Health Services (Gloucestershire)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that constructive contribution. I have met representatives of the strategic health authority and the primary care trusts. I hope that it is generally agreed that we cannot manage the health service from the centre, because the needs of one area are different from those of another and are affected by factors such as health challenge and geography. The decisions are best made locally. Perhaps some decisions should have been made previously, but people did not make them. They thought, ““We don’t need to face up to that difficult decision. We’ll leave it for a couple more years. We’ve got some more funding coming from the Government. We’ve gone from £30 billion to £60 billion, and to £90 billion for the NHS in the next few years.”” The last sentence is the only mantra that I shall recite in the debate but it is true, and worth saying. People may have put off making decisions, but when somebody says, ““Hang on, we’ve got sort out these finances, because you can’t carry on like this,”” perhaps they will suddenly start to take notice. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman and others will make those points locally. I am sure that they will be raised with existing personnel and in the context of future reorganisation of PCTs. Managing the current position and, as the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) said, ways in which to ensure that it does not happen again, will be considered. That is the Government’s ambition. We would be a foolish Government if we wanted to revert to the problems again and again. That is why we believe that, difficult though it is and unpopular though it may be in some quarters, we must grab the agenda and deal with the problem—because it is clear from examining the information on some of the trusts that have got into deficit that unless the problem is tackled firmly, they do not get out of it, and it gets worse.