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Family Doctor Services

The hon. Gentleman will have to do better or I will not allow him to intervene again. What are we doing? What is the destructive policy against which the Conservative party has decided to take up arms? Of what crime against humanity are we guilty? What devastating blow are we dealing to communities throughout the country? We plead guilty to investing an additional £250 million to enable the local NHS to develop more than 150 GP-led health centres in every part of the country, open seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm, and more than 100 new GP practices in some of the most deprived areas of the country—deprived not just in terms of poverty but in terms of people's inability to access primary care because they live in so-called under-doctored areas. A clear correlation is seen in the areas with the lowest life expectancy and the fewest GPs per head of population. What is the Conservative party's policy for dealing with under-doctored areas? We see it in the rather vacuous petition—““anodyne””, as one GP described it—that they have launched. It says that GPs should be free to determine where they practise. That is the situation now and, by and large, they do not choose to practise in deprived areas in sufficient numbers. If they are to do so, under the Conservatives' primary care policy, it must be for more pay. In the words of the petition, they must be"““rewarded for working in socio-economically deprived areas.””" The Opposition motion asks right hon. and hon. Members to support"““rewarding GPs who choose to provide services in deprived areas””," but the inequalities of access have existed for 60 years. By and large, GPs have chosen not to locate in such areas, which is why we have taken the decisive step of investing new money in new health centres to provide extra services—not to replace existing services. Those health centres will have a strong focus on the promotion of health and the prevention of health inequalities. Most will provide physiotherapy, pharmacies, district nursing and minor surgery services.