It was a privilege to visit St Mary’s Hospital on Scilly last week. This was part of a two-day visit to ensure residents can raise any points and concerns with me. As we know, following Prince William’s visit, work has begun on the hospital site to build what is likely to be the first Integrated Care Hub in the NHS. It has been an extraordinary battle to secure the funds for this building. Scilly does not naturally fit into any funding criteria due to the size of the population and the additional costs associated with getting anything built 28 miles off Lands' End. The Care Hub brings health and social care onto the same site and makes better use of the skills that staff have (these can be underutilised due to the size of the community on Scilly). If you are looking for a change of scenery in which to apply your healthcare skills, I’m certain health managers would be glad to hear from you. Whilst on Scilly I met with students who are sitting their GCSEs. All future education options available require these 16 yr olds to leave their family homes and study here on the mainland. I’ve been working with the school, the parents and the Council of the Isles of Scilly to ensure the funding and support available is adequate so that post-16 education is a positive experience for both the child and his or her parents.
When I returned from Scilly, I had the delight of attending the West Cornwall Hospital League of Friends Annual General Meeting at the hospital. Obviously, it’s not escaped anyone’s notice that building work is also taking place on this hospital site. At the AGM, Shirley Harris, head of nursing, gave an update on the new Outpatient Department which will create a much better working and care environment for both the hospital staff, patients and their families, and she talked about the work to reinstate the overnight Urgent Treatment Centre. The UTC is open to admissions until midnight and work is ongoing to open all night. Prior to my setting off to Scilly Cornwall’s MPs took the opportunity to debate in Parliament our inshore fishing fleet. We raised the recent difficulties facing fishermen catching pollack and thanked the Minister for putting together a helpful compensation scheme. Most of all, we stressed the opportunity facing the inshore fleet as the post Brexit transition concludes. Before leaving the EU, the UK had no control of who fished in our waters and little control over the management of fish stocks. In 2026 the Government has an opportunity to restrict foreign vessels from fishing within the 12-mile limit. Obviously, there will be implications for export, specifically in relation to tariffs, but the opportunities must not be underestimated. My personal view is that we would revitalise small coastal fishing ports, attract fresh blood into the industry, relax stringent quota controls (the effort inshore fishermen can put in is limited by the weather and fishing methods in small boats), and reduce negative environmental impact.
