The Romsey Advertiser 21 March 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Fri 21st Mar 2008

Last Friday was non-stop. The day started with a visit to Romsey Primary School and there were a number of meetings throughout the day. These were mostly health related but not exclusively so.

Saturday also whizzed by as I was knocking on doors in the morning, followed by a surgery in the afternoon and a concert in the evening. This meant little time to myself as I flew to Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon with the Health Select Committee. We had already planned to visit Brussels so tagged an extra day onto the visit so that we could visit some experts in the Netherlands to discuss health inequalities. This is the subject of our latest inquiry.

We had originally decided to visit Brussels so that we could find out more about the thinking behind the recent European White Paper on Health. This deals with a number of issues including inequalities, global health threats and the potential right to have treatment anywhere in Europe. The latter is clearly a very delicate subject. There has been some publicity about European migrants accessing our health system but we also need to take into account the large number of British people who have second homes in Europe. Given the wide variety amongst the health systems in Europe it is going to be rather difficult to come up with a system which is fair to everybody.

I was also somewhat surprised to find out that the NHS now has a presence in Europe but we were a little hazy as to what the purpose of this venture is although it is clear that we are not as good at accessing European funding streams as we might be.

We travelled back on Eurostar which is an amazing service. Brussels to London in two hours, none of the waiting associated with air travel and a lower carbon footprint into the bargain. I recommend this mode of travel to anyone thinking of visiting Brussels or Paris.

Back in Westminster and I am trying to work out how to fit in some time at the Post Offices debate between other diary commitments. It is not good form to cancel a meeting if you are supposed to be chairing it. Hampshire was one of the first areas for Post Office culling and as other areas enter a consultation period more and more MPs are becoming engaged in the issue.

I am hoping to have a slightly more relaxed weekend and would also like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Easter. .

Published with kind permission of the Romsey Advertiser