August 15
Appreciate what you have at town hospital I grew up in Sudbury but have lived in the USA for many years. Here, medical care costs continue to soar and people are lucky if they have health insurance and can afford to be seriously ill.
I know the NHS has many tough challenges and people in the UK are increasingly turning to private care. But even expensive private health care can not guarantee the level of compassion, concern and commitment I recently witnessed at West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds.
During my mother's terminal illnesss and subsequent death, I spent many days and nights at the hospital and came to know the staff on Ward G3. In an older, crowded facility, these nurses work under huge pressure and duress. No amount of money can compensate for what they give in true dedication and amazing patient care. From the ward staff to the palliative care team, from the hospital chaplains to the patient administrative office, they provided my family and I with the support and strength to get through a very hard, sad time. I must also add that some of the best food I've eaten on either side of the Atlantic came from the hospital restaurant. What a jewel you have there; no wonder these folks are winning awards and recognition.
My advice from the land of private insurance and astronomical health care costs: Take good care of your hospital. Many smaller towns are losing their hospitals, including Sudbury. Patients and their loved ones are being forced to travel further and further for necessary health care. Apppreciate what you have – and do whatever it takes to help keep it going and growing.
West Suffolk Hospital needs to add space and services, not lose them. The NHS can't do it all.
Maria Kirschner,
Via email.
Costs must be examined
Your reader asks where my allotment statistics came from (Letters, Bury Free Press, August 8).
Bury St Edmunds Town Council's website clearly states that 'a five square rod plot (126 square metres) . . . with a water supply . . . costs 16.55 per annum'. So, unless the allotments are breaking even, 99+per cent of the town's Council Tax payers are subsidising less than 1 per cent, who pay only 32p per week for a chunk of land and unlimited water.
100 for an allotment is much less than a year's car tax or the TV licence. Yet this amount could discourage the retention of neglected plots and reduce the increasing waiting list, while providing funds to improve and increase the service.
If we can grow up to 20 of salad each summer on less than 2sq m of my small garden, then it might be possible to produce 1,000 worth of produce per 126sq m. If I am right, an allotment at 100 per year can pay for itself several times over, especially as food prices rocket.
There may be a case for helping those allotment holders on benefits, but many are on good incomes or private pensions. Why should the rest of us, especially those on low incomes or just state pensions, subsidise them?
I have put my head above the parapet (unlike your anonymous correspondent) because as a new town councillor I think all aspects of the council's expenses should be scrutinised.
It would, of course, be easier to keep quiet – but was I elected to do that?
Cllr Paul Farmer,
Bury Town Council.
Bury has crash sites
Having recently changed jobs, my new post involves a lot of driving around Bury St Edmunds.
I have noticed three accident spots which, with a simple bit of planning, could be rectified. Accident spot one: Turning right into Easlea Road (Matalan turning). How many times have we seen broken parts and smashed glass due to a crash? The solution would be to make this a 'no right turn' and force drivers up to the roundabout and back to turn left into Easlea Road.
Accident spot two: Turning right into Etna Road coming off the A14/Tesco direction. Now there is more housing there, use the same principle and force drivers to the Northgate roundabout and back again. Accident spot three: Turning right into Tesco's Fornham Road car park. I have seen some very close shaves here, especially turning left out of Station Hill. I think the car park entrance could be moved to the other side of the bus stop, giving at least a hundred yards distance from the very busy Station Hill junction.
Name and email address supplied.
Money will help carers
I would like to thank all those who gave so generously to our collectors outside the Bury St Edmunds Tesco store on August 1 and 2. I would also like to thank all our collectors for giving their time so willingly. We raised 546.
West Suffolk Crossroads Caring for Carers is a local charity that aims to relieve the stresses experienced by family carers of all ages and the people they care for – children and adults, no matter what their disability, illness or frailty. We provide trained, experienced staff to look after the person with care needs in their own home so their family carer can have a break. We feel that all family carers, whatever their age, should feel respected for their role and be given the level of support they require to enjoy caring while maintaining a life of their own.
The money raised will give a break to a few of those 12,500 carers in Suffolk who look after someone for more than 50 hours a week.
Marion Rennison,
General manager,
Caring for Carers,
West Suffolk Crossroads,
Bury St Edmunds.
Why didn't they listen?
Reading the continuous flow of letters to the Bury Free Press from those citizens who, like me, are horror-struck at the appearance of the Cattle Market development as it is being progressively revealed, I am reminded of the words of Bret Harte, who would seem to have had a similar experience some 150 years ago (equivalent to the length of the lease granted by our council to Centros Miller).
If of all words of tongue and pen,
The saddest are 'It might have been'
More sad are these we daily see;
'It is, but hadn't ought to be!'
Why didn't they listen to us before the development agreement was signed?
Anthony Platt,
Westgate Street,
Bury St Edmunds.
Don't hold your breath
As a not always enthusiastic Conservative voter, I have watched the slow disintegration of the UK economy and social structure under Gordon Brown and felt that things could only get better when Labour was sent packing.
However, can we be so sure?
Look at Suffolk County Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council. Are these models of prudent guardian-ship of the public purse?
With boundary changes imminent, we see a new chief
executive paid more than the PM for perhaps only two years. We see the reconstruction of the education system.
In Bury St Edmunds, projects
threaten us with huge bills for years to come.
Perhaps things may get better but don't hold your breath.
B Perrett,
Cathedral Meadows,
Bury St Edmunds.
Does anyone take blame?
I read in the Bury Free Press (August 1) that the new purpose-built offices in Bury St Edmunds are not big enough for Suffolk County Council's needs, ie 'not really fit for purpose'.
Who is accountable? Does anybody accept responsibility or apologise for getting it wrong, or spending money ill-advisably?
We never seem to find out, do we?
Name and address supplied.
There are two options
Please can I make it absolutely clear to anyone interested in the Boundary Committee's review of local government in Suffolk that there are two options to consider? It is important to understand this so we can move the argument about the future of councils on to the important issues.
Several people in recent columns have suggested there is only one option possible and only one option on which the Boundary Committee will consider views. That is not true. What is true is that Government guidelines only allow for one preferred option to be put forward for public consultation. But the Boundary Committee has made clear it sees 'merit' in the proposal for a single council for Suffolk (albeit without Lowestoft).
The Boundary Committee has asked Suffolk County Council to co-ordinate, producing further detailed information on this option and has made it clear the public is invited to comment on both proposals.
So, let me be as clear as I can. There are two options for councils in Suffolk on the table – a 'two unitary' option (an Ipswich and Felixstowe council and a rural Suffolk unitary) and a single unitary Suffolk option.
To imply anything else is not only wrong but will mislead people into believing that they have no part to play in the democratic debate on this very important issue.
I believe a single council for Suffolk – instead of our existing eight councils – is best. We need now to encourage a full democratic consultation on the future of services in Suffolk and I would implore everyone to have their say.
Please write to: The Boundary Committee for England, Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 2HW or email reviews@boundary
committee.org.uk
For further information, visit the county council website at www.suffolk.gov.uk/ yourcouncil
Cllr Jeremy Pembroke,
Leader,
Suffolk County Council,
Ipswich.
Return the excess money
I have to write and express my support for Cllr Paul Hopfensperger and his letter of August 8. His intention was clear in helping to save the Christmas lights. A worthwhile cause. Taxpayer monies forwarded to meet a specific budget. As all the money was not needed, the excess money should be returned. The town council has no mandate to use it for whatever purpose it chooses when it was given for a specific purpose. All credit to the town centre manager in reducing the cost of putting on these lights, but the council has no right to keep the surplus funds saved. It should not be all returned, but the savings achieved should be returned in proportion to any and all contributions.
Cllr David Chappell,
The Green, Fornham All Saints.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Thursday 24 May 2012
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