Health issues continue to take up most of my time, and I was delighted to have some very positive meetings last week with the Primary Care Minister and the Leader of Central Bedfordshire Council about the expansion of health services in Leighton Buzzard. I am particularly grateful to the three patient participation groups who have done amazing work analysing the responses to their health consultation, which will directly inform what additional health services are provided in the town.
I was also very pleased to be at the topping out ceremony at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital for the new £168m acute services and ward blocks, which are being built along side the expansion of the emergency department and a new energy centre, which can be run on hydrotreated vegetable oil.
I had many conversations with Bedfordshire Police last week about biker gangs and the upset which they are causing following on from the tragic death of a 14-year-old boy. I have asked the Government to give clearer guidance to the police on how to deal with this issue which needs a responsible and robust approach. Law and order is not a nice to have. It is completely fundamental to a peaceable way of life.
It was a great pleasure to visit both Queensbury and Vandyke Upper Schools which continue to do brilliant work in challenging circumstances, and we should all be celebrating the fact that children in England are now internationally recognised as the best readers in the western world, which is an incredible tribute to all our hard-working school staff.
I always prefer to be able to praise and thank rather than criticise, but I did have to call out the management of Royal Mail in Leighton Buzzard recently given that some residents have not had any post for six weeks and people with mobility issues have been told to pick up their own post. I have met with the Royal Mail to work on an improvement plan.
In Parliament I again asked the bosses at BBC Radio to take into account the views of local people before they cut back any of the services at BBC3 Counties Radio. It’s a great station and should be left alone.
I have spoken in a debate about improving access to dentistry which I know remains a big issue and which the Government are due to make an announcement on shortly. I met with the Spinal Injuries Association about the need for improved continence care. I also met with parents whose children have paediatric acute onset neuro psychiatric syndrome which is a little understood by the NHS, which is the same for Lyme disease, which I also met a constituent about and will also be raising in Parliament.
The opening of the refurbished Dunstable Men in Sheds premises was a very happy afternoon, as was being asked to ring a 101-year-old constituent last Friday to wish her a very happy birthday.