NHS op cancellation row rumbles on
The political row over the cancellations of pensioner Margaret Dixon’s shoulder operation has rumbled on into its third day – with both parties accusing the other of lying.
The case of Mrs Dixon, whose shoulder operation has been cancelled between three and seven times – depending on whose figures you take – was first raised by Conservative leader Michael Howard at Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday. He claimed that Mrs Dixon had had her operation cancelled seven times, claiming this was systematic of a general failure of the Government’s running of the NHS, saying extra investment was failing to get through to the front line.
Tony Blair hit back, saying that – if true – the case was “unacceptable”. But he said that the NHS was improving and claimed the Tories were denigrating the efforts of thousands of NHS staff.
It appears that there have been delays to Mrs Dixon’s operation because the high-dependency care beds that she would need after the operation have been required for more urgent cases – three times, according to the hospital.
Yesterday, the Health Secretary, John Reid, visited the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust which is at the centre of the row. There he met patients and staff but after being told that Conservative press officers were with Mrs Dixon decided not to visit her.
Speaking this morning on BBC One’s ‘Breakfast’, the Health Secretary was keen to stress that he had not promised to visit Ms Dixon.
But Dr Reid explained how he was prepared to meet her until he discovered phone calls from his office to Ms Dixon were apparently being received by Conservative press men.
“Indeed, the invitation seems to have been issued by them as well,” he added.
“I’m always willing to visit patients and I met a lot yesterday, but not political stunts by the Conservative Party.”
But Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley rejected any suggestion that the Conservatives were using the case as a political stunt.
Mr Lansley said: “Margaret Dixon speaks for herself. She has made perfectly clear that she has no political axe to grind and in fact she told us she voted for Labour in the last two elections. Dealing with the media can be intimidating and so one press officer from the North West has been helping her – simply to assist her with logistics. We have never made any secret about this.
“However, we have already said that if this is really the only problem that John Reid has, then the press officer will leave the house while John Reid meets her. John Reid used this as a feeble excuse for avoiding a meeting her because he knows he has no answers to his failure to deliver improvements in the NHS.”
And it now emerges that Mr Howard has written to Dr Reid accusing him of telling lies about the Conservative health policy.
Dr Reid has said in a number of radio and television interviews that Labour would continue to provide “completely free” NHS care, claiming that the Conservatives would be “cutting investment and introducing charges for earlier operations”.
Mr Howard has apparently written to Dr Reid demanding a retraction of claims that the Tories wish to introduce charges for NHS operations, but so far it seems that Dr Reid is sticking to his guns.
The ferocity displayed on both sides of the row seems to indicate that health is gearing up to be a key general election issue.
