THE shadow health secretary spelled out his vision of the NHS under a Conservative government during a visit to Manchester.

Andrew Lansley pledged to tackle the dental crisis, MRSA, NHS bureaucracy, health inequalities and preserve Greater Manchester's best assets, including the Christie Hospital and family GPs.

Mr Lansley called on Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority (SHA) to explain why it is holding a cancer review. He went to meet concerned medics at the Christie Hospital, after the M.E.N revealed that 60 doctors were protesting about a shake-up which could threaten the future of the hospital.

"If the Conservatives were elected, I am happy to say that the Christie would remain a centre of excellence - it would not be acceptable to move services from the hospital," he said.

On the dental crisis in Greater Manchester, where four in five dental practices are refusing NHS patients, Mr Lansley said that he would change the dental contract to woo back NHS dentists, and spend '1.7bn next year and '2.2bn by 2009, to make sure everyone could get access to an NHS dentist. Tweet