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Health Care in London

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We want Ealing to keep its hospital, because we do not want lots more cases coming to Hillingdon. The people of Ealing deserve to have their A and E department there. I know Hillingdon hospital. I was first a customer there in 1967, and my family and I have been using it since then. It is doing an excellent job. It has never had a particular golden age. In 1967, I had to wait a very long time to have my wrist reset, because there had been a major accident. However, David McVittie, at Hillingdon hospital, has been putting a lot of time and investment into ensuring that services are improving. We had hoped that a new hospital would be built—it was talked about—on the RAF Uxbridge site. That dream has disappeared. We hoped then that Hillingdon hospital itself would be improved—that was talked about, too—but that idea seems to have gone now. There is also talk about having one polyclinic in each area, but where they might be has only been talked about. What about the people who do not have to go to A and E? There is nowhere for them to go. We want the health centre in Yiewsley up and running. We have just proposed the move of a health centre from the green at West Drayton. I could go on about mental health services in London. While we are talking about our own hospitals, we should be talking about mental health services. Twenty one per cent. of NHS mental health beds in London have been lost over the past four years. My message to the NHS and the Minister is stop fiddling around with the systems and concentrate on delivering the service that my constituents and I, and all Members of the House and their constituents, expect and deserve.