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Department of Health

It gives me great pleasure to follow that tour de force. As probably the only practising doctor left in the Chamber, it gives me great pleasure to take part in this debate and to introduce some reality into what is a serious debate. No one is trying to downplay or belittle the overspends, which are causing significant pain in a number of constituencies throughout the country. It is important, however, to put that in context. We need to consider the enormous improvements in the health service over the past few years, which no one has yet mentioned. It is convenient for the Conservatives to say that money is going in and not much is coming out. As a practising GP, let me tell the House that if I see a patient with suspected cancer now, I can guarantee that that patient will be seen by a cancer specialist within two weeks of my making the decision that there might be a serious problem. If it turns out that the person does not have cancer, so much the better. Nevertheless, the waiting time, anxiety and stress for that patient and their family has been reduced. The two-week waiting time has transformed that experience.