The biggest issue to hit my mailbag over the summer is the proposed closure of the Charles Clore Macmillan Day Unit in Newbury. After much highly charged discussion, it is time for the Primary Care Trust to make its mind up on this important issue.

Matters don’t get more emotional than care for those with terminal or life threatening diseases. On my visit to the Unit I was given a very clear message. Those who use the Unit like the fact that it is not part of a hospital. Most of them have had enough of hospitals after lengthy treatment and they find the non clinical environment just what they need to receive the help and support they require.

A quick word of support for our beleaguered PCT. We are lucky to have a well run Trust. They manage local NHS finances superbly and have worked the transition to the new hospital with remarkable efficiency and thoughtfulness. Four months into their financial year they have had to tear up their carefully worked budget and find £670,000 of savings to pay for a deficit in the Milton Keynes PCT budget.

I am taking up with Ministers the crazy system of funding that has lead to so much heartache across the Thames Valley. I am working with the Voluntary Sector to find homes for all the services and organisations that are not moving to the new Unit. Most importantly, I am demanding that any receipts from the sale of the Unit stay in West Berkshire. NHS rules say they should go into the central NHS pot. I say this is money raised locally and should remain for West Berkshire’s healthcare needs. Ultimately, our aim must be to provide a new separate building at Newbury Hospital to house a state of the art facility that incorporates the best of the Charles Clore Unit with modern palliative care needs.