Interview: Jeremy Hunt defends his record on Shropshire hospitals
Prime Ministerial hopeful Jeremy Hunt has defended his record on Shropshire's hospitals, claiming he had "prepared the NHS for the future" during his time as Health Secretary.
The rank outsider in the Tory leadership contest, who was Health Secretary during the conception of the county's controversial Future Fit hospital re-organisation, insisted that people in Shropshire would have "better, safer, and higher quality care" thanks to record investment under his watch.
His comments come as Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has appointed Paula Clark as its interim chief executive.
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The long-delayed plan, which is currently awaiting the green light from Mr Hunt's successor at the Department of Health, Matt Hancock, would see Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) house the county's only A&E, with Telford's Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) losing its emergency department.
PRH's consultant-led women and children's unit would also move to RSH.
The plan has proved controversial, with Telford & Wrekin Council asking the Department of Heath to throw it out, but Mr Hunt told the Shropshire Star that Future Fit would result in an unprecedented level of investment in the county's hospitals – not matched anywhere else in the country.
Outcomes
He said: "There has been a £300 million investment in Shropshire hospitals that is not happening anywhere else in the country.
"What that means is that people in Telford, people in Shrewsbury, people all over Shropshire and people in Wales who come over the border for healthcare, are going to have better, safer, higher quality care.
"They will see better outcomes for the major diseases. It's a big, big investment. Of course I understand that people worry when you make changes to the way health services are delivered, but medicine is a science that is changing the whole time.
"If we want the best outcomes for people in Shropshire, then you need to invest in the latest techniques, the latest technologies and medicines.
"I'm really pleased for Shropshire that we are making that investment."
Mr Hunt, who spent six years in the health department before becoming Foreign Secretary, conceded he had faced "some major challenges" in turning failing hospitals around.
Prepared
He said it had "not been an easy process" but said: "Hospitals today are safer than they were before."
He pointed out that he had negotiated "the biggest increase in NHS funding in its history", referring to the £20 billion extra for doctors and nurses announced last year.
"It takes seven years to train a doctor, so it will take a bit of time for that money to get through," he said.
"What we will see at the end of it is that I was a Health Secretary who prepared the NHS for the future."
Mr Hunt was in the Midlands ahead of today's first members' leadership hustings in Birmingham, where he was due to face off against odds on favourite Boris Johnson.
'I will deliver a safe Brexit for Shropshire'
Jeremy Hunt says he is the man to deliver a “safe” Brexit for Shropshire – but warned that he will take the country out of the EU without a deal if Brussels refuses to play ball.
The Foreign Secretary insists he has the best chance of thrashing out “a better Brexit deal” that protects businesses across the county.
In an interview with the Shropshire Star, Mr Hunt also pledged to combat knife crime by putting more police on the streets, said he would stamp out illiteracy and defended his record on the NHS.
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On Brexit, Mr Hunt revealed he had spoken to a Shropshire farmer who was introduced to him at a dinner in the county by his campaign manager, Ludlow MP Philip Dunne.
“The farmer told me that 95 per cent of his exports go to Europe and a 40 per cent tariff would destroy his business,” said Mr Hunt, who backed Remain in the EU referendum.
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“My message to farmers in Shropshire is that while we have to deliver our democratic mandate – which means leaving the EU, and if the only way we can leave is without a deal then that’s what we will do – they would be best to choose someone who has a got a chance of negotiating a better deal. That person is me.”
He said he believed people wanted a Prime Minister who would be “sensible, competent, and make sure we leave quickly and in a way that doesn’t damage business”.
Speaking during a visit to Titan Steel Wheels in Kidderminster, he said: “I’m here at a business that makes half the wheels for the whole of Europe that are used off road, for things like diggers and tractors and things like that.
“If we get our Brexit deal wrong, this factory will be closed down and turned into a housing estate, and there’s 350 people employed here.
“I’m a businessman myself, I set up my own business, I know what it’s like to run a business with really thin margins. I think that’s what people in the West Midlands want.”
Knife crime
Asked about his plans to combat the country’s knife crime epidemic, Mr Hunt conceded that cuts to police budgets “went too far” under the Conservative Government.
“We have got to have more police,” he said, before vowing to “deal with the cause of the problem” by giving young people “a future”.
“We still have a quarter of primary school leavers not able to read or write properly. What future have they got to look forward to?”
Asked whether that was down to the successive Tory administrations cutting education budgets, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t think it is mainly about funding. I think it is mainly about standards.
“If money is part of the issue then we need to look at that.
“I want us to be the Conservative Government that abolished illiteracy and so that every single young person leaves our education system with a rigorous qualification, that means that they can get a decently paid job.”
Mr Hunt insisted he was not just “making up the numbers” in a leadership contest that many believe Mr Johnson will win easily.
“I’m the outsider and in these races it is the outsider that wins,” he said, before describing his opponent as “a talented politician who I like enormously”.
Defended
“When it gets to the final two members go back to the start and think, who do I actually trust to be our Prime Minister, who do I trust to get us out of the Brexit crisis?
“It was a shock when I got into the final two and I think we are going to have another shock in five weeks time.”
During his six years as Health Secretary Mr Hunt oversaw the fallout of the Mid Staffs hospital scandal.
But he defended his record and said he had “prepared the NHS for the future.
Mr Hunt needed just two words when giving his view of HS2, saying simply: “Back it.”
He was due to face Tory members this afternoon in Birmingham for the first of 16 leadership election hustings events to be held across the country.
