LibDems slam exclusion of Hatfield hospital from PCT consultation on Acute Services

1.32.54pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 19th Jun 2007

Collecting signatures at Hatfest.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Nigel Quinton, who also chairs the Evidence & Judicial Action Group on the Hospital SOS Taskforce, has slammed the decision to proclaim the Hatfield Hospital as unaffordable in the long delayed consultation documents released last week.

"We said last November that the numbers didn't add up, and now they have published the detail it is becoming clear that we were right. There are so many things wrong with this process it is difficult to know where to start but the key point is that they have excluded the option of building the new Hatfield Hospital, despite their own documents concluding that this is by far the best solution from a clinical perspective."

Cllr Quinton points out that the PCT are saying that the new hospital is unaffordable and that if it were built it would leave the trust with a deficit of nearly £5m per annum. "It is worth putting that in context: given a capital cost of £420 million, this is only a little more than 1% per annum - and if you think, as we do, that PFI usually adds a far bigger than 1% premium to the cost of finance, it is obvious that we could afford Hatfield if only we were given the power to raise funds by other methods.

"It is also notable that the cancer centre at Mt Vernon has been neatly kicked into the long grass while we wait for a London-wide review of cancer services - despite the fact that we spent goodness knows many millions in 2001-3 deciding that the correct solution was a move to Hatfield."

He pointed out that there were elements in the announcements that should be welcomed, for example the identification of sites for seven minor injury units across Hertfordshire, but the overall flavour was of a process that was driven by financial not clinical priorities, with minds closed to what the PCT should be about - the delivery of a 21st century health service.

"We will continue to campaign for what we all know is the right solution - a new Hatfield Hospital. Please log on and sign our petition at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/hatfieldhospital "