I would like to re-iterate my admiration for the magnificent day-to-day job the nurses, doctors and staff do at George Eliot Hospital. Their work has helped to ensure significant improvements over the last few years.
It is deeply disappointing that UNISON, who fund the Labour Party, have disgracefully misquoted the local Conservative Party in order to manufacture a smear story the day before the election. Sir Bruce Keogh has indeed said that he does not agree with equating 'excess' deaths with 'avoidable' deaths. Neither do we, and we have never done so. It is appalling for UNISON to literally make up quotes claiming that we have used.
Sir Bruce did report that there had been 986 excessive deaths at the George Eliot Hospital from 2005, and as a result the Eliot was put into Special Measures. Those are the facts.
One of the lessons we learned from the Francis Inquiry into the Mid-Staffs scandal, was that the NHS suffers when politicians sweep bad news under the carpet and refuse to accept problems as the previous Labour Government repeatedly did. As a result of tackling problems at the Eliot head on they are now out of Special Measures, investing in their buildings and in new equipment, they have more doctors and more nurses than in 2010, and they have recently been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission. We have consistently praised the fantastic job done by the staff at the Eliot in rising to the challenge of the Keogh recommendations and we are proud of the improvements that we have all seen.
I have seen first-hand what an incredible job the staff do at our local hospital. If elected I will work to ensure a better future for both staff and patients at the George Eliot and push for even more investment.