Blair and Howard clash on health
A heated session of Prime Minister’s Question Time saw Tony Blair and Michael Howard trade blows on the National Health Service.
Whereas Mr Howard focused on the number of patients who face having their operations cancelled, Mr Blair said this was the exception not the norm and the Conservatives were not fit to run the NHS.
The Tory leader brought up the case of pensioner Margaret Dixon who has allegedly had her operation cancelled seven times – including when she was actually in hospital and prepared.
And Mr Howard claimed that the number of operations being cancelled in the NHS was rising.
He said increased spending had not reached the front line, with numbers of bureaucrats and NHS managers exceeding those of front line health care professionals.
Hitting back, Mr Blair said he would look into the details of the case and said that, if true, it would be “completely unacceptable”.
However, he replied that “the vast majority of people in our National Health Service are treated extremely well”, waiting lists were falling and the number of operations cancelled was a very small percentage of operations.
Mr Blair accused the Tories of “using an individual case to undermine the basic principles of the National Health Service.
“Yes there are problems – but there are problems in any health care system”, he said, and pointed out that the Conservatives had opposed extra capital spending which has provided extra wards, hospitals and reduced cancer and cardiac deaths.
The Tories, according to Mr Blair, want to take £1 billion out of the NHS for their voucher scheme. “Don’t these Tories ever learn?” he asked.
Growing visibly angry, Mr Blair asserted, “they’ve never changed, they never will change, which is why they should never get back in charge of our national health service”.
He said the Conservative voucher scheme would penalise all those patients who were unable to afford to pay half of the cost of the operation. “How is an old age pensioner who is living on a pension going to afford a hip operation?”
Michael Howard replied that the number of private operations taking place had tripled under this government, with 250,000 patients now going private.
Mr Blair said he would be “delighted” to spend the next few months arguing about the NHS, and which party would be better – presumably a reference to the upcoming general election campaign during which public services are likely to come high up the agenda.
