Doctor wins seat in fight to save hospital

Richard Taylor, the doctor who took a parliamentary seat from a Labour minister in the battle to save his local hospital, has vowed that he will fight against the privatisation of the NHS.

Dr Taylor, a retired physician, caused the biggest upset of election night when he overturned a Labour majority of 6000 votes to take the seat of Wyre Forest in Worcestershire. He had fought his campaign to reverse the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital, and it clearly captured the imagination of the electorate. Dr Taylor polled 28487 votes compared with sitting MP David Lock's 10857 votes.

Dr Taylor, who worked at the hospital for almost 25 years, told the BMJ that he was not a “single issue” candidate.

“Saving the hospital is only one of our issues. By far the most important thing is the state of the NHS and what the government is doing to it. A tremendous concern of many people is the increasing involvement of the private sector: the private finance initiative, public-private partnerships and paying for long term elderly care. These are damaging the health services beyond repair,” he said.

Last September Kidderminster hospital lost all of its acute services, including the accident and emergency and intensive care units. Patients now have to travel between 18 and 35 miles to get to their nearest accident and emergency department.

According to Allyson Pollock, professor of health policy at University College London, Kidderminster Hospital lost out to make way for a brand new hospital in Worcester to be built under the private finance initiative, the budget for which rose from £49m ($68.6m) to £108m.

Professor Pollock said: “What's triggered the closure of Kidderminster hospital is that the cost of the [private finance initiative] has escalated. That money is not paid for up front, it's paid for every year: out of the clinical services budget. Worcestershire health authority could not afford to pay the private sector consultants and keep clinical services in Kidderminster running.”

Dr Taylor is part of a campaigning group, known as Health Concern, which was set up three years ago to fight the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital. The group now has a majority of 17 seats on the Wyre Forest District Council.

He said that he would remain as MP until the next election whatever happens. “I'm not going to give up and I will be the MP for the next four or five years. I'm 66 and I'm fairly fit but I doubt I will want to go on for too long.”

But Dr Taylor's election success has not changed the plans of Worcester health authority. The chief executive, Pat Archer-Jones, said: “Our plans for modernisation and improvement of health services have been widely publicised and formally approved by ministers. We will continue to work with the trusts and primary care groups to implement these changes and ensure we do not compromise on quality and care and high standards of clinical governance.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the members of his new government this week. The health team is as follows: the health secretary is Alan Milburn, the ministers of state are John Hutton and Jaqui Smith, and the parliamentary secretaries are Lord Hunt, Hazel Blears, and Yvette Cooper.