Baldry invites new Health Secretary Andy Burnham to visit Horton hospital
5 June 2009
One of the first letters to hit the desk of the new Health Secretary, Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham MP, this afternoon is a letter from North Oxfordshire MP inviting him to visit the Horton General Hospital as soon as possible.
"Some while ago Alan Johnson , when Secretary of State for Health, accepted an invitation at the despatch box to come and visit the Horton. Indeed, there was actually a firm date in the diary for such a visit a few weeks ago, but it got postponed because of Parliamentary business" said Tony Baldry. "Alan Johnson has been a good supporter of Horton, and accepted in full the recommendation of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel that a long-term solution needed to be found to ensure that 24/7 children’s and maternity services can be retained at the Horton. "
"I think it is very important that we try and get the new Secretary of State to visit the Horton General Hospital as soon as possible so that they can be aware of the issues and that we can get that unequivocal "buy in" to the work of the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and the local community are doing to make sure that we keep the Horton general".
Below is a copy of the letter sent to the Secretary of State.
Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham, MP
Secretary of State
Department of Health
Richmond House
79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS
5 June 2009
Dear Andy,
Very many congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State for Health.
Last year your predecessor, Alan Johnson, accepted in full the recommendation of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel regarding the future of the Horton General Hospital and seeking to ensure a balance between accessibility and safety.
Last December, in health Questions in the House of Commons, I invited Alan Johnson to come and visit the Horton General Hospital at some stage during this year so that when he considered the issues involved, he could visualise the balance that people locally were trying to strike as between accessibility and safety.
Alan Johnson responded to my question, saying that "What happened with the Horton Hospital was verification of the process and the Independent Reconfiguration Panel made those decisions on the basis of the clinical argument. I shall be glad to visit the hospital . . . "
For some time my office have been trying to find a convenient time for Alan to come and visit the Horton and indeed, he had agreed to come and visit the hospital a few weeks ago, on the 30th April, but in the event the visit had to be postponed as a consequence of Parliamentary business.
Given that this invitation has now been outstanding for the whole of this year, I would very much hype that when you and your Private Office are considering your diary commitments for the coming months, you will feel able to accept the invitation of the local community, the Primary Care Trust and the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust to come and visit the Horton General Hospital in Banbury just as soon as possible.
Yours ever,
Tony Baldry
