Monday, June 30, 2008

Pathways to Healthcare again

Tonight's meeting of the Western Area Partnership Board was taken up to a large extent with a discussion on the Momentum project. This had been mentioned last month but this month we had a presentation and debate which could have gone on for a lot longer. People have real concerns about concentrating services in too few locations, about how the villages will be served when they can't have a GP service, let alone any of the wonderful new services being proposed. There were worries about private sector involvement and some confusion over the difference between the health centres being proposed and privately operated polyclinics being talked about in some parts of the media.
There was a glimmer of hope for Long Newton Post Office, when we heard that the leader of the council has asked council officers to look into the possibility of the council keeping it open. It doesn't seem like a lot to ask - a part-time worker for a few hours a week, purchase the second hand redundant equipment from the Post Office and pay a bit towards the upkeep of the Wilson Institute. We shall see. I'll keep reminding him that it's important to the village community of the Western Area and we don't ask for much from the council.

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