You have been having your say in this week’s Redditch and Alcester Standard letters page.

Alex won’t be complete until it has full A&E, paediatrics and maternity

I RECEIVED a letter from Rachel Maclean MP last week about local healthcare issues.

I didn’t ask for this letter which was full of self congratulating propaganda but I read it anyway.

Unfortunately Rachel failed to mention any of the issues I am actually concerned about.

She says that the upcoming £33million investment is ‘proof the Government is supporting my constituent’s demands for first class healthcare’.

In my experience the people of Redditch are demanding three main things – an A&E department which is fit for purpose, and the return of maternity and paediatrics.

This £33million will be spent on replacement operating theatres, and has been promised since before 2017 when Rachel was elected.

The sole purpose of this investment is to consolidate the Alex as a centre for elective surgery, and forms part of the centralisation programme which saw us lose the acute services we wanted the most.

She admits the Trust is ‘wedded to the centralisation of services at Worcestershire Royal’ but all of these investments are tools which facilitate that goal. Our MP is supporting centralisation (and therefore an acute services downgrade) by supporting the investment in non acute services.

Rachel does not mention A&E at all in her letter. The Alex is now little more than a triage centre for the Worcestershire Royal, where residents wait for hours and hours to end up on a corridor.

The Alex A&E is no longer equipped to deal with acute emergencies – this is demonstrated by the sale of land where the helipad is located. Helicopters no longer need to make an emergency visit to Redditch because trauma and road accident victims are part of the long list of emergencies which cannot be seen at the Alex.

To add insult to injury we will have a supermarket on the helipad instead.

And the sale of land means that a return of maternity and paediatrics becomes more difficult.

The Alex is full.

This is demonstrated by the need for mobile units and the lack of location for the long promised return of the Garden Suite.

If we can’t find room for chemotherapy then where will we put a maternity ward, SCBU and children’s ward?

The Acute Trust has sold the ‘excess’ land on instructions from the Tory government.

Perhaps Aldi can put a birthing suite in the back of their loading bay?

Sharon Harvey

Southcrest

Thanks to RBL for fitting tribute to Falklands’ heroes

COULD I, through the Standard, thank the Redditch Royal British Legion for organising a fitting commemorative tribute to those who served and sacrificed for the Falkland Islands.

Also if I could acknowledge Coun Sid Khan for his touching rendition of the Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph.

A fitting example of what Redditch requires of a forces champion.

Coun Juliet Brunner

Real debate the key to saving Redditch’s ‘fading’ democracy

Is democracy fading in Redditch?

After attending the executive meeting on June 14, I was shocked to see in the last minutes of the previous meeting in March that it had only lasted seven minutes. What was more disturbing in my opinion was the lack of engagement, debate and discussion from the Conservative only executive while going through each item.

With only half the executive making brief comments which were mainly to self-congratulate and nod through the officer recommendations.

I was surprised some of the more important items were just nodded through without proper debate and questions.

For example, it seemed the Overview and Scrutiny recommendations which were carefully debated, discussed and questioned and unanimously agreed at overview and scrutiny were not even discussed.

The two main issues of concern was the lack of face to face interaction for residents needing help and the updates of the brown bin/garden waste scheme with the possibility of increasing this popular the service to being expanded and being made a priority.

There was no questioning or discussion from the group, with members just nodding things through to put this on hold and to expand to a more digital service.

This is not how democracy should work and this is not what residents should expect from us as a council.

I believe there should be proper cross-party representation on the executive, officers should be asked relevant questions and probing to be done to get the full picture before decisions are made.

Bill Hartnett, who chairs the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, comments: “Only two years ago Labour had two seats without portfolio on the executive which allowed proper debate and questioning in the public arena, with the press present, which I feel is good for democracy and transparency and also gives and sometimes offers an alternative viewpoint.”

Finally I believe the Executive should have allowed when requested at the AGM for two members of the Labour group to be on the executive committee.

Joe Baker

Leader of the Labour Group

Editor’s Comment

THE VANDALS who trashed the Peace Memorial at Bomford Hill Park should be hang their heads in shame.

After all the fantastic events and celebrations during The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, highlighting the pride we all feel about our rich history, and the poignant Armed Forces Day services last week, it leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth.

In these tough economic times, the last thing councils need is unnecessary and avoidable expense to foot clean-up and repair bills.