Welcome to this week's newsletter.
Can I begin with a huge huge thank you for all the kind messages you sent me after I broke my ankle (here).
I had my operation to put in screws and a plate this week. The surgeon said it was a worse break than it appeared on the X-Rays and it took longer than expected. But at least the road to recovery has begun. I am still required to required to have my foot up a little longer and will be on crutches for a good few weeks. But I will get back up and running!
In the meantime I am in touch with team and keeping up to date with important issues,
For example, you will have heard about the case of Lucy Letby, a nurse who was found guilty of murdering babies at the Countess of Chester and was sentenced to life imprisonment this week. The Government have launched an inquiry to look into the circumstances around these deaths - and I'm glad that the victims will have their say and help determine the scope of this investigation. If you or a loved one received treatment at the neonatal unit at the hospital and you have any concerns at all do contact me.
This week I signed a letter alongside other MPs to encourage supermarkets to add a 'Buy British' button to their websites. It is important that we support of nations farmer, and this would be a fantastic way to highlight the best produce that our country has to offer.
GCSE results day was on Thursday. I do hope that anyone getting their results were happy with their achievements. There will be some who didn't get what they hoped for, but there are still options they can consider. I have included links to some resources to help below.
Finally, my history fact this week touches on the relationship between Crewe and the railways. Read on below if you are interested.
Have a great weekend.
Lucy Letby Verdict
Buy British Campaign
GCSE Results Day
Did You Know? Crewe and the Railways
Free Childcare
Traffic Report
Lucy Letby Verdict
You will no doubt have heard the harrowing details of the case of Lucy Letby - a nurse at the Countess of Chester Hospital who has been found guilty of murdering 7 babies and attempting to murder 6 others.
As a doctor myself it is horrifying to think someone could abuse the trust placed in a healthcare professional in such an evil way.
She was sentenced this week to a whole life order - meaning that she will never leave prison. I do hope that this brings some comfort to the families of the victims. It is a shame that she made the cowardly decision not to attend the sentencing hearing and hear statements from victims about the impact of her actions.
I am glad to see that the Government is planning to change the law around this to compel criminals to be at their sentencing and hear directly from their victims. It will take some careful thought as to how we might make this work.
The Government have also launched an inquiry to look into the circumstances around these deaths - and I'm glad that the victims will have their say and help determine the scope of this investigation. At the minute the inquiry will be a non statutory one. I think if at any point the Chair feels they need legal powers to get the evidence they need we should listen carefully to that. Statutory inquiries have advantages and disadvantages which mean I can understand why it wasn't chosen as a first resort.
I don't think any system of safety can completely protect patients from healthcare staff determined to harm them as a one off. Healthcare can only operate with a degree of trust between patients and staff which can be taken advantage of.
But we should at least have systems and a culture that would prevent a serial murderer like this. What is tragic is that it was relatively quickly that systems and individuals picked up that something wasn't right. It just wasn't responded to correctly.
It's sad and frustrating to see the same issues coming up when it comes to NHS management not listening to concerns. Whilst I am sure we can all understand why your first suspicion might not be that a nurse is murdering patients, if a team of senior doctors raise that this might be happening this should have been investigated as thoroughly as possible. And most importantly, just as in any other walk of life, if someone has a suspicion of criminal behaviour the only people who can investigate that are the police. It was a huge error for anybody at the hospital to attempt to prevent or delay their involvement.
The inquiry needs to come up with answers but hopefully also recommend how we can hold senior managers accountable to events like this. We must ensure that people have faith in our healthcare system and in the people that work in it.
Buy British Campaign
This week I signed an open letter alongside over 100 MPs calling on supermarkets to highlight the very best of British produce by incorporating a ‘Buy British’ section online.
The letter, penned by Dr Luke Evans MP and supported by 110 cross-party MPs, states, ‘Our ask is simple, create a tab that collates produce from farmers, citing consumer choice, environmental benefits and support for farmers as reasons to make the change.
The ‘Buy British’ tab would collate products from across the UK so customers have “greater power in their choices”, enabling them to support the nation’s farmers quickly and easily’.
The change could be achieved ‘by the click of a mouse’, with many shops already labelling British products. Therefore, the online change is simply bringing the produce to the fort’ one-stop online shop’ for the public to better identify home-grown produce.
In a recent survey carried out by the National Farmers Union, 61% of respondent farmers stated the supply chain and market volatility have negative impacts on their mental health, with 80% of dairy farmers in a second NFU survey citing cash flow and profitability as key factors which throw the future of their business into doubt.
Farmers face an expensive harvest as domestic weather records — the driest February in 30 years, hottest June ever recorded and a notably wet July —as well as high import costs for energy, fuel and fertiliser, threaten positive yields and profits.
It is important that we do what we can to help our farmers. They work tirelessly, from dawn until dusk, to produce food for our nation, and the ‘Buy British’ section is an easy and accessible way for the public to support them.
We know the public wants to know more about where their food comes from and how it is produced. This simple change on a webpage helps to ensure home-grown food is easily identifiable, something I wholeheartedly support.
GCSE Results Day
This week was GCSE Results Day. Congratulations to everyone for all of the effort you have put in - I do hope you are happy with what you have got.
There will be those who do not get the results they are hoping for. If this is the case, there are still many opportunities you can pursue. In first instance your school or college will be able to guide and support you on the next steps.
If you do need help and advice, you can contact the national career service on 0800 100 900.
You can find further advice and guidance in the link: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/09/when-is-results-day-2023-gcses-a-levels-t-levels-and-vtqs/
Did You Know? Crewe and The Railways
This week we will touch on a slightly better-known history – that of Crewe’s crucial role in building Britain’s railway infrastructure and, more importantly, the railways’ role in building Crewe.
Whilst Crewe had become a thriving town of over 40,000 by 1870, it served as only a small hamlet of just 70 people before the arrival of Grand Junction Railway in 1837. This number included Lord Crewe of Crewe Hall. In this sense the area did not enter the industry as an obvious candidate.
There was a larger, more dominant township – that of Monks Coppenhall, made up of around 200 people before 1837 which had a history dating back that of the Domesday Book, a fascinating historical document produced in 1086 which I referred to in my newsletter a couple of weeks ago. It is important to highlight that this was some 750 years before and whilst there were only 5 households recorded in 1086, a population increase of perhaps only 180 is very small over such a large period.
However, with the pioneering drive of Grand Junction Railway, and their decision to build a station and locomotive works near Crewe Hall, Crewe train station became a reality. Both the works and station gained their name from Crewe Hall and small hamlet, previously dwarfed by Monk Coppenhall in both age and population, grew to integrate it formally in 1936.
With the railway came a church, school, public baths, and parks as well as creating housing for railway workers. In this sense the railway played a critical role in how Crewe is shaped today. It was neither the largest, nor most significant settlement in the historic county of Cheshire. Yet, its relationship with the locomotive industry made it so. Producing 7,331 locomotives whilst operating, Crewe works very last locomotive to be built was the AC Electric locomotive Class 91 No 91031, completed in February 1991, marking the end of an era.
It is exciting to know that after refurbishing but not building trains for a generation, the Crewe Works site has won a contract to build the bogies for the HS2 trains bringing production back to the site and helping secure its future!
Free Childcare
The Government recently announced an extension of free childcare offers available to parents.
30 hours of free childcare for children is available from the age of nine months until when they go to school. This will help parents, particularly mothers, ease back into work after the birth of a child - easing the financial burden.
Find out more here: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/?deliveryName=DM27923
Traffic Report
The following are road closures for the week ahead as reported by Cheshire East
Mill Lane, Oakhangar - Until 31st October
Flowers Lane - Until 26th November (see below re Leighton closures)
Smithy Lane - Until 1st November (see below re Leighton closures)
Minshull New Road (Between Badger Avenue and Rolls Avenue) - Until 31st August
Newcastle Road, Shavington (Between Stock Lane and Sable Road) - 7th August until 1st September
Park Road, Nantwich - 24tt August until 31st August
Yates Street, Crewe, (from the junction of Ruskin Road to outside number 29) -28th August until 1st September
CLOSURES AROUND LEIGHTON:
Full details of closures around Leighton: https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways_and_roads/roadworks/major-proj…
The traffic lights at the end of Flowers Lane will be replaced with a roundabout as will the other accesses onto the new houses off the A530. The rear of Leighton hospital will have an improved access from Flowers Lane and the Hospital main entrance access on Smithy Lane will also be improved.
In the near future Minshull New Road will be stopped off at the Leighton academy to through traffic, but access will still be provided to the school for children from the north and south creating a much safer entrance.
Part of the problems with creating a diversion is that the traffic can only be diverted onto roads of the same or a superior category. Diverted traffic cannot be diverted onto minor roads.
At the end of the Highways project all the new roads and roundabouts will be providing easier and safer access to Leighton and its surrounds. Work can then start on the new houses with the confidence that current residents will be less affected by more traffic.