Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Chance to secure hospital people ‘need and deserve’
Last week saw the publication of the Scottish Government’s independent review into NHS Lanarkshire’s handling of the University Hospital Monklands consultation process.
I am pleased with the outcome and glad that Alex Neil MSP and I requested for this to happen. The recommendation that the whole process be re-run with local people being at the heart of the decision-making is probably the most welcome part of it.
During the original consultation, the views of those who use the hospital most were not taken into consideration, either at the public meetings or on the decisionmaking board.
There is a lot of work to do to ensure that the hospital stays in the area; but I hope, given the issues at Buchanan and St Ambrose high schools, that NHS Lanarkshire think again about the consequences of building on controversial sites and rule out Gartcosh once and for all.
What is clear is that the clinical model which has been developed by medical staff is very strong; and is a good place for us to start from to, hopefully, move quickly and secure the new hospital that local people need and deserve.
In Westminster, I am fighting to get the Tory government to order the BBC to reverse its decision to cancel the free TV licence for over-75sand replace it with one where only those receiving pension credit will be eligible.
Back in 2015, the Tories passed the responsibility for licence fees to the BBC and the corporation has been looking in to the TV licence ever since.
This will mean 5756 over-75s in Airdrie and Shotts having to pay £154.50 for the pleasure of watching television; for many of these folk, TV is the only means of contact with the world outside their front door for days on end and this additional bill could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
For someone to miss out on a free TV licence because they do not qualify for pension credit by as little as 1p would be heart-breaking.
I really hope that, given the strength of feeling across the UK from young and old alike, and the number of signatures on the petition by Age UK reaching almost 600,000, that the Tories look at this again and put the vulnerable in society at the top of their agenda.