E-mail from David Lidington
Posted by David Lidington, MP for Aylesbury, at 09:14, Wed 2 May 2007:
I am writing to update you on my work as Member of Parliament for Aylesbury.
Just over a week ago, on 19 April, I met local health chiefs in Westminster to discuss various issues regarding the NHS in Bucks. The key subjects we covered were the ongoing financial problems and the resulting pressure on primary care and community health services. We also talked about ambulance response times and the impact on the NHS of population growth in Aylesbury.
The Chief Executives of the Primary Care Trust and Hospitals Trust said they are confident they can save money without cutting services. The news was a relief, although I will be watching carefully to make sure that any plans affecting services genuinely result from a change in clinical evidence.
However, it was clear that some treatments were likely to remain unavailable in Bucks though they are funded by the NHS elsewhere in the country and that this is due in large measure to the very low funding per head we get here compared with the national average. Any such postcode lottery is completely wrong and I shall continue to raise the problem with Health Ministers.
A number of local doctors and the families of junior doctors have emailed me or been to see me about the controversial new system for medical training. What seems to be happening is that there are far more qualified junior doctors than training places available for them. To make matters even worse, the new, computerised system for handling applications has proved unreliable and has made it impossible for those doing the selecting to identify the applicants with the best clinical and academic track-record. I've taken this up with Health Ministers and the Secretary of State has twice had to come to Parliament to apologise for the mess, but I fear that we are not yet at the end of this sorry tale.
I have also been delighted to speak at the Bucks Scouts Centenary Dinner and to visit the very impressive Jonathan Page Play Centre in Meadowcroft in recent weeks.
As the date for the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland draws closer, my work as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is beginning to change. Ministers in the province, drawn from the four main parties: the Democratic Unionist Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP and Sinn Fein, will assume responsibility for many policy areas from 8 May and the work of the Secretary of State and myself will focus more exclusively upon the non-devolved policy areas of security and policing.
There will still be plenty of work, with the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill due to come to the House of Commons shortly. The proposed merger between the Assets Recovery Agency and the Serious Organised Crime Agency will also have implications for Northern Ireland. I have had meetings this month with senior members of the police, the Retired Police Officers Association and the Assets Recovery Agency in Northern Ireland to discuss the proposed changes.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if I can ever be of any help, and feel free to respond to any of the short surveys that I have written on www.telldavid.com.
David Lidington
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Posted by Trimble Bracegirdle, 21:06, Wed 2 May 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
Quote ""..I met local health chiefs in Westminster to discuss various issues regarding the NHS in Bucks."" This is very unclear as well as vague & weak ...did Mr Lidington meet BUCKS health chiefs or has he met Westminster with responsibility for Bucks people ??? Any way it is hardly chaining himself to the Railings for Stoke Manderville ...the only mention of a major local issue in this letter ... Mr Lidington really is not here for us in Mid Bucks@@@
Posted by David Lidington, 07:52, Tue 8 May 2007: (Is this post abusive?) #
The meeting in question was a two hour session at Westminster for the five Buckinghamshire MPs to discuss the local Health Service with the Chairmen and Chief Executives of the Buckinghamshire PCT and the Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust. During that session, we questioned the NHS team about their budgetary problems, about future patterns of service provision (both primary and hospital care), the relationship between the NHS and scocial services locally, the performance of the new regional ambulance service, the impact on the NHS of the growth of Aylesbury. I summarised what was said in a press release that you can see at http://www.davidlidington.co.uk/newsshow.asp?ref=217 and which was reported in the Bucks Herald. Of course I also reveive a large number of individual letters and emails from constituents who are patients or employees of the NHS. I always take these cases up with the local NHS management or Health Minister as appropriate but I also follow a strict rule of not publicising individual constituency cases unless the constituent wishes me to do so. Our local NHS managers are bound to follow the various targets imposed by the Department of Health. It is Ministers who set the rules within which local NHS organisations must operate. That is why I also spoke at some length on the NHS during a recent debate that I initiated on the growth of Aylesbury. You can see what was said at: http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070320/halltext/70320h0011.htm#07032048000004
David Lidington