Blair mulls over NHS military wards
Tuesday, 17 Oct 2006 16:00
Tony Blair was faced with some difficult questions on the NHS and Iraq
Tony Blair has revealed that he is considering treating soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan on military wards in NHS hospitals.
Speaking at his monthly press conference, the prime minister revealed that the government would soon be making an announcement about the plan.
"The expert advice we have is that some of the most serious injuries are best treated in specialist services in the NHS," he said.
"But we are looking at military-managed wards in the NHS."
The proposal follows critical reports that servicemen and women returning injured from conflict areas were being treated in civilian wards, with some said to have been faced with anti-war protestors during their treatment.
In a heated question-and-answer session at Downing Street, meant to focus on the NHS, Mr Blair was also forced to defend the government after comments from army chief Richard Dannatt about how long British forces should stay in Iraq.
In apparent off-line comments to journalists last week, General Dannatt said that British forces should leave Iraq "sometime soon" and also hinted that the UK and US had been "naïve" in thinking that they could create a liberal democracy in the country.
But Mr Blair sought to play down the comments, which have been broadly welcomed by the army rank-and-file.
"In no sense was he saying, and no-one should say, that we should get out before the job is done. He is not saying we should leave Iraq now," the prime minister said.
He added that the general had "spelt it out very well – we want a functioning democracy, a functioning economy and security that is in the hands of the Iraqi forces".
On the NHS, Mr Blair admitted that "tremendous challenges" faced the health service but that it was improving overall.
Employers' group the NHS Confederation and the Conservative party recently suggested that 20,000 jobs are being cut from UK hospitals as part of cost-cutting measures, but Mr Blair dismissed this.
"This is a figure we don't believe is compulsory redundancies at all, which is what most people think of as job cuts. The vast majority is either posts that are unfilled or people who will be redeployed," he said.
"As far as I can see the [real job loss] figure is far short of that," adding that he estimated that a "few hundred" jobs would be lost.