MP welcomes consultation, but says results MUST be listened to

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 18th Sep 2005

Lorely Burt MP for Solihull today welcomed the latest NHS consultation exercise, but says the Government must really listen to the results, for the consultation to be meaningful.

"Too often, the Labour Government has said it wants to engage communities, but then ignores local residents' views when they don't fit the New Labour agenda" said Lorely. "There's a lot going on in the NHS at the moment, such as the fight against MRSA, and also against ovarian cancer. The NHS is funded by the people, so the government should listen to the people, and patients' concerns."

The Department of Health is planning a national event to be held in Birmingham on 29th October, where 1,000 people randomly selected from the electoral register will attend. A smaller regional event is planned in Leicester this Thursday 22nd September.

If anyone cannot attend a consultation event, they can complete an on-line questionnaire located at www.nhs.uk/yoursay.

"I'd encourage everyone to get involved" added Lorely. "We need to send a clear message to the Government in London about what is really going on in the NHS at the frontline."

Today also sees the start of the Liberal Democrat Conference in Blackpool where the Liberal Democrats will be consolidating lessons learnt from the General Election after winning 62 seats, the largest number of Liberal MPs since the 1920s.

This included, for the first time, Solihull where Lorely Burt MP overturned a 9,000 Conservative majority, bucking the national trend.