NHS (60th Anniversary)

That is a very good question. [Interruption.] It is a very good question. Last week we had a debate on polyclinics. The argument about GP-led health centres—[Interruption.] I will say it in words of one syllable: we had a debate last week about health centres. We heard that the argument against putting GP-led health centres in every part of the country—open from 8 am to 8 pm, 365 days a year, with access for people whether they are registered or not; they can walk in—was that we were determining things from the centre. When it was pointed out that in London the proposals for polyclinics had come from a consultation involving clinicians and the population, that was opposed. When it was pointed out that there were proposals for a further three centres in Hull, in my own constituency, that was opposed. My hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) is right to be confused: the Conservatives oppose what is driven from the centre, and oppose what comes from the local level as well.