Speaking about the Government's plans to merge PCT's ¹, SHA's ², and Ambulance Trusts, Dr. Richard Taylor said that they were the very antithesis of a 'patient-led' idea.

"If ever there were a top-down proposal, this is it!"

He accused the DoH ³ of 'leaning' on the SHA's, who were then 'leaning' on the Trusts beneath them.

He compared the chief executives of about 20 SHA's and 200 PCT's, who were likely to lose their jobs in the forthcoming changes, to..

"turkeys, planning for Christmas"

and he added..

"How can they be (held) accountable for what they are planning when they are no longer going to be there (in office) ?"

"Good PCT's are being 'penalized' to prop up poor performing ones.
Ministers are pursuing their plans in an 'obsessive addition' to regionalization."

1     Primary Care Trusts - covering all parts of England, receive budgets directly from the Department of Health, and control local health care    
2     Strategic Health Authorities - monitor Performance and Standards
3     Department of Health - sets national standards, shapes the direction of health and social care services, and promotes healthier living

To underline Dr. Taylor's words, M.P. Michael Fabricant (Con: Lichfield) speaking in the Commons, extolled the efficiency of the Staffordshire ambulance service as "having the best response-times with the whole E.U." and made a plea that they should not be merged with three other regional trusts.

"Lives would be unnecessarily lost !  
Any doctor will tell you 'Time Is Life'. 
You have a 'golden period' in which you can rescue someone from death.
Staffordshire ambulance Service succeeds where others fail !.

Fellow M.P. Paul Farrelly (Lab: Newcastle-Under-Lyme) compared his reassuring experiences in Staffordshire with those in London:

"I was put through to a recorded message on three occasions..
No ambulance arrived..
and, eventually, the family were forced to hire a mini-cab to get to hospital !"

"I can well understand, from that experience, the plain, everyday concerns of local people in Staffordshire !"

However..

Health Minster Jane Kennedy insisted that the Government's only objective was to improve 'value-for-money'.

09 February 2006

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