Archive for May 2016

Junior Doctors’ Contracts

May 20, 2016 Health Comments Off on Junior Doctors’ Contracts

nhsThis week a new contract was agreed subject to the support of BMA junior doctors in a referendum.

The Government has now reached an agreement with the BMA on a new junior doctors’ contract – an important step forward in the delivery of a 7-day NHS.

The new contract is better for patients, doctors and NHSDavidCameronthe NHS. It will introduce better training, safety and working conditions for junior doctors. It is better for the NHS because it supports hospitals to deliver truly 7-day services and crucially, Saturdays and Sundays will be treated as regular working days. And most importantly, it is better for patients as they know that they will have nhsprofessionalaccess to a great and improving service every day of the week.

The new contract is:

Better for patients – With access to an improved service 7-days a week. These changes are the most significant change to the contract in seventeen years. The changes ensure the NHS is shaped around the needs of patients who can’t choose what day of the week they fall unwell.

Better for junior doctors – Guaranteeing better training, safety and working conditions. Junior doctors working legal hours will receive a basic pay rise of around 10-11%. In addition to new limits on hours worked, consecutive nights and long days will also be introduced. A new family support plan will help balance home and work, offering catch-up programmes for those who take time out of training for family reasons.

Better for the NHS – Linking pay progression to attainment, tackles locum costs and scraps unsafe incentives for long hours. There will be a fundamental shift in the way doctors are paid for weekend work so it is a third less expensive for hospitals to roster doctors over the weekend. By introducing Saturday and Sundays plain time rates and a sliding scale replacing unsocial hour payments high standards of care will be enabled at an affordable rate.

It is deeply regrettable that patients had to endure eight days of industrial action which saw 125,000 operations cancelled. 

The Government commitment to a 7-day NHS which ensures patients can access great care every day of the week.  Backed by our investment of £10 billion real terms increase in the NHS’s annual budget. No other party committed to such a level of funding for the NHS.

Great support at Conservative Friends of Bangladesh AGM

May 10, 2016 Campaigning Comments Off on Great support at Conservative Friends of Bangladesh AGM

CFOBagm2I was delighted to attend the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh AGM at the Houses of Parliament last night.

It was a very packed room, so much so, that we were moved to a larger committee room!

In all there are now over 26 CFoB branches 20160509_200322across the UK including one in Scotland. Members visited from all over the Country including representatives from Manchester and Portsmouth.

At the meeting I was very pleased to have been elected as the Honorary Secretary to the CFoB board. So I will now have some minutes to type up!

After a very productive meeting with a number of Members of Parliament addressing the meeting (including Anne Main, David McIntosh, Bob Blackman and Mark Field) many of us then went to the local curry house, Millbank Spice.

There will be a by-election soon in Tooting, and I am sure the CFoB will be actively campaigning there!

Backing Zac

May 4, 2016 Campaigning Comments Off on Backing Zac

13173534_1777591189126452_912441844912536729_oIt has been a real pleasure campaigning for Zac Goldsmith, a strong voice for London. On the three occasions I have met Zac during the campaign he has always come across as a warm and genuine person and his speeches filled with a clear cut message and vision for the future of London.

Whilst making telephone calls at the20160504_185444 - Edited Conservative Campaign Headquarters, Zac arrived with a stack of pizzas to keep the activist
team going. The Conservative Party really is a united team working together.

His four key pledges are;

Start fixing London’s housing crisis by:

  1. Doubling home building to 50,000 a year by 2020 and ensuring development is in keeping with the local area
  2. Giving Londoners the first chance to buy new homes built in London
  3. Ensuring a significant proportion of all new homes are only for rent and not for sale

Improve the capacity and reliability of London’s transport system by:

  1. Ensuring the Night Tube goes ahead, starting Crossrail 2, and growing the rail network.
  2. Bringing suburban rail services under the Mayor’s control to increase and improve the service.
  3. Protecting the Freedom Pass.

Improve London’s living environment by:

  1. Protecting the green belt from development.
  2. Tackling air pollution with tougher rules on HGVs, and encouraging greener vehicles and safer cycling.
  3. Creating more green spaces and cleaning up local parks so they are safe to visit and enjoy.

Make London’s streets safer by:20160504_204732 - Edited

  1. Protecting neighbourhood police teams and keeping them on the street.
  2. Tackling the root causes of crime in local communities.
  3. Putting more police on public transport at night.

Today, on the eve of election day, the London Evening Standard endorsed Zac, This cannot be understated as the newspaper reaches about 2 million people a day.

 

Further success for School Safety campaign

May 4, 2016 Road safety Comments Off on Further success for School Safety campaign

I am delighted that we now have a full time school crossing person at Waterbeach Primary School. For a number of years we have been without a crossing person, so this is great news. It also means that a further aim of the ‘Action for School Road Safety’ campaign has been achieved.

The Action for School Road safety key aims were;

(1) Recruit a Primary School crossing person ACHIEVED and put in place an actual crossing.
(2) Add the Primary School to a Safer Routes to School scheme.
(3) Return the Secondary School bus route (Landbeach to Cottenham) to the priority gritting route list. ACHIEVED
(4) Ensure parents concerns about the quality/standard of County Secondary School buses are addressed. ACHIEVED

20150902_095835The petition secured over 1,300 signatures on the paper and online petitions combined which shows the strong feeling on the issue. So it is fantastic that we are getting action step by step. Thank you to everyone that has supported the campaign.