HEALTH minister John Hutton praised a special health centre he visited in Huddersfield.
He met staff and patients at the Whitehouse Centre on New North Parade yesterday.
The Whitehouse Centre, run by Huddersfield Central Primary Care Trust, specifically offers health care to homeless people, asylum seekers, refugees, travellers, people with alcohol or drug addictions and people with mental health problems.
Staff have long consultations with patients and offer help with all their health and social needs, rather than solving one specific health problem.
Mr Hutton said: "These people are working with particularly vulnerable groups and they are doing a brilliant job. The NHS is made up of nurses and doctors who give everything for the benefit of their patients."
Mr Hutton, who also visited the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax, was not the only minister in West Yorkshire on Thursday.
All six health ministers and Health Secretary John Reid visited NHS and social care centres across the region.
They met around 400 staff and patients.
It was the first time the entire ministerial team had visited one region together.
The idea was for ministers to hear from staff and patients what was needed to improve the NHS.
Mr Hutton said: "We wanted to hear how things are going and what they would like us to be doing. How better to find out than by asking those at grassroots level?"
He added: "Huddersfield is a great part of the country. The NHS in West Yorkshire is hugely important, with 50,000 people directly employed in the region. So it was a worthwhile visit."
Kevin Holder, the trust's chief executive, said:
"It was a chance to raise our profile. It is nice to have the work we are doing recognised, especially for the hard-working GPs and nurses."
