TO me there are four important local community issues at the moment and these are the incinerator, Kidderminster Harriers, Bewdley Museum, and of course, the hospital.
I make no apology if Viewpoint reflects my interest in these primarily as it was on community issues that I was elected.
As the many people to whom I write letters will know I am also deeply involved in the wider issues of education, housing, crime and police to pick out only a few examples of my work.

I had the honour of presenting the prizes at King Charles I High School Speech Day and was very impressed with the students and their consideration as we all shook hands left-handedly because of my recently broken right wrist.

The Stourport Mayor's Ball was a glittering occasion enjoyed by all who attended.

Work on the Parliamentary Health Select Committee continues.
We are discussing the reports on our investigations into the Government's proposals for greater use of the private sector by the health service, and into the functions of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence.
Our inquiry investigates the reasons for delayed discharge from hospital, and hopefully will come up with recommendations.

On Monday, a coach load of people from Wyre Forest and Shropshire joined others from Canterbury, Solihull, Gosport and Penzance in a highly successful lobby of Parliament.
We delivered letters to the Prime Minister at No 10 and Mr Milburn at the Department of Health. We then congregated in Westminster Hall within the House of Commons to listen to Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
She told us about the problems hospitals face at the moment and the work the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the NHS Confederation are doing to try to resolve the situation and make the solutions acceptable to local people. She heard the message that people need local services for emergency conditions.

At last there is a willingness to improve services where acute hospitals have been downgraded as badly as ours and a realisation that the changes we have seen are not appropriate.
Prof Darzi, who wrote the report on elective surgery here, has produced a report on hospital services in County Durham and Darlington.
This gives Bishop Auckland (population about 40,000) inpatient medicine and a doctor-led A&E in partnership with nearby Darlington and Durham. This would be acceptable here.

It is unfortunate Prof Darzi was given such a narrow remit here but it gives us a recognised model similar to that being studied by the RCP for which we must strive.