Clearly, competitive tendering has helped significantly in taking out unnecessary expenditure and allowing that money to be used at the bedside, where it is most important and where it has contributed significantly to the continuing increase in the number of patients treated. I know that this subject can be bedevilled by statistics, but it is worth remembering the remarkable achievement of the national health service in Wales, which treats 60 per cent. more patients in Welsh hospitals than it did in 1979.