Surrey's Health Services Below 'Safety Net'
December 8, 2003 12:00 AM
The Government has been warned that Surrey's health services will fall below the safety net unless the way they are funded changes.
Local Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman, Simon Cordon, has written to the Secretary of State for Health, worried that Surrey's health services are not up to scratch. He has also questioned the legality of the current system whereby Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT) continues to suffer due to a £19 million debt built up under the previous Conservative Government.
"Matters are now reaching the point where Surrey's health services are potentially below the safety net and this could threaten lives," said Mr Cordon.
"A new walk-in health centre for Godalming and a minor injuries unit at Farnham's new hospital were both promised to the public in 2000 but have not happened because of the need for the PCT to 'pay back' this historic debt. Now we see that the PCT is to close a rehabilitation ward at Haslemere hospital over Christmas, not on service or clinical grounds, but openly to help address the historic deficit.
"Not only is this doing a great disservice to the people of South West Surrey, but I am not convinced that forcing our PCT to inherit the debt of a different and now defunct organisation, the old health authority, is either legal or meets the standards required by the Audit Commission."
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