Diary 7 Feb 2007.
I will be meeting with managers of the new Worcestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) soon for an update on their work in Redditch. They run our local health
services and organise a lot of our GP and hospital care. So it was timely to receive notification of a large increase in the funds available to invest in buildings and equipment
next year.
The government is backing up its drive to modernise the NHS and to meet its target for cutting waiting times for treatment with the money needed. The
increase for large schemes like hospital facilities in the West midlands is around a third. And there is more money for doctors’ surgeries and dentists too!
Rightly it is for local managers to decide where best to spend this money to meet targets and improve services for local people. It’s my job, once I voted
for the money to go in, to see that the right decisions are made locally. I want to see better and modern services for Redditch people. That means change and
challenges to the status quo – but it doesn’t mean that every local decision is right. That is why my meetings with health managers are so important.
Last week I met with the winner of my Local Democracy competition, Lauren Williams, from Trinity High School. Lauren won the chance to go and see Prime
Minister’s Questions and I was able to meet her for tea in Parliament. I was very impressed with Lauren’s competition entry on what she would do if she represented
Redditch. She thought that tackling childhood obesity should be a priority and had some great ideas about how to take that forward. I have followed up
her ideas, meeting ministers about healthy eating and I will be raising the matter at my meeting with the PCT. I hope that future winners of my democracy competition will be
inspired by Lauren’s ideas.
ENDS
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