Foundation Hospitals

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Richmond Informer on Mon 12th May 2003

Last week MPs became very heated over an issue which, I suspect, means nothing to most people: Foundation Hospitals. The idea is to make the better hospitals more independent, (hopefully) giving taxpayers better value for money.

But these hospitals will still be tightly controlled by government. Moreover, doctors and nurses tell me that they are sick of endless reorganisation already. One hospital in West London to qualify initially will be the Royal Marsden, which already provides excellent cancer care. And our local hospitals - West Middlesex, Kingston and Teddington - will have to compete for staff and resources with these 'super' hospitals.

My health priorities are different. One is to ensure better co-operation between the NHS, council social services and voluntary groups so that more elderly people can be cared for properly outside hospital. My mother in York sees the system at its best; in this area it often fails.

The second is to make the GP service more accessible. GPs see far more people than hospitals. Yet no one consulted residents about the decision of local surgeries to close on Saturday mornings when most working people find it easiest to visit; or the decision to transfer hundreds of Whitton residents from one GP practice to another.

Third, vast amounts of lives, doctors' time, and money could be saved through better screening of early cancers and cardiovascular diseases. I would like to see a regular 'MOT' test for all of us, accompanied by strong advice on habits which increase disease risk.

Fourth, highly trained health professionals should be trusted to operate without bureaucratic form filling and government performance targets that distort their priorities and lead to cheating.