RE: Letter from Mrs Christine Plested earlier this month about Wycombe’s Tory MP Steve Baker, headlined “I may vote for him now”.

I WAS very surprised to see Steve Baker being described as someone who puts the ‘views and interests of his constituents over the party line’ when he very clearly does not.

On occasion, when his views happen to chime with a few Wycombe residents he may appear to do so, however if we look at what he has done on the NHS we can see that he actively works against the common interest of the majority of his constituents.

Although Mr Baker was happy to vote against the government on Europe and betray the coalition agreement by voting against Lords Reform (I’ll resist the temptation to say ‘we warned you Mr Clegg’), Mr Baker was happy to vote for the budgets which cut the funding to the NHS by £20billion, and happy to vote for the Health and Social Care Act. This, remember is the Act which will result in: 

  • a postcode lottery. With no national standards there will be widespread variation in the treatments available on the NHS. In some areas, people may have to go private to get services available for free elsewhere.
  • longer waiting times. The Health and Social Care Act scraps the cap on hospitals treating private patients at the same time as watering down guarantees on NHS waiting times. This means local hospitals will be free to treat more private patients and make NHS patients wait longer. The pledge that a patient will be able to see a primary healthcare professional in 24 hours and a GP in 48 hours has also been scrapped
  • healthcare being privatised allowing private providers to tender for contracts. The Act turns the NHS into a full-blown commercial market, putting competition before patient care. It allows private companies to cherry-pick quick profits, potentially forcing local hospitals to go bust. Hospitals could even be fined for working together. The Act will also subject the NHS to European competition law.
  • undermining the bond of trust between doctors and patients. It creates conflicts of interest where financial incentives could interfere with medical decisions. GPs could even get a bonus for rationing care.
  •  the wasting of money and creation of bureaucracy. It is unforgivable to spend £2 billion on a reckless re-organisation when the NHS needs every penny it can get for patient care. Nearly £1 billion is being wasted on pay-offs for managers, only for many of them to be re-employed as consultants. This is particularly reckless when added to the £20 billion being cut from the NHS budget.

Lest you think that this is Labour Party scaremongering, the Act has been opposed by virtually every professional healthcare body, including the BMA and the Royal College of Nursing. Indeed in March this year 69% of members of the Royal College of Physicians when surveyed said the bill should be ‘rejected as it stands’.

Would Mr Baker or any of his supporters please explain how any of the above is in the interests of High Wycombe constituents who rely on the NHS along with other care services, or does he or they not care?

Mark Ferris, Secretary Wycombe Labour