Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Last Wednesday I attended a Patient Forum at the Courtyard Clinic at St Georges. The clinic helps patients with HIV and STIs and has now had 4 patient forum meetings. Each forum meeting has been better attended than the last one. I am waiting with baited breath to see if the next meeting has more attendees or whether my talk has scared users off! The theme of the evening was "grassroots to government". My talk was about giving power to patients via public and patient involvement eg Patient and Public Involvement Forums as well as other routes to take charge of "our hospital". Much more interesting than my talk were the ones given by Positively Women, the patient representative from Bloomsbury Clinic and the representative of Nursing and PPI at St Georges. You can find out more about the PPIF here.
On Thursday I met with residents of Dalebury Road to discuss their concerns about the lack of proper of traffic calming measures on this and adjoining roads. Tragically a ten year old girl was run over by a car on this road in September and died as a result of her injuries. Residents have signed a petition calling for a reduction in the speed limit from 30 MPH to 20MPH. They have also called for road humps and adequate signs telling drivers to slow down. I have been supporting this petition and am calling on the surrounding schools and play centres to support it also. It is vital that we do what we can now to prevent another child suffering the same end.
In the evening I joined Cllr Judi Gasser and other members of the Labour Action team in Furzedown to call on residents of Leverson and Anvil Close in Furzedown ward to discuss concerns they have about anti social behaviour from young people in that area. As well as urging the Council to provide youth facilities for local youth, residents signed a petition asking for CCTV cameras in the area. This will act as a deterrent and also aid the police is successfully prosecuting anyone taking part in anti social behaviour. A number of residents felt unsafe walking in and around their street. If you have a concern about anti social behaviour and wish to contact your local Safer Neighbourhood Team, their details are available here.
On Saturday I had my usual advice session at Tooting library and on Monday I had my advice session at Earlsfield Library.
This week is Mental Health Week in Wandsworth and October 10th marks World Mental Health day. I spent his morning on board a specially adapted bus to learn more about Wandsworth Primary Care Trust’s aim to challenge the stigma that comes from mental health. The double-decker bus was parked in Sainsbury’s car park, behind Tooting Broadway, and was open to all members of the public. The insightful information available appealed to many people who were happy to dispel many of the common misconceptions of mental health problems. Sleeping problems, stress, anxiety and phobias are prime examples of how people are affected mentally. In a positive and well organised way, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust revealed how everyone can suffer such problems and how one can get over them. The bus will be back in Tooting at St George’s hospital on Thursday 12th October from 11am – 3pm.
After this it was back to Parliament for the first day of term. In addition to the usual Parliamentary business (which included the passing in the House of Commons of the Road Safety Bill) I met with representatives of Bliss. Bliss are the leading national charity focussing on neonatal care and are helping me with an Adjournment Debate I will be moving on Thursday to highlight some concerns in this area. You can find out more about Bliss here.
Sadiq
On Thursday I met with residents of Dalebury Road to discuss their concerns about the lack of proper of traffic calming measures on this and adjoining roads. Tragically a ten year old girl was run over by a car on this road in September and died as a result of her injuries. Residents have signed a petition calling for a reduction in the speed limit from 30 MPH to 20MPH. They have also called for road humps and adequate signs telling drivers to slow down. I have been supporting this petition and am calling on the surrounding schools and play centres to support it also. It is vital that we do what we can now to prevent another child suffering the same end.
In the evening I joined Cllr Judi Gasser and other members of the Labour Action team in Furzedown to call on residents of Leverson and Anvil Close in Furzedown ward to discuss concerns they have about anti social behaviour from young people in that area. As well as urging the Council to provide youth facilities for local youth, residents signed a petition asking for CCTV cameras in the area. This will act as a deterrent and also aid the police is successfully prosecuting anyone taking part in anti social behaviour. A number of residents felt unsafe walking in and around their street. If you have a concern about anti social behaviour and wish to contact your local Safer Neighbourhood Team, their details are available here.
On Saturday I had my usual advice session at Tooting library and on Monday I had my advice session at Earlsfield Library.
This week is Mental Health Week in Wandsworth and October 10th marks World Mental Health day. I spent his morning on board a specially adapted bus to learn more about Wandsworth Primary Care Trust’s aim to challenge the stigma that comes from mental health. The double-decker bus was parked in Sainsbury’s car park, behind Tooting Broadway, and was open to all members of the public. The insightful information available appealed to many people who were happy to dispel many of the common misconceptions of mental health problems. Sleeping problems, stress, anxiety and phobias are prime examples of how people are affected mentally. In a positive and well organised way, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust revealed how everyone can suffer such problems and how one can get over them. The bus will be back in Tooting at St George’s hospital on Thursday 12th October from 11am – 3pm.
After this it was back to Parliament for the first day of term. In addition to the usual Parliamentary business (which included the passing in the House of Commons of the Road Safety Bill) I met with representatives of Bliss. Bliss are the leading national charity focussing on neonatal care and are helping me with an Adjournment Debate I will be moving on Thursday to highlight some concerns in this area. You can find out more about Bliss here.
Sadiq
