"Dr Taylor, you are stalking me". This was the greeting from Health Secretary Alan Milburn when I walked into a meeting of the Fabian Society last week to hear him talk about his ideas for the future of the National Health Service.

His ideas are copious but he is going to be judged on results rather than words. He aims to give patients more power and to empower local communities.

He will no longer tolerate dirty wards and long waits for appointments or in A and E departments.

He is determined to see increased fairness and choice for patients and which he admits are deficiencies in the NHS now.

His words could be summarised in a sentence written by Hazel Blears, MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health in the introduction to the document headed Involving Patients and the Public in Healthcare."

It reads: "The culture within the NHS needs to change so that the views of patients and citizens are not only valued, but listened to and acted upon as well".

Admirable but will this happen?

I asked Alan Milburn what teeth he will give to the patient bodies that supersede Community Health Councils and how he will ensure that appointments to these bodies and to trust and health authority boards are truly independent.

Before replying, he commented with good humour and surprise that as a mere backbencher I had been able to face him with questions three times in the last eight days. His replies were not convincing.

Also I have had a meeting with Jacqui Smith, MP for Redditch and Minister of State for Health with responsibility for elderly and mental health services.

She is aware of the crisis in local care homes because of increasing wages, and regulations to improve standards of care.

Some of the Government's new money for social services will address this problem.

Predictably she supports the Government's planned boundaries for our new strategic health authority.

Thus, even though we propose alternatives, the favoured option, combining Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Coventry is likely go ahead.

I was pleased to hear that she supports plans for developing local mental health services contrary to those in Investing in Excellence accepted by the Mental Health Trust as no longer appropriate for local people's needs.

Peter Luff, MP for Mid-Worcestershire obtained an adjournment debate on the unfairness of funding for Worcestershire schools, and I was able to support him in this debate.

Sadly, we did not obtain a promise of immediate improvements in allocation of funds, although these are scheduled for 2003.