NHS (60th Anniversary)

I see that the Minister is nodding; I think that I have described the up-to-date position. However, I acknowledge that there was a serious point to be made a few years ago. In a recent Healthcare Commission report, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust, the local mental health trust, was described as ““excellent””; that trust is also innovating hugely in its outreach provision. Certainly the number of consultant psychiatrists that it has brought on board in the past five or six years has transformed its provision to my constituents and others in Cheshire and Merseyside. The hon. Member for North Norfolk rightly pointed out that the NHS has not always got mental health services right. However, I can honestly say that Cheshire and Wirral Partnership is innovating and making good progress—