Funding Crisis in Primary Care Trusts
Brooks Newmark calls for a parliamentary debate on the funding crisis in the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs)?
Mr. Brooks Newmark (Braintree) (Con): Braintree community hospital was due to be completed last December. Unfortunately, not a single brick has been laid. When I asked the head of my strategic health authority what was going on, he explained that no business plan had been delivered because of the deficits in my primary care trust. May we have a debate on the funding crisis in our PCTs?
Mr. Hoon: I have made it absolutely clear repeatedly-I am sorry to have to say it again-that if the hon. Gentleman wishes to do so, he may raise the issue in the debate this afternoon, should he catch your eye, Mr. Deputy Speaker. If he cannot do so this afternoon, he could do so on Monday or Tuesday. There is every opportunity for the issues to be debated. I know that the hon. Gentleman is an extremely successful businessman and I would be astonished if he were suggesting that his businesses should run large deficits without being attended to by his accountants. His accountants would get the sack if they persisted in running deficits without attending to the underlying difficulties.
