OVER the past three years, we have seen some exceptional changes in the National Health Service.

6,000 extra nurses in last year alone and 38 new hospitals across the country.

Budget 2000 and the spending review settlement for health demonstrates that the Labour Government is committed to the NHS.

It does take a frustratingly long time to deliver improved services in health but the acid test for any government's commitment to the NHS is their willingness to deliver the necessary resources.

This massive new investment in health will deliver the largest sustained growth in the entire history of the NHS.

It will lead to better services and it is up to everyone to work constructively with NHS managers and staff to bring about the changes that are needed.

The public investment proposed will be a tremendous boost for Bolton and Britain as a whole.

Bolton contains some of the most deprived areas in the country and we have a particular demand for improvements in health care.

The Government's approval for a new surgical theatre for eye operations is very welcome but there is much more to be done, especially in areas of coronary care and renal services.

It is impossible to transform the service overnight but, after only three years in government, we have already built the foundations for a public health service that will be fit for the 21st Century.

The Tories' new approach to the Health Service they so systematically neglected over 18 years is to expand the role for private health insurance and increased health charges.

To put it simply -- they want people to pay more money out of their own pocket for minor operations.

Encouraging more and more people to take out private health insurance and forcing them to pay for non-urgent operations will inevitably expand the private sector the Conservatives are so obsessed with.

What William Hague does not tell us is that the extra clinical staff that would be sucked in to an expanded private sector will come from a scarce pool of skilled professionals currently employed in the NHS, consequently leaving a poorer service for the poor, who are unable to pay.

I have brought forward my next surgery a week and it will now take place on Friday Sept 1 at Bolton Town Hall starting at 4.30pm.

If you require further information, then please ring my Constituency Office on 01204 523574.

David Crausby MP

Bolton North-east