I’m pleased to be quoted at length in this Thanet Gazette article on today’s stroke protest:
“Sir Roger, who declined the invitation to come here today, now says he supports the decision to move the stroke unit to Ashford.
“Mr Mackinlay, you have the power to raise an oral question on health in parliament on the 23 of October. You could ask about why Thanet was left out of the options for a new stroke unit.
“When a bank in Sandwich was threatened with closure, Mr Mackinlay raised the issue in parliament, when our two NHS dentists in Ramsgate were threatened with closure he raised a question in parliament on the day the dentists closed, so it was too late to do anything about it.”
And on the three reasons why I don’t think Mr Mackinlay will raise this issue in Parliament:
“The first reason is that Judge Edis has requested the pleasure of your company in Southwark crown court on the 23 of October.
“The second reason is that you’ve said to SONIK that you think this is a fight you can’t win, so you’re putting pragmatism above principle.
“The third reason is that you’re propping up a dysfunctional government hell bent on starving health and social care of the funding they need to survive, in this case a £292m shortfall in Kent and Medway.
