ANOTHER week, another untruthful statement from Labour to be corrected.
Last week it was about our plans for Sure Start. This week it is our plans for the NHS.
The Labour MP for Harrow West is writing to residents saying the Conservatives will cut NHS funding. Not true. The NHS is our number one priority. We will sustain and defend the values of the NHS as a comprehensive health service, funded through taxation, available to all, free at the point of use, based on need and not ability to pay. To coin a phrase, we'll cut the deficit not the NHS.
We will always make sure the NHS is supported with the funding it needs. An ageing population, greater expectations and new medical opportunities are putting an increasing pressure on limited resources.
That's why we have committed to real increases in the NHS budget every year. This will allow us to defend local services, protecting patients from cuts and closures for which there is no clinical rationale.
Instead the Labour MPs should do their job and oppose the Labour government's plans (as detailed in the NHS London Strategic Plan) to cut five out of eight A&E departments in north west London. The BMA have identified that this plan could result in 'shutting 5,600 beds and could downgrade or close around 12 district general hospitals'. The BMA said" "These cuts will turn a crisis in health-care into a disaster for some."
DR RACHEL JOYCE
Conservative parliamentary candidate for Harrow West
