FOR some time, key NHS figures locally have complained to me bitterly about the Government's obsession with "targets".

They describe the overlapping demands of the inspecting agencies and relentless rounds of assessment, which offer little obvious benefit to hospitals.

Even so, I was staggered to learn that there are now 102 organisations with powers to inspect our hospitals, more than 70 of which inspect annually.

No wonder health workers complain that the NHS is suffocating under red tape.

A CONSTITUENT decided to report to the police that his car had suffered criminal damage.

He telephoned the police call centre and was put through to Basingstoke police station. The station told him that crime reports could not be taken by telephone and that he should either come to the station or ring the call centre.

He phoned the call centre again, and was put in a queue. He waited ... and waited... and eventually gave up.

"No wonder crime statistics are falling," he writes to me cynically. "It's virtually impossible to report a crime."

AS A member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer, I am joining forces with other MPs and Breakthrough Breast Cancer to highlight the need for all women aged 50 and over to attend their breast-screening appointments.

Research has found that one in every six women does not keep her appointment and fails to make another one.

In some areas of the country, the uptake of breast screening invitations falls as much as 20 per cent short of the NHS Breast Screening Programme's target of 70 per cent.