MY number one local campaigning priority has been the improvement in our local health services and over the last week we have had more progress on the plans for the new Devizes Urgent Care Centre with a visit to the constituency from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt providing an opportunity for me, local doctors and the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group to show him the vision and plans for the centre.

The centre has his full endorsement, especially given its potential to relieve the pressure on individual doctors’ surgeries, reduce the need to visit local A&E departments and provide us all with more accessible and convenient healthcare, and he was pleased to hear of the progress we have made in getting the plans in for planning consent.

We also discussed with him the various blockages that are preventing the health and social care system from working more effectively together and he took away many good ideas from our local team – it made me feel very proud of our local healthcare professionals!

On a somewhat related theme this week I have also been in touch with the chief executive of Great Western Hospital (which owns the Devizes Hospital site) about the possibility of finding a new home for the Devizes Food Bank on part of the estate.

From my visits to the Devizes centre, meetings with the wonderful volunteers and participation in some of the food drives, I have been left in no doubt as to the need for the service which provides such valuable help for people, often those facing some sort of crisis. And with the decision in 2010 to have much more signposting to the service from places like Job Centres, the usage of food banks continues to rise. I am very keen to help find a new location and have therefore urgently written to ask if it possible to accommodate the Food Bank’s operations at Devizes Hospital.

Then it was from health to horses with a reception in Westminster to celebrate local trainer Rory O’Dowd’s success in winning one of the British horseracing industry’s annual awards.

Horse racing (and breeding) is a hugely valuable industry in our local economy with 12 registered racing stables in the constituency employing hundreds of people; while nationally horse racing generates almost £4 billion in revenue every year and is the second best attended spectator sport in the UK after football.

It was extremely satisfying to hear of our local successes and to know that we have some of the best in the business living and working in the Devizes constituency.