Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears was yesterday accused of hypocrisy after joining protests against the closure of the maternity unit of a hospital in her constituency – reports the Yorkshire Post.
The Labour Party chair insisted she supports the government’s plans to "reconfigure" services in the NHS but said this should not stop her from opposing a particular closure as a constituency MP.
The maternity unit as Salford’s Hope Hospital is slated for closure as part of a reorganisation of mothers’ and children’s services agreed earlier this month by primary care trusts (PCTs) in the Greater Manchester area.
The changes are part of a programme of reconfiguration of the NHS, which chief executive David Nicholson has said will lead to 60 closures – mainly of maternity and casualty units – in the coming years.
Campaigners at Health Emergency accused Ms Blears of riding on the back of local protests while being complicit in government policies which are driving closures.
"There are 29 hospitals up and down the country facing the immediate threat of cuts and closure to key services in 2007", said head of campaigns Geoff Martin.
"If the closure of maternity services is wrong in Salford its wrong in all those other parts of the country as well, and Blears should be piling on pressure to ditch the cuts policy or she should resign."
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "This is astonishing behaviour from Hazel Blears – you cannot back a policy on the national stage and then campaign against it in your own constituency."
- Article contributed by: B.S., Hull
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