View From The House - 4th November 1999

Reprinted From The Lichfield Mercury

I read the moving letter in the Mercury (October 28) by pensioner T A Baker who described how the Victoria Hospital was funded and built. It really would be no exaggeration to say that it was paid for, brick by brick, and built by the people of Lichfield. For the people of Lichfield. No one has the right to take it away. We all have personal memories there. Just before the 1992 election (when I was still a candidate, not yet an MP) I had gone on the Bluebell steam railway and ended up with a smut in my eye. Like so may others in Lichfield, I ended up in the big black chair in the Minor Injuries Department having the smut removed. More recently, I twisted my back in the 1997 election (as all this happens at election time, it is probably psychological!) and again was treated in minor injuries. Recently, my mother had a short spell in the ward there. We all have a vested interest in keeping the 'Vic'.

In the film "The Millionairess", Peter Sellars played an Indian doctor (not politically correct - it probably wouldn't be allowed now) who practices in the east end of London. A millionairess falls in love with him and builds him a brand new huge hospital in the centre of London. People can't easily get to it and it is so soul-less ("Age?, Sex?" a pregnant woman is asked by the admissions nurse) people stop going. The practice of medicine needs to be local when it is possible.

Of course, we all accept that specialised, complex treatment does have to be centred on district general hospitals where there is a concentration of expensive facilities which would not be used often enough in a cottage hospital. But the best judge of where a patient should be treated should be the patient's own doctor. The G.P.

A good General Practitioner has to know his or her own patient. He has to be not only good at diagnostic medicine and treatment, but a good listener too (when he has the time). Of all the doctors in the long medical chain from initial contact to final treatment, the G.P. is the key. In the early 1990s, G.P.s were finally given the funding to decide where they wanted their patients to be treated. Previously, that money had been with the regional health bureaucracies. Local doctors decided that more patients could be treated at the 'Vic'. Consultants were shipped in from major hospitals in the west midlands to provide services here in Lichfield rather than all Lichfield patients having to go to Wolverhampton or wherever. The Vic began to grow.

Then in 1997, the new Labour Government decided that the power given to local G.P.s was too much. The money had to be centralised again. The bureaucrats always know best under Labour. Never give the freedom of choice to the expert on the ground. The system of "G.P. Fundholding" was abolished and from that day, the threat to services at the Victoria Hospital (and let us not forget the Hammerwich - also under threat) became a new reality.

It is wholly unreasonable to expect Lichfeldians to take this lying down. I am moved by the spirit of a community united in its desire to save the facilities we have. Lichfield does not face a dwindling population. To the contrary. More houses will soon be built here (sadly, some of it on the green belt - another Labour move to which I strongly object when housing could be built in the inner cities to regenerate them) and our age profile is not getting any younger. We have the need for more medical facilities, not less!

On a more positive note, I am 'over the moon' that within a few months of Cllr David Smith and his team taking over Lichfield District Council after the local elections, promises are being quickly kept. We will see two theatres being built to replace the existing auditorium at the Civic Hall and the Arts and new shopping coming to the City. The pedestrianisation scheme still needs to be resolved, though I understand that the Labour controlled Staffordshire County Council have a say in this. Nevertheless, improvements are on the way.

And guess what? Do readers recall that a few years back I managed to persuade over an expensive dinner (I was paying) the Chairman of South Staffs Water to cough up enough money for a fountain in Minster Pool? (This was once the original reservoir serving Lichfield). I gather the offer is still there and this is on the cards again. Three jets of water, reflecting the three spires of the Cathedral, coming out of the Pool and oxygenating the water for the benefit of the fish and plants alike. Not only pretty, but environmentally friendly too. I think this will be an attractive feature and I hope the Council soon get on with it! (Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!)

But all these facilities can only be enjoyed by a healthy population. Lichfield is right to be angered by what is being proposed for the Vic. I will ensure that the voice of Lichfield is heard loudly in Parliament.