John Penrose, MP for Weston-super-Mare and Minister for Tourism & Heritage

We’re on a bit of a roll with local healthcare at the moment. First came the good news that Weston Hospicecare’s government grant of almost £550k to improve its buildings and gardens was safe. I’m not sure whether my intervention with the Secretary of State helped, or whether it would have come through anyway. But, either way, everyone breathed a sigh of relief because any funding which starts with the word ‘Government’ is under threat at the moment. And it was particularly important because all the normal donations and fundraising cover the costs of running the place rather than improving it, so this grant was vital for the major upgrade they’re planning.

The other good news is that St George’s now has a new GP surgery. I’ve been arguing that Weston needs more GPs for years, so I was delighted to be invited along to cut the ribbon at the official opening last Friday. Like the GP walk-in centre at Weston’s Hospital, and the clinic in central Weston that also opened earlier this year, it will provide better access to local healthcare services. It’s also set to expand after two years, so it should be able to cater for more patients in future too.

So things are looking up. The final piece in the jigsaw, of course, is the new and expanded Casualty Department (that’s ‘Accident and Emergency’ in healthcare jargon) which is being built at Weston Hospital. Like the hospicecare grant, there were a few question marks over the funding but they got everything underway early enough to avoid the chop – it’s too late for Government to back out now! Once it’s finished we should have a hugely improved and expanded local healthcare system. That doesn’t mean Weston can rest on its laurels of course – there’s always more to do – but we’re definitely on the right track.