Most new hospitals 'sited in Labour constituencies'

The Government was accused of playing politics with public money after it emerged that 80% of spending on new hospitals had gone to Labour constituencies.

Figures released to Parliament showed that of the 47 hospitals built since 1997, 33 serve areas currently represented by a Labour MP. That compares to 10 in Tory and two in Liberal Democrat territory.

One new hospital is in the Respect party's sole seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, and the final one serves several different constituencies in Avon and Wiltshire.

Overall, the capital value of the projects - almost all undertaken through the public finance initiative - was around £4.1 billion, of which nearly £3.3 billion was allocated in Labour constituencies.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, who obtained the data by tabling questions in the Commons, insisted patients in Conservative and Liberal Democrat areas would not understand why they were missing out on new facilities. Cutbacks were also being targeted at opposition party seats, he claimed.

"Last year, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt launched a policy dictating that care should be provided at home and not in hospitals," he said.

"Patients in Conservative and Lib Dem areas will be wondering why it is their hospitals which have to close in support of the policy, while patients in Labour areas benefit from virtually all the spending Labour is committing to building new hospitals which are, apparently, unnecessary."

However, health minister Andy Burnham denied there was any political motive behind where projects were located.

"Patient need, not party politics, drives the building of new NHS hospitals.

The local NHS, not Ministers, puts forward proposals for new hospitals based on the requirements of local patients.

"There is a very clear process determining which major hospital projects go ahead, based on demand for services, social deprivation, value for money and affordability.

"Patients living in constituencies up and down the country continue to benefit from the biggest hospital building programme in the history of the NHS.

"Over one hundred major new hospital projects worth more than £10 billion have either already opened or have started construction since 1997 as we rectify years of under investment," he added.

Labour currently holds 353 of the 646 seats in the Commons, compared to the Tories' 198 and the Liberal Democrats' 63.

Mrs Hewitt came under fire earlier this week after the University Hospital of Leicester, which serves her constituency, reportedly received a funding boost while other trusts across the country were being ordered to cut building costs.

More than a dozen ministers, including Labour chair Hazel Blears and Home Secretary John Reid, have also been condemned as hypocrites for backing the tough Government policy on restructuring while campaigning against cutbacks in their own seats.

Copyright Press Association 2007.

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