Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps kept up his fight for the QE2 Hospital this week at a meeting with Conservative Health Spokesman Andrew Lansley MP.

Lansley, who will be in charge of the NHS if the Conservatives win the election, said he hoped some services could be saved despite Labour pushing the Hospital ‘over the tipping point’.

Shapps started the cross-party ‘Hospital SOS’ campaign in 2005 to fight against closures at the QE2. Despite overwhelming opposition from local people, Ministers pushed ahead with closing Maternity, Paediatrics, Elderly Care, A & E, all Operations and other departments. The only remaining Hospitals in Hertfordshire are in Stevenage and Watford – both Labour marginal seats. Spending at the Lister in Stevenage has been racing ahead, meaning reversal of the QE2 decision has become impossible. However, Lansley, who also visited the Hospital and met with local health bosses in October last year, said he hoped to salvage some departments if the Conservatives win the election:

“People can't understand why Labour is slashing the A&E and Maternity units when the Welwyn Hatfield population is growing fast."

“Grant has told me about the daily congestion  along the A1(M) on the way to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage. The last thing we want is babies born by the side of the motorway or emergency cases travelling further than necessary. That's why I've said that we would like to see some form of A&E and Maternity retained at the QE2."

Grant Shapps added, “It’s a scandal that Labour have hurried through spending at the Lister in Stevenage depriving Welwyn Hatfield of the main parts of our Hospital. It stinks of NHS gerrymandering for political ends.

”So Andrew and I are going to meet with local PCT representatives and see where we can go from here, particularly if we win the election.”

ENDS