CAROLINE ANSELL MP: A top Eastbourne win in this week’s Budget

The week in Westminster has been dominated by the Chancellor’s budget. A top local win was the success of our £19.8m bid to the government’s Levelling Up fund.
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Elements of our bid have real potential to bring transformation to our town by linking the downland to the seafront and the seafront to the town centre - three major moving parts of the Eastbourne engine.

We may also now finally secure our identity as Eastern Gateway Town to the South Downs National Park and harness the national and international attraction this inspires.

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Other measures and investments in the Budget will boost skills and productivity, there was more funding for special education places and rate relief for hospitality. I was especially pleased with the change to the ‘taper rate’ for those on Universal Credit. Essentially, building up your hours will start to work for you.

Access to face to face GP appointments has been very much in the news and raised also in Parliament this week.

I have been speaking to GPs across Eastbourne and Willingdon over many months and their dedication to their patients should not be in doubt.

Surgeries have been operating under unprecedented challenges for more than 18 months.

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They are playing a vital part in the successful vaccine roll out.

Now they are front and centre of the NHS’s Covid recovery and I would like to express my support for them. I have been very unhappy to see the attacks they have received on social media, in particular around appointments. One surgery has had to call for police assistance three weeks in a row.

I know some patients are frustrated they have not seen a GP face-to-face, and I understand that frustration.

There are no easy answers in dealing with such increased demand. It is important to recognise that of the 66 per cent of patients who want face to face appointments, 58 per cent and rising are being seen.

But in part what we are experiencing is change.

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Alongside our GPs, a host of health and wellbeing professionals will increasingly come into play. Technology in the form of e-consult and telephone calls are here to stay and can be a very effective way to access services in many cases.

I do not think the British Medical Association’s threat of strike action is helpful. What will help is us appreciating the stress practices are under, the tremendous work they do and on a practical level, pivoting to pharmacies in the first instance, especially for the more minor ailments.

Our wonderful St Wilfrid’s celebrates its 40th anniversary this week marking four decades of compassionate end of life care in Eastbourne and beyond. In another part of town, The Eastbourne Association will be marking the 357th birthday of the Royal Marines. There are so many people engaged in the service of others and the country and whilst we may face many challenges, there are good people everywhere you look.

And can I take this opportunity to thank all our key workers in Eastbourne and Willingdon who have worked tirelessly for so long now.