Hastings & Rye MP Michael Foster has challenged the Tories following last week’s attack on local hospitals and their staff. The MP labelled their suggestion that local NHS staff allowed patients to be discharged from Hospital malnourished as “irresponsible scaremongering”.

The local hospital trust has already made clear that many patients enter hospital malnourished. Sometimes in consequence of illness and sometimes by reason of the medication they are receiving.

Michael Foster MP said:

“When these patients leave hospital some are still ‘malnourished’ according the technical definition. The purpose of identifying these patients is to ensure those responsible for their health, such as GPs, are made aware of the need for follow up care. The suggestion that this is somehow due to a failure of the NHS is disingenuous. In the main staff do an excellent job.

“An independent review suggested that the Conquest food is good. Are the Tories really suggesting that patients be forced to stay in hospital until they reach the ideal weight? That would put a huge and unnecessary burden on the NHS without any benefit to the patient.

“Statistics are fine if properly used but this sort of misrepresentation does a disservice to hard working NHS staff and to the Tory party who claim to have changed their mind about the importance of our much loved NHS.”