Prime Minister And The National Health Service

EDM number 947 in 1993-94, proposed by Alice Mahon on 24/03/1994.

That this House notes that the Prime Minister was unaware of the facts as given in a Parliamentary Answer by the Minister of State for Health, the Right honourable Gentleman for Peterborough on 1st March on the substantial increase in the use of cars by NHS trusts, when responding to the Leader of the Opposition on 15th March; regrets that he has failed to acknowledge the facts given in that answer; invites the Prime Minister to acknowledge that he gave misinformation to the House on 8th March when he stated that 'we spend something over ú15 billion a year on drugs in the primary care sector', given that the actual figure is just over ú3 billion; invites him to acknowledge that he gave misinformation to the House on 14th December 1993 when he stated that administration costs in the NHS were 'about two per cent.' of total costs when, in fact, they amount to 10.8 per cent. of total costs according to Department of Health statistics; invites him to acknowledge that he gave misinformation to the House on 13th January when he said there was a 'declining trend' in the number of patients waiting over a year on NHS waiting lists, given that official figures for the last three quarters show the numbers waiting over a year to be rising; hopes that he will now consult more closely with his Right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health about the facts concerning the National Health Service and that he will listen to the real concerns of patients about priorities in the NHS; and demands that he apologises to the House for providing incorrect information to it on several occasions and corrects this misinformation.

This motion has been signed by a total of 55 MPs.