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General Practice (Northamptonshire)

I will give way in a moment. I shall provide some recent information, which is not made up, about what is happening in the hon. Gentleman's health economy area. Six large extensions opened in 2007—three in Northampton, two in Corby and one in Daventry—and a new surgery has opened in Higham Ferrers in east Northamptonshire. Two large new medical centres will open within the next nine months in Rothwell and Kettering, and an extension is due for completion in December in Northampton. There are plans to develop health facilities in Kettering, Thrapston, Raunds, Corby and Northampton, and the south midlands lift project will see the development of new facilities in Corby, Wellingborough and Northampton. A new approach to service delivery will involve a series of health hubs providing a wide range of services along the lines of polyclinics. Willowbrook community hospital polyclinic in Corby will have investment of £27 million, and the integrated care centre polyclinic in west Northampton will have investment of £21 million. My point is that there is now massive, unprecedented and sustained investment in primary care in the constituencies of the hon. Members for Kettering and for Wellingborough. That recognises that patient expectations, technology and science means that health care must be incredibly different if we are to make best use of the new technology and new drugs being created almost daily, and if we are to respond to patient expectations.