LIKE many readers, I was taken aback by the response of Ivan Lewis MP to the apology from the Bury General Hospital consultants (Bury Times, Mar 30). His bizarre attack on the doctors (Your Letters, Apr 6) and their letter simply doesn't match the appropriate response of a concerned Member of Parliament.

One of the things that Conservatives have learnt since we lost the 1997 general election is that it is important to listen to people who speak authoritatively, even when they are telling you something you may not wish to hear. Maybe it will take an electoral defeat before Mr Lewis learns to listen, instead of striking out.

As a politician, I am not arrogant enough to think that when faced with statements from doctors at the sharp end, and also statements from a politician, that it is the politician who people will believe. Mr Lewis seems to have spent a lot of time talking to the management of the NHS Trust but not a lot of time finding out what is really happening in Bury's hospitals.

Now is the time to listen to the people who are in the know, and work with them to provide a better service. It is not the time to condemn and denigrate the people who provide the service.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to correct a falsehood that I suspect you will hear a lot from Labour politicians over the next few weeks. Ivan Lewis has plucked a figure of £48 million out of the air and implies that the next Conservative Government will cut this spending from the NHS. William Hague has made clear, and I am happy to stand by his pledge, that we will match all Labour's spending plans for the health service. There will be no cut.

Instead we will allow doctors to have a greater say in how the money is spent. Taking decisions away from the form-fillers and target-makers, and putting them into the hands of medical staff, is a fundamental part of our programme. This is particularly relevant in relation to the current controversy.

So if Ivan Lewis is serious about changing the health service locally for the better, then he will have my support. But he needs to learn to listen.

NICOLA LE PAGE,

prospective parliamentary

Conservative candidate,

Bury South.