Last week we debated the Lords' amendments to the NHS Reform Bill. The most contentious point in this Bill is that it abolishes Community Health Councils (CHCs). In previous debates and in committee the Opposition, including myself on this occasion, has been unable to make the Government reconsider this decision. However my faith in our system of government has been slightly restored - the Government has changed its mind - not completely but significantly!

In the House of Lords an Opposition amendment to recommend Patient Councils instead of CHCs was passed in a Government defeat. 
Because of this defeat the Government had to reconsider. 
So it put down its own amendment which in my opinion is better than the Lords' amendment and goes along way to compensating for the loss of the one-stop shop for patients and carers that we had in the CHC. 

We have to wait and see if the alternative bodies, Primary Care Trusts Patients' Forums with extended powers and duties will be effective and truly independent. 
A lot will depend on the members of these Forums which we are assured will not be just talking shops but with Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees will have the power to change local health services. An article in the Health Service Journal commented that if such scrutiny had existed in 1998 the changes to hospital services in Worcestershire probably would not have taken the same form.

Thus membership of these bodies is crucial to all of us. 
I hope to learn about appointments to these bodies and I will keep you informed. We have requested a more user friendly name for the Primary Care Trust Patients' Forum which I understand will be the accessible point to all of us to comment on matters even if they relate to any other NHS Trust.

I attended the Kidderminster Mayor making and enjoyed the tradition of the ceremony and was thrilled by the quality of the young singers that entertained the gathering while the Mayor donned his robes. 

I have met staff and students at Stourport High School and Lickhill Middle School and have again been impressed by the thoughtfulness for other people and for the interest in the wider community that our young people are showing.

A visit to the Citizens' Advice Bureau showed me the staggering amount of information the bureau has available for local people. 

Visits to Forest Enterprise in our own Forest and to a meeting of the Local Dysphasia Support Group of The Stroke Association have demonstrated some of the opportunities at hand for local people of all ages and capabilities.

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