BURY MP David Chaytor has revealed that he was a patient of killer doctor Harold Shipman.

The Labour man said he and his family were "lucky to be here" and is only relieved that his elderly relatives were not registered with the murderer.

He stunned fellow MPs when he made the disclosure during a Commons debate.

In 1975, Mr Chaytor, then aged 26, his wife and young child were registered at the Abraham Ormerod Clinic in Todmorden, where Shipman was a doctor.

"It is surprising that I am here, in view of the circumstances," he said in the Commons.

"I don't suppose we were the kind of patients he was interested in killing. They were mainly older people, normally women." The MP said Shipman was dismissed from the practice because he was addicted to drugs which he prescribed for himself.

"Despite this he was not struck off, but was able to go back into practice in Hyde, and we know what happened.

"In future, if there are major cases of medical malpractice, it should be picked up and people should be struck off."

The MP for Bury North said the matter had troubled him since the investigation into Shipman started.

He told the Bury Times: "I remembered his name as one of the doctors there, and the alarm bells started ringing! I've obviously taken a close interest in the case.

"Had my older relatives been living with me, and registered with the practice, I would have been very worried."

Mr Chaytor said he wanted health authorities to have powers to monitor individual doctors in detail.

"I am concerned about the laxity within the health service that led to him slipping through the net. He was sacked from his position at Todmorden because he was abusing prescription drugs. I found it astonishing that a man guilty of such abuse should be re-employed within the NHS."