Articles and Speeches

NHS Action Day - Stop Brown's Cuts!
01-Dec-06, Windsor Express Article.

I never thought I'd witness the day when I'd have to campaign to stop a Labour Government from wrecking the NHS! But this Saturday, I will be campaigning alongside local Conservative councillors and volunteers to stop front-line budget cuts to our National Health Service.

The NHS is top of the agenda nationally, and I am determined to fight for the future of our health services locally. We will be collecting signatures for a petition against local cuts and listening to residents' concerns about hospitals to find out what really matters most.

From my visits and correspondence with constituents, it is clear that our local doctors, nurses, consultants and support staff are dedicated and hard-working despite the endless bureaucracy and form-filling that often ties their hands. We have been relatively fortunate in Windsor, Ascot and the Sunnings to enjoy some of the best healthcare facilities in the country.

However, I do hear regularly from concerned residents who have had trouble with the NHS. The problems appear to stem directly from the Government’s mismanagement of the NHS rather than local mismanagement in most cases. Budgets are being cut and it is deeply depressing that so much of the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money poured into the NHS has been wasted on bureaucrats, target-setters and Department of Health officials, rather than spent on the front line services where it is needed.

So this Saturday we will be asking to hear the views of local residents and saying no to Gordon Brown’s NHS Cuts!