Quentin Davies MP - Grantham

Youth Parliament in Grantham - Grantham Journal Article 8 February 2008

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:06:24 +0000

Last Friday I went to the Grantham Youth Parliament, bringing together young people from all three sixth forms in Grantham – the College, the King’s School and K.G.G.S.

It was excellently organised by Bex Mezzo of the South Lincolnshire Community and Voluntary Service and held in the large and bright ‘Coffee Republic’ in the George Centre.

The object was to debate the future of Grantham. In the margins we spoke about most other subjects too.

There are always a few curmudgeonly people who complain about the younger generation (“selfish, irresponsible, undisciplined” etc). I wish they had been there. They would not have found more sensible, thoughtful, better mannered human beings.

Grantham East-West Bypass Article for Grantham Journal 18 July 2007

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:39:47 +0100

I made two commitments at the last Elections specifically to the electors of Grantham – to do everything possible to save the hospital, and to get an East-West bypass. Of course my crossing the floor in the House of Commons does not change by an iota my commitment to these two causes.

There seems to have been some doubt about the course of events on the by-pass, so let me use the column this week to set the record straight.

At the beginning of the last parliament – I think in 2002 or 2003 – at the behest of the County Council I lobbied John Prescott to try to get Government funding for a Grantham by-pass. After one or two conversations, it became quite clear to me that we didn’t have a cat in hell’s chance of getting such funding – the traffic flows (and indeed the accident rate! ) were simply nothing like high enough to meet the Department of Transport’s criteria. Another way forward had to be found, or the idea would have to be abandoned.

QUENTIN DAVIES MP BACKS CAMPAIGN FOR UK’s SIX MILLION CARERS June 2007

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:50:17 +0100

Quentin Davies MP has teamed up with former Miss Great Britain, Preeti Desai, and pledged his support for Carers Week 2007* (11-17th June). Quentin Davies MP and Preeti are drawing attention to the UK’s six million carers – people who look after a loved one who is either ill, frail or disabled – to help them gain the recognition and support they desperately need.

‘My Life as a Carer’ is the theme for Carers Week, and a survey of 3,500 carers has revealed the immense impact caring can have on every aspect of their life including, health, finances, career and relationships.

Two out of every three carers (66%) admitted that their personal relationships had suffered as a direct result of caring, with 60% revealing they have little quality time together with their partners. Two thirds (67%) admitted to being financially worse off, with a quarter (28%) unable to support their family properly. An alarming three-quarters of carers had not had a break from their caring role in the past 12 months.

Changes at KGGS - 23 March 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:02:31 +0100

As the old school of one of the best known women in the world, the Kesteven Girls Grammar School has a reputation that extends even beyond our national borders (just as the Kings School will forever and everywhere be linked with the great name of Isaac Newton).

But what I immediately think of when someone mentions K.G.G.S. is that it is a vital educational asset for today’s children in Grantham.

A lot of people have been mentioning K.G.G.S. to me over the past few weeks – and many of them very anxiously. That is why I asked to see the chairman and deputy chairman of governors, and heard from them how they were planning to deal with a difficult, and certainly deeply worrying, situation.

Grantham Barracks and the Territorial Army - 20 April 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:02:15 +0100

How often do you drive past Grantham Barracks, and when you do, do you ever give a passing thought to what goes on inside ?

I drive past several times a week. The barracks has in fact a rather special and sentimental significance for me – my father served there briefly during World War II when it was an RAF station. My father-in-law much later had his office there for many years as regimental secretary of the 17th-21st Lancers.

Unlike most passers-by I have been many times inside the gates – in an official role to attend meetings, briefings and formal occasions including passing out parades.

Grantham: what future?

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:02:47 +0100

Grantham Journal article : 7 March 2007

Many things seem to be conspiring against the prosperity and future prospects of Grantham at the moment – the threat to our hospital, the permanent traffic congestion, the additional chaos caused by the temporary road works, the lack of parking places, and the great increase in parking prices at Grantham station.

Now we face weeks of disruption from gas pipelines being installed or replaced in some 60 streets.

All these things deter people from coming into the town. Businesses lose customers and money, and, unless relief comes quickly, some may disappear. If they do and they are not replaced, employment is threatened. Then more people leave town and the vicious circle takes another turn.

Quentin Davies Rejects Trust's Proposals for Grantham Hospital 8 February 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:03:04 +0100

Quentin Davies MP issued the following statement:

“The proposals made today by United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust , if implemented, will prejudice entirely the result of the current enquiry into the future of Grantham Hospital, which was said to be a fair and objective process.

By pulling emergency surgery out of the hospital, the Accident & Emergency department will be seriously, perhaps fatally, undermined and I am sure that the Trust knows that perfectly well. The Trust is justifying its decision on the basis of an opinion voiced by a surgeon who is retiring in March and who up to now has been operating without protest and apparently happily under the existing arrangements.

Battle for Grantham Hospital Continues

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:58:06 +0100

29 November 2006

The battle for Grantham Hospital continues. I have two important meetings, with the Primary Care Trust and the Hospitals Trust, next week. I doubt, however, I will have news – positive or negative – to report before Christmas.

But over the past months a growing conviction has emerged in my own mind. It is that the way decisions are taken in the N.H.S. is quite inconsistent with our self-image as a modern, open, participatory democracy.

We have created a bureaucratic monster, theoretically at least, responsible to a minister – the Secretary of State – who is theoretically responsible to Parliament. In practice, the monster has acquired an inscrutable and uncontrollable momentum of its own.

Grantham Hospital - a death sentence?

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:58:25 +0100

27 June 2006

“This is a terrible day for Grantham – certainly one of the blackest in its history – the day the death sentence was pronounced on Grantham as a General District Hospital.

It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation we now face. Not only has our Health Trust proposed to remove all surgery (other than orthopaedics) from Grantham but they want to close our consultant–led Accident and Emergency Department. That means, without any doubt, that some people in the future will die who in present circumstances would not. A minor injuries unit run by nurses, with a G.P. standing by, does not even begin to replace an A. and E. Department capable of dealing with life-threatening emergencies. It is hard to think of a more devastating or callous betrayal.

Grantham Hospital : 18 September 2005

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:58:51 +0100

It is excellent news that the Volunteer Bureau and Churches Together are organising a petition on Grantham Hospital. I shall look forward to presenting it formally in Parliament.

This is the moment of truth for Grantham Hospital. It has never faced so serious a threat to its existence in all its history.

Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust are considering the closure of our Accident and Emergency unit and of our critical care ward. In my several meetings with the Trust since they first conceived these plans as a result of new financial instructions sent to them after the General Election, I have made it clear that either decision would be an unpardonable and irrevocable betrayal of the people of Grantham. It would also inevitably entail the avoidable loss of lives.