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NHS: Community Hospitals

My Lords, I am grateful for the noble Baroness’s support. I share her view that we need to make these new facilities sustainable and cost-effective. What is changing, and what people who read the document carefully will realise, is that we are trying to raise people's sights in terms of the range of services—diagnostic services, in particular—that can be made available. Medical technology and knowledge have moved on. We are able to provide many more procedures on a day care basis. That is another opportunity that probably was not available in the same way in the 1970s and 1980s. The examples in the document show that people are already putting together a much wider range of services than were traditionally provided in a cottage hospital. The NHS is much better at business planning, and the document emphasises the importance of putting together a range of services that meet people's needs and can be funded over the long haul. I hope that that reassures the noble Baroness. We shall ensure that the strategic health authorities oversee these plans so that they are sustainable for local communities.