Vince Cable

Last Monday I attended the official opening, by Gordon Brown, of the new West Middlesex hospital. It is a state-of-the-art building constructed on time and within budget to replace the old workhouse that housed the hospital for decades. For 70% of the residents who live in my constituency and use the West Middlesex (rather than Kingston) the development should be good news. For the staff it should be a major boost to morale.

I recall the hunger strike of two determined local women, a decade ago, when it seemed we would lose a local hospital altogether. Having played a modest part in lobbying ministers in 1997 to push ahead with the development, it is gratifying to know that it is possible to help make things happen.

I was initially sceptical that the use of the Private Finance Initiative was appropriate; but PFI has delivered as it has for local primary schools and the new laboratory of our leading, high tech, employer the NPL.

The opening was celebrating a genuine achievement: something the NHS should be proud of. There was however a nasty sting in the tail. I discovered later that, while Gordon Brown and the hospital managers were making speeches, the Accident and Emergency ward was overwhelmed with patients and had to close its doors; that emergency cases were kept waiting for nine hours or more; and that, eventually, patients were shipped out to other hospitals. I had received earlier complaints of "teething problems" from patients and staff. Something is very seriously wrong either with the management or the level of staffing.

The lesson is a salutary one. Health care is essentially about skilled people caring for other people. Buildings are important but secondary.