Observations

Maintenance of stroke services at Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother Hospital Margate

1. The petition of residents of the constituency of South Thanet,
2. Declares that the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate is much valued by local residents and is the only regional general hospital servicing the population of Thanet and the north and east Kent coastal communities; further that the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups for the Kent and Medway Stroke Review have concluded that stroke services at the QEQM will be closed in favour of three Hyper-acute Stroke Units to serve Kent and Medway with Darent Valley, Maidstone and Ashford hospitals being the preferred future sites, this will leave local residents with a journey time of an hour to the nearest hospital to receive stroke care.
3. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to reference back to the Secretary of State the conclusions of the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups and the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee in Kent to ensure that the outcome thus far presented is credible and soundly based and whether the maintenance of stroke services at QEQM would not be the better option for local clinical care.
4. And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Craig Mackinlay , Official Report, 19 March 2019; Vol. 656, c. 1180.]
5. [P002442]
6. Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Seema Kennedy):
7. The reconfiguration of services is a matter for the local NHS. It is right that these matters are addressed at a level where the local healthcare needs are best understood rather than in Whitehall. The proposed service change has recently been referred to the Secretary of State who will decide whether to refer the matter to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel for Investigation.

Local facilities on the Hull Boothferry Estate

1. The petition of residents of the United Kingdom,
2. Declares that the facilities on the Boothferry Estate in Hull are woefully inadequate and need to be improved, notes that there is only a single pharmacy to support a population of 3028 and further notes that Hull City Council has lost one pound in every three from its budget since this government came to office in 2010.
3. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to release more money to Hull City Council to improve local facilities on the Boothferry Estate.
4. And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Emma Hardy , Official Report, 8 April 2019; Vol. 658, c. 146 .]
5. [P002445]
6. Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak):
7. Local authorities are democratically elected organisations and so are independent from central Government. They are responsible for managing their financial budgets and for making spending decisions in line with their priority needs. The issue of local authority spending priorities is ultimately a matter for local discretion.

Closure of Suggitts Lane Level Crossing, Cleethorpes