Oral Answers to Questions

Thérèse Coffey Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Anne Milton]

The hon. Lady made the point that urban and rural areas have very different needs. What is vital are the people on the front line, making decisions and offering the leadership and vision to shape those services. I do not think that she will find many people lining up to save PCTs, whose commissioning has not always been as successful as she would like to believe.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

I should like to suggest to the Minister that it might help GPs who are commissioning in rural areas if the formula for capitation were to include the information that their patients live in sparsely populated areas, as well as information about their age, especially in constituencies such as mine and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter).

[Anne Milton]

My hon. Friend is right to raise the issue of the distances covered in rural areas. I believe that only ambulance trusts currently have the opportunity to reflect that. This is why it is so important that local commissioners will shape the services for their patients. It is they, not the pen-pushers in the PCT, who know best what is right for their patients.