I am constantly coming across the sterling work of community groups raising money for a huge range of excellent local causes.
It is, always difficult to single one out for special mention but I think it is entirely justified to do so in the case of the Friends of the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton.
Earlier this month, I had the honour and privilege to attend and address the Friends’ Diamond Jubilee Ball, held to celebrate 60 years of phenomenal work by the group.
It was a marvellous occasion which my wife, Akshata, and I enjoyed immensely.
My speech gave me the opportunity to thank all the people who have raised an amazing £6m for the hospital over the years - a story that began back in 1953 when a committee was formed to obtain funds for a nurses’ recreation room – known as the Northallerton Hospitals Nurses Recreation Fund Committee.
Since then their contributions have ranged from major donations, such as paying for buildings and equipment - including CT and MRI scanners - to providing smaller items for the wards, all of which have made a huge difference to patients and staff over the last 60 years.
Today that wonderful work is continued by the current Friends’ committee led by chairman Upendra Somasundram and president Shirley Donaldson.
Although the ball was a splendid celebratory occasion, in the back of everyone’s mind was the current challenges the hospital faces, chief of which is maintaining the A&E and critical care services.
I have spent a lot of time over the summer talking to hospital staff, doctors, nurses and managers about the recruitment problems.
And then there is also the proposed re-organisation of mental health services in the area which could see ward closures at the Friarage and the impending shake-up of acute hospital services in County Durham and Teesside which if they lead to the downgrading of Darlington Memorial will affect people in North Yorkshire.
As well as extensively making our case to healthcare executives in Teesside and beyond, I also took the unusual step of joining forces with the Labour MP in Darlington, Jenny Chapman, to jointly campaign for Darlington hospital. We recently wrote to the CEO of NHS England about the perceived unfairness about the NHS process which will make the decision about the Darlington hospital.
In a nutshell, the key people running the process to decide whether North Tees or Darlington hospital gets downgraded are all from North Tees. We pointed out that this is a clear conflict of interest and clearly doesn't pass the common sense test.
At the same time I have been in close dialogue with the CEO of the Mental Health Trust, asking tough questions about the rationale for their proposed changes and seeking clear guarantees about future service provision so they can be held to account in the future.
My primary role in these issues is to question and hold to account on your behalf the hospital trusts and commissioning bodies which make these decisions. I have held a number of meetings with their senior officials and managers and am in regular contact with them. But much as I might like to, I can’t actually tell them what to do!
My job is to examine their plans and actions and make sure that what they do, or propose to do, is in all of our best interests.
The bottom line for me is this: because of the rurality of North Yorkshire and the travel distances involved we have to retain a good range of quality services at the Friarage Hospital and it will remain my key priority.
