LABOUR MPs from the North East have hit out at the Government’s handling of the swine flu crisis.
Government ministers have been put on the back foot after having to reinstate a publicity campaign about flu vaccination when numbers of people suffering the disease started to rocket.
The Government has been accused of not ordering enough doses of the vaccine for this year’s flu season, with Prime Minister David Cameron having to defend the Government’s performance.
Last night Blaydon MP Dave Anderson said: “The Coalition have been exposed in their short-term politics.
“They made a lot of noise about stopping spending on the ‘Catch it, bin it, kill it’ advertisements but this just shows that Labour were not doing that stuff for a laugh. It was working and it was delivering for people.
“Staff in the NHS are demoralised because they fear they are going to lose their jobs. And the non-frontline staff who the Government are proposing to get rid of are exactly the people who organise campaigns such as this.
“They may never treat a patient in their life but they are crucial to how the health service runs. I think if their jobs are lost then we can expect to see things like this a lot more.”
Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: “The Government, I think, now realises the mistake it made by skimping and saving and ending the ‘Catch it, bin it, kill it’ campaign.
“Flu, as we know, has really spread around our communities over the last few weeks, and the fact that people have actually died from it is dreadful.
“I know that Labour’s health team are holding the Government to account for the disastrous decision to axe the publicity campaign, and I am pleased that the Health Secretary has now changed his mind on it.
“It just a shame people had to get so sick in such large numbers for them to listen.”
Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Sunderland West, said: “I’m glad the Government have re-started the campaign – it’s yet another example of where cuts they made with barely any thought have proven to be a false economy.
“Ministers have been extremely slow off the mark in dealing with this winter’s spread of flu, and I only hope that this embarrassing U-turn hasn’t come too late to help stop the spread of the virus and the suffering of those who catch it, particularly those at risk of severe symptoms.”
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