In a Westminster Hall debate on healthcare in Bucks in earlier this week, Conservative MPs criticised the Government over the extent of healthcare underfunding in Bucks and the devastating impact this was having on the services in the county.

 

Launching the debate, Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, said: “After more than a decade with Labour in power, it is fair to say that the NHS in Buckinghamshire is facing a crisis. We have called this debate to find out just what the Minister and the Government are going to do about that. There is no time for warm words; the stark reality is that the health service in Buckinghamshire is fast approaching breaking point.”

 

Speaking later in the debate Paul said: “In my eight years as a Member of Parliament, undoubtedly the most important constituency issue has been health care: no other single issue compares to it in terms of the interest, concern and anxiety it arouses.”

 

“In those eight years, the cuts and closures at Wycombe hospital-the loss of our children's ward, maternity ward and full A and E service-have created a huge ruction in Buckinghamshire.”

 

He added: “Although [my constituents] understand that change must happen, it cannot be forced through against a background of having, unfairly, 17 per cent less funding than the national average”.

 

Paul’s Conservative colleagues David Lidington, the MP for Aylesbury, Dominic Grieve, the MP for Beaconsfield and Anne Milton, the MP for Guildford and Conservative health spokesperson, also spoke during the debate. Cheryl Gillan spoke on behalf of the Speaker John Bercow, MP for Buckingham.

 

Bucks currently receives 17 per cent less funding per head than the UK average and in 2008/09 Bucks PCT was the only primary care trust to record a deficit. As a result of the  PCT's structural deficit hospitals trust's financial position, an estimated £20m needs to be taken out of the health service in Bucks between now and the end of the financial year.