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Family Doctor Services

My hon. Friend is right. In an article in the British Medical Journal on 22 March 2008, Martin Roland, professor of health care at the university of Manchester and director of the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre, said:"““The UK system of universal registration with a single general practice promotes equity, provides a 'medical home' for coordinating care, and is an effective mechanism for holding providers to account for the quality of care provided.””" That is where my hon. Friend is coming from. That relationship between patients and their doctor is instrumental in delivering effective care, but the Government are determined to undermine it. [Interruption.] The Secretary of State says ““Rubbish,”” but he should look at what his own PCT is proposing in Hull. In a document, which I have seen, the purpose of which it acknowledges is to reconfigure GP care in the area, it says that its objective is to have fewer GP sites—by which I think it means practices—and to put polyclinics down in Hull. Hull is an under-doctored area, as the Secretary of State knows perfectly well. Of course there is a case for additional practices, but the consequence of the polyclinic plan will be that some of the existing practices will be shut down, and that will not enable services to be delivered more effectively in the area.