THIS weeks Redditch Standard letters.
WELL done to the Labour Party for their time given in preparation and delivery of over 200 Christmas Eve meals to Redditch people.
I notice also that because of donations from Aldi, Tesco, Morrisons, Nicki Laurence and her customers, AoK, and the schools in poverty stricken areas of Redditch and the efforts of Reach CIC volunteers and CALA Homes, enough was provided for 120 hampers for those in need.
I am grateful for every single donation to this cause but one wonders, out of all those households still struggling with fuel poverty, how they selected the lucky 120. There are 10,500 families in Redditch on means-tested benefits as reported by the government on November 8.
Let us hope and work towards a 2023 of more evenly distributed wealth so that no one has more money than they need and no one has to choose whether to eat or heat.
Happy new year e veryone.
Margot Bish
Abbeydale
WELL it’s 2023 and despite all the talk things have not got any better at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.
Child services (including A&E facilities) moved in 2016 as a ‘temporary measure’ have still not been returned seven years on and there is no fixed date for their return.
In addition the overall A&E services which have slowly been eroded are still in a poor state with patients of all ages being taken to the Worcestershire Royal – according to the NHS’ own website is the fifth furthest A&E from Redditch.
Worst of all the Garden Suite and the cancer services which were again transferred out of the hospital on a ‘temporary basis’ three years ago in 2020 have still not been returned and there is no fixed date for their return.
To add insult to injury the planned extension to the hospital was poorly prepared and didn’t receive planning permission. What a mess!
There is plainly something very wrong about the way the town and the county are being run if the people we elect (and pay) to do the best for the people are an utter shambles.
Generally speaking there are only two reasons things don’t get done at this level, either the people in charge don’t have the skill or the will to make things happen.
In Redditch’s case our MP, council, county council and Government seem to be lacking in both of these qualities.
On this basis I think it is about time for a change in the people who represent us, starting with the council elections in the spring.
Terry Leary
Matchborough
LAST year I joined the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) nurses outside The Alexandra Hospital to show support for their strike.
I am a retired community staff nurse and I joined the RCN when I started my training because it was the only nursing union with a No Strike policy.
I know how hard it has been for these nurses to take their decision to strike.
Patient care has always come before pay, family life and indeed at times, personal mental and physical health. Even now, with some colleagues needing to use foodbanks to support their families, nurses are putting patient safety first. They are clear. This is not just about pay but recruitment and retention of NHS staff.
Nursing agencies are bleeding the NHS dry and the sheer lack of numbers is placing patient safety in jeopardy.
We are all potential patients of our NHS.
Please do what you can to pressure the government to get around the table and negotiate.
Monica Stringfellow
Headless Cross
I HAVE been to the VR event in town about the new proposed square and cafes that will be in place after the library is demolished.
The guys in there were lovely and very chatty. But, there is a huge huge elephant in the room with these guys not able to answer my simple observation. It just won’t fit.
See where the new building starts in order for us to have a square that size? It’s way past the end of the windows outside Poundstretcher.
It starts by a column with a brick base and goes backwards from there. The buildings are supposed to be 70 per cent size of the current library. I took a picture by that column.
That is the stairwell and then the needles. There is no way that building fits there – it’s going to end there and start much much closer to the back entrance of the kingfisher.
A rough estimate makes me think that rather than having a giant square filled with fountains we will actually just have a walkway about the size of the one between the library and post office.
This stinks. They are using an artist’s impression to make the case that is utterly undeliverable.
Unless they have found a way to break the laws of physics it is impossible. More dishonesty.
Mark Harvey
Redditch
I NOTICE our Rachel is claiming successes again in achieving exactly what the people of Redditch said they did not want.
So, now we get seven new operating theatres to replace six that will be closed in 2026.
Yippee, one extra theatre, but she has forgotten to tell you that these will be for operative planned surgery for the whole of Worcestershire, which embeds the intention that all emergency surgery, and, even complicated planned surgery will take place at Worcester.
There are no extra wards, so these theatres are only for use on patients who can return home on the same day – if you have a heart problem or high blood pressure, for instance, you will still be going to Worcester because your surgery is deemed complicated.
As regards, Rory, the cost of the robot was £1.6million. Urology was always going to be sited at Redditch so the extra £2million was again part of the 2015 consultation that took maternity, paediatrics and emergency A&E to Worcester.
On January 2, I received a Tory propaganda paper hoping Rory would see its first patient by the end of the year – I hope she meant 2022, not 2023.
She seems to be suffering from medium term memory loss as, in fact until the run up to the 2019 election, our Rachel was telling us how great it was that the Worcestershire Royal was receiving considerable investment and how pleased she was about that, despite so many of us telling her we were unhappy that we had already lost maternity, paediatrics, heart and stroke services.
As the new theatres have very little bed recovery space, I wonder if the next step will be to downgrade from 24-hour care to a 12-hour day.
I certainly hope not. I referred back to the consultation report to check my facts.
Bottom line: Worcester gains 115 beds, Redditch loses 132. Money spent £8.19m at the Alex, £21.4m spent on the Worcester Royal. Rachel, you have achieved nothing!
The Worcestershire Royal’s money has already been spent, Redditch is apparently now being funded by the Aldi’s supermarket being built on our hospital’s land.
Margot Bish,
Abbeydale
THANKS are due to your correspondent for the information that the consultation document on the library is available in paper form.
After collecting mine from the library I walked down to the Town Hall and then back again to the town.
The gradient is such that many people will not be able to use the library if it is relocated – those with a mobility issue, breathing problems, the elderly and even pushchairs would find it a drag especially carrying books or shopping. Has account been taken of this?
While being grateful that the consultation is being made available to a wider group, I have already heard weasel words- a ‘consultation is not a referendum’ ‘a consultation is not binding’.
The council should be reminded that a vote is only binding for a time, and can be changed at the next election and from what I have been hearing if Coun Dormer continues on his present path a great many Conservative votes will be changed.
This is a pity, because there are some good councillors in all the parties, and it will be a loss to the town if these are sacrificed on the altar of one man’s vanity.
As for the contention that the money from the government will be lost if it not spent, then spend it on demolishing the wind tunnel and build a decent bus station.
Any cash left over could go to putting down decent pavements, with the rule that they cannot be dug up for 10 years, then perhaps electric wheelchair users will be able to go out without fearing tipping.
I hope that the Standard will obtain the consultation results and publish them.
M Morley
Redditch
I BELIEVE the plans to demolish Redditch Library are short sighted and a mistake.
The library has a very useful archive which is currently easily accessible and is a vital record of our town’s history.
The library is also a key resource for the community, offering many services to them. I am worried about the future of these, including during any transition period.
I think it is best to keep the library where it is in a building everyone is familiar with and moving it will be detrimental to the service.
What is planned to replace the site is just more coffee shops which we already have enough of. What provision is there for young people?
Is the new library going to be bigger and better, with more improved technology? Will it still be as accessible?
I struggle to see how young people like me would want to live and work in a town like Redditch with plans like this on the table.
Another issue which I am also very concerned about is the council’s plans for a cemetery at Ipsley Meadows.
This is a beautiful open green space much enjoyed by all of the community and it would be a tragedy to see it turned into a graveyard.
You must look at alternative sites before destroying this piece of land forever.
It seems all the green spaces are being taken over by houses or this needless plan for a cemetery.
Where will future generations play and exercise? Joining a gym costs money but open spaces are free, or they should be!
You need to consult with my generation as the decisions you make today impact our futures.
Madison Delmore
Redditch
