Labour left office with 'satisfaction in NHS at record levels' says Dave Watts MP

Mr Perry quite rightly praises the NHS hospitals which have provided him with excellent treatment since he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

I would like to make it clear that I share Mr Perry’s view of our local hospitals and I have also benefited from the excellent services that they provide.

My concerns about the future of the NHS revolve around the fact that the Government has wasted billions on a botched reorganisation despite their promise before the last election not to undertake any reorganisation.

They have also introduced competition between every NHS hospital rather than a system based on co-operation and joint planning, which has resulted in most NHS hospitals running massive deficits which require a yearly bail-out to keep them solvent.

Mr Perry was, and may still be, a member of a far left wing party which opposes all forms of public/private partnerships in the NHS and which seeks to promote a socialist society. He fails to say if he supported the massive new hospital building programme that we undertook or the massive increases in spending on our NHS which resulted in more NHS and PFI hospitals being built, a programme that was only possible by a joint public/private partnership.

Mr Perry fails to point out that the last Labour Government inherited an under- resourced NHS, old and worn-out buildings that had not been renewed for decades and a crisis in our GP services with a massive shortage of GPs and long waiting times for appointments.

Labour built hundreds of new hospitals, improved GP access and brought down waiting times for patients.

I can assure Mr Perry that he would not have received the excellent treatment that he received had it not been for the record investment in new buildings, increased staffing and equipment made by a Labour Government.

That is why, when we left office, satisfaction in the NHS was at record levels.

Dave Watts MP,

St Helens North