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Success for the South West Muscle Group

27 April 2009

Politics is a bit like sports. There will be plenty of days when nothing goes right and your team misses straightforward opportunities to score goals and win games. But, just occasionally, there are brilliant successes too. Last weekend was one of those.

The reason I was so cheerful was, oddly, muscular dystrophy. It’s hard to find anything positive in a disease which blights and shortens the lives of so many people but, a while ago, I was approached by a determined group of local campaigners who wanted my help.

The problem was that health services in the southwest for people with muscular dystrophy weren’t up to scratch. Other parts of the country were better organised and, put bluntly, their patients were living longer and more productive lives as a result. Patients in Weston and other parts of the southwest weren’t asking for special treatment, just for the same resources which people took for granted in other parts of Britain.

So they came to Parliament where I met them, and chaired a cross-party meeting of MPs and Lords supporting their cause. We worked closely with the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign too, and everybody lobbied the health bosses who are responsible for how the NHS spends its money in the southwest.

And, wonderfully, they agreed to change. Starting from now, they’ve agreed to hire more specialist staff to provide the crucial treatments which our local sufferers need. It should make a real difference to their lives and shows what can be done by anyone with a bit of determination and a deserving cause. If only my favourite football team could have a few more days where everything went this well………