I have received many letters about difficulties obtaining dental care in Wyre Forest. This is not only a local issue but affects the whole country. Dentists have told me that the new NHS contract is unsatisfactory and no longer rewards those who work hardest. The Chief Executive of our Primary Care Trust is aware of the difficulties faced by patients and feels that part of the problem is that the Government has provided insufficient detail about the new contract. I shall raise the awareness of this with parliamentary questions. Meanwhile the Dental Access Centre in Crown House will provide emergency treatment and may be able to book appointments for less urgent routine care. Next April the Primary Care Trust takes over responsibility for dental services and hopefully things will then improve.

Our successful efforts to protect the hospital site for health use are beginning to bear fruit. There are proposals for further beds and intensive rehabilitation facilities probably necessitating a new block. I understand that some of the older blocks on the hospital site may have to be demolished to make room for developments. One will be the tower block which is unsuitable for further use. I am told that the costs of refurbishing C Block would be even greater than the costs of demolition and a new build so if this is the case, when everything that is in C Block now has been re-housed, I will have no objection to its demolition.

The Primary Care Trust Patient Forum is now in action. This is the organisation to represent all of our wishes and hopes for the present running of our health services and future developments. Its first public meeting is to be held tonight in the Education Centre at the Hospital Treatment Centre.

During the Easter break I met a group of Worcestershire Young Carers who are making a video to publicise the vital work that they carry out to support disabled family members. One of their main worries is that unexpected absence from school because of a genuine family crisis is not viewed sympathetically by some schools.

Local post offices are closing here and across the country. Many closures have been unavoidable because following changes in payment of pensions, sub- postmasters have found economic survival impossible. The same should not be the case for the threatened post office in the One Stop Shop on Stourport Road, Kidderminster. This is owned by Tesco’s which is big enough to provide a service where it is needed even if alone it would not be profitable. Official documentation states that the nearest post office following closure is the one in Lister Road described as 0.3 mile distant. That must be as the crow flies as the walking distance is much greater. I have written to the Chief Executive of Tesco’s to correct the facts and emphasise the difficulties closure will cause.