Since the beginning of October residents in Folkestone have been able to access new out of hours NHS services through the Royal Victoria Hospital. These new services include a minor injuries unit, focusing on treatments for suspected fractures of arms or lower legs, cuts, minor burns, and bites and stings, for everyone aged 12 months and above. This should mean that a trip to Accident and Emergency at Ashford would only be required for more serious treatment. You can also see a GP at the Royal Victoria seven days a week between the hours of 8am and 8pm. The GP on duty will have full access to the records for all patients registered in Folkestone; so they can see your notes just as if you went to your local surgery.
These changes to our local service are an important reform for the NHS and based on an approach I would like to see more of; which is a better, more local service. Journeys to hospital can be a considerable cost and inconvenience for patients and should only be required when necessary. We know as well that one of the reasons that the A&E departments at our hospitals get so busy at the weekends and in the evenings, is because people feel that they do not have anywhere else to go for treatment. Now, in Folkestone with these new out of hours services that choice is available.
These new services have been made possible thanks to extra funding that has been received by the South Kent Coast NHS commissioning group, from the Prime Minister. David Cameron created a special challenge fund to support new ways for GPs to deliver local services. Folkestone is the first town in Kent to benefit from the fund. The government has pledged to make these new out of ours services available across the country, and locally the South Kent Coast commissioning group is looking to offer them more widely in the Shepway area, including on Romney Marsh where they could be of great benefit to residents.
Last Friday I was delighted to join the team at Kennedy Scott in Folkestone to mark their 25 years of helping people back into employment. Kennedy Scott are one of the local providers for the Work Programme which has been designed to give extra support to people who have been unemployed for more than six months. The celebration wall in their offices at Shearway Business Park, marks the success of the hundreds of local people that Kennedy Scott have recently helped into work. The overall rate of unemployment in Folkestone and Hythe has fallen by over forty per cent since 2010, and companies like Kennedy Scott are playing an important part in this achievement. On Friday evening I also chaired the annual general meeting of Step Short where we thanked all of the volunteers who have worked so hard in the last year to mark the centenary of the First World War. Step Short’s work, an in particular the opening of the Arch and the historical exhibitions at the library and the town hall, have helped to make 2014 a year for Folkestone to remember.
