THE Prime Minister has pledged that the country's poorest areas will be safeguarded when the health service undergoes its next major reorganisation.
In the next few years some of the UK's primary care trusts will be merged into larger units and Ellesmere Port & Neston's PCT will join up with the four others covering Cheshire.
At a recent Prime Minister's Questions session in the Commons borough Labour MP Andrew Miller asked Tony Blair if he would ensure that communities such as Ellesmere Port and Neston are not left out in the restructuring.
Praising the work of the PCT, Mr Miller said: 'The three-star primary care trust in Ellesmere Port and Neston has had another way-above-inflation increase in its budget. It has succeeded in driving down coronary heart disease and has been amazingly successful.'
Mr Blair replied: 'Yes, we should ensure that position is safeguarded during restructuring.
'What my Hon. Friend draws attention to is the fact that the additional sums of money - in his case an increase in real terms of 5.8% - has meant that we can improve services for people and bring waiting times down, all within the NHS where there is more hospital building and more nurses, doctors and consultants, who, in addition, are better paid than ever before.
'But he's right - we must ensure that in changing the boundaries, we safeguard the interests of the poorest communities.'
