The Government's NHS Minister visited Basingstoke and North Hants Hospital to meet with doctors to discuss the future of the health service.
The Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Andrew Lansley MP visited the hospital on Thursday, 26 August.
Mr Lansley started his day visiting the emergency department, Hants Doc (the GP out of hour’s service) and ward C2. He then had an informal meeting with 21 staff from across the Foundation Trust and a separate meeting with local GP's to hear views on the government white paper, Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS.
Mr Lansley said: “I am using this opportunity to meet staff and patients to talk about some of the key issues that I am dealing with in the white paper.
“I have never yet visited a hopsital or centre without finding something interesting and new. I found out today about the specialist services that are being performed here.
“For example, I visited the C2 which does some fantastic work working with a rare form of cancer, Pseudomyxoma peritonei.”
Mr Lansley's white paper proposes to give GP's the power to spend the NHS budget, controlling how their patients are dealt with.
He said: “Many GP's want this responsibility, most GP's want to take this on for their practice.”
Kizzy Long, a senior occupational therapist at Basingstoke and North Hants, who attended staff meeting with the MP said: “After meeting with Mr Lansley I now feel I have a better understanding of the White Paper. Mr Lansley was very open to the questions that were asked and provided comprehensive answers. He was also interested in the staffs’ views of the white paper. It was a relaxed and informal discussion.”
Hospital chief executive, Mary Edwards, said, “We are delighted to have had this excellent opportunity to show the Secretary of State around some of our excellent clinical areas at our Foundation Trust as well as having opportunities to share our views that will shape the future vision of the NHS.”
