GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my South West Surrey update No. 154. A big week in international affairs with the Prime Minister and new Foreign Secretary in the US and some key movement on climate change issues ahead of COP26 but back at the ranch, big trouble with the gas market...and of course we are still in a pandemic. If you know anyone who might like to receive this email please forward it…anyone can sign up here to receive them and unsubscribe at any time.
PANDEMIC UPDATE As of today, we have had a total of 7,530,103 positive cases of COVID-19 with 135,621 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 9,966 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 242 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 188 active cases in Waverley. In the last week in the UK coronavirus cases are down 0.4%, hospital admissions down 13.8% and deaths up 0.1%. All data is accurate as of 11am this morning and the key SCC helpline number for anyone in difficulties remains 0300 200 1008.
GLOBAL BRITAIN Hot off the heels of the AUSUK defence pact the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary headed to New York and Washington to talk trade, climate change, and security issues. It doesn’t look like a full trade deal with the US is on the cards but there was a significant agreement on British lamb which will be a huge boost to our farmers. Good to see that the US is doubling climate change finance and that China has promised not to build any new coal fired power projects abroad. Encouraging signs ahead of COP26 or the limit of major player ambitions? We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile the French remain very angry indeed about their cancelled Australian submarine contract - read my piece in the Telegraph on Tuesday here about why they can’t have their cake and eat it.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
SELECT COMMITTEE ON LONG COVID With no Boris at PMQs, parliament has been quieter this week and today goes into recess for the conference recess. The Select Committees however have been busy and in the latest evidence session for our inquiry into the pandemic backlog my health and social care committee heard yesterday about the truly devasting impact of long covid. To get a flavour of how terrible this condition is listen to this short clip but I’d also recommend listening to Lere’s full testimony if you can. 384,000 people have Covid symptoms a year after they got the virus, often so debilitating they cannot work or even go to the shops.
AND ON MENTAL HEALTH BACKLOG The true scale of the impact on mental health services also came up. There are currently 1.5m people waiting for support but a staggering 10 million additional patients (one in five of the population) are expected over the next 3-5 years. The government has still not clarified whether the commitment to parity of esteem made by me and Simon Stevens - which says mental health spend will grow faster than overall NHS spend - applies to the extra resources that will be raised by the new health and social care levy. If it does, as it should, then an extra £1bn more would go on mental health services, enough to make a huge difference. But will it? I’ll keep pushing.
GP FACE TO FACE APPOINTMENTS We also heard about the hot topic of people finding it hard to access face to face appointments with their GPs. Professor Martin Marshall of the RCGP was in the hot seat and got some stick in the Mail for his responses but for a GP perspective worth seeing this powerful video. There is now a real risk of a vicious circle in which stressed GPs retire early or go part time in a way that effectively makes the problem even worse for a smaller and even more stressed workforce with even less capacity to offer appointments to the public. Difficult to see a short-term fix for this, but the long term solution is surely a credible plan to boost the GP workforce. I tried unsuccessfully to boost GP numbers as health secretary and I have concluded we need a total overhaul of NHS workforce planning.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY
CANCER CAMPAIGN On Thursday we had a highly successful launch for the campaign for a new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre at the Royal Surrey. The meeting in Haslemere was attended by Louise Stead, Chief Executive of the Royal Surrey, two consultants Dr Pradeep Prabhu (an anaesthetist) and Mr Simon Butler-Manuel (a surgeon), Dr Phil Risdill-Smith who has been running the Haslemere/Godalming vaccination programme, Professor Chris Marks and Royal Surrey Cancer patient Rod Pluthero.
The main news of the event was that the NHS has now approved £25 million of funding to get the centre started. The whole project costs around £30 million, of which the aim is to fundraise £5 million across Surrey. But in order to spend £25 million from its capital budget the Royal Surrey had to first get approval from NHS England. I met Simon Stevens, outgoing Chief Executive, in June to press the case which was not easy because there are many different priorities for NHS capital spend. But Simon listened carefully, and approved it as pretty much his last action as NHS Chief Executive. This was announced formally at Thursday’s meeting.
The new funding will allow more precise surgery done more quickly and in a way that allows people to go home more quickly with a faster recovery. However each Da Vinci robot costs £2.4 million pounds so this is not going to be cheap. The hard work starts now!
Professor Chris Marks, who worked at the Royal Surrey most of his working life and now lives in Chiddingfold, has agreed to co-chair the fundraising committee with me. Chris and I worked together on the campaign to save the Royal Surrey when it was threatened with closure, and he personally has raised millions for the hospital through a charity he set up called GUTS so there is no one better. Our initial objective is to raise £1 million towards £5 million.
The campaign will last several years and although we are starting it in South West Surrey we will also be launching it in other parts of Surrey. Guildford’s MP Angela Richardson has been closely involved and is being strongly supportive. So please help in any way you can. If you are able to support the campaign financially, you can donate here, and please tell your friends to as well! For more information, see my article in The Farnham Herald.
BINSCOMBE UPDATE A good session in Binscombe on Saturday (where I took a quick mid-afternoon break from the wonderful, sunny Godalming fete). A number of issues surfaced amongst residents of Badgers Close, including regular drug dealing outside the fence alongside the school which was a concern to a number of residents. I will get in touch with Borough Commander Sam Adcock and ask her to come to a meeting to hear the concerns for herself. Also other residents confirmed the difficulty in getting taxis/transport to the Royal Surrey, and some concerns about the state of local roads. I met a theatre nurse from the Royal Surrey who welcomed the campaign for a new Cancer Centre but is worried the day surgery unit is not utilised currently to its full capacity. I also met some residents worried the grass is not being properly cut (and one child got a tick) so will refer to Waverley.
PARKRUN FUN You can now take part in the weekly parkrun (sponsored by Vitality) at Broadwater Park every Saturday at 9am. It’s a great way to get involved with the local community and is inclusive of all. The team are also looking for about 20 volunteers to help support the event, so if this is something you’d like to be a part of, do email: [email protected]
BROADWATER PARK PLAY AREA I raised concerns about the fencing around the children's play area in Broadwater Park with Kelvin Mills (Head of Commercial Services at WBC) a couple of weeks ago. I have now heard back, and this area of the playground has been cordoned off due to a problem with the wet-pour surfacing, and Waverley Borough Council are working to engage a specialist contractor to repair it. Kelvin has said it will remain fenced off until the work has been completed, and they expect this to be at some point in November. To avoid any confusion, they will be re-securing the temporary fencing, replacing the signage, and checking on the area regularly. However, November seems a long way off, and it would be great if the kids could fully enjoy this play area whilst the weather is still mild, so I will be going back to Waverley on this.
See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residentshere.
THE ECONOMY AND JOBS
ENERGY CRISIS The impact of the six fold increase in energy wholesale prices has been felt this week as hundreds of thousands of customers face rising bills and some energy companies are worried about their futures. The head of Ofgem told Parliament that he thought many more people would be affected and it was likely that we’ll see companies exit the market. Just to reassure everyone, if your energy company does go into administration then under the supplier of last resort conditions you will be transferred to a different supplier pretty seamlessly and with no interruption to your supply.
AND FINALLY Puppy training in the Hunt household is going relatively well, but even so, we have some way to go before we can enter the annual Dog Surf-A-Thon in California. Instead, we have decided to enter Poppy for Westminster Dog of The Year 2021! I will keep you pawsted as to how we get on...
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