Letter from Parliament – Jim Dobbin MP

Jim Dobbin MP, Thornham Cricket Club President Kevin McMahon and Club Chairman Ian Heywood with a memorial plaque to Harold Hare

The Coalition Government faces renewed pressure over surging prices and squeezed incomes as consumer groups rejected measures in the recent Budget Statement as ‘too little too late’.

The rise in criticism from the public comes as the ‘Big Six’ energy companies defiantly completed their latest round of price increases, with gas and electricity bills rising by as much as 11%. Their profits have tripled in three years.

Labour is sticking to it’s pledge of a price freeze and shake up of the Big Six’s monopoly by regulating them. London prices are growing and having an adverse affect on prices across the country, especially the North.

The Government claims they have increased funding for the NHS. The truth is it is getting harder to obtain an appointment to see your GP.

In a recent survey by the Patients Association, 6 % of people said they had waited longer than 48 hours to see a GP. Over a quarter of the public say that the last time they tried to book a GP appointment they could not get one the same week.

I have personal experience of that. Nearly a quarter of GPs’ waiting time for appointments is going to get worse. Not cheerful news. This of course compounds problems for our Accident and Emergency Units.

Last year about a million people had to wait more than four hours in their A&E. Of course this Government’s cuts to Local Government funding for care of the elderly will increase the strain on local A&E.

NHS and Foundation Trusts are facing increasing financial pressure with acute trusts running the highest deficits. Mental Health organisations are now learning that funding cuts will put lives in danger. The NHS is being damaged, it’s a worrying trend.

I have been successful in convincing chairman Keith Vaz MP to hold a special Home Affairs Select Committee Enquiry into prescription addiction which affects nearly 1.5 million people throughout the UK. It damages people’s lives profoundly over many years and needs to be resolved.

The recent events in Iraq are important and necessary to raise. There is too much evidence from history of tragedy following tragedy after invasion and this was not considered by Blair when he went into Iraq with the USA. I voted against that decision at the time and I continue to be appalled by the consequences for people in that area.

I enjoyed having seven retired local health workers visit me in Westminster. A tour of the Palace of Westminster is always an enjoyable event for local people. It often restores some confidence in the political system when people see it for themselves. 

I want to thank Ian Heywood, Chairman of Thornham Cricket Club, for the hospitality he and his tremendous volunteers accorded me and my guests who watched their match against Rochdale on Sunday 15 June.

On Friday 20 I visited Half Acre Home which was celebrating 25 years as a care home. Congratulations to Mrs Anita Lewis, the owner.

I followed that with a visit to Heywood Court Health Home in Green Lane.

Congratulations to Hopwood Hall College staff and students who were given awards last week in Middleton Arena. Well done.