Mg Enews 2009_12

Up-to-date news from your local Assembly Member inside the National Assembly and out-and-about in our area

Severn Tolls The annual uprating of the tolls is is usually announced in December for the following year. So, I wrote to the UK Minster of State for Transport asking that he freezes the tolls for 2010. The UK Government did likewise and froze the tolls on the Humber bridge in YorkshireLincolnshire until 2011 (See BBC news coverage here). Welsh residents pay the highest tolls for a bridge in the country, so what is good enough for Yorkshire is certainly good enough for Wales. I launched the Freeze bridge Tolls 2010 campaign. I have also filed a State of Opinion in the National Assembly asking for other Assembly members to back the campaign. The Campaign has attracted the attention of numerous papers including the Monmouthshire Beacon (who held an on-line poll finding 95 per cent of respondents in favour) and even as far away as the Gloucester Citizen.

Check out the campaign page on my website for all my activity on the issue of the tolls: Click the FaceBook badge to sign up to the campaign. Here you can sign the on-line petition and another one that is on the Number 10 website. What do you think? Let me know here. Shortly I’ll be meeting with local business people who are campaigning on the issue too. I hope to build a broad crosscensus group to lobby the Westminster government to do the right thing.

Road to nowhere? I have long made it a point to question a succession of WAG Transport Minister over the the progress of the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys (HoV) Road from Abergavenny to Hirwaun. Initially good progress was made. However the section between Gilwern-Clydach to Brynmawr Top continues to be put back. I recently clashed with the First Minster asking why there are new delays and why the anticipated competition date is being put back to 2014 - years after it was due to be completed. “Technical Problems” I am told, with no explanation of what this means. Since the the M4 relief road project has been cancelled (costing £1 billion), there’s money in the pot to complete the ‘missing link’ of the HoV road. These delays are becoming unacceptable. I’ll be keeping up the pressure until we get clear answers to a clear question: why? Be sure to look out for updates on this story in 2011!

Renal Services I first became involved in this important issue when I was contacted by a constituent back in July this year. A constituent sent me a copy of a petition calling for improvements to facilities for kidney dialysis patients in Merthyr Tydfil. The unit at Prince Charles Hospital was far from adequate for the number of patients that used it and invited me to visit. I did this in August and after meeting patients and staff, agreed to

private individual has to drive the patient to hospital in the end, to an ambulance that came but then went away again to deal with another emergency. I have also become aware of problems with the service that takes hospital patients to outpatient appointments by car or ambulance. Some of these journeys seem to be unnecessarily long and uncomfortable for people who are elderly and infirm and people are often kept waiting for a long time before they are taken home again. Please do report any incidents of this kind to my office in New Inn – but we always need details of when and where the incident occurred and we need permission from the patient, not just from a friend or bystander.

Continuing Care for the Elderly Understanding when you need to pay for your own care or when it will be financed by the NHS is a complete minefield and Mike is often contacted by constituents or their carers who have these kinds of concerns. I am also keeping a close eye on the Welsh Government’s proposals on this issue: they produced a Green Paper only this month and it is currently open to consultation. If you’re interested in making a contribution, please click here. Even more important, perhaps, is the issue of how a high I remained in contact with patients and doctors at the unit and standard of care can be provided. Quality care can only be provided by carers who are well-trained and qualified and who received assurances from the Minister for Health at the Assembly, Edwina Hart AM, that plans to replace the current 15 have decent working conditions that allow them to do their job station unit with a new 24-27 station unit were well underway. to the best of their ability. A local Lib Dem Member, who herself has carers in regularly to This new unit is expected to open by the end of 2011. help with her daily routine, contacted me, horrified at the The suggestion was made that I might like to visit a second demands placed on the carers who look after her and has asked dialysis unit which would demonstrate what a modern, stateI’m looking into how pay and conditions are regulated for of-the art renal dialysis unit would look like and so I arranged carers working for private firms. Another constituent asked for to go to Newport this time, to see the unit at St Woolas help in finding Housing Association accommodation for herself Hospital. This unit was modern, purpose-built and a huge and her elderly mother, who is ready to leave hospital, but contrast to the portacabin with a leaky roof in Merthyr Tydfil. can’t leave until suitable accommodation has been prepared However, patients informed us that when they have serious for her. problems with their health and have to be taken into hospital, Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital is unable to provide the specialist help they need and so they have to be taken to Due to major renewal work on the Great Western Main Line Cardiff. (GWML) to upgrade signalling systems in preparation for the The Consultant also mentioned that kidney patients in North electrification projects, rail services are being suspended and Gwent have to travel much too far to receive dialysis. So now replaced with buses. Over the Christmas holidays. Mike is supporting the call for the Welsh Assembly Government I am working with local groups such as Better Trains for to provide financing urgently for a Renal Consultant specifically Chepstow (BC4C) and the Severn Tunnel Action Group (STAG) for the Gwent area and an outpatient clinic for renal disease in to ease the disruption that is going to be caused. the north of Monmouthshire. I regularly attend STAG meetings who are doing a fantastic job I am planning to meet with Professor John Williams, Chairman locally lobbying for improved rail services. of All Wales Renal Strategy Group and an official who has You can contact me in a number of ways: responsibility for planning renal services in the Welsh Assembly Constituency Office: Government after Christmas. help progress the plans for a new unit.

Rail Shut-Down over Christmas

Ambulance Response Times My office continues to receive reports of problems with ambulances – from ambulances that don’t appear, so that a

101a The Highway, New Inn, PONTYPOOL, NP4 0PN Tel: 01495 740 358 Website: www.michaelgerman.com E-mail: [email protected]