Thursday, June 07, 2007

SNP Saves Hospital That Labour Wanted to Close

I wonder if John Reid will be writing Alex Salmond a thank you note. The new SNP Executive has fulfilled a manifesto commitment and reversed a decision by the previous Lab/Lib Coalition to close the A&E unit at Monklands Hospital. According to The Herald:
"Home Secretary John Reid whose constituency includes Monklands was one of the
first to welcome the move, even though it is the result of the SNP taking power
from Labour in the Scottish Parliament.' It is the outcome that myself and other
local representatives have been fighting for' said the former Westminster Health
Secretary"

Indeed.

9 comments:

Old BE said...

And yet most of the time ministers can't see the connection with their decisions at Westminster and the direct results "on the ground".

Anonymous said...

Lanarkshire Health Board operates 3 A&E units, 2 of which are based in PFI hospitals.

To save money it tried to close Monklands A&E which is the non-PFI Hospital even though it is the most efficient unit.

It couldn't make any savings on the other two because they're locked into Gordon Browns favourite off-book financial sleight-of-hand, PFI, under 30 contracts.

The wonders of PFI. I wonder if John Reid's going to come out against it now? Just joking.

Anonymous said...

'Do what I say, but not what I think' seems then to be Reid's outlook.

I wonder what he thinks about his latest anti-terrorist proposals?

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for the SNP to do something similar in Brown's constituency.

Anonymous said...

Dr Reid is a true chamelion. A 'dedicated' communist now a New Labour Minister, I ask you.

Do not be surprised if he joins the SNP and becomes their voice in Westminster.

Do not like the guy but he would be a formidable foe to Brown.

Anonymous said...

The cartoon the Glasgow Herald is brilliant on this issue ...
basically a man going into Monklands A&E after fainting from reading a newspaper with headline "Politican keeps promise" - -- some team the SNP it would seem.

Anonymous said...

Well, being in the Scottish Republic of Alba , Salmond is still kicking the proverbial crap out of the opposition in the Reichstag. A priceless humiliation of the wet and guileless Libbie 'leader' Nicol Stephen - limper than lettuce-( real 'leader' Tavish Scott) was the highlight of FMQ's today. Another noticeable thing about what's going on is that SNP/Salmond is being relatively pleasant to the Conservatives! Who'd have thought!Btw- Reid being damaged goods (Primarologate) is astute enough not to try it on with Big Eck.

Anonymous said...

So he supports a policy of keeping open threatened A&E facilities IN HIS OWN CONSTITUENCY, but supports IN ENGLAND policies which leads to such facilities being closed.

More ammunition for not allowing MPS for Scottish constituencies to vote on purely English issues

Anonymous said...

In twenty years or less, Scotland will be a thriving small country while the England we know will be on its knees.

And the most popular name for boys born in England will be Mohammed.
(It's at number 2 now!)