VIEWPOINT FOR 9 OCTOBER 2008
FROM DR RICHARD TAYLOR

On Monday, the first day back in London, the Chancellor made a statement on the financial crisis. 

He stressed the global nature of the problem and attempted to reassure the House by confirming it was his responsibility to support a stable and well-functioning banking system. He outlined what the Government had done already but gave little away about his future plans. 
The Conservatives offered constructive support but warned that they would return later to find out how we arrived in this financial position. Vince Cable, the respected Liberal Democrat financial expert, felt that we would have to make the same reassurances to depositors in retail banks that have been made in other countries and he concluded expressing the hope that the Chancellor would give us the leadership that we need in this crisis.

Yesterday this leadership was declared with plans agreed by the Government after talks lasting all night. 
Commentators have mostly welcomed the plans as bold and ambitious; one saying that it is the first time any government has recognised problems with capital and liquidity. Hopefully it will restore confidence that will stop the run on the banks. It will lead to a long term substantial re-structuring of the banking system including controls on salaries and dividends. We now must wait to see the effects of this rescue package.
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I called on our new out-of-hours (OOH) GP service on the first evening it was working and was pleased to meet several managers from Take Care Now, the providers of the service, with the staff on duty making sure that any initial problems were solved quickly. 

To my satisfaction they told me that they had already seen two drop-in patients who had not been sent away to make an appointment as they would have been the night before. We now have to make sure that this emergency service is available to all local people even if they live close to the hospital but just over the borders in neighbouring counties. 
We must push the authorities into merging the OOH service with the minor injuries unit as soon as possible so that one doctor can cover both and they can share the same reception desk. They already use the same premises but separate reception desks which can be confusing.
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I joined local churches for two exciting events recently, both aimed at taking the Church out into the town. 
One was 'café church@nero's' where churchgoers and others who happened to be in Caffé Nero were discussing climate change. A fun climate checklist was completed table by table for prizes of free coffee. It was no surprise that the winners were young people obviously very switched-on to these issues. To calculate one's carbon footprint required time and a calculator so I was relieved not to have to own up to mine which at a rough guess would not be good. The event was a great success, interesting and stimulating to all. 
Similar events are planned for every first Wednesday of the month at 6pm and Caffé Nero must be thanked for staying open to make this possible.

The second was a service in St Mary's to commission three people offering themselves for service to our community as Associate Town Centre Chaplains – again the churches are moving out to meet the people!

R.T.

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