Local Issues update November 2003

NHS Complaints – UPDATE

Following my earlier posting about the PALS Service at the University Hospital Trust, several constituents have asked whether we have details for other local NHS Trusts, in particular, the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham Women’s Hospital and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust.   These are as follows:

Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
Woodlands
Birmingham
B31 2AP
Phone:            0121 685 4128

Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Birmingham Women's Hospital
Metchley Park Road
Birmingham
B15 2TG
Phone:            0121 627 2747
E-mail:            Pals@bwhct.nhs.uk

Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust
Elm House
71 Fentham Road
Birmingham
B23 6AL
Phone:            0121 685 7444
E-mail:            Pals@bsmht.nhs.uk

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‘Bus Barging’

One of my elderly constituents has contacted me to report the problems she sometimes experiences whilst waiting for the 50 bus at the Bus Mall (at the rear of Marks and Spencer) in the City Centre.  She has complained that a small minority of people simply barge into the queue when the bus arrives and she has been knocked over on several occasions.  You may well have seen recent press reports about this issue in the local media.

Whilst it would be nice for the Police to be on hand to deal with such incidents – and I understand several have been allocated to this area – they will clearly not always be available.

Travel West Midlands advise me that “Bus barging is at best rude and at worst a public order offence.  But I do not believe that Travel West Midlands can be held responsible for rude or public order offences that take place on a public foot path”.

Do you agree?  If not, I would encourage you to let Travel West Midlands know about any incidents you have witnessed or which have affected you and, if you copy your correspondence to me, I will follow it up for you.  Of course, I would also be interested in receiving any opposing views!

If you wish to contact Travel West Midlands, you should write to:

Phil Bateman
Corporate Affairs Director
Travel West Midlands
Sovereign Court
Graham Street
Birmingham
B1 3JR

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Environmental Problems

The condition of the local environment ranks amongst some of the most common issues which are brought to my attention.  Generally speaking, the local authority will be responsible for dealing with most of the problems people encounter; however, the actual powers available to local authorities are not always clear and you might be surprised to find out some of the problems they have in taking action which appears, on the face of it, to be quite straightforward.

ENCAMS, which stands for ‘Environmental Campaigns’ and is the organisation that runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, has produced a pack for MPs which can be accessed from their website.  It includes details on the most common environmental problems, the powers available to deal with them and action which members of the public can take to report such problems.  To access the pack (which is in PDF format), click here: http://www.encams.org.uk/pdf/encams_mp_pack.pdf.

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