Labour has called for Lib Dem Councillor Laura Booth to resign as Chair of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee after Granada Reports confirmed that she leaked confidential details of an NHS Foundation Trust ‘Financial Improvement Plan’ last Thursday.

The leak, before all hospital staff had been informed of the plan, exposed millions of pounds of cuts at Stepping Hill and meant hard-working medical professionals found out that 410 jobs were at risk through the press before they had been informed by NHS managers.

Executive Councillor for Health Tom McGee said ‘Rather than scoring political points, local Councillors should be working with Stepping Hill to find ways in which we can support our hospital to continue to provide vital life-saving treatment and care for local people.

‘In leaking these details Councillor Booth caused a great deal of uncertainty for patients, a tremendous amount of anxiety for staff at Stepping Hill, and brought the whole standing of the Council into disrepute.

‘Nobody should ever have to find out that their jobs or their services are at risk via the media – news like this needed to be communicated by a formal public announcement following internal briefings with staff.

‘Councillor Booth’s position as Chair of Stockport’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee is now untenable.’

The Foundation Trust’s Financial Improvement Plan, which revealed that the local NHS loses £75 every minute, was confidentially shared with the Group Leaders of Stockport’s political parties on the evening of Wednesday 27th July.

By the morning of Thursday 28th July it had appeared in the local and regional press as a result of the Lib Dem leak, undermining staff consultation planned by the NHS.

Councillor Tom McGee added ‘For a local political party to make this dreadful news a political football is highly irresponsible and far from showing themselves to be on the side of staff, all they have done is to add further unease to an already difficult situation.

‘The shameless Lib Dems were aware of the damage this leak would cause but they brazenly proceeded anyway, without any care for the human consequences of what they were doing.

‘As the party which founded the NHS, Labour locally has profound concerns about the loss of staff and the proposed closure of a 22-bed surgical ward and a further 8 trauma and orthopaedic beds, but that does not make it acceptable for politicians to act like this.’

The deficit at Stepping Hill is expected to be £40.1 million in 2016-17 out of £285 million of income.