Clause 1 - English Health Authorities: change of name
NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Bill
Public Bill Committees, 27 November 2001, 4:30 pm
Dr Richard Taylor (Wyre Forest, Independent)
I was delighted that in the letter from the Secretary of State for Health that was circulated with the White Paper, ``Shifting the Balance'', he emphasised that consultation would take place according to boundaries. Natural geographical boundaries for health care seem to be the most sensible way of deciding the constituent members of strategic health authorities. Will the Minister confirm that the authorities will not be rigidly bound by numbers, whether too small or too great, but that the natural geographical boundaries, whether they have tertiary centres or not, will be used?
I have a natural geographical area in my part of the country that has long been known as West Mercia, which is an example of an ideal grouping without a tertiary centre. I make a plea for geographical boundaries and not boundaries based on absolute numbers.