Mary Reid's blog

You have probably heard that there are some interesting proposals for the future of Surbiton Hospital. These will affect people in South of the Borough because it means we will be able to go to Surbiton for some outpatient services rather than travel to Kingston Hospital.

Illustration kindly provided by NHS RedbridgeThe concept is to bring medical services nearer to home, which means that consultants will hold clinics at Surbiton, and all sorts of procedures, such as X-rays, will also be available there.

This array of services (including GP practices) all under one roof is known as a polyclinic. But NHS Kingston is taking it futher and talking about 'polysystems' in all four Neighbourhoods. The idea is to provide some new kinds of services right here in the community, through the existing GP practices.

For a start, they have awarded a contract for a walk-in health clinic for the area in Chessington and Hook south of the A3. This will be run by a new GP practice, but anyone will be able to drop in between 8am and 8pm for advice. There has been some concern about how this might impact on the four existing GP practices, but I have been told by NHS Kingston that we are, in fact, under-provided for GPs in the area.

We are kicking off the South of the Borough Neighbourhood meeting on Wednesday (14th) with an opportunity to hear about all these proposals and to give our views on them. Everyone is welcome. The meeting starts at 7.30pm in Castle Hill Primary School, Buckland Road.

If you can't make that, then the NHS is holding a couple of consultation meetings about the proposals on Tuesday (13th), one at 1.30pm and the other at 7.30pm. This will both be in the St Mary's Centre in at the top end of Church Lane.

You can read more about the proposals on www.kingston-polysystem.nhs.uk. You can download a copy of the consultation survey from the website if you can't get to a meeting.

Last week I wrote about the case of two police officers who were both job sharing and caring for each other's children. Ofsted had apparently told them that they should register as child minders in order to do that.

I urged you to sign the petition and today I've received a response from No 10:

The Childcare Act 2006 requires anyone providing ‘childcare for reward’ to register with Ofsted, with the aim of ensuring every child in a commercial childcare service is safe and well cared for. Parents would expect no less. However, our intention has always been that friends and families caring for children through informal arrangements should be exempt from having to register and we believed that was what always happened. In the light of this recent case we are talking to Ofsted about how we can make sure there’s a shared understanding with Ofsted, and with parents, of what the law means and how it should interpreted.

Since 1997 we have invested £25bn in childcare and early years services, doubling the number of childcare places available for children under 8 to support working families and providing more support than ever before with childcare costs, with over £3.8 million a day going directly into parents hands to help pay for childcare through tax credits.

In other words, Ofsted was wrong.

... and a very busy one at that!

. . .

A few weeks ago I mentioned the plans that are being developed for Tolworth Broadway and the roundabout over the A3. There was quite an extensive consultation at the time, but there is now another opportunity to see the latest plans and give your views on it to the Council.

On Saturday (10th) the plans will be on display by the footpath inside the roundabout. Just turn up any time between 10am and 4pm. Fortunately the weather forecast looks benevolent.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to stand in for the Deputy Mayor who was unable to attend a function. I'm always delighted to do these events - I had such a great time as Mayor and loved meeting all the people who are contributing to the community.

I've now got a photo to share with you from the Library Service, and we have to thank the librarians for another hugely successful project. Over the summer 3000 children in the borough enrolled on the Summer Reading Challenge, which this year was titled 'Quest Seekers'. They were encouraged, with sticker books and posters as incentives, to borrow books from the libraries. The challenge was to read six books over the summer holiday and around 1000 children managed this.

That is pretty impressive - I'm pleased if I manage three books when I'm away on holiday, so six books is quite a lot.

All the children who completed the challenge were given a certificate, and some lucky winners were invited to the Rose to receive prizes. The youngest age group was 0-3 years!

If you have a London Freedom Pass you may know that it is partly paid for through a £55 million grant from the Government to local authorities like Kingston. Up until now the Government has funded two thirds of the cost and the London councils have found the other one third.

And now, it seems, Labour is planning to reduce the grant so it only covers a half of the cost. The only way the scheme could continue would be if London Councils could find £50 million.

The unfair thing about this is that outside London the Government covers the full cost of concessionary passes.

If you want to keep Freedom Passes then please sign the petition which has been organised by Caroline Pigeon, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee.

The picture shows Caroline Pigeon (fourth from left) standing next to Cllr Derek Osbourne, Leader of Kingston Council who is supporting her campaign.

Honesty box

Yes, I do have a Freedom Pass myself ...

The new building for Chessington Community College was formally opened by Edward Davey MP on Monday.

Of all the 100 Pathfinder new school projects in the country this was the only one to have been built on time and within budget. And it's not just a bog standard school building, but probably the best new school building in the country.

Enjoy the photos...

The presentation that Kingston Liberal Democrats made at Conference is now ready for your viewing pleasure.

Part 1 ...

Part 2 ...