Ministers, Labour special advisers and Downing Street party officials met in private in the summer to discuss the political impact that the closure of various local NHS departments could have in marginal seats, emails leaked yesterday revealed.
The emails, which were seen by the Times, suggest that the politicians and advisers used advice drawn up by health department civil servants as they discussed whether to prevent closures on the basis that they might undermine Labour support in marginal seats.
Among the party officials who discussed potential department closures were the No 10 political secretary, John McTernan, the No 10 health special adviser, Paul Corrigan, two special advisers working for the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, and some officials working for the Labour party chairman, Hazel Blears.
According to the Times, the emails showed that Ms Hewitt asked for those at the meeting to be given "heat maps" indicating marginal Labour seats where closures or changes to healthcare could deter voters.
A Labour official insisted last night that civil servants had not been asked to act inappropriately and denied that the future of hospital services was being decided by political considerations in marginal constituencies.
The "hotspots" were designed to reflect a potential range of NHS difficulties in a given area, including local deficits or possible A&E closures.
The official said the purpose of the meeting was to make sure local MPs were informed about potential difficulties so they could discuss them with the local media. The party official insisted that the civil servants left the room as soon as political discussions occurred, and at no time produced any information on the basis of parliamentary constituencies. The official also said such meetings were regular across Whitehall and nothing sinister was involved.
Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, told the Times: "There is a secret political debate going on to try to minimise damage to the Labour party."
Earlier this week, the Guardian revealed that the NHS was planning closures of key hospital departments across England in the run-up to the next general election. In his first interview since starting the job, David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, said there would be as many as 60 "reconfigurations" of NHS services, affecting every strategic health authority.
Although some of the measures are designed to reduce the £512m deficit the NHS ran up in the last financial year, the majority are to help improve care by concentrating key services in fewer hospitals. Mr Nicholson said "tough decisions" would have to be made about A&E, paediatric and maternity services.
He denied that all the reforms would have to be implemented during a general election campaign. "Some will come sooner," he said.
