3rd September 2009

So, the “great” summer of 2009 is over!

The evenings are already drawing in, and the nights are getting chillier. The day when the heating has to be switched on already looms into view.

But it is not unusual, each year, to have a late summer burst of good weather, sometime in September. It is often during the week of our Party Conference, and I can remember many a warm and blue-skied day in Brighton or Bournemouth during this period. These sunny days are all the more welcome in that they arrive after we had assumed that our summer was over, and after we have settled in for the long slog of a British winter.

The “summer” days for public spending also seem to be coming to an end. The country is settling in for a long winter of public spending austerity.

But there may still be some late summer days to celebrate here, too, and in the weeks and months ahead I hope that we will still have some good news in relation to additional education and health services to benefit our local area.

Next week, for example, I have been asked to open the new “GP Led Health Centre” in Yeovil, which will provide health care from 8am to 8pm for all 365 days each year. The new facility is being funded by “NHS Somerset” – the local Primary Care Trust – and it is based on the first floor of the Boots store in Yeovil.

Any member of the public can access this centre, whether you live in Yeovil or not, and it will be of help to people who work in or around Yeovil but who live elsewhere – and who may want to access medical treatment during the working day.

A consortium of local GPs, working under the name “Pathways Health and Social Care Alliance”, were awarded the contract to run the new service. Dr. Paul Scott, from the Hamdon Medical Practice, is the centre’s new Medical Director.

The health centre can assist people with a wide range of medical conditions and services, including: stomach problems; skin complaints; blood pressure checks; injuries; women’s health issues; diagnostic tests.

The centre has been developed with £1m of support from central government grants. The new facility should help to boost primary care services in our area, and ensure even more convenient access.

In the next few weeks, we are also expecting a decision from the Strategic Health Authority on the rebuilding of South Petherton Hospital. It has been an awful long time since the old hospital had to be closed, after a part of the ceiling in one of the wards fell down a few years ago. The people of South Petherton have never wavered in their determination to see a new hospital open on the existing South Petherton site. Plans are now well advanced, but final approval has to be given by the regional Health Authority.

We cannot take anything for granted, but I would be very disappointed if we did not get the green light soon for this important project.

A silver lining from the temporary closure of the existing hospital is that some of the existing nursing staff were re-deployed into a “STARS” team. Don’t ask me what this stands for, because I have now forgotten! But, in essence, the STARS team help to support people who are ill but who want to be cared for in their own homes. I have heard nothing but praise for this team, and they have won national recognition. I very much hope that this service will be continued in the future, even after (fingers crossed) the new hospital at South Petherton is approved.

Finally, in terms of “late summer days”, we will soon have the new primary school in Yeovil, on the Parcroft site – as a replacement of the Parcroft and Westfield schools. This £8 million project will produce a new “state of the art” all through primary school for Yeovil. I have seen the development from the outside, but I am really looking forward to seeing the inside of the new school. Our young people and our school staff deserve the very best environment in which to learn.

Ever,

David.