Cervical Cancer Vaccination Programme A Welcome Event

There is nothing worse than hearing a loved one has cancer, particularly when the technology exists to stop it taking hold.

Yesterday, Abronhill High in Cumbernauld made history by becoming the first Scottish school to administer the new Cervarix vaccine to 90 girls, as part of a UK-wide programme that will see 90,000 young girls receive the vaccination this month.

The jab works by targeting the human papilloma virus, the virus that causes about 70% of cases of cervical cancer that kills more than 1,000 women in the UK each year.

This is the first mass anti-cancer vaccination programme in UK medical history and a great day to celebrate the advances in medical research we too often take for granted. As schools across the UK go back over the next 4 or 5 weeks we should all take great pride in the investment made to develop treatments that protect us from illness as well as those that help cure us if we fall ill.

So thank you to all those in our National Health Service and medical research laboratories who are doing so much to help keep us safe!

There's No Place For Political Correctness In Our NHS

The world's gone mad! Or at least it appears it has in our NHS.

"Gay" patients must now to be referred to by NHS staff as, "men who have sex with men", (MSM), and similar descriptive terms are to be used instead of "prostitute" and "intravenous drug user". Why? Apparently for fear of causing offence!

National Services Scotland, who are advising health boards on the issue, have clearly lost the plot. So much so that gay rights groups have labelled their new terminology as "demeaning" to homosexuals and even Lothian and Borders police have pointed to this oversimplification as being inappropriate.

Staff in NHS maternity units are already told not to refer to the father of a child as the mothers husband, even if they know they are, for fear of causing offence and the simple question must now be "where does this all end?".

It's time for the Political Correctness brigade to leave us all alone and let the civil, law abiding majority decide what is right and what is wrong and what is appropriate and inappropriate.

You can join the Campaign Against Political Correctness via its website at: www.capc.co.uk

How Many Wards Will C-Diff Close?

The games up for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, following their admission that a ward at the Victoria Infirmary is closed due to an outbreak of Clostridium difficile.

C Difficile!

I use the NHS and founded the 'Campaign For A New Victoria' to campaign for the retention of Accident & Emergency in the area and now at the site across from the existing building. As a result I keep in close contact with a large number of the clinicians, nurses, health care workers and administrative staff at the Victoria and have been told by them to expect a large number of ward closures due to C-Diff, and a range of other hospital acquired infections, in the near future - all across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and particularly at the Victoria.

The old and crumbling fabric of the current Victoria Infirmary provides the perfect conditions for bacteria to grow. That is why no one is against the creation of New Victoria buildings. However, the creation of new buildings should not endanger life either.

The creation of a Victoria ACAD is not the provision of a new "hospital", as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the Labour Party would have us believe. An ACAD is a day clinic/health centre without A&E that will make the majority of the population this side of the river dependant on the remote Southern General for emergency admission.

Nevertheless, the current state of the Victoria Infirmary emphasises the need to take urgent action to update the condition of our hospital buildings and to tackle hospital acquired infections in our current hospitals, for as long as we use their current buildings!

My colleague Jackson Carlaw MSP has already exposed the ludicrous false economy of the NHS in Scotland, paying compensation to the relatives of those who die from hospital acquired infections instead of spending the money in the first place keeping wards spotlessly clean. He is quite right to hold the Scottish Executive to account for their failure to tackle the pandemic of hospital acquired infections the NHS seems to be happy to live with!

So today it appears the choice on the Southside of Glasgow is old buildings that kill or new buildings without essential services, which will also cost lives. For me, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must spend money now properly cleaning our old buildings while continuing to build new buildings into which we can incorporate A&E. After all, at the end of the day the most important thing we can do for our superb doctors and nurses is to give them an environment we can be proud to ask them to work in!

You can read related articles at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4187889.ece
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/latestnews/C-diff-warning-issued-months.4210639.jp

"Extra" Crime Stats Show A Worrying Picture

When, week after week after week, the Eastwood and Southside Extra leads on violent crime in our local area it is clear we have a problem our political leaders need to do something about!

This week, (5th June 2008), the Extra's lead headline is "Park: Out Of Bounds", following the brutal murder of a local woman in Queen's Park, an area the Extra go on to describe as "still a no-go area a week after the discovery of (the victims) partially-clothed body". Last week, (29th May 2008), the lead headline was "Blade Terror", after an armed robbery at Harvie Avenue Post Office, and a couple of weeks earlier they led with "A Party To Trouble", with the story detailing four assaults on youngsters in Overlee Park, Clarkston.

I know that crime is a local priority because East Renfrewshire Council's own Citizens Panel, (made up of 1,000 local people), say that being free from crime in our communities should be East Renfrewshire's No.1 priority.

So why, you may ask, do so many people believe crime blights our local society when local crime statistics generally indicate a drop in crime? The simple truth is that low level crime, things like graffiti and loutish behaviour by local youths, now go unreported because we all believe our Police are overstretched and will be unable to do anything about it. Oh, and even if someone is actually caught in the act they will have been taught their rights under ECHR at school and will probably use this to get a simple caution and avoid prosecution.

So when it comes to a broken garage window or a scratched car door very few people now report any offence preferring instead to look for an easy life and avoid a whole load of paperwork and just repair any damage so they don't lose their no claims discount.

You can read about Labour's failure to tackle violent in our newspapers and you can see their failure to address low level crime on junction boxes, bus stops and shop fronts every day. Our own MP, Jim Murphy, is happy to be seen in the Extra at any event going, and those he creates to generate a photo opportunity, but where is he when we need a local champion against crime across East Renfrewshire?

Crime costs us all dear, whether this be in terms of increased insurance premiums or the increasing cost to our NHS of treating those injured by violent crime. So, like the good people of East Renfrewshire, crime is my No.1 Priority at every level. The difference is that crime is something I will actually do something about!

Britain's Got Real Talent!

So George Sampson won ITV's Britain's Got Talent 2008 and Jodie Prenger won the role of Nancy on the BBC's I'd Do Anything talent show last night! While I must admit we missed both shows, (preferring instead to go to a close friends wedding), Elaine and I have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer quantity and quality of the entertainment talent on show to the nation.

In Britain today, I often feel we are all to ready to run ourselves and our nation down when in truth we have so much to show the world and even more to be proud of at home. Take our armed forces, our Royal Family and the emergency services. Professional, efficient and always on hand when we need them most they are the real heroes of the British people and yet they are also very often the people who bear the brunt of British scepticism when we look for people to blame.

The perception of our army, navy and airforce all suffered after our morally bankrupt Labour government sent them to fight a war in Iraq on a false prospectus. Any yet we know our armed forces personnel represent the very best of Britain at home and abroad. That is why we are now witnessing a grassroots fightback amongst ordinary citizens keen to show we understand the difference between the instructions given by politicians for our armed forces to execute and our understanding that they are our first line of defence against international terrorism and the war against illegal drugs. The brave men and women of our armed forces defend our freedom with their own lives and limbs and we are all truly grateful for this and to those who have lost either in order to preserve the British way of life.

In today's newspapers we learn that Prince William is off to serve in the Royal Navy on patrols aboard the frigate HMS Iron Duke searching for drug runners in the Caribbean seas. Like his brother Prince Harry, Prince William has been keen to show that he will lead from the front in the true tradition of our Royal Family, something they have always been prepared to do when Britain has needed them most. With us all feeling a little uneasy about the prospects for our economy and Britain's standing on the international stage we should all be proud to see members of our Royal Family making headlines for serving their country in a positive way when so many domestic and international leaders have previously failed to step up to the same mark.

And then there are the dedicated staff of our NHS, Police Force and Fire Service.

Our ambulance service personnel are always first to major incidents, regardless of personal risk, delivering the injured to teams of doctors and nurses prepared to work round the clock to save lives and limbs whenever they can. When things go wrong in our NHS the media and the public come down on the individuals involved like a tonne of bricks and yet no one suggests they deliberately go out of their way to fail. We would all do well to remember all that we owe to the dedicated personnel of our NHS and to express our thanks to them for all they do in a much more proactive and positive fashion.

The Police Force that patrol our streets do so despite a desperate lack of resource ,but with an undoubted desire to protect us all. Political interference and the endless drive of political correctness means they have been told to act and feel like a 'Service' instead of the 'Force' we need to have on our streets delivering safer communities and happier places to live. Like us all, our Police are human and they get things wrong from time to time, but for all the good they do we owe them our thanks and support!

Finally, whenever they are called upon our brave fire men and women put their lives in danger to help protect others. Whether it be a fire or a terrorist attack you will see fire engines delivering personnel to situations involving critical danger and yet reports of attacks on fire personnel are ever increasing with stone throwing and assaults now commonplace occurrences in some areas. These mindless idiots would be the first to demand the presence of Fire Service personnel if their lives were in danger and they would do well to remember this and show them the respect they have earned.

So congratulations to George and to Jodie on their respective wins and more power to our armed and emergency services who look after us all. While we all know there are many social ills we need to tackle Britain really has got an awful lot of talent and, no matter how the media portrays the broken society we live in today, that makes me really proud to be British!

A Beautiful Day for an Action Day

Not a cloud in the sky and a full squad of Conservative leafleters hit the streets of Newton Mearns, in 70 degree plus heat, to spread the word. 'No complacency here' is today's mantra from my campaign team, so our leaflets are fronted by Councillor Barbara Grant and Councillor Jim Swift telling everyone what the Conservative Council Group proposed to do in its cost neutral budget amendment earlier this year.

Two new 'Campus Cops'; Four additional Police Officers on the beat patrolling trouble spots in the evening - 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year; a 50% increase to the budget for resurfacing and patching of our crumbling roads and pavements network. Those are the priorities of the people of East Renfrewshire and those are the priorities of local Conservatives too.

For my part I am disgusted by the decision of the Community Health Care Partnership not to provide a Health Centre to Newton Mearns and the back page of our leaflet outlines my reasons in some detail. Newton Mearns is the largest commuter suburb in Scotland and the largest conurbation in East Renfrewshire and yet it is the most remote place in Scotland when it comes to accessing the NHS. Combine the lack of local NHS facility with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's decision to move hospital services from the Victoria Infirmary to the Southern General and the people of Newton Mearns truly are the people who pay most and get least when it comes to the tax they pay providing them with an accessible NHS. Oh and when you get to a hospital now you also have to pay their 'car park tax'.

Finally, we are giving formal notice of my intention to launch a campaign to take graffiti "OFF THE WALL". Yet more survey returns this morning from the Clarkston area place 'Youth Disorder/Graffiti' as the number one priority of local people so it is vital we are proactive in improving our local area.

It's a beautiful day to have an Action Day and a great day to be a champion for East Renfrewshire! I really cannot thank all those who have turned out today enough for their loyal support and I look forward to repaying the trust they are showing in me as we campaign towards the next General Election.