West Chelmsford Conservative MP Simon Burns, who is shadow health minister, has clashed with health minister, John Hutton in the House of Commons during a debate on GP contracts.
Mr Hutton suggested that Opposition front bench health spokesmen, who include Mr Burns, were 'hypocrites'. He was ordered to retract the statement by the Speaker, and did so.
Mr Burns had cited the report that on one recent weekend half the GPs who provided out-of-hours service in Norfolk had to be flown in from Germany.
And he asked if the minister was doing anything to prevent what he called the 'inevitable chaos' caused by the new contracts at weekends.
Mr Hutton accused Mr Burns of having a 'vested interest in spreading doom and gloom about the NHS'
He added 'The contract does not suggest that out-of-hours services will end: it will remain the case that people will have access to a GP out-of-hours.
'My understanding is that the Conservative Party supports the changes to the contractual arrangements for the employment of GPs, but they come here and imply that they think we should not make those changes. What a bunch of hypocrites they are.'
The Speaker ordered Mr Hutton to withdraw the last remark, and he complied.
Mr Burns said later: 'It is unfortunate that a Minister of the Crown should have accused me and the Tory front bench of being hypocrites on this issue when we are simply raising a bona fide concern about the patient care of our constituents in Chelmsford and elsewhere.'
Published Wednesday July 14, 2004
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