Pressing health chiefs on our hospitals

I recently put the case for local hospital based care when I met with local health chiefs. I met the Primary Care Trust chief executive Anne Sutton and Director Lynne Selman to discuss my plan for a new or refurbished hospital in Dover and health upgrades in Deal.

We need to see improved urgent care, diagnostics like X-rays, a special focus on elderly care, day surgery and hospital based care beds. We had a useful discussion of how Dover's healthcare can be improved after a decade in which Labour has destroyed Dover's Buckland's hospital. I believe the Primary Care Trust are doing the best they can for us but are prevented from doing more by Central Government.

We discussed the future of Deal Hospital. They are doing everything they can to make sure the excellent care there will be safeguarded, yet with this Government closing so many hospitals, we cannot be sure.

The problems of local healthcare have been well aired by the Dover Express. On the other hand, these issues have not been explored so deeply by media in Deal, which is a shame given the dangers faced by Deal's own hospital. We are really lucky to have some real fighters in our community who are making sure this issue is kept high on the agenda. I would like to congratulate the many people who have worked so hard for us all to have decent healthcare locally - people like Lorraine Sencicle, Reg and Wendy Hansell and Pauline Majors, who all care so much.