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Pressure for funds to prevent hospital cuts
PRESSURE to increase funding to prevent widespread cost-saving cuts at Amersham Hospital was piled on the Government this week.
Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, spoke in Parliament of how she had received 'heartbreaking' letters from her constituents who face longer journeys due to a 40 per cent reduction in outpatients services at the Whielden Street hospital.
She called the adjournment debate, which took place on Tuesday as staff at the hospital fear for their jobs, and was joined by Beaconsfield MP Dominic Grieve, Aylesbury MP David Lidington, and Wycombe MP Paul Goodman.
Mrs Gillan said: "Clinics at Amersham Hospital have been dramatically reduced, with many moving to Wycombe or Stoke Mandeville. That causes great difficulties for people who travel to get treatment. I can honestly say that some of the letters I have received are absolutely heart-breaking. Many of my elderly constituents find the journeys and the confusion of the changes almost impossible to deal with.
She added: "I am deeply concerned about the funding shortages. The speed of the changes imposed by the Government is causing havoc for the people of Buckinghamshire. Clinics are moving, counselling services are shutting and our GPs and NHS staff are under intense strain.
"Buckinghamshire Health Trust receives 17 per cent less funding than the national average."
Health Minister Phil Hope said: "The route to financial health for Buckinghamshire, as for all parts of the NHS, lies not in questioning the funding formula, although I have heard the points made by the Opposition, but in radical action to improve the quality and effectiveness of local services."
He added: "Buckinghamshire's funding will continue to grow. The NHS in Buckinghamshire will still get more than £652 million this financial year and £686 million in 2010-11-more than a 10.5 per cent. increase over the two years."
This follows the launch of the Examiner's Save Our Services Campaign in October.
In response, NHS Buckinghamshire chief executive Ed Macalister-Smith, said: "Our aim is to ensure that the majority of patients can receive care closer to home in the future. We are already developing community-based services and are looking at new ways of providing healthcare."
Hospital user Janice Vose is the latest person to add her backing to our campaign. Mrs Vose, 58, of Valley View, Chesham, said: "I have also had to use the Amersham outpatients on a regular basis for my elderly mother who is 85 years of age, who has had to attend the Ear Nose and Throat clinic every two months. It would be inconvenient for me to have to take her to one of the other hospitals and would be extremely confusing for her as she is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. She would not recognise the other hospitals, whereas she is comfortable going to Amersham as she finds it familiar and the staffs recognise her and talk to her."
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