Alston is the highest market town in England, and lies 21 miles from any other towns-only 2 of which have a hospital. Alston is over an hour's drive from Carlisle Hospital. ALL 5 roads out of Alston cross high moorland in the North Pennines, and these are frequently closed or rendered treacherous by winter weather between November and March. Ambulances would face a very long, slow and difficult journey to reach a patient and to get them to hospital. Lives will be put at risk. Lives may well be lost if the threat of closure of our Cottage Hospital beds is carried out. Moreover, our absolutely brilliant Doctors Surgery, which depends on the hospital beds to sustain it, could then also eventually close. Where will the 2000-3000 residents of Alston and Alston Moor then go for initial emergency care, to see a doctor, or for other general GP services? There is no bus service to speak of (also cut back). In addition some of the stunning roads in the region produce more than average numbers of road accidents, particularly involving motorbikes and are often very serious. One of our local GPs can be on the scene within minutes--at the moment. If the GP Surgery also has to close, the nearest 'first response' possible will have to travel 21 miles (on notoriously slow windy roads) just to reach the casualty. Do all these lives count for nothing, that we we should lose our hospital beds, our local GPs and an effective emergency response, simply because we live in a beautiful but isolated locality? Why not, indeed, use the beds at Alston (and a small number of other places in Cumbria similarly threatened) as 'OVERSPILL' beds. These beds could be used temporarily by those patients, often elderly, who no longer need to receive medical treatment on the Ward but who need some nursing and monitoring.....whilst they wait for appropriate care to be provided in/by their own community. This would also relieve and 'unblock' several beds in General hospitals for those on the waiting list, and for emergency treatments. Surely this a much more cost-effective way of using our Cottage Hospital beds, rather than simply closing them and leaving a great facility redundant?

The nurseries are outstanding and a fabric of the local community. Some have been running for over 30 years, with dedicated well trained staff teams. They provide affordable childcare to children with different type of needs i.e special educational needs, deaf children, parents on low -medium income, lone parents, students, residents that may require support. Cutting funding for these nursery's will affect parent’s ability to work and will affect the children's well-being, especially children who are disabled or have other specialised needs. If privatised the cost of these nurseries will go up, meaning that many parents will not be able to afford to send their children. As parents we are concerned that cuts are the driving force of the Tower Hamlets proposals. Value needs to be given to quality of care provision, service user’s experience, rather than who can do it cheaper. Tower Hamlets Council is depriving the vulnerable children the services vital to their development, putting additional stress on parents of Tower Hamlets and communities, destroying long lasting community hubs. Our Tower Hamlets, Our Voice, Our Nurseries.

Waiting time for appointments should depend on need not the basic ability to pay. Do we need to go back to pre NHS times just so extremely well paid GP's can increase their coffers? It is basically dangerous. Already the poorer members of our society have a lower life expectancy and generally poorer health, paying for a GP will just excesserbate the current situation. GP appointments for medical reasons, should always be free at the point of contact and remain a basic tenet of the NHS.

Public services are being cut back to the bone due to the political choice of austerity, playgrounds and sports facilities are being closed, the NHS is under attack, community groups, the disabled and vulnerable face all sorts of challenges from closures and budget cuts – this decision is an utter disgrace.

A later service leaving Aberdeen around 2345 would allow the residents of Laurencekirk and the surrounding area to go into Aberdeen and make use of the cinema, theatre or even just a nice leisurely meal with friends without the expense of a taxi costing around £80!

Midwifery is a separate role from nursing. Both professions are unique in every way, from character of the role, all the way back to preregistration study. Midwives have a completely different way of working and totally different responsibilities. This has meant that an individual arrangement has always been necessary to ensure public safety, public health, support of women's choice and, of course, promoting the health of generations to come. The NMC have, in one fell swoop, and ignoring the results of their own consultation, removed supervision, removed the need for a midwifery committee and declared that independent midwives have inadequate insurance to provide intrapartum (birth) care for their clients. If an independent midwife has provided antenatal care, she may not now provide intrapartum care. If she attends the birth, the NMC have stated she will be struck off the register. This action has resulted in many women suddenly being faced with the loss of the intimate and trusting relationship they have developed with their midwife. There is unlimited research proving that this model of care is the gold standard. The long term implications for the mental and emotional health of all those affected will be enormous. Any stress during pregnancy has the potential to affect fetal neurological development and maternal attachment and bonding. Far from protecting the public, this decision is creating serious emotional and financial harm to women (including midwives) and their families. In summary, the ultimate outcome of this action will lead to the downgrading of midwifery as a profession. This will result in a much higher level of maternal and infant death. (Look at the USA where midwifery has often been outlawed). Act now to save midwifery before it is too late.

This is going to place further financial strain on families and also the safety of children is paramount as the children who normally get a bus to school would have to walk along busy roads

Camden Council is planning to close Netherwood which is a specialist dementia day centre - the only one of its kind - in Camden. This will be the third time Camden has tried to close it since 2011. Each time we campaigned and won. We need to win again. Situated in NW6 between West Hampstead and Kilburn, Netherwood is regularly visited by people the world over, so impressive is its design and the care received by the people who attend it. If Camden Council closes this centre and sells off the land, as is the general feeling, then it will be lost forever. The council will never be able to afford such a site again. If the closure goes ahead, those attending their beloved Netherwood will be "decanted" to another nearby centre which is not a specialist day centre and is not purpose-built. The council says it will have money to make alterations to the building to make it "dementia friendly". We argue: why spend money on partially reconfiguring another centre when you have one right there that is purpose built? We appreciate local governments are having to make huge budget cuts, but we believe losing such a jewel of a resource will be a travesty and will adversely impact generations to come. Please help us save this incredible community resource a third time! Dementia is recognised as a growing concern in today's society. Not only is it important that there is excellent care for the person with dementia, it is also crucial that family carers are given time to themselves to recharge from what can often be a hugely challenging and exhausting situation. Places like Netherwood enable families to STAY together. They also keep people from being hospitalised and we know how important that is in the current climate. If we have brilliant services in the community the ultimate saving to society, both financially and in terms of general well-being, is enormous. Cutting such lifelines will ultimately cost more in the long run with some families perhaps deciding that residential care is the only solution. The cost of this to the council would be enormous. If we are to have a truly dementia-friendly society then places like Netherwood should never be threatened with closure but should be protected in perpetuity.

Most Scottish teachers saw their take home pay drop this tax year. This follows years of either no pay rise, or rises which are less than inflation. In addition pension contributions have been raised considerably, further reducing take home pay. GTCS fees were increased by 25% just 3 years ago - a further increase is unfair to teachers who are, like many in our society, under substantial financial pressures.

There is so much danger out there dark driving seeing people wearing black. Houses in pitch black unable to see over the road. Going in and out of light that is not good even the main streets they have lights on both sides but there is still the black parts. Can't see kerbs very difficult. In my street when under the light I can't even find my key hole how bad is that.

Our Post Office is a main part of the community, a post office is a place for the young and the old, a place where they can trust a postmaster to look after there needs. Every week one in four people visits their Post Office and they're a focal point in towns and villages.

Kamelia kids Nursery is the only nursery in West Sussex that has classes especially for special needs children. My son started off at this nursery in one of their mainstream classes. He used to crawl into the cloakroom and lay on the floor to escape the busy environment he couldn't handle. My son is autistic. The nursery moved him to an autistic class within the nursery. He settled immediately. He had extra support and an environment that was specially designed to meet his needs and allow him to make unbelievable progress in his communication and development. These classes give children like my son their best possible chance and a sense of security. Wscc are suggesting that this is about inclusion rather than funding. The truth is we have schools for special needs children funded by the council. That is because they are NEEDED. So why exactly is it that nurseries offering that service aren't? Of course they are! People come from miles around so that their children can access the resources Kamelia kids currently has because they are already few and far between. The early years of a child's development are crutial to shaping their future. As lovely as it would be to believe that all children with additional needs could cope and even thrive in a mainstream environment, as some do, the reality is that there are many that don't. That is fact. For those children they are going to be abandoned to a system that fails them if this is allowed to go ahead. These units/classes are too important to lose. Our special needs children shouldn't be forced into environments they will not only struggle to cope in but where their development will suffer too. This is failing the most vulnerable children in our society. How can that possibly be justified?