The Romsey Advertiser 8 February 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Fri 8th Feb 2008

Last Friday I spent the afternoon at the Western Hospital discussing issues around the care of the elderly with mental health problems. It really is one of those Cinderella services which doesn't easily attract funding but you invariably find that the staff are really committed to what they do. There was a lighter moment when I asked a patient how she was. "Bloody awful" came the reply. I laughed without thinking but she laughed too and I reflected how rare such honesty is.

Honesty and forthrightness was also on show at the beginning of the week in Westminster. The occasion was the reception held by the Alzheimer's Society to launch their guide to what to look for in a care home. The guest speaker was Tony Robinson whose parents had both experienced Alzheimer's and he was very moving on the subject. When people speak from the heart it is always very powerful.

Back at Westminster it is the final week before the parliamentary recess. It seems no time since we were returning after the Christmas break but most of the business is connected with Europe and seems to be attracting relatively little interest - from any of the back benchers - irrespective of political party.

A surprisingly well attended event at Westminster was the "Skip2bfit" session. This is a scheme to encourage children to exercise in a fun way and a couple of years ago I attended a session at Cupernham school. When I mentioned that schemes like this had a useful purpose I was derided in some quarters so it was interesting to see just how many MPs turned up to do their 2 minute stint with a skipping rope (complete with digital counter). Needless to say it was very competitive. Two minutes with a skipping rope does not sound taxing but the exercise brought home to many of us the fact that we are not as fit as we thought.

High spot of the week in some ways was a meeting with Ben Bradshaw - one of the health ministers. During the committee stage of the Health and Social Care Bill some of us had been making a case to extend the Human Rights legislation to everyone in Car Homes. The Minister had been sympathetic but had refused to budge but at the meeting he was making concessions to try and do more. The problem is not completely cracked but it was good to know that he had an open mind on the subject and was persuaded by some of the arguments.

Back on the Health Select Committee we are looking at dentistry and when I return to the constituency I will be spending the day with an ambulance crew. It may be recess next week but my diary is full of constituency visits and it will be nice to get out and about.

Published with kind permission of the Romsey Advertiser