Extra cash going into NHS - Johnson - News in brief

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The new Health Secretary made the pledge as he visited Kingston Hospital in south west London with Prime Minister Gordon Brown - Mr Johnson's first hospital visit in the job.

The pair toured the hospital and met chair of Kingston Hospital Trust Christine Swabey, as well as chatting to other members of staff.

The hospital has seen a 47% reduction in MRSA bacterium rates between April last year and September last year compared with the same period the previous year.

Speaking at the hospital, Mr Johnson said reports that Mr Brown had slashed by a third this year's hospital building and equipment budget of the English NHS as "inaccurate".

He said: "The extra investment is going in."

Asked about unemployment fears for junior doctors, he said: "It has not been our finest hour."

But he added that the prospects for this August are "much better now".

He said his priorities in his new role were "to ensure that we focus on improving patient care" including tackling MRSA and what seemed to be a morale problem in some parts of the health service.

But he added that there was an "awful lot of optimism around" and a huge amount of good feeling due to investment.