Dr West Needs To Stop Attacking Our NHS

I was very disappointed to read Lib Dem candidate Dr Charles West’s latest outburst, this time about the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. I would have thought after other local Doctors challenged his misleading comments about the new Walk-In Centre at Monkmoor Road, he would have learned to take a wider view on the difficult subject of NHS funding. Apparently not.

Now his latest Lib Dem focus leaflet screams in banner headlines that Shrewsbury’s health services are in crisis. The RSH is full to bursting point, the boss has resigned and according to Dr West, we are at risk if we burst an artery at the wrong time. Strangely, he never has anything good to say about local NHS services, or the dedicated staff, many who have been his colleagues, who work so hard to run our NHS.

Of course I’m not saying we shouldn’t scrutinise our local NHS performance, or debate allocation of resources and service provision. But in my opinion we are never going to find the best solutions unless we adopt a more balanced approach to the subject. NHS funding has never been an easy topic. Finite resources have to be balanced against an ageing population and continuing, and often expensive, new medical advances.

But scaremongering and making misleading claims should have no place in this debate. The RSH is currently dealing with patients requiring treatment as a result of the coldest winter for thirty years with much snow and ice. No wonder the RSH is currently busy. What are the RSH supposed to do, put patients with broken limbs to the back of the queue?

I would have expected someone who spent such a long career working for the NHS to be able to take a more balanced view. After all Charles West was a manager in the NHS himself. He should also recognise the improvements Labour has brought to the RSH. The new day surgery treatment centre for instance, which is now carrying out operations such as cataracts, even on Saturdays.

I’m afraid Dr West’s comments on our local NHS are taking an unfortunate tone. I can’t recall him publishing leaflets in the past attacking the NHS in such a partial and unbalanced way. But since he became the Lib Dem candidate this is the regular message he gives out. Is this really concern for  local patients, or just naked political opportunism?

MP’s CONFUSED VIEW ON EUROPE

Shrewsbury’s Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski  seems to be getting increasing confused about Europe. In the Shropshire Star of 5 March he is reported as saying the region’s Euro MPs are out of touch and very detached from Shropshire people. I hardly think his own Tory MEPs Phillip Bradbourn and Malcolm Harbour will be pleased to hear that.

The letters page of the same edition of the Star continues in the same vein.  Local resident Ian Minshall reports that at the public meeting in Hanwood Village Hall organised by Daniel Kawczynski, he asked about the UK’s continued membership of the EU. The amazing reply from our MP was that if he received as few as 500 letters from constituents seeking UK withdrawal from the EU, he would campaign to his Party leader, David Cameron, to make the UK leaving the EU official Conservative policy!

Assuming the letter records the meeting accurately, this is a bombshell. Conservative policy is unequivocal that Britain should remain a full member of the EU. Yet upon receipt of letters from less than 1%  of his electorate, he will attempt to reverse the whole Tory position on Europe and re-ignite all the divisions that wrecked the party in the past. And don’t believe 500 letters will take long to arrive. On the very same letters page was yet another contribution from Oswestry’s strongest critic of all things European, Bob Wydell. In his letter he mentions that he has written between 1300 to 1400 letters to the press, before once again fretting about the mass immigration he feels has swamped Oswestry.  It will not take Bob’s friends long to fill Daniel’s postbag to the required level.

For me, Daniel Kawczynski’s position on Europe has always been full of contradictions. In debates in Parliament he frequently adopts a very critical tone to the EU, describing himself as an “Arch-Eurosceptic”  regularly.  Yet the rest of Europe does not share his views, countries keep joining and more are in the queue to join the 27 members of the current EU. This included Poland, when 0ver 38 million Poles joined the EU in 2004. It is strange how insular and anti-European his views are, when one considers Daniel Kawczynski was born in Warsaw and lived in Poland until he was 11 years old.

ARRIVA TRAINS-MUCH WORK NEEDED

Like most Shrewsbury residents I was pleased with the decision of the Rail Regulator to turn down the Arriva Trains Wales application to run direct Aberystwyth to London trains. We in Shrewsbury have a great railway history, with many families involved in the industry. Shrewsbury people know their railway and could see this proposal for what it was, an attempt by a company subsidised  by taxpayers to kill off the competition from the excellent Wrexham & Shropshire service to Marylebone.

Speaking to local railway people, I was shocked to find out just what a poor quality service Arriva were proposing. Wrexham & Shropshire run a locomotive hauled train of carriages, just refurbished to a very high standard, which is fit for purpose for a such long journey. The catering, with a proper buffet car, is a particular highlight, along with the customer service, which is rated the best in the country. Their new Class 67 locos have a top speed of 125 mph, thus giving the opportunity to speed up schedules as line speeds rise.

Arriva however, were proposing to run one 2 car Class 158 diesel multiple unit to Birmingham, where they would couple up to another pair for the run to London. Quite apart from the lack of space I remember these units were built and introduced some 20 years ago. They have reliability problems,  as many local passengers know to their cost from regular cancellations. The top speed is 90mph. The best catering you would get is a trolley service. Whilst the people of Mid Wales might be disappointed, the fact is the Regulator has, for now, saved them from a very uncomfortable 5 hours on this inferior proposed service.

I shall be writing to Arriva Trains Wales to request that they reflect on this decision. Instead of trying to force Wrexham & Shropshire off the local rails, in my view Arriva should focus on their current local services, which often fall well short of the standards Shrewsbury passengers expect. Arriva need to tackle the chronic overcrowding on the Birmingham line. They must improve reliability, to stop the infuriating practice of turning late trains round short of their  destination. Arriva should be concentrating putting their own house in order, instead of dreaming up clumsy attempts to wreck a competitor’s high quality service.

Tory Bank Shares Madness

I was frankly astounded by Tory Shadow Chancellor, George Osborne’s, recent scheme for selling the Government’s stake in the Banks. Shares in state-owned banks would be offered to voters at a discount as part of a Tory scheme, George Osborne has announced.

Excuse me, but we taxpayers have already paid our hard-earned money once to bail out these banks, why on earth should we put yet more money the banker’s way?

This Tory proposal to sell these bank shares at a discount beggars belief-we taxpayers want every possible penny of the money back we had to stump up to repair the damage caused by the reckless bonus driven excesses of the bankers.

If George Osborne and his Tory chums lived in the real world he would know the ordinary hard-working British public are, with good reason, very wary of the Stock Market.  I’ve spoken to many Shrewsbury people who owned shares in High Street banks and never dreamt they would become worthless, yet this is exactly what happened to investors in Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock.

As a result the discount required to tempt small investors back into this sector is going to have to be very, very, large. So as a result of this Tory bright idea, we stand to get only a fraction back of the vast sums we poured into propping up the banks.  And as the mouldy cherry on top of this Tory financial cake, it will be a safe bet that the only people making money will be  some of the same financial ‘experts’ responsible for the banking crisis in the first place.

If this is the best the Tories can come up with by way of economic policy, is it any surprise their poll ratings are slipping?

Public Conveniences – Are they Fit for Purpose?

Being born and bred in Shrewsbury I know and speak to many local residents every day, and one of the most regular topics to come up is the state of Shrewsbury’s public conveniences. A good range of well presented and maintained public toilets is a key part of any enjoyable visit to our town centre. Sadly the position is not all it should be.

Regularly I am told the standard of equipment and presentation is below what our residents and visitors have a right to expect.  The image of Shrewsbury they portray to visitors is one of not caring  whether they have a comfortable and  relaxed visit at all.  It is vital for the economic health of Shrewsbury that we make the most of the opportunities and income well planned tourism offers.
The current provision of public toilets in Shrewsbury is just not doing that.

What a massive shame it is that our Tory led Borough and County Councils instead chose to waste some £750,000 on the Darwin “celebrations” and the hugely costly Quantum Leap slinky sculpture.

Investing wisely in our basic facilities in my view would have been the sensible course, and would be far more likely to bring the repeat visits the Darwin fiasco has so conspicuously failed to produce.

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