PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE Response to dissolution of Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Hospital Trust - Tory-led Government failing Stafford

says Kate Godfrey Jeremy Hunt has announced that he will accept the TSA report into the future of Stafford Hospital, dissolving Mid-Staffs Foundation Trust and seriously downgrading services delivered at the hospital. Under the plans, core hospital services will be removed from Stafford Hospital, including twenty-four hour A&E, paediatrics and obstetric-led maternity. A promised additional review of maternity provision will simply add further costs, while undermining confidence in the proposed midwife-led unit. The appointment of TSAs at Stafford was financially driven, with Mid-Staffs forecasting a 20.2m deficit in 2013. Savings measures outlined in the initial TSA report would have reduced the annual deficit to 8.2m by 2017-2018. The cost of transferring services to Stoke-on-Trent will be 220m. Minimal information has been shared on the working of the new trust, with no guarantees that services wont be further reconfigured. Stafford patients will have to travel twenty miles to Stoke -on-Trent, at an impossible cost for many local families. The dissolution of Mid-Staffs and loss of hospital services have been strongly opposed by local people, with protest marches attracting more than 50,000 people. Labours Parliamentary candidate for Stafford Kate Godfrey said, Staffords MP Jeremy Lefroy claims to have serious concerns about the effect that losing our key hospital services will have on Stafford - a town which under this Tory-led government has already lost so much. Like everyone in Stafford, Im heartbroken that the Tories have chosen to attack our hospital again and again. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunts statement is an insult to the people of Stafford, and the staff at the Hospital, who have worked so hard to turn Stafford into one of the best-performing hospitals in the region. We were told that the TSA process was financially driven, and that there was no criticism of the clinical performance. We know that services may be moved from Stafford into units which are performing at a lesser standard. What a slap in the face then for Jeremy Hunt now to say that this is about quality of care and that downgrading Stafford Hospital secures a first-rate offer for local people. The TSA report commissioned and championed by Jeremy Hunt wont even save money. To tackle a deficit which could easily have been reduced to 8m per year - a much lower figure than seen in other Trusts who have not so far been subjected to the TSA regime - the government is prepared to spend 220m. They want to demonstrate that by using the Special Administrative regime, they can move much needed local services away from communities at any time - the principle rejected after legal challenge at Lewisham. The government havent listened to people in Stafford, and this conclusion to our long campai gn is immensely disturbing and distressing. We deserve better, and its about time our Conservative MP stood up and fought for us instead of backing the government. Under Labour, Stafford Hospital would have had a different future. Visiting Stafford on the 14th February, Labours Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham called the plans to downgrade Stafford Hospital a kick

in the teeth for Stafford, and saying that people in Stafford deserve a safe and sustainable hospital with the functions of a district general hospital, including 24 hour A&E and maternity services. Local campaigners have said that they will continue to oppose services losses at Stafford, and are looking at challenging the TSA recommendations in court. In 2013 Labours Prospective Pa rliamentary Candidate Kate Godfrey forced Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy to say that he would lead the same set of recommendations through judicial review if needed, with the Tory Leader of Stafford Borough Council Mike Heenan committing to finding the funds for challenge. Cllr Heenan said, I am not prepared to let our local hospital be downgraded, which is what these proposals will do. Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Kate Godfrey is calling on Jeremy Lefroy and Cllr Heenan to fulfil their promises of action on the hospital. ENDS