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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