The NHS needs you

There is so much to write on health, but this week I have been totally run off my feet. I'm hoping to have more time to post on here tomorrow, but for now I wanted to put up two links.

Firstly: have you signed the "Drop the Health Bill" petition on the Government's e-petition's site? I have. And so have over 165,000 other people. The Coalition introduced the system whereby if a petition on their site gets over 100,000 signatures, it can be debated in Parliament. This petition is on its way to receiving double that number of signatures yet the Tories have said no to a Commons debate. Are they scared?

And, secondly, are you coming on the rally to save our NHS next Wednesday from 6pm, either in person at Central Hall, Westminster, or virtually, online?

Come on, let's show how strong our love of the NHS is.

A whitewash

Last Wednesday I found time to participate in an important update debate in Westminster Hall on human rights in Sri Lanka which paid particular attention to the report issued by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

If you are interested in Sri Lanka then it is worth a read.

Now is an important time in the country's post conflict history. This week the UN will likely discuss and vote on whether an independent investigation into the allegations of war crimes should be carried out. Without it, is lasting peace and reconciliation possible?

Bonuses in reward for losses

I'm sure you won't have got through last week without hearing some talk of bonuses in relation to the Royal Bank of Scotland. Following the bailout of a number of banks in 2008, the Government - that means you and I as taxpayers - owns the vast majority of RBS.

I don't know about you, but I therefore care massively if RBS is still paying out huge bonuses, despite making equally huge pre-tax losses.

We are supposed to take some consolation in the fact that the bonus pool has been cut in half (although I understand that this is being made up for by increases in people's fixed salaries). But, against a backdrop of thousands of redundancies up and down the country, I have to say that it just doesn't wash.

Last Thursday I highlighted all of this in the House of Commons and asked for an early debate on RBS, the banking system and banking bonuses, but I didn't exactly get a positive response. The Tories clearly don't think there's anything wrong with this sort of bonus culture.

Boris 'two jobs' Johnson

According to our mayor Boris Johnson, earning an extra £250,000 a year is merely "chicken feed." Even as a sole income, a quarter of a million pounds every year is pretty astronomical, but as an additional wage on top of his mayoral income, it just seems gross.

If you - like me and David Cameron, incidentally - believe that the job of London Mayor should be a full-time position, allowing for no moonlighting, whether those extra jobs pay out "chicken feed" or otherwise, then you know what to do on Thursday 3rd May.

Another petition can't hurt

At the beginning of the week I posted the link to an online petition which calls for an end to the price fix that the big six energy companies seem to be employed in. A number of constituents have written to tell me that they too have signed up, which is great - the more the merrier.

Yesterday, a few emails came in from constituents informing me of a new petition that's along similar lines, again calling for a fair deal on gas and electricity. So I signed up to that too. How about you?

Welcome, Wilkinson

Did you see the front page news in the Enfield Independent a couple of weeks ago revealing that Wilkinson will be moving to Edmonton Green Shopping Centre's North Square? I may have been away at the time, but good news travels far and I was really delighted to welcome the development.

After the redevelopment of the South Mall and the recent addition of the Travelodge, it was hoped that the rest of the shopping centre would undergo a similar regeneration. Wilkinson signing up for a 15-year lease has made that possible and the £3 million upgrade work will now go ahead.

Growth and jobs couldn't be more in demand at the moment so good news like this should be shouted about. Not a bad start to 2012 for Edmonton at all.

Give us your evidence

Some issues are easily resolved; some rumble on, and on, and on.

An example of the latter is the use of 084 telephone numbers by GP practices. The NHS should be free at the point of need. When 084 numbers are used instead of geographical numbers, ie. 0208, patients, particularly those with access only to mobile phones, end up paying sometimes quite extortionate amounts to contact their GP.

This, of course, is not right, and when I learnt, perhaps a year or more ago now, that there are practices in Edmonton that persist is using these expensive numbers despite being told not to, I began working to try to get their use outlawed; contacting our local NHS and speaking up in Parliament about it.

Unfortunately, little progress has been made.

At the end of January, a half hour Westminster Hall debate was held on this very issue, in which the Government asked for more evidence (beyond that of a pretty comprehensive list of GP surgeries advertising 084 numbers which had been provided) in order to take the matter further. Following on from that, Which? have, rather helpfully, launched a drive to gain as much evidence as possible to kick start the action that the Department of Health must take. It has launched an appeal for evidence of call costs.

Can you help?

If you have called your GP surgery's 084 number (I think there are about five practices in Edmonton using them so maybe yours is one of them) and have the phone bill to prove it cost you more than calling a geographical number then please, please let them know.

Further to my discussions with the chief executive, NHS North Central London is also doing some fact-checking, seeking clarification from the relevant Edmonton and Enfield practices as to why they use expensive telephone numbers. I will keep you posted if I receive any further developments. Until then, the issue continues to rumble on.