Last week our Councillor Tim Pickstone attended a special meeting on transport issues for Bury around the proposed changes to hospital services in Greater Manchester.

Tim reports:
You may be aware from the media or from emails earlier in the year about the proposed changes to emergency services which are currently being consulted on by the NHS.

The proposals would be that for the most ‘severe’ emergencies, there would only be 3, 4 or 5 hospitals that would be ‘specialist hospitals’ that would be able to deal with the most severe of emergencies (broadly emergencies that might require emergency surgery).

None of the options being consulted on have either Fairfield or North Manchester as ‘specialist hospitals’ – so our nearest ones would be MRI, Hope or Oldham Royal.

For 95% of A&E attendances we would continue to use our nearest hospital (i.e. North Manchester or Fairfield), but for 5% of A&E attendances (broadly the ones you need an ambulance for) we would need to go to a specialist hospital.

Many people have been concerned about the impact on people in Bury of these changes around travel to the hospitals. I attended a special meeting with the NHS on Monday about this and wanted to report back.

Ambulances
Obviously if we are being taken to Hope, MRI or Oldham in an ambulance, this is a longer journey than a journey to North Manchester. I asked about whether this would mean that ambulance times met minimum standards, and also whether we would need MORE ambulances.

At the moment the ambulance service is not monitored on its performance in an individual borough (e.g. the % of journeys for Bury people that get to hospital in x minutes) – only for the Greater Manchester average. A good idea was that they should have to deliver on Bury targets too which would ensure that we continued to get the service we needed.

Travel to Hospital
Other issues around around getting to the specialist hospitals – e.g. if you need to visit a relative or close friend in hospital.

One very big issue that I raised is that public transport from almost anywhere in Bury to either Hope Hospital or the Oldham Royal is dreadful. We do have an occasional bus from Prestwich to Hope, but this isn’t a frequent service. Tram travel to Hope and Oldham both take a long time because of the need to go via the city centre and change.

There is also the issue of parking at hospitals. I know hope have just built more parking, but certainly Oldham has some significant parking problems.

Please get in touch if you require any further information. tim@burylibdems.net

Liberal Democrats in Bury have announced their team for the General and local elections in 2015.

Party members across Bury have met to adopt Parliamentary Candidates for Bury North and Bury South constituencies, and key local election candidates have been selected.

Bury South and Bury North PPCs Paul Ankers and Richard Baum

Richard Baum will once again be fighting Bury North constituency. 33 year old Richard, who was brought up and lived most of his life in Bury, fought Bury North for the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Richard works for the NHS and is married to with two young daughters.

Paul Ankers has been chosen to represent the Party in the Bury South constituency. Experienced campaigner Paul has previously been a Manchester Councillor and Parliamentary candidate, and now works for British Gas as a Data Analyst.

Paul is 38 and lives with his wife. He is due to become a father for the third time just after Christmas.

In the local elections that happen in the same day the Lib Dems have chosen former councillor Mary D’Albert to fight in Holyrood Ward, where she hopes to join Councillor Tim Pickstone who won the ward this year. Mary is well known in the ward as her husband Vic represented Holyrood for 23 years. Former councillors Donal O’Hanlon and Steve Wright will once again contest St Mary’s and Sedgley wards.
More information: Tim Pickstone 07976 831 686

The basic state pensions will rise by at least £2.85 a week thanks to the Liberal Democrats triple lock. It means 29,540 pensioners in Bury will benefit from an increase in their pension.

This rise will bring the level of the state pension to at least £115.95 and will benefit millions of pensioners across the UK. This is £18.30 more, each week, than in 2010 when the Liberal Democrats entered coalition. This means pensioners on the full basic state pension are £950 a year better off than they were under Labour.

The triple lock delivers a pension rise of whichever is the greater of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%, meaning pensioners across Bury will see more money in their pockets.

The Liberal Democrats campaigned for it in opposition, have delivered it in Government and have pledged to write it into law in the next Parliament.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:

“This is fantastic news and proof that the Liberal Democrats are delivering in government.

“Thanks to the triple lock commitment in our manifesto pensioners across the country have benefited from a substantial income boost this parliament.

“I am proud of this record of delivery and that we are the only party with a 2015 manifesto promise to write the triple lock into law.”

Commenting further, Bury Group Leader Tim Pickstone said:

“The triple lock ensures that pensioners are guaranteed the security of a steady rise in their pensions, allowing them to plan for their future and giving them dignity in their retirement.

“We have ensured that pensioners in Bury are never again subjected to the indignity of the 75p rise they saw under Labour.”

Bury Lib Dems had three representatives at Party Conference in Glasgow last week (Helen, Paul and Tim).

Here’s a quick report back on some of the main announcements at conference.

Personal Allowance
Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for everyone not just a few at the top and letting people keep more of their own money is central to that. We have already raised the income tax threshold to £10,500 and in Glasgow we announced that we will raise the income tax personal allowance threshold to £11,000 in the first year of the next Parliament – a further tax cut of £100 for 29m working people. We would make this change in the Autumn Statement of 2015, meaning that the tax cut would kick in in April 2016.

This is the first step on the way to raising the personal allowance to £12,500 – which will put £400 back in the pockets of 30m taxpayers and take one million people out of tax altogether We will pay for the tax cut in 2016 by raising Capital Gains Tax for the wealthiest and cutting down on tax avoidance. Once the party has raised the tax-free threshold to £12,500, we will then start to increase the National Insurance threshold, continuing to cut taxes for working people.

Mental Health waiting times
Nick Clegg used his conference speech to make a major Government announcement about mental health treatment and care. He announced that treatment for mental health conditions will be brought into line with other NHS services, with the introduction of the first ever waiting time standards. He said that it is wrong that someone needing a hip operation can expect treatment within a clear timeframe but someone with a mental health condition has no clarity about when they will get help.

We will end the injustice and from April 2015 most patients needing talking therapies will be guaranteed the treatment they need in as little as six weeks, with a maximum of 18 weeks.

NHS investment
The Liberal Democrats committed to a £1 billion real term investment in the National Health Service. The manifesto commitment will see the health service receive an extra £1 billion of real term funding in 2016/17 and 2017/18. It will be funded by reversing Conservative tax breaks for the wealthiest.

Apprentices and minimum wage
Business Secretary Vince Cable announced plans from the Lib Dems in Government to boost pay for thousands of apprentices. A proposal to create a single national minimum wage for 16 to 17-year-olds in work and first year of apprentices will be presented to the Low Pay Commission (LPC). It would mean around 31,000 apprentices in the first year of their programme will benefit from a pay rise of more than £1 an hour.

Affordable homes
We need to build 300,000 homes a year to tackle under supply and stop housing costs from spiralling out of the reach of ordinary families. Liberal Democrats reaffirmed our commitment to building the 300,000 new homes, as well as create a Housing Investment Bank. The bank will boost housebuilding and help low-income working families earning too much for social housing but unable to afford a home on the open market.

Here’s Nick Clegg’s speech at the end of Conference: