§ 1. Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the general practitioner service. [7942]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Alan Milburn)We have one of the finest family doctor services in the world, largely thanks to the professionalism and commitment of our general practitioners and the members of their primary health care teams.
Where people do not have access to the range and high quality of services that they deserve, we shall work with primary care professionals to explore better means of delivering services. We shall also rid the NHS of the excessive bureaucratic demands and inequities of the internal market.
§ Mrs. WintertonI recognise that there have been some minor difficulties with GP fundholding, but does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the system has put general practitioners on a par with consultants and enabled them better to reflect the clinical needs of their patients? What consultations have taken place already about the change of policy? Will the hon. Gentleman give us an assurance that he will consult family doctors further to ensure that the benefits of the system are not discarded—in other words, that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water?
§ Mr. MilburnI have to tell the hon. Lady that there are more than minor problems with the GP fundholding system. Of course I recognise the importance of the need for GPs and other primary care professionals to play 740 a leading role in the commissioning of health care, but the hon. Lady and her party must acknowledge the fact that GP fundholding has brought with it a two-tier system of health care, which runs against the grain of the principles of the national health service, as well as being bureaucratic and costly.
As for consultation, we are prepared to consult all primary care professional organisations. I am pleased to say that the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and other organisations have acknowledged and supported the announcement that the Government made last week.
§ Mrs. Anne CampbellDoes my hon. Friend agree that the general practitioner service is greatly enhanced by the services of health visitors, school nurses and the chiropodists who give treatment to the elderly? Does he acknowledge the distress caused in Cambridgeshire by the cuts imposed on those services by the Cambridge and Huntingdon health commission?
§ Mr. MilburnI am aware of my hon. Friend's concerns, and those of other hon. Members, about the cuts in primary and community care services. Of course that is an issue that we shall have to monitor closely. One of the initiatives that we have already undertaken is the piloting of new arrangements for the delivery of personal medical services that will better integrate GPs and other primary care professionals in future, so as to ensure better delivery of those services.