Aylesbury Liberal Democrats were horrified to learn of the planned closure of Rayners Hedge neurology rehabilitation unit in Croft Road Aylesbury, and are set to fight the move by Buckinghamshire Health Trust.

Lib Dem Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Aylesbury, Steven Lambert, said, Whilst we all understand the pressures on the NHS to make savings in the current economic climate, axing this vital services will impact on the most vulnerable residents of our town. The closure of Rayners Hedge will mean that many people who already find travel a challenge will have to go to Amersham to get essential treatment and support.  This will be traumatic for those who are part way through a course of treatment at the time of closure and make life harder for future patients too.

If Rayners Hedge was uneconomic to run because it did not have enough patients I could understand why they would consider closing it, but it’s a purpose built small personal environment which is vital for rehabilitation. In addition it employs about 30 local people directly and many more indirectly. This is yet another example of cost over care and it’s not right.”

Aylesbury Lib Dems are launching a campaign to save the Rayners Hedge unit with a petition to the Prime Minister via the Number 10 Downing Street website and I would urge everyone to sign the petition and help save this small but essential rehabilitation unit.

To sign the petition go to http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Braininjury/ or go to our Facebook site to find out more information at http://bit.ly/685TNr or contact our campaign team on 01296 395 511 for more details.

Over 1800 Aylesbury pensioners are set to miss out Cold Weather Payments from the Government which was triggered by the recent cold weather, according to analysis of Government figures by the Liberal Democrats.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, which goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7m pensioners.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Steven Lambert said “it is a scandal that over 1800 Aylesbury pensioners on the breadline are missing out on these payments, worth an estimated £450,000. But this is the tip of the iceberg as nationally there are over 1.7m pensioners who will miss out on £42.5m of payments.”

Steven added “with Fuel prices at an all time high, Cold Weather Payments become essential to people already struggling on a poverty pension. Labour has failed pensioners by creating a complicated system that makes it difficult for them to get the help they desperately need. The Government should be making every effort to identify pensioners who are missing out and get them this extra cash.”