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PRESS RELEASE 21 June 2006 MP's horror at Government's home grab plans Dr
Andrew Murrison MP expressed concern at new powers for town halls
across the country to seize and commandeer private homes which have
been empty for as little as six months. Small print in the Government's
controversial new 'Empty Dwelling Management Orders' guidance has
revealed: Notes
to Editors
PRESS RELEASE 20 June 2006 MP takes 'teachers' to Number 10 Andrew Murrison will be knocking on the door of Number 10 Downing Street tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2pm to deliver eight colorful cardboard cut-out teachers with messages pinned to them to the Prime Minister.
The teachers were made by Year 8 at St Laurence School in Bradford on Avon and handed to the MP when he visited the school on Friday. During his visit the children asked him about his views on a range of issues including international development.
The messages inform the government of the lack of teachers in poor countries and urge it to take action to remedy the shortage.
Andrew said;
"I congratulate St Laurence for doing its bit to raise awareness of the importance of education to the prospects of poorer countries.
"The UK must meet the UN's target of 0.7% of GDP to be spent on aid by 2013. Furthermore, it must ensure that the money gets through to the front line and is not wasted or misappropriated. PRESS RELEASE 15 June 2006 MP's exciting Bradford on Avon schools events Andrew Murrison will be taking part in two events at Bradford on Avon schools tomorrow.
At 1pm he'll be at Christchurch Primary to officially open the outdoor stage at an arts festival to close the school's multicultural fortnight. The festival will involve dancers and has been part funded by the Foyle Foundation.
At 2pm Andrew will be at St Laurence School to be presented with the teachers that year 8 have made as part of the 'My Friend Needs a Teacher' campaign that is running across the country this week. The campaign is being run by the Global Campaign for Education to help highlight lack of education in the developing world. PRESS RELEASE 15 June 2006 MP's neighborhood police visit Andrew Murrison will look at neighborhood policing in the Seymour area of Trowbridge tomorrow with the Adcroft community beat manager Dave Thompson and PCSOs Julie Higdon and Vicky White.
He has main tained a dialogue with Police HQ in Devizes over provision in parts of his constituency with relatively high crime rates and anti-social behavior. PCSOs have shown themselves to be effective and Andrew is keen to hear from people at the frontline of crime prevention.
The MP has recently raised the probability that frontline policing will be damaged if Home Office proposals for police restructuring go ahead. Association of Chief police Officer (ACPO) figures suggest that this would put over 200 frontline jobs in Wiltshire Constabulary at risk. PRESS RELEASE 15 June 2006 Government cuts could mean 218 police less in Wiltshire Senior police officers warn of cuts to balance the books Dr Andrew Murrison MP, today expressed concern after a report by senior police officers warned that a shortage of funding for the police could lead to the loss of 25,000 officers nationally. This would translate into a loss of 218 officers in the Wiltshire force.
The report by the Association of Chief Police Officers warns that Government proposals to merge police forces cannot be achieved "without additional Government funding". However, since the Home Office budget has been frozen, police forces across the country may be forced to cut their workforces to balance the books. The report highlights that "forces will need around 6% to 7% cashable savings per annum.through staff reductions.equivalent to holding (deleting) 25,000 police officer posts nationally."
Dr Murrison commented: "I very much value the work of the police, from uniformed officers, support staff, special constables and community support officers where they exist. But I believe that the public want to see more, not fewer, uniformed police officers patrolling the streets.
"The Government is driving through the costly merger of police forces in the South West with insufficient debate or scrutiny, and against the wishes of local people.
"First we saw cuts to frontline health staff in places like the RUH, now it looks like the axe could be swinging in the direction of our capable local police force.
"The fact is that the police levy on council tax has soared by 142 per cent across Wiltshire since 1997, but much of this has been wasted. Hard-working families and pensioners deserve a better deal. Cutting the number of police officers would be daylight robbery." PRESS RELEASE 15 June 2006 Financial deficits force local NHS cuts on epic scale Dr Andrew Murrison MP, today expressed concern at new figures showing worsening NHS deficits. Inconsistent and poorly-planned Government policies have forced the NHS £1.3 billion into the red, with NHS organisations now forced to respond to such massive deficits by making widespread cutbacks to frontline services.
West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust is predicted to record a deficit of £9,735,000 for the current financial year. It is proposing to close all four community hospitals in Andrew Murrison's constituency, the EMI in-patient unit in Trowbridge and the district's maternity unit to balance the books.
Commenting Dr Murrison said, "Deficits are largely the result of financial mismanagement by Ministers in Whitehall and locally they're putting our frontline services at risk.
"Patients,
nurses, doctors and carers deserve far more from the Government
than botched reorganisations, inconsistent policies and now cutbacks
and closures
PRESS RELEASE 13 June 2006 MP celebrates interfaith birthday Andrew Murrison will this evening join with other members of the West Wiltshire Interfaith Group of which he is Patron to celebrate its first birthday at the Quaker Meeting House Whiteheads Lane Bradford on Avon at 7pm.
The Group will be holding its AGM also this evening.
Dr Murrison said;
"We are lucky in West Wiltshire to enjoy superb inter-faith relations but that is not always the case elsewhere.
"People of all faiths and none must do all they can to focus on what unites rather than divides them. PRESS RELEASE 13 June 2006 MP questions council Andrew Murrison will this afternoon question Wiltshire County Council's Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) in the council chamber about what it will do to champion the wishes of its public on community hospital closures.
Last week he addressed West Wiltshire District Council during a presentation by the PCT and the mental health trust on their cost-cutting proposals and expressed his satisfaction with the way in which that council was conducting itself in relation to the closure plans.
The HOSC has the power to refer decisions made by PCTs to the Health Secretary and this is what Dr Murrison wants it to do. He will say;
"None of the options on the table are remotely acceptable to my constituents and no amount of consulting is going to alter that fact. They amount to a scorched earth policy in which everything will be stripped out of my constituency. We may or may not get a few scraps in return, for example souped-up GP surgeries offering services that remain opaque and poorly costed.
"The county council's social services budget has been thrown into disarray recently by the shifting of cost from PCT to council. Clearly this will continue if the PCT's deeply damaging proposals are made flesh. PRESS RELEASE 8 June 2006 Murrison criticises cost of tax credit fiasco in West WiltshireAndrew Murrison MP has expressed disgust at the Government's mis-handling of the over-complex tax credits system, which has caused great difficulties and unnecessary distress in west Wiltshire.Figures released by the Government yesterday reveal that at 5 April 2006 , more than four in ten awards under the scheme have been inaccurate causing misery to hundreds in west Wiltshire. Some £3 million had been overpaid to constituents in the Westbury constituency, affecting 3,600 awards, representing nearly a third of all awards. Some further 1,600 awards were also underpaid, at a cost of £1 million.
Andrew said: "The tax credit system is a shambles. I see the misery it causes when people come to see me about over or underpayments in my constituency advice surgery.
He continued: "I want to see this addressed quickly. The Chancellor must ensure that his broken tax credit system is fixed speedily and that millions of lower-income families are given the support that they deserve". PRESS RELEASE 6 June 2006 Hospitals: MP meets health minister Andrew Murrison will be seeing the regional health minister for the south west Caroline Flint MP tomorrow morning(wednesday) to discuss local health managers' plans to shut all the community hospitals in his constituency together with the district's in-patient mental health unit and the maternity unit.
The MP and Shadow Health Minister has been a vociferous opponent of all the options tabled by the Primary Care Trust. He hopes that the matter will be 'called in ' by ministers who have pledged that community hospitals should not fall victim to short term financial expediency.
Dr Murrison said;
"It's increasingly clear that shutting these excellent local hospitals will do little more than scratch the surface of the PCT's deficit and that closures will simply shift the cost onto other organizations such as social services. I hope that ministers will be able to see the bigger picture that has evaded our local PCT." PRESS RELEASE 31 May 2006 MP - unfair funding causes hospital closures
Andrew Murrison has pointed to recent department of health figures placing West Wiltshire at 274th of 305 primary care trust areas for funding as a cause of local NHS deficits and therfore hospital closures.
The West Wilts MP and Shadow Health Minister said;
"Funding well below the English average together with inept management have put us in the mess we're currently in."
West Wiltshire residents receive £1090 per capita rising to £1207 next against the English average of £1274 and £1388 putting it in the bottom league of PCTs for funding. Yet Dr Murrison says that he has seen no evidence to suggest that healthcare needs and disease burden for his constituency is below average and is arguing that funding ought to be based on disease prevalence data instead of a pot pouri of demographic factors. PRESS RELEASE 26 May 2006 MP drops in for lunch Andrew Murrison will visit Dilton Marsh Primary School today to meet Head Mrs Judith Finney, staff and children.
Andrew will be treated to a two-course lunch of seasonal produce cooked by four of the older children. PRESS RELEASE 25 May 2006 'My life as an MP' Dr Andrew Murrison will today (Thursday) talk to the Mere and District Chamber of Trade members about his life an MP.
Andrew will be at The Old Ship Hotel in Castle Street Mere at 7.30pm this evening. PRESS RELEASE 24 May 2006 MP leads attack on government community hospital plans Andrew Murrison MP as Shadow Health Minister led strongly voiced opposition to the closure of community hospitals in the Commons today.
Dr Murrison, whose constituency faces the closure of all four of its re maining community hospitals, its maternity unit and its in-patient mental health unit, used the strong commitment to cottage hospitals given in January's government white paper, a report on hospital beds published on Monday by the NHS Confederation and research published in March on intermediate care by the influential 'Dr Foster' organization in support of his contention that community hospitals provide good, cost-effective care.
When challenged on the government's 'new generation community hospitals' junior health minister Andy Burnham MP said details would be published in the summer.
Dr Murrison asked the minister to clarify his government's stated commitment to allowing non-NHS organizations to take over community hospitals that he wants to close but Mr Burnham did not comment. Andrew said;
"It may be that the only way that communities can guarantee the future of their hospitals is to take back control of them and the government's January white paper appeared to be sympathetic. However, it's clear now that little real thought has been given to how communities can proceed if this is what they would like to do."
Andrew Murrison MP as Shadow Health Minister led strongly voiced opposition to the closure of community hospitals in the Commons today.
Dr Murrison, whose constituency faces the closure of all four of its re main ing community hospitals, its maternity unit and its in-patient mental health unit, used the strong commitment to cottage hospitals given in January's government white paper, a report on hospital beds published on Monday by the NHS Confederation and research published in March on intermediate care by the influential 'Dr Foster' organization in support of his contention that community hospitals provide good, cost-effective care.
When challenged on the government's 'new generation community hospitals' junior health minister Andy Burnham MP said details would be published in the summer.
Dr Murrison asked the minister to clarify his government's stated commitment to allowing non-NHS organizations to take over community hospitals that he wants to close but Mr Burnham did not comment. Andrew said;
"It may be that the only way that communities can guarantee the future of their hospitals is to take back control of them and the government's January white paper appeared to be sympathetic. However, it's clear now that little real thought has been given to how communities can proceed if this is what they would like to do." PRESS RELEASE 18 May 2006 MP visits threatened hospitals Andrew Murrison will tomorrow tour the hospitals in his constituency that are facing the axe. The MP said;
"Although I'm very familiar with the community hospitals, I'm keen to visit them again prior to a debate next week on the subject in the Commons and my meeting shortly with the minister.
Dr Murrison, who is a Shadow Health Minister will visit Warminster at 11am, Westbury at 12.15am and Trowbridge at 1pm followed by Charter House Trowbridge (in-patient elderly mentally infirm unit) at 2pm. The PCT regards Bradford on Avon as beyond the scope of its current consultation exercise having already shut it down.
Andrew is campaigning for the retention of all of the hospitals and has been strongly critical of the PCT. He said;
"I'm deeply saddened by the failure of the PCT to put the needs of patients and carers at the heart of its decision-making. Closing hospitals without alternative home-care in place will hit the most vulnerable and simply shift costs onto social services, major hospitals and the voluntary sector.
"The PCT is due to merge with others in October but is set to leave a trail of devastation in its wake that has already prompted the resignation of Wiltshire's Director of Social Services.
The MP is receiving a lot of mail in support of the hospitals as a result of his 'Have Your Say on Hospitals' campaign run via his Westminster Report that is being delivered to all households in his constituency. He intends to present the letters and e.mails to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.
West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust has told him in an e.mail "no media support is allowed for the visit." NOTES - Andrew will be available to the press outside any of the venues prior to his visits. Please let Jackie know if you need him (01225 358584). PRESS RELEASE 18 May 2006 MP to present "the basic skills agency's quality mark" Andrew Murrison MP will be presenting "The Basic Skillls Agency's Quality Mark" National award on Friday 19 th May 2006 to The Avenue School and Early Years Centre at 7 The Avenue, Warminster. The presentation will commence at 9.30am during the morning assembly.
PRESS RELEASE 15 May 2006 MP unhappy with boundary changes Andrew Murrison has written to the Boundary Committee of the Electoral Commision to express his concerns at its draft proposals.
The committee is looking at the electoral arrangements for West Wiltshire district and its provisional report has attracted criticism from parish, town and district councils and individuals where it plans to create new wards that fail to respect community identity.
The villages of Southwick and North Bradley are destined for Trowbridge wards whilst Heywood will become part of Westbury Ham ward.
The MP said;
"I have had a number of complaints from residents that the proposals fail to promote the identity of the settlements affected. This is important to both towns and villages.
"It seems to me that the boundary committee could have been more sympathetic in its work as it has been in similar districts elsewhere and I hope that it will revise its proposals. PRESS RELEASE 8 May 2006 MP welcomes trains minister's positive letter Andrew Murrison has welcomed trains minister Derek Twigg's encouraging letter about the direct service to London Waterloo following his, local councils' and the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group's representations.
In the letter dated 5 May Mr Twigg compares passenger data collected by his department and the WWRUG with the latter showing counts that are consistently higher.
Andrew has encouraged bidders for the new train franchise that will run services post February 2007 to include the direct service from Waterloo to Bristol via West Wilts towns. Encouragingly Mr Twigg has responded in a letter to Dr Murrison;
"In the light of the strong stakeholder support for the retention of the Bristol - Waterloo service, we have asked bidders to cost a priced option for the service."
The MP says;
"Mr Twigg's letter suggests that he recognises the strength of feeling behind this issue and will favour a bidder that plans to include the direct service." PRESS RELEASE 3 May 2006 MP's Car Park Figures Andrew Murrison has obtained figures from the district council that shows that car parks in the district raise £746,209 but cost £533,816 to administer. He said:
"Once the adverse impact on the local economy and the viability of small shops and businesses is taken into account, it seems to me that the return is small or if it exists at all. I will press the council to review its policy in the light of the data it has provided as tapping people in this way is only acceptable if it raises substantial revenue over costs of administration and does not damage the local economy." PRESS RELEASE 3 May 2006 Murrison berates Prime Minister on hospitals at PMQs Andrew Murrison this lunchtime in the Commons asked Tony Blair to reconcile the statement in his community health policy document of January 2006 that community facilities should not be lost in response to short-term budgetary pressures with the threatened closure of all four community hospitals in his constituency, Charter House in Trowbridge that looks after 26 in-patients with dementia and the area's midwife-led midwifery unit.
The MP and Shadow Health Minister pointed out that Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has declined to grant him an audience to discuss the impending meltdown in intermediate healthcare in his constituency.
Speaking after PMQs Dr Murrison said;
"The January statement seemed tailor-made for us in West Wiltshire but the Primary Care Trust and Health Ministers have chosen to ignore it. I'm pleased that the Prime Minister will correspond with me over this but disappointed that his Health Secretary has refused to discuss it. Clearly she and her party are not bothered about healthcare in Wiltshire."
Sidestepping Andrew's question and what he described as the 'bitter reality' of cuts for his constituents, Mr Blair rattled off a selective list of obliging statistics from the 'Wiltshire' page in the red folder he uses at the despatch box. PRESS RELEASE 26 April 2006 Wiltshire MPs attack health minister Andrew Murrison, Shadow Health Minister and West Wilts MP will be replying for the Opposition to a debate to be held this afterrnoon on healthcare in Wiltshire sponsored by James Gray MP for North Wilts.
It is likely that the Primary Care Trust will be a main target of the MPs' criticism of recent and proposed developments in healthcare in Wiltshire. The MPs are very unhappy with the PCT and with the Strategic Health Authority.
The debate will take place in Westminster Hall at 2.30pm today. PRESS RELEASE 25 April 2006 MP in train debate Andrew Murrison took part today in a Commons debate on the specification for the Great Western Franchise and track maintenance. He reminded the minister Derek Twigg MP of the importance of the Bristol to London Waterloo service via West Wilts towns and pressed him to favour a train operator that was prepared to include the service within its post February 2007 schedule.
Andrew also raised the south coast to Bristol and South Wales service and pointed out that this was the second most heavily used service in the south west yet is scheduled for reductions. The same is true of the Swindon to Westbury link.
Parliamentary neighbours Michael Ancram (Devizes) and James Gray (North Wilts) also took part. Salisbury MP Robert Key had discussed the debate with Andrew who represented his concerns about Salisbury station.
Dr Murrison said; "The two new franchises relating to West Wiltshire are set to severely curtail services in our area. It is important given the growth projected locally that our public transport links are improved, not cut."
Andrew spoke at the South West Public Transport Users Forum in Trowbridge on Friday where the new franchises were discussed. With local representatives he met with Mr Twigg last month at the department for transport and has written to potential train operators about what residents expect of the new franchisee. PRESS RELEASE 24 April 2006 Murrison attacks Hewitt's 'best year ever' Shadow Health Minister Dr Andrew Murrison has reacted with incredulity at Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's claim that the NHS is seeing its best year ever. The ex GP said;
"All four of the community hospitals in my constituency, the mental health unit in Trowbridge and sixty beds at the Royal United Hospital are being axed so my constituents have every right to wonder what planet the Health Secretary is on.
"This Patricia in Wonderland view of our health services is simply not the experience of the people I represent." PRESS RELEASE 18 April 2006 MP to chair town tax public meeting Andrew Murrison will chair a public meeting in the Civic Hall Trowbridge today at 7.30pm to discuss this year's increase in the town council's precept of 48% and the future of the town hall that has provoked it.
Andrew has tackled ministers over increases in town council precepts recently in the Commons.
PRESS RELEASE 10 April 2006 MP attacks health cuts Andrew Murrison has launched a fierce attack on plans to cut healthcare in his constituency.
The At a crisis meeting on Friday at Bradford-on-Avon the Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and Andrew Murrison met with local hospital activists and Leagues of Friends to discuss the week's announcements from three local health organizations - the RUH NHS Trust, West Wilts PCT and the Mental Health Trust.
The MP claims that that taken together the cuts will create a black hole in local health provision for the elderly and vulnerable. Under the plans all four community hospitals in Dr Murrison's constituency will close together with Charterhouse, a modern elderly mentally infirm unit in Trowbridge. The PCT plans to build a new community hospital in Chippenham or Melksham and to retain one at Savernake, Marlborough. Instead of the four community hospitals it plans cheaper teams of nurses that will visit people at home.
Dr Murrison said;
"Community hospitals will be boarded up and as I understand it nurses will be sent out to see people at home. The trouble is this service will be stretched given the money available and I regret is likely to amount to little more than a tea and sympathy service. This isn't much good to, say, a confused, incontinent octogenerian with a stroke at 3 in the morning or to his or her carers is it?
"We're also promised revamped GP mega-surgeries. However, when I've pressed it the PCT is vague on what extra services these will provide. I suspect it will mean practices merging which means less choice for patients and poorer access for many. PRESS RELEASE 7 April 2006 Shadow Health Secretary in West Wilts hospital crisis talks today Andrew Lansley MP Shadow Secretary of State for Health and local MP Dr Andrew Murrison will today hold crisis talks with hospital campaigners and member of Leagues of Friends from the four community hospitals that will disappear under proposals launched today by West Wilts PCT.
Mr Lansley will be at the hastily arranged meeting in the Farleigh Room Cumberwell Golf Club at 6.30pm this evening. Andrew Murrison, Shadow Health Minister, said;
"Andrew has taken a close interest in the cuts announced this week at the RUH, Charterhouse and all four of the community hospitals in my constituency.
"I am pleased we have managed to convene a meeting to discuss what can be done to hold the Health Secretary to her commitment to support community hospitals." PRESS RELEASE 6 April 2006 MP's horror at PCT plans Andrew Murrison has slammed the PCT's plans to shut all the community hospitals in his constituency in order to build a series of revamped GP surgeries and a new cottage hospital in Chippenham. He said;
"My constituents will see right through this so-called consultation document. The promise of souped-up GP mega-surgeries offering even less choice than at present, a few more district nurses that can be readily cut when the axe falls again and an impossibly remote new hospital in Chippenham seems a poor substitute for the four community hospitals that my constituents will be losing.
"Yesterday we heard that beds and staff will go at the RUH and today we hear that community hospitals will shut. Where will my elderly and vulnerable constituents that need admission go?
Commenting on his expression of no confidence in the PCT Andrew said;
"The appointment by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt of a Turnaround Director from the private sector means that the PCT has become marginalised and is now largely irrelevant.
"Clearly Ms Hewitt and her appointee are calling the shots and in a way that is completely contrary to the ministers fine words about supporting community hospitals and not shutting them to solve short-term financial problems. Why should we now believe a word she says? PRESS RELEASE 5 April 2006 ABRO Andrew Murrison has welcomed the announcement by the South West of England Regional Development Agency that it will be purchasing the Army Base Repair Organisation site in Warminster.
The purchase will enable ABRO in its reduced form to continue in Warminster and will ensure that the site is used for predominantly commercial and industrial purposes.
Dr Murrison said:
"The announcement should mean that quality jobs will be brought to Warminster and I believe represents good news for the town." PRESS RELEASE 5 April 2006 MP's alarm as RUH slips further into the red Andrew Murrison has reacted with dismay at news that 300 jobs at the RUH may be axed as the hospital struggles with a bigger than expected financial deficit.
The MP said;
"I'm appalled that our own RUH has become the latest casualty of NHS deficits. "The government has poured money into the health service but all we see here is community hospitals closing down and now redundancies and cuts to services at the RUH.
"People are entitled to ask where all the money has gone and why after 9 years there is so very little to show for it.
Dr Murrison paid tribute to the work of the RUH and its Chief Executive Mark Davies in trying to improve services and management at the hospital. The ex Navy Surgeon Commander reserved his broadside for Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and her predecessors Frank Dobson, Alan Milburn and John Reid. |