natal support on the NHS will remain free at the point of use, but if we can subcontract those services and provide them more efficiently, I see no reason not to do so. What we need to avoid is the mess that Labour have made of the PFI process, whereby the taxpayer pays through the nose *and* shoulders all the risk.