Election 2010: constituency watchlist for the NHS

Warwick and Leamington and Coventry North East constituencies

Results: Warwick and Leamington - Con gain from Lab; Coventry North East - Lab hold

Warwick Hospital was flagged to lose some trauma, maternity and paediatric care services in a consultation proposing to centralise specialist care at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust - in the neighbouring safe Labour seat of Coventry North East. The same proposals affected George Eliot Hospital Trust. The 2006 Coventry and Warwickshire acute services review proposed the closure of the hospital’s special care baby unit. This is now “deferred for the time being”.

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Eddisbury and Weaver Vale constituencies

Results: Eddisbury - Con hold; Weaver Vale - Con gain from Labour

Mid-Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust has two main hospital sites. One is in shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien’s safe seat of Eddisbury. The other - the Victoria Infirmary - is in Weaver Vale, which Labour is expected to lose to the Conservatives by 0.42 per cent. The hospital has previously been threatened with downgrading, but the foundation trust insists those concerns are no longer valid. Despite this, it was given fresh impetus last month when the local press suggested a planned ward refurbishment could become more permanent.

Tynemouth constituency

Result: Lab hold

North Tyneside General Hospital is in a marginal seat - Tynemouth, which is predicted to change from Labour to Conservative. The Conservative candidate has suggested the trust’s recent decision to invest in a development in a neighbouring constituency tipped to stay Labour may be “playing politics”.

Tooting constituency

Result: Lab hold

St George’s Healthcare Trust: the Conservatives hope to snatch the previously “safe Labour seat” of Tooting in south London and are predicted to succeed - if only at a margin of 1.12 per cent. The Conservative candidate has evoked an undersized maternity unit and raised concerns about cuts if Labour win.

City of Durham constituency

Result: Lab hold

County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust: University Hospital of North Durham sits in the Durham City constituency which the incumbent Labour party is predicted to lose to the Liberal Democrats by just 0.05 per cent. With seemingly everything to play for, the local Labour party kicked off its Durham campaign by celebrating the “state of the art £91m hospital” opened at the site in 2001. They contrasted that with longer waiting times under the past Conservative government and the allegation that “top Lib Dems want to break up our NHS and replace it with an insurance based system putting those unable to pay at risk”. Durham Liberal Democrats did not rise to the bait of that reference to an idea in the 2004 Orange Book - published independently of the Liberal Democrat party but with a contribution from current leader Nick Clegg. Instead they responded by “revealing” that as £60m of the new hospital was paid for through a private finance initiative, the site would eventually “cost the taxpayer more than half a billion pounds”.

Westmorland and Lonsdale, Morecambe and Lunesdale, Barrow and Furness, Copeland and Lancaster and Fleetwood constituencies

Result: Westmorland and Lonsdale - Lib Dem hold; Morecambe and Lunesdale - Con gain from Lab; Barrow and Furness - Lab hold; Copeland - Lab hold; Lancaster and Fleetwood - Con gain from Lab

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust: possibly the least fortunate in the political stakes - the trust has five hospital sites spanning four constituencies, all with margins of under 4 per cent. Three are expected to change hands. But earlier this month Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley was reported in the local press saying the hospital “could close” if Labour stayed in power.

Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency

Result: Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats

Hereford Hospitals Trust: the Liberal Democrats are predicted to lose the Hereford and South Herefordshire seat to the Conservatives, by a margin of 0.4 per cent. The district general hospital is a single site hospital.

Worcestershire and Wyre Forest constituencies

Results: Wyre Forest - Con gain from independent

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust: Wyre Forest is predicted to stay with independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern candidate Dr Richard Taylor and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust has so far avoided controversial reconfiguration plans. That has not stopped candidates finding some controversy. But the trust might be thankful its political heat so far seems to have been confined to the location of a GP led health centre. Liberal Democrat candidate Sarah Carr complained in September this was not needed as “we already have good availability of GPs “. But her stronger criticism was saved for the original planned location of the centre - a garden used by the trust’s mental health facility. On that point, Ms Carr was joined in November by Conservative candidate Jesse Norman, who celebrated a change of heart from the trust.

Torbay constituency

Result: Lib Dem hold

South Devon Healthcare Foundation Trust: the trust’s Torbay Hospital has managed to stay out of the heat, although the incumbent Liberal Democrats have complained about parking for residents living near the site.

Hendon constituency

Result: Con gain from Lab

In 2007 the Tories said they would reverse closure of Chase Farm A&E.

Banbury constituency

Result: Con hold

Conservative MP Tony Baldry led a campaign that saw the IRP overturn a decision to downgrade Horton General.

Hemel Hempstead constituency

Result: Con hold

Hemel Hempstead MP and shadow health minister Mike Penning has said he would reopen the debate about the best site for the area’s main acute hospital. Many millions have already been spent preparing the ground for this to be in Watford.

Welwyn Hatfield

Result: Con hold

Local Tory MP Grant Shapps has said changes are being pushed through at East and North Herts Trust before an election. Andrew Lansley has said he would stop plans to close maternity services at Fairfield Hospital in Bury, adding: “I will have the power to do that within days if we are elected.”

Islington North, Islington South and Finsbury, Tottenham, Hampstead and Kilburn, Hornsey and Wood Green constituencies

Results: Islington North - Lab hold; Islington South and Finsbury - Lab hold; Tottenham - Lab hold; Hampstead and Kilburn - Lab hold; Hornsey and Wood Green - Lib Dem hold

Disputed plans to close Whittington Hospital Trust have been an important campaign issue.

Tunbridge Wells constituency

Result: Con hold

Tory candidate Greg Clark has vowed to “fight any downgrading” of NHS services at Pembury.

Ilford South

Result: Lab hold

Closing A&E at King George’s has been opposed by Labour and Co-operative MP Mike Gapes.

Burnley constituency

Result: Lib Dem gain from Lab

Lib Dems have told local media they have a “firm commitment” to returning a blue-light facility to Burnley.

Ipswich constituencies

Result: Con gain from Lab

Conservative candidate Ben Gummer has led a “Save Ipswich Hospital” campaign and accused the government and local NHS of trying to “reduce Ipswich Hospital to a glorified treatment centre”.