News story

19th September 2003

Massive Response to Local MP over NHS

Steve Webb in his constituency office studying just some of the thousands of replies that he
has received to his NHS survey.

Northavon MP Steve Webb is getting an overwhelming response to his current survey of local residents on their views about the future of local health services. By the middle of September over 6,000 survey forms had been returned, with replies still pouring in. This is the biggest response that the MP has had to any consultation he has ever undertaken since he was first elected in 1997.

The survey asks local residents for their views on local hospital services, including the future of casualty departments, and about what health services they want to see in their local community. It also covers wider health issues such as the system of “star ratings” for hospital trusts and the coverage of NHS dentistry in the area. When all the replies to the survey have been received, a full report will be published and will be sent to health chiefs at local NHS trusts and also to the head of the area health authority.

Steve Webb said that a detailed analysis of the responses will take some time, and that more replies were welcome, but that some early patterns were clear. “The huge scale of the response to this survey so far shows me that local people are very eager to be involved at the earliest possible stage in decisions about local hospitals and health services, and that they feel very passionately about these issues. Many people wrote
on their forms that this was the first time anyone had actually asked their opinion on these matters. Whilst local Trusts do plan public consultation of their own, I am concerned that sometimes “consultation” is really no more than persuading people about something you have already decided. That is not acceptable, and that is why I launched my survey when I did”.

The MP said that he wanted to thank the “army” of volunteer deliverers who are helping to hand-deliver the survey to households across his Northavon constituency. If any Northavon resident has not received a form they can still take part either by clicking here to fill in the form online or by calling his office on 01454 322100 and asking for a survey form to complete.