12:00am Wednesday 9th August 2000
THE Post Office has responded promptly to my request to place postboxes on the new Brockhill estate and have assured me the boxes will be in place very shortly.
I am delighted the Post Office reacted so quickly when I raised the matter - all credit to them.
l Parliament is now in recess. Before we ''broke up'' for the summer holiday, however, there was an interesting debate in the Westminster Hall chamber on hospital services in Worcestershire.
In her response, the Health Minister highlighted both my lobbying and the extra investment, over half a million pounds, that the Alexandra Hospital has received for accident and emergency services.
Focusing on the reorganisation of the county's services, the debate was an interesting one - not least because a media statement from the local hospital trust was quoted.
It asked my neighbouring Conservative MP to ''stop using hospital services as a political football''.
It could not have been put better.
Surely, we all want the very best health services in Worcestershire.
I am a little disappointed that some people seem to put party political point-scoring above achieving the best NHS for the county.
l Health in Worcestershire seems to be top of the news agenda this week.
Government figures recently released show the county has had a sudden leap in the number of patients waiting for their first appointment.
The Government has sent in a specialised team to help the trust address the problem.
The issue has only arisen over the last few months, with a huge increase in referrals.
I have been in contact with the health authority and have been assured that action plans have already been put in place to tackle the problem and that the WHA welcome the extra support from the specialised team the Government has provided.
However, I should stress that even with this sudden rise, less than one per cent of outpatients have to wait more than 13 weeks for their first appointment and the trust and its staff are determined to reduce this figure.
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