Not holding my breath over potential Hunt visit

I was at Pinderfields the day after Boxing Day. I was taken in by ambulance with a friend’s mum and there was a 14 hour waiting list for beds on wards. There were people waiting in the corridor on trolleys and chairs. They even had to double up a few of the cubicles it was that busy. The nurses even said they had opened the childrens A&E and were putting adults in there to deal with them. Sylvia Syms, actress, Terry Venables, former football coach Barry John, former rugby player, Rowan Atkinson, comic actor

Angus Deayton, actor and broadcaster, Kapil Dev, former cricketer, Nigella Lawson, chef and writer, Alex Turner, singer/songwriter THERE was no room at the inn on Christmas Day!

Late Christmas Eve l was admitted to Calderdale Hospital as an emergency.

I had a long wait although A&E did not seem overly busy.

I must say the care from ambulance staff to doctors, nurses et al was very thorough and caring. The doctor said I was OK to go home at 3.30am on Christmas Day.

As a pensioner I hope that was my last Christmas hospital visit.

The last time was when my youngest daughter was born on Christmas Day 53 years ago, fortunately in Huddersfield.

On a more serious note, while the staff at Calderdale were lovely, the A&E seemed very small and quiet compared to Huddersfield so how will they cope when a town the size of Huddersfield descends on it?

My journey home was surprisingly quick so perhaps these horror stories of impassable traffic have been exaggerated?

Jeremy Hunt would love to hear that!

However, it was 4am on Christmas Day with no other vehicle in sight. It’s a completely different scenario at any other time.

I’ve heard the Secretary of State for Health is to visit I’VE been sent an email from a lady whose son was told he couldn’t attend the Christmas celebrations at his school because he did not have 98% attendance.

His attendance dropped after he was sent home from school when he was told he was too ill to be in. Her son has asthma which means when he is poorly he needs to be at home.

It was heartbreaking for the mother to see her son punished due to his medical situation.

Apparently this is common practice in schools all over the country. It annoys me because I’m an asthmatic too and in my young days was unable to attend school due to asthma.

Anyone feeling the same should write to their MP or the Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening to ask schools not to penalise children because of their illness. the EU and is now embarking on a trade deal.

The Stock Market is at a record high, the pound recovering its strength (good news for inflation), manufacturing booming, exports to the rest of the world flourishing, consumer spending over Christmas healthy, the economy continuing to grow, tax receipts from the reduced rate of Corporation Tax at an alltime high and unemployment continuing to fall.

The so-called experts, the nay-sayers and doom mongers put to flight yet again (will they ever learn?)

Two possible blips I can see on the horizon.

The dwindling band of Remainers still trying to block or overturn the democratic will of the people over Brexit and the spectre of Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street, destroying the economy, putting millions out of work and turning Britain into a socialist state akin to Venezuela, Cuba or Zimbabwe.

All of us who consider ourselves as defenders of democracy and are proud of our country and way of life must be vigilant and ensure neither happens, so let this be our New Year’s resolution.