GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my South West Surrey update No.193 I’ll be taking a break from this email until we are back in September - with a new Prime Minister! In the meantime, lots to report and both local events (including the terrible Hankley Common fire) and the Select Committee have been keeping me busy. I also did a 5k run to raise funds for the Royal Surrey Cancer & Surgical Innovation Centre in blistering heat with my neighbouring MP Angela Richardson, and two Hunt juniors who had to be rewarded with copious ice cream afterwards.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
NHS AND CARE WORKFORCE CRISIS I am somewhat frustrated that the NHS is not featuring more in the leadership campaign given the real crisis going on at the moment which you can see more of in Paul Brand's excellent report on ITV. My Select Committee has also been doing its stuff on this when on Monday we published our report into the NHS and Social Care Workforce crisis. Describing the greatest workforce crisis in history the report states that “persistent understaffing poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety in routine and emergency care”. There are more than 50 recommendations but the most pressing are for the government to publish, by the end of this year, a full NHS workforce strategy complete with gap analysis and workforce projections. It also proposes a series of changes to make it easier to recruit internationally, an increase in the number of medical school places from around 9,000 per year to 14,000 per year and calls on the government to reform the NHS pension system which is currently forcing people to retire early. You can see my interviews on the matter on the Today Programme at 0713 here, on LBC here and Sky News here.
INFECTED BLOODSCANDAL Yesterday I gave evidence to the public inquiry that Theresa May and I announced in July 2017 that is looking at the horrific circumstances in which thousands of people (mainly haemophiliacs) were given infected blood in the 1970s and 1980s which meant they contracted HIV and Hep C. I did not hold back saying there was an institutional closing of ranks and a failure of democracy because although it now seems clear that a deliberate decision was taken to play Russian Roulette with people’s lives the establishment covered it up for decades. You can watch most of it here and read the full transcript here. It was personal for me because when I was a backbench newly elected MP a constituent (and a lovely man) called Mike Dorricott came to see me as one of those infected. Neither of us knew I would become Health Secretary. Although I did eventually persuade Theresa May to set up a public inquiry it was not before Mike died. Thousands of others are in the same boat with justice coming much, much too late. As the lead QC pointed out these are overlaps with the issues raised in my book Zero. I’ll be particularly interested in what the inquiry has to say on reforming the system so that we don’t see the widespread institutional closing of ranks mentioned above.
GREEN SPACES UPDATE We’ve now smashed through the 1,000 responses barrier to my green spaces survey which I hope most of you have received - thank you very much as this really is one where we can have much more impact if we work together. Two highlights so far: 83% of you to date agreed to sign my letter to the Communities Secretary calling on greater protection for local neighbourhood plans and 90% of you have agreed to sign my letter to local supermarkets calling on them to increase recycling availability for single use plastics.
COVID UPDATE I know we have all ‘moved on’ psychologically from the pandemic but I do, on your behalf, keep a weather eye on the stats. The ONS continues to see a slight increase in the number of cases of the virus in England with 1 in 17 having it in the week ending 13th July compared to 1 in 25 in the previous week. The dashboard shows things are getting better though as in the last 7 days cases have decreased 35% and hospitalisations are down 16%, but deaths are up 11%. Whisper it quietly but it looks like we may have passed the peak of this particular wave. But 22 million of us have had it with nearly 200,000 deaths including 339 in Waverley. There are an estimated 229 cases currently active in Waverley.
The key number remains 0300 200 1008 for anyone with pandemic related difficulties. Also please check out my full list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY
HANKLEY COMMON BLAZE HORROR As most of you will have picked up, we had a horrific fire in Hankley on Sunday. The fire crews did a brilliant job with 25 appliances on the site and by early evening it was under control. So too did local councillors Jenny and David Else who were fielding calls from local residents and holiday makers. My article about it is in this week’s Herald and the short lesson I draw from it is that climate change is affecting us all now, as if we didn’t know that, so it is extremely important we keep ourselves and the world on track for NetZero.
RACE FOR LIFE After running a hot and sweaty 5k in Cancer Research UK’s Race For Life in Stoke Park on Sunday, I'm pleased to announce that Angela Richardson & I have raised a total of £2,518 for the Royal Surrey’s new Cancer & Surgical Innovation Centre. The heat and sweat were worth it! Huge thanks to the many, many people who contributed to such a great cause, and if you’ve missed previous emails, there’s still time to donate here.
SEN STRUGGLES Issues with provision for families who have children with SEN persist, so on Monday, I had a follow up meeting with Tracey Saunders from Surrey County Council, South Farnham Headteacher Esther Whitbourn, and two local parents Amy and Alicia. It was more positive than our previous meeting in May and we agreed four actions a) to improve Surrey's communications with parents, including vital things such as being told when their caseworker is changing b) staffing improvements including more recruitment and use of agency staff where there are gaps c) locality meetings with both schools and families - one has already been fixed for South Farnham heads in October and d) earlier intervention to try and resolve cases quickly so that children/families get the support they need earlier without having to go to court. It was a positive and practical meeting which we will follow up in the autumn - but scepticism from families that things will actually change was palpable so let's hope this time they are proved wrong. Thank you Tracey for engaging with us on these important issues.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT You may remember my reference to the pop-up shop which The Dan Eley Foundation opened in Godalming earlier this month and ran between 28th June - 23rd July. Amazingly they have raised just under £18,000 in four weeks smashing their £15k target! The Foundation runs a number of outreach projects and funding initiatives to provide support to organisations and families most in need in Waverley, and has earmarked some of this money to go towards extra tuition, emotional support, music lessons and emergency funds for young people in need and for training courses for young people from underprivileged backgrounds looking to kick start their career. The Foundation hopes to hold a similar event in Godalming sometime within the next year, so to keep up to date with them and find out more, click here.
AND FINALLY… I know the pressures of being in the final two contesting the Conservative Party Leadership contest but I don’t think either Boris or I were mistaken for a cardboard cut out! To be fair the BBC lighting certainly didn’t help with this but until Rishi moves it looks very odd indeed.
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