Long Winchester waiting times show need for extra hospital funding

11.13.04am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 12th Jun 2007

Martin Tod, Winchester Lib Dem campaigner says, 'RHCH needs fairer funding'

Government waiting time statistics published last Thursday show that only 22% of patients referred to the Winchester & Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust are treated within 18 weeks of referral - one of the lowest scores in England.

Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrat MP commented:

Over the last 10 years, the hospital has had a constant battle to get money from the Labour Government. Now these figures show that underfunding is hitting my constituent's health service. Frankly, it's not good enough.

Martin Tod, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate commented:

We've been saying for some time that 'enough is enough' when it comes to cuts in local budgets and services - and these latest figures seem to confirm it. We were the only party locally to say that this year's cuts were putting too much pressure on care. Too many sick people are having to wait too long for treatment in the Winchester area. The Royal Hampshire County Hospital needs fairer funding. The Government's formula must be revised to give us a fairer share of the total, not more cuts.

From http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/rtt/provider.html