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Family Doctor Services

I agree with my hon. Friend. The impact on rural areas is one of the most significant and worrying aspects of the way in which the Government are going about this. I have been to many places throughout the country. Not so long ago I was talking to GPs in Worcester and to the local medical committee in Cornwall. One can imagine the situation: there are practices throughout Cornwall and the Department of Health tells the local PCT that it must have a polyclinic, but there is no obvious place for it, so it is just popped down next to a GP practice somewhere and practices in many neighbouring areas close down as a consequence. There are different models of care in different parts of the country. Interestingly, the south-west has some of the largest practices in the country—for example, I went to Frome—for the simple reason that sometimes a network system between a large GP practice and satellites is one of the most effective ways of ensuring access to neighbouring villages. But scrapping all that and not having an organic system that is developed by GPs themselves, in favour of the polyclinic system where GPs do not have independent contractor status and can no longer design services for their area's needs, will undermine access in rural areas at precisely the moment that towns and villages throughout the country are losing their post offices, shops, pubs and public services. Their GP surgery is one of the critical elements that they now perceive is under threat.