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Polyclinics

That is absolutely right. Obviously, the PCT would not earn brownie points if it failed to go along with these proposals. When I heard about these proposals, I immediately thought, ““Why should these new services threaten existing services?””, but it is quite clear that the health centre is expected to take on 6,000 patients, as is the GP-led centre. Yes, they will also take people who are not registered and there is certainly a need for the proposed services, but the GPs say they would be delighted to provide those services if only there were an opportunity for them to expand existing provision. It seems, however, that the rules say that the premises have to be completely new, so they are not in accordance with the idea of expanding existing GP provision. When I started to investigate these issues I was worried, so I went back to the Darzi interim report and tried to find the logic behind these proposals. I found that Darzi had noted that life expectancy was lower in areas where there were fewer GPs per head of population. That may well be the case, but I am not sure that the conclusion follows—that the way to deal with the problem is to develop 150 GP-led centres and to provide new GP practices in areas where there are health inequalities. It is not exactly logical to deduce that that is the way to deal with the problem. I read the report, but I could not understand the thinking that led Lord Darzi to decide that this was the solution to under-doctoring. I certainly could not understand why he should view it as a blueprint to be applied across all PCTs. The under-doctoring in my constituency, for example, is not particularly great and it is spread out—there is no single location where there is a problem. It seems to me that the Government should stop portraying the debate over these issues in terms of the BMA and the Tory party being opposed to genuine locally led improvements in service. That is not the case. Two of the GPs who contacted me about this issue are members of the Labour party and they are actively interested in improving services to their patients and reducing inequalities. One made a submission to the Select Committee on Health and is active in the Socialist Health Association. These are not people who naturally look to the Conservative party to champion their cause. They are very worried—and their worries were confirmed by a conversation I had with the lead officer at the PCT—that this is just an excuse to bring in the private sector and provide competition, which is seen as the way to make GPs buck up their ideas and improve their services. I do not think that the GPs in my area need that kind of competition. They want improvements in service. They put in bids to expand their practices. They are outraged because they were told a year or two ago that they should cease providing Saturday morning services and are now being told that that is what they must provide.