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What’s going on?

THE asset stripping new Bath/Swindon/Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (BSW CCG) are apparently planning to sell Trowbridge Hospital to pay for the building of the new birthing unit in the Bath RUH.

Trowbridge Hospital was built with the money scraped together by local Trowbridge people, supported by its local Carnival year after year.

Even the poorest people at the height of the Depression gave the few coppers they could afford towards building this key facility for their community.

The new Trowbridge Urgent Primary Care Centre, opposite County Hall, was supposed to house the Minor Injury Unit, the Out of Hours Doctor, the outreach clinics from RUH, AND a Birthing Unit, for all West Wiltshire, but suddenly that site was rejected, presumably by the same BSW CCG.

Why? The Environmental Agency only asked for parts of the plan to be reviewed.

What has this new combined BSW body got against Wiltshire, against Trowbridge?

Why is the Wiltshire CCG allowing its new partners to dictate to it?

Who is standing up for Wiltshire, definitely not the Wiltshire CCG.

This has been a public relations disaster for the BSW CCG. Who in Wiltshire will ever trust anything they say?

They set up a Consultation on Maternity Provision. 62% of the respondents voted against the closure, 1,200 out of 1,600. So they then ignored the results of their own consultation.

What other reputable public body operates in such a way?

The BSW CCG is paid for by tax payers’ money. We are the ones paying for this fiasco, this massive democratic deficit.

Why did they go through the protracted farce of a pretend consultation?

Those responsible should resign.

Add to this, the mystery of the rejection of the County Hall site, even the Councils don’t know what is happening to the only new health facility for Wiltshire, the Trowbridge Urgent Primary Care Centre.

What destructive game are the BSW CCG playing?

A P Milroy, Bellefield Crescent, Trowbridge

NHS: what next

LAST week you reported that Salisbury Hospital had ‘its worst performance on casualty delays for five years’. We also learned the Government plans to scrap the four-hour waiting target for A & E units.

The PM told MPs that delays for NHS care were unacceptable and vowed that “we will get those waiting lists down.”

But how will he, or your readers, or anybody know if those waiting lists are coming down if the target is scrapped, and the figures no longer collected and published?

Given that A & E waiting list target for 95% of patients to be seen within 4 hours has not been met for the last 3 years, the abolition of that target seems to me a wholly cynical move by the Government to escape accountability and to try and avoid critical headlines

John Boaler, Calne Town Councillor, Central Ward (Labour), Woodland Park, Calne

Hunt for old pals

I AM endeavouring to contact friends, colleagues and acquaintances from my past.

I lived in Trowbridge from autumn 1968 to February 1972. During that period I was employed by Tesco Estates and based at West Wilts Industrial Estate at Westbury.

I also played football for Avon Bradford and attended Bath Technical College.

In the unlikely event that anyone remembers me and is willing to admit it, I should be delighted to hear from them.

With thanks and in hope,

David Sadler, david@sadlerdesign.co.uk 01371 810810 07768 291554

More roads cash

I WAS interested in the item in last week’s edition about the experience of Des Burnett with pothole repairs.

Whilst potholes are given much publicity, the overall state of our secondary road network is generally not fit for purpose.

There are numerous other issues - as Mr Burnett says the repair of potholes often leaves much to be desired, manholes are often located in the wheel tracks of vehicles with consequent subsidence/potholes along with drains, splitting of the Tarmac in the centre of the road, subsidence and lifting of the Tarmac surface creating patches which are not regarded as deep enough to be treated as potholes.

All these issues are well illustrated by the condition of the A342 between Devizes and Rushall and by many other roads in Wiltshire, for example, the A360 through Tilshead and roads in the Hilcot and Honey Street areas.

Whilst some additional monies have been allocated for pothole repairs, this does not rectify years of underinvestment and inadequate priority being accorded to our secondary road network and the urgent need to improve the overall standard of our roads.

For far too long secondary road maintenance and improvement has been viewed as a relatively low priority but over many years there is now an accumulation of problems which need major investment.

Peter Newell, Peppercombe Close, Urchfont