This issue was brought up at my local Patient Practice Group of which I am Chairman. There were quite a number of instances reported by the committee who support this action unanimously. The following are two of my own experiences. 1. In December, 2017 I took my sister-in-law to Sunderland Hospital. She was unable to walk and there was no ambulance available. I parked at the accident & emergency and with my wife I got her out of the car and into a wheelchair. My wife pushed her into the hospital whilst I reversed my cat into a disabled parking bay. several days later I received a £70 fine Parking notice 2. In February 2018 i took my wife for a scan to North tees Hospital. After I dropped her off I parked my car and went to the parking meter. Unlike Sunderland their was a fee chargeable for disabled drivers. The first 20 minutes parking was free but after that there was a charge which if not paid was subject to a £90 fine. It is impossible to be able to assess that my wife would be able to receive her treatment within 20 minutes. I decided to pay for the parking. The cost was £3 for the first hour as well as for the next 11 hours. As it happened my wife did not have to wait and she had her scan and returned to the car. We were parked for exactly 26 minutes. I had paid the 12 hour fee for 6 minutes. I also was inconvenienced as I had no change and the meter did not take notes or give change. I had to go back into the hospital for change for the parking meter.

Fibromyalgia and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis sufferers have very little chance of finding any medication to help their condition. There isn't one specific drug designed for treatment of symptoms. Drugs that are prescribed have many damaging side effects and patients show little to no improvement taking them. Many pain killers do not work. Since 2016, the consumption of products containing CBD has doubled and in the last year the number of consumers increased 100%, from an estimated 125,000 consumers in 2016 to 250,000 in 2017. In the UK, it is estimated that the cannabis market could be worth £10bn. Although the legal situation for CBD and CBD containing products has eased, the same can not be said for THC, whose only legal medical source is Sativex, a medication produced by the British company, GW Pharmaceutics who are currently the only company in the country to have permits for the cultivation of cannabis and the production of derivative products.

In London most single and double decker buses are able to accomodate disabled passengers by lowering the step or deploying a ramp for wheelchairs and mobility scooters. It has been noticed that a large number of cities and towns outside of London do not seem to have a similar service for the disabled passengers in their communities. For example: in the Greater Manchester area, where some buses do have a step that can be lowered for disabled passengers, they either do not work or only do so intermittantly, therefore causing disabled passengers with crutches a lot of distress when entering the bus and where wheelchairs and mobility scooters are concerned, where the step cannot be lowered, those disabled persons are unable to travel. The picture above shows one of the latest buses to be put into service in Germany. If you examine it closely you can see that the set of doors in the middle has a sign for wheelchair and buggy access. This includes a deployable ramp. This design should be a standard requirement on public transport that use roads.

Hywel Dda University Health Board's plans include 3 options - ALL of which will close the A&E units at Glangwili and Withybush hospitals. The Glangwili unit was built relatively recently and Withybush has also been upgraded. The plan calls for building a new major hospital in the countryside "somewhere between Narberth and St Clears". All 3 options list as a disadvantage that patients will have to travel further to access planned and emergency care in an area already poorly served by public transport and with a limited number of ambulance stations and ambulances to cover a large rural area; while it's true we have the excellent Wales Air Ambulance, that can't be everywhere. Making patients travel further to reach A&E could cost lives. A secondary issue arises from the likely difficulty patients and visitors will face in travelling to the proposed new hospital, especially if they don't have access to a car. You can see the plans in detail here: https://www.ors.org.uk/web/upload/surveys/751664/files/BC-MainConsultationDocumentVersion1%281%29.pdf

Carers cannot survive on so little money. They are torn between Caring for a loved one and trying to make ends meet. When they eventually retire they have earnt the right to their full pension, not have it seriously depleted when CA stops. Time to reward Carers and allow them to keep their CA.

Disabled children have a right to have publlic changing facilities where they can be changed with some dignity. The current facilities are none existent. Try changing a 5 year old on a baby changing table in a public toilet. It's not nice for you as an adult and certainly not the child. It's uncomfortable and undignified. Disabled kids have a right to privacy. I never realised how bad this situation was untill my nephew needed to use them.

In the uk 16 million people suffer with a mental health issue, thats 1 in 4 people thats a stagaring amount. Recent and past studies have proven the good efects of a animal with suffers of depresion, anxiaty, even with our servive men and woman with PTSD. I want our government to recognise that animals can be an emotional support for a mental health suffer and prove invaluable in allowing a suffer to carry out day to day tasks. In the UK emotional support dogs are not recognised as our service dogs are, so they cannot go to work with us, go into a shop, travel, go to medical appointments, these are daily tasks that can be daunting and debilitating for a suffer to do and face alone,with the aid of a support dog its proven these tasks are manageable suffers are able to carry on life go out shopping even go to work with such support from a 4 legged friend. Please sign this petition so thousands can benefit from an emotional support dog.

Pain management is an important part of treating people with chronic pain so that they can continue living their lives and functioning on a day to day basis. My mum has fibromyalgia and a degenerative spinal condition and neck. She has been offered very little help on the NHS but she was receiving steroid injections every three months that enabled her to walk again and function on a daily basis. Her commissioning group in Nottingham have now decided that they will no longer offer this service and she has received a letter informing her that if she wants to continue receiving the treatment she will have to pay £550 a time. If she lived in Derbyshire she could continue to receive this treatment for FREE. My mum is 73, she worked all of her life and has paid into the NHS and taken very little out. It is completely unfair to expect my mum who only has her pension to live on to find this money when other people are receiving the treatment for FREE. I understand that the NHS doesn't have money for everything but these injections have been keeping my mum out of a wheelchair and able to walk, able to exercise and able to live her life without the constant pain that she has to endure on a daily basis. The only alternative she is ever given is opiate pain killers which are known to be addictive and do nothing but make her feel ill. Please help me to raise awareness of the inequality that exists in the services that are offered for those who need chronic pain management and campaign for the Nottingham commissioning group to reinstate these services and offer some hope for those with chronic pain to continue receiving treatment for FREE. Health care should not be a postcode lottery. The government have caused this lottery by allowing local areas to commission their own services that they feel will benefit their areas this is causing massive inequalities in health care. The government should ensure that all patients have access to services regardless of where they live. I therefore call upon the government to end the postcode lottery that exists in health care and ensure that everyone has the same access to services.

The rollout of Benefit changes is coming to Tendring soon. We have seen the chaos and consequences of benefit arrears in other areas that have rolled out and wish to do all we can to alleviate the problems in Tendring

Because having only 1 Autism/Asperger group mainly for kids there is no official group for adults on the autism spectrum in Halton B.C so i feel the council is not doing enough to give help providing a group to socialize with other people with the same conditions

Young people have more challenges and issues that arise in comparison with 10 years ago. As a result children are suffering from more serious mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. This is increasing in schools but many schools policies do not reflect the issues this presents. Some schools treat mental illness as if it can be helped or easily cured. This is not the case even after treatment the problem remains for many children. It is unfair to force children out of education if their attendance dips below an average. It is unfair to take parents to court, to threaten them with fines and imprisonment. How does this help the child and the family? It doesn't. It causes the unwell child more anxiety or depression which makes school attendance a bigger issue. Despite providing evidence, ensuring attendance is improved this is the case for many families in the UK. Schools do not view mental health in the same light as any other illness which is outdated and unhelpful. Something needs to change to improve the lives of children that struggle with these issues everyday and the way families are treat by schools. Policy in school needs to change. Attendance issues need to be treated in the same way as other health issues. Punishing children already struggling needs to stop!

Thanks to the Government's 'Right to Buy' Policy, local government are forced to offer Social Housing at heavily discounted prices - at approximately up to 70% of value - to elderly, disabled and vulnerable residents in Independent Living Accommodation; thus reducing the housing stock in Social Housing overall. Affordable Housing is only offered at 20% of value which most cannot afford. If residents cannot get social housing, either through an association or the council, they are forced into the more expensive - ON AVERAGE 4 TIMES AS MORE - private renting. For example: In the last six months, 130 Independent Living Accommodation Sites have been lost, never to replaced, amounting to 2% of the current total Social Housing within the Stroud Area alone; an issue that is being replicated across the United Kingdom.