IT'S unfortunate, but true, that any local controversy in the National Health Service immediately attracts the rent-a-gob tendency from the political fringe. Last week's Bury Times gave us two good examples.

Geoff Brown (George Galloway's representative on earth) tells us that we could have 50 new hospitals for the cost of the war in Iraq.

My constituents will know that my voting record on the Iraq war shows that I don't need lessons on the difficulty of this issue.

The fact is, though, that there is no shortage of hospitals. The biggest issue in the NHS is how we make the best use of the hospitals we've got - and how we strengthen our primary care so that fewer people ever need to go to hospital.

We do have a shortage of first class local health centres. And that's what our Labour Government is starting to put right - with seven new health centres planned for Bury in the next few years.

If the leaders of some of these fringe parties spent less time cross dressing in pink leotards on reality TV shows and more time studying the reality of the National Health Service, they might be treated with a bit less contempt.

Political opportunism I can cope with. But political hypocrisy makes me reach for the sick bag. And this brings me to Coun Vic D'Albert, who is, allegedly, a Liberal Democrat activist in Bury South.

Can this be the same Coun D'Albert whose fellow Liberal Democrat Coun Tim Pickstone has spent years sitting on the board of the Pennine Acute Trust which finds itself in spectacular financial difficulties? And can these two Liberal Democrat councillors belong to the same Liberal Democrat Party that has opposed, alongside the Tories, almost every major improvement that the Labour Government has introduced to the NHS since 1997?

Did the Liberals and Tories budget for the £25million rebuilding of Fairfield Hospital? No.

Or the current £7m new build centre for the elderly? No.

Did the Liberals and Tories match Labour's promise to increase investment in the NHS to the European average? No.

Did they back Labour's new contracts which have made Britain's health workers the best paid in Europe? No.

Did the Liberals and Tories budget for the building of seven new local health centres in Bury? No.

Did the Liberals and Tories support Labour's tough targets for cutting waiting lists and focusing on cancer care and heart disease? No.

I could go on at some length. Saying one thing at local level, whilst voting for the opposite in parliament, might just help to explain why the British people haven't trusted the Liberals to be in Government since 1923.

And now to the real issues. The deficits currently experienced by some NHS Trusts represent a small fraction of the total NHS budget.

However, there is no point in denying that some difficult decisions will have to be made in the next few months (some of which should have been tackled years ago). Equally, there is no point in pretending that the weaker trusts can always be given a blank cheque at the end of every financial year.

The pressure to improve financial management is being applied at the same time as two other major changes are being implemented.

First, the big expansion of primary care which will enable more patients to be treated nearer their home, or even in their home.

Second, the creation of centres of excellence which will bring together specialists to share their expertise - and gradually end the old system of the Jack of all trades surgeon.

During the last 18 months I have held hundreds of hours of discussions about the impact of all these changes on the local NHS in Bury.

I have talked to nurses, midwives, doctors, support staff, union representatives and the key managers in the Acute Trust, the Primary Care Trust and at regional and national level. Throughout these talks, I have always stressed three principles.

First, we need to focus above all on the quality of care to the patient - and not just carry on doing things because that's the way they've always been done. Second, my constituents understand the need to travel for highly specialist services but want the basic health functions as close to home as possible.

That's why keeping a maternity and children's service at Fairfield is so important to us. Third, when change does come, and it will, the staff who are doing the job, day in day out, must be treated fairly - and given time to adjust to new ways of working.

The NHS is going through its most rapid period of expansion and new build for 50 years. The NHS is delivering patient care to a higher standard than ever before. But the doubling of the investment per patient since 1997 must be spent effectively. And that's why some changes will be needed.

However, if NHS managers can stick to the three principles outlined above, they will get us through the next difficult year and be on track to meet Labour's commitment to a maximum 18 week waiting time by 2008.

People won't need reminding that under the last Tory Government the typical waiting time was 18 months.

The public must be fully involved in this process of change. Many people are keen to have an informed debate, proper consultation and clear explanation. The last thing they want is the process hijacked by political opportunists, professional hypocrites and assorted bandwagon jumpers.

DAVID CHAYTOR MP (Labour, Bury North)