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GPs leading NHS revolution MailMarks


 LOCAL GPs have now been in


control of most of our NHS budget for about 18 months and after getting organised, they are now warming to their massive task. Twelve GPs selected by their peers, supported by a strong management team, make up the NHSWest Kent Clinical Commissioning Group and currently have a £480m budget to provide services for a population approaching 500,000 mainly in Maidstone, TunbridgeWells and Tonbridge. As decreed by Government they took


over the task from a primary care trust. I have regularly attended governing meetings of both and am now convinced we have the right professionals doing the job. There can be no doubt our GPs more


fully appreciate patient needs and this is so often reflected as they make difficult financial decisions, set to become tougher during the next few years. The group’s challenge is to spend that budget as efficiently as possible, not just to maintain quality of services but to improve them. The pattern for its Fit for the Future campaign now becomes more visible. Of importance is that many more services are available in the community – in our homes, in enlarged, more sophisticated GP surgeries, in clinics and from specialist professionals. The direction is away from over-stretched


A HORSE coat and a cockerel were stolen from a property at The Green, East Farleigh. Pet food was taken from a car in Pinnock


Lane, Staplehurst. Entry was gained to an outbuilding at Buston Manor, Shingle Barn Lane, Hunton and power tools were stolen. A garage at the back of a home in Maidstone Road, Staplehurst, was broken into and gardening equipment was stolen. The front door of a property in Pope


Drive, Staplehurst, was damaged. A running machine, a Bosch freezer and


various tools were stolen from a shed at a home in Haste Hill Road, Boughton Monchelsea.


An off-white Norco Valence bicycle with bright blue cables was stolen from a property in Maidstone Road, Staplehurst. There was an unsuccessful aempt to break in to a shipping container in Green Lane, Chart Suon. Jewellery was among items stolen from a home in Cornwallis Avenue, Linton.


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and very expensive hospitals. The group also concentrates on running a tight ship financially without impacting unduly on key patient needs. For example, you may be prescribed more generic medications and fewer antibiotics. In addition, GPs are encouraged to prescribe less, but not at risk to patient health. Members of the public will be encouraged to take greater responsibility for their own health, with emphasis on obesity, smoking and exercise. Greater efficiency and use of NHS staff


and facilities will also feature strongly. The proposal for all our personal health records to be available to professionals at the touch of a computer button is an example of saving NHS and patient time and enabling faster, informed decisions. We are at the beginning of a revolution


in how many NHS services will be supplied. If the NHS is to survive as a mostly free service to all, we must trust these GPs to protect our interests.





Beating floods THE coalition Government has pledged


£17m for flooding measures and local MP Helen Grant says she is confidentKCCwill


organise match funding one way or an- other in these severe financial times. Ms Grant led the local campaign and


chaired a series of high-profile meetings on the subject of flooding prevention. In recent years Yalding has twice been inundated by flood waters and human suffering has been intense and prolonged. Sadly a repeat is very likely unless the Leigh Barrier is extended, hopefully by 2020. Unfortunately the campaign has been sullied by electioneering with local candidate Jasper Gerard belatedly attempting to divert credit in the Lib Dem direction. Let’s hope he can now work with Helen Grant’s team and KCC to help see all funds raised and the vital job done. Once again – here’s to a clean election fought on serious issues.


In the dark over parking ENTERING a car registration





number to buy a parking ticket is a bind – but how do you do it in the dark? Twice I faced this problem in Maidstone recently – once at All Saints’ car park and then in Hart Street. The little buttons are tough enough to hit in daylight and impossible if you cannot see the right ones.


Maidstone Council must either provide adequate lighting or change the system. How much would it lose between friendly motorists if it dropped the registration system at night or accepted a token gobbledygook registration?


NeighbourhoodWatch Working to reduce crime. Call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 or local police


Computer equipment was stolen during a break-in at a home in Kilnbridge Close, East Farleigh.


A home in Linden Road, Coxheath, was broken into but it was not known whether anything was missing.


Both wing mirrors and the spare wheel


were taken from a Vauxhall parked behind the shops in The Parade, Staplehurst. Jewellery was stolen from a home in Gresham Road, Coxheath. Various items were stolen from the garage of a home in The Chantry, Headcorn.


Four gas boles were stolen from a compound on the caravan site at the country park in Hampstead Lane, Yalding. Garden ornaments were taken from a property in Howland Road, Marden. The door of a property in Claygate Road,


Yaldingwas damaged in an apparent aempt to break in. Tack was stolen from horse boxes in Stilebridge Lane, Marden.


The rear window of a VW Caddy van


was smashed in Vicarage Road, Yalding. A vehicle had its windscreen damaged in Maidstone Road, Nelestead. The windows of a Suzuki SX4 were


damaged at a property in Collier Street. The rear window of a car was smashed in Maidstone Road, Marden. The glass was stolen from the wing mirror of a VW Golf parked in Oliver Road, Staplehurst.


Intruders got in to a home in Linden


Road, Coxheath but it was not known what was stolen. Sheds were broken into in Old Loose


Close, Loose but nothing appeared to have been taken.


A Ford Fiesta was broken into in a lay-by


in Sweetlands Lane, Staplehurst. Clothing and computer equipment was stolen. Both number plates were stolen from a Ford car parked in Horseshoes Lane, Langley.


Computer equipment was stolen from a shed in the garden of a home in Forge Lane, East Farleigh. Jewellery and clothing was stolen from a home in Gresham Road, Coxheath. Computer equipment and jewellery were stolen from a property in Kilnbridge Close, East Farleigh.


Three large pots were stolen from a garden in Gallants Court, Gallants Lane, East Farleigh.


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