Michael Fabricant has slammed the latest report from the South Staffordshire Health Authority Strategic Services Review (Community Hospital Provision, June 2000) as "saying very little and reassuring no-one while putting many existing local services under threat".

"The Review is 65 pages long plus Appendices. We were all told that we would know the future of the Victoria Hospital and Hammerwich Hospital by November last year. Now, the long awaited Review has been published, but only as ‘An Informal Discussion Document’. After wading through the background, we come to the crux on pages 60 and 61 where it says in summary:-

"The future of the Maternity Unit in Lichfield… awaits clarification…. and more insight in to central (Government) policy. For outpatient and diagnostic services….. we are focussing on clarifying the future in the Lichfield and Burntwood areas. For day case surgery, we can see some benefit in rationalising services onto sites in Cannock and Tamworth. For renal dialysis….. views will be sought…. on the difficult choices that face us. For minor injury services, we should await the impact of NHS Direct"

"So, far from reassuring everyone, more local services are now in doubt than even I feared. In addition to the Maternity Unit and the Dialysis Unit at the Victoria Hospital, question marks are now thrown up over the future of the Minor Injuries Unit at the Vic, the use of the Operating Theatre at the Vic and even out-patient consulting services which moved to the Victoria Hospital where senior consultants from hospitals in the west midlands come to see patients in Lichfield rather than Lichfield and Burntwood patients having to travel far afield.

"I regard this as serious news and will be taking the whole issue up again with Alan Millburn, the Health Secretary. NHS Direct, a phone-in service, is no substitute for visiting the minor injuries unit at the Victoria Hospital. A broken arm can’t be plastered over the telephone. Surely, even the cost-saving spin doctors in Government can see that!

"Meanwhile, this uncertainty will upset staff and patients. It will inhibit recruitment until there is certainty. When I challenged Alan Millburn in Parliament last Thursday over reports that the Government have instructed health authorities to delay any closures in Staffordshire until after the next general election, he did not deny it.

"The Government has a lot to answer for. While I did not believe the New Labour Anthem ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, I did not realise how in three short years how things could get so worse", says Michael Fabricant.