CLOSURE OF THE MOUNT SHOWS LABOUR BROKE ITS PROMISES ON THE NHS

11.30.27am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 7th Jul 2004

Closure of The Mount Shows Labour Broke its Promises on the NHS

Hampshire MEP and Eastleigh prospective parliamentary candidate Chris Huhne said that the decision to close the Mount showed that Labour had broken faith with local people.

'What was the point of all the long consultation meetings with the Primary Care Trust if the Mount was going to be closed anyway regardless of the wishes of local people, and regardless of the promises to ensure that local health facilities would be improved' said Mr Huhne.

'Having sat through two of the consultation meetings, this peremptory decision looks downright cynical and makes me very angry' said Mr Huhne. 'It shows that the Labour-controlled NHS is flouting local wishes and the promises Labour made to protect local services'

Mr Huhne said that the decision to close the Mount from August by the Winchester and Eastleigh Hospital Trust was not an isolated incident. It followed close on the proposals from the Strategic Health Authority - which has overall responsibility for Hampshire health - to merge the management teams of loss-making New Forest primary care trust with Eastleigh, whose finances are in much better shape.

'The strings are being pulled here by the strategic health authority, which is in turn dancing to ministers' tune in London' said Mr Huhne. 'At the consultation meetings, the health executives admitted that the closure plans would save about £500,000 a year out of a £2.3 million budget but they claimed that local services would be improved, including the provision of new in patient facilities locally for recovering patients. Now we have the closure, where are the new facilities?' said Mr Huhne.