"Government wrong to force super clinics on Bedford" says Henry Vann

3.02.54pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th Aug 2008

People in Bedford are happy with their personalised, local GP healthcare according to a new Healthcare Commission report.

And yet the centralising and interfering Labour government is intent on continuing its unwanted and badly designed health reforms without consulting local people.

Henry Vann said:

"The NHS does a fantastic job, with a universal service coupled with high quality local provision. Labour is once again letting down the public and failing to trust doctors and nurses with care of their patients."

"We need services built for local people: this means listening. Whilst in some areas, large polyclinics instead of local surgeries seem like a good idea, in other areas, they destroy local delivery and impose a centralised inappropriate system across communities.

"The Liberal Democrats believe that it is wrong to impose polyclinics on local communities in a tight time scale and with limited consultation. There is no doubt that local people must be in control of the process.

"The Government held a consultation on the future of NHS services whilst already asking all PCTs to open at least one polyclinic in the near future - this is a prime example of Labour's act first, consult later attitude to public services."