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Family Doctor Services

The hon. Gentleman makes a number of points. The only reason that we see pressures on accident and emergency services at the moment is that cottage hospitals and community hospitals are being closed down. As for 12-hour practices, I have had no letters in my postbag on that subject and no constituents coming to my surgeries to say, ““I wish my doctors' surgery was open for 12 hours a day.”” It is unreasonable to expect GP surgeries to open for 12 hours a day, if we have good local facilities provided by the PCT. Let me give an example to the hon. Gentleman. A GP recently told me of a PCT manager who got very stroppy with him in his surgery, because the GP had seen a patient who had been out of hospital for 10 days after a post-partum haemorrhage in hospital, and who went to his surgery and complained of chest pains and a pain in the leg. She was a very poorly lady. The GP immediately thought that that could be a pulmonary embolism, did the right thing and sent her to hospital. He was then criticised by the PCT for doing so, when any GP anywhere would do the same in such circumstances, polyclinic or no polyclinic. When a GP sees a patient with acute needs, such as chest pains, he saves the PCT that £3,000 admission fee, because many GPs will diagnose and treat in their surgery as far as possible before sending a patient to hospital. I do not see polyclinics as filling a need because I do not think that the need is there. GPs provide an excellent service; they save PCTs a huge amount of money; and they are incredibly cost-effective. Patients like the service. They like having a local GP. GPs enjoy building up a good relationship with their patients, so why, if it is not broken, do we need to fix it? That is what I do not understand. In areas such as Macclesfield, where we need such services, we have provided them. What is the image of the polyclinic? Why are we imposing such a service on to communities? Why are we making it more difficult for patients? Why are we imposing something that doctors do not want? On the point about blood counts, can anyone show me a GP who does not take blood tests and send them on to a hospital lab? A GP who does not do that in his practice should not be a GP. Many GPs provide that service—I have never heard of one who does not. Can anyone show me a GP who does not refer on for radiography or who does not provide the test? They have those services at their fingertips if they need them.