It is vital that testing strips are made available to all type 2 diabetics, without them it is impossible to truly understand how different foods affect blood glucose levels. Upon diagnosis patients should be offered enough strips to be able to test before and after meals and in doing so build up a clearer picture of how diabetes affects them as an individual, after a period of time the patient will no longer need to test so frequently, only if feeling unwell or when eating an unfamiliar food. Testing strips are an aid to good control of diabetes and are integral in reducing the amount of complications that can occur, well managed blood glucose reduces the chance of severe visual loss/blindness by 25% and early kidney damage by 33%. Testing strips cost the NHS between 24-40 pence each, depending on the brand used. The cost of complications far outweigh the cost of providing testing strips on a year by year basis. The cost of amputation and post amputation care cost the NHS approximately £19,000 per patient in 2010/2011. Ulceration cost approximately £3,400 per patient in the same year. Renal failure costs approximately £30,000 each and every year the patient survives. Heart failure costs approximately £3,000 in the first year and then £1,000 in each additional year. The cost of supplying medication and testing strips is estimated at £300-£370 per patient per year. The total cost of treating preventable complications is £9.8 billion per year. I've benefited greatly from testing my blood glucose, my hba1c is down 10% in the year since being diagnosed but I have had to fund testing strips myself after an out and out refusal by my GP on cost grounds, unfortunately I'm unable to refuse on cost grounds as I don't want to risk complications so I buy strips instead of buying gas. It's a shame that so many people who would like to actively manage their diabetes cannot do so due to blanket restrictions on strips, especially when there appears to be such a large financial benefit to the country.

I find it easier to go to a walk in center if I am not feeling well outside surgery hours that is the reason why I am setting up this petition the hospital is nearer to my home but I feel as though it is wasting doctors time if I go with an illness or injury outside surgery times.I have used the Walk in Centre and have always received efficient treatment and advice and also feel as though I am not a burden to the nurses and doctors who work there.

Half of Haverhill is one of 20% of the most deprived health in Suffolk. How would you feel if you had a young child or an elderly parent that could not get to a doctor at weekends, evenings or night and an out of hours doctor that has to cover 120 square miles.

The Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) is the only one in Pembrokeshire. By closing it, newborn babies will have to be sent to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, a round trip of around 80 miles in a rural area. Many babies will not survive this trip and parents will not be able to visit their babies due to the long distance and difficulties with transport in this area. This will have a long-term knock-on effect with the parents not being able to bond with their babies. My daughter was born six weeks premature and without the care she received immediately after birth in SCBU she would not have survived. She is now a healthy 25 year old with two sons and a daughter of her own, my gorgeous grandchildren who are the light of my life. My youngest granddaughter also needed special care when she was born prematurely, she was several months early and tiny. She is now, thanks to the care and dedication of the staff on SCBU, a healthy and happy 3 year old. My son and his wife would have been unable to spend any time with her if they had been forced to travel to Carmarthen. Giving birth to a baby that needs special care is stressful enough without adding extra problems for the parents. They need to be able to visit their baby often, especially if Mum is breastfeeding and forcing them to travel to Carmarthen will make an already hard time even harder. Most young families don't have their own transport and public transport in this area is almost non-existent.

People die of lung cancer . All to often the person with lung cancer cannot be helped at it is too late to cure it

Many are being forced to go private in desperation, but even private dental provision is nil at the moment in Kirklees, so they have to go out of area. Health suffers, and many are in pain or despair. I recently broke a tooth very badly, but it took me three weeks to find a PRIVATE dentist well out of the area who would treat me. I know of others in other areas who have waited 18 months to get on an NHS dental list and have a 90 mile round trip. One such was examined and told the earliest NHS appointment she could have was in 3 months' time, by which time the tooth was in such a state it had to be extracted.

Its Important that this test is done as symptoms can be relieved by supplementing with B12 which cost as little as 50Pence per Ampule , saving NHS Billions Pounds, and saving Billions on welfare assistance , saving millions of people in UK from suffering from this deficiency and getting diagnosed with more serious conditions . Dr. Chandey as done so much research into this condition and as helped Thousands of people back to Health , many have been in Wheelchairs. Also Martin Hooper as just published a book on The Forgotton Illness . This as long been neglected by NHS not testing for B12 deficiency .!!

Community Interest Companies, CIC, are being formed from various parts of our NHS, for example District Nurses, school nurses, cottage hospitals and as such are not required and will not answer any questions under the Freedom of Information Act. We cannot find out about such things as MRSA rates, staffing rates, number of lost records, bullying, pay rates for senior executives, etc. CIC are funded by us out of the NHS budget but we have no rights to ask what the money is being spent on and how successful the spend has been. They say they are "Not for profit" companies but that does not mean they are not a "Not for loss". The Huddersfield Examiner ran an article on the situation http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2012/05/18/holme-valley-hospital-s-privacy-over-public-information-86081-30994333/ These are your services, you family members, children that depend and use these services so do we not have the right to ask uncomfortable questions and find out where our money is being spent and how efficiently it is being used.

A several million pound publicly funded contract has been agreed but not yet signed by NHS Lambeth. The money is not being spent on employing qualified and experienced counsellors by The Awareness Centre who has been subcontracted to provide counselling. There has not been any transparent discussion on the role of trainee counsellors in Lambeth and nobody in Lambeth has been properly consulted about the change to services. The current counselling service that provides experienced and qualified therapists for patients registered with GP's in Lambeth is being replaced by a private organisation that uses trainees and volunteers only. This means that they don't get paid (and even have to pay for their internal training) and that they will be working alongside no qualified staff. This is both unethical for patients and for trainees. I have been working for the NHS since 1984 and the complexity of cases has got harder and harder and I dread to imagine the impact this will have on patients and staff.

I am one of those unfortunate people who - through no direct fault of their own - have 'lost their home'. For over 'fourteen years' (following on from buying our house/10 years) we have rented 'four' different houses. All of them - particularly the first 'three' came with a bizarre range of difficulties and problems culminating with us having to up- sticks and move on to somewhere less troubled! Our problems included immense noise problems, drug busts by the police to our immediate neighbours, racist remarks, drunkenness, barking dogs, failure of landlord to hold to the Tenancy agreement, theft, anti social behaviour: and blatant promises (by Estate Agents) of improvements that never materialised and so on. (I have detailed documentation on most of these difficulties). I often feel that renting tenants (particularly 'private' tenants) are 'used' primarily to pay the mortgage on the landlords second, third (etc) house but with 'nothing' in return beside broken promises and a very 'poor' service all round! The TV channels are currently running repetitive adverts on 'landlords insurance' but nothing is seen about the much needed 'tenants insurance'; this insurance should be included as a part of the rental agreement. I have often been made to feel like a second class citizen with little or no rights on many occasions. Surely, even if only to attempt to bridge the increasing gap (chasm) between the haves and the have-nots'- their should be made available a strict set of rules for 'landlords'. Rules which would protect tenants, provide us with a fair say on renting issues without the fear of reprisals or evictions, and to discontinue the poor practise of 'money for nothing' for bad landlords.

The consortium – which includes Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust – aims to cut pay for nurses, doctors and other healthcare staff by up to 15 per cent at a time of unprecedented change and financial pressures in the health service A total of 20 trusts across the south west are ploughing £200,000 into the cartel in an attempt to introduce radical changes to pay and conditions through a regional pay system. The proposals – which could include making staff work longer hours with less annual leave and smaller pay packets – would undermine the national pay system that provides a fair and transparent system and ensures health managers anywhere in the country can recruit staff with the right skills and experience to give patients the right care. The proposals will be bad for staff morale and have an adverse knock-on effect for patient care. It will damage recruitment at the hospital and cause staff instability as fewer people are attracted to work in a low pay zone. With a workforce of 4,000 at Salisbury, lower local pay will also hit the local economy.

I want to be able to deliver the best possible Holistic care to my patients their family friends and carers. As a health professional it is important to me to know that my patients feel they are listened to and not just a person on a "conveyer belt" and to inspire confidence in my great profession of NURSING. I greatly admired the work of Claire Raynor who was relentless in her campaigning for the NHS. I have returned to nursing practice after a 20+ break from clinical practice and as a trained nurse am frustrated that I am spending a high percentage of my time on duty completing paperwork with many details being repeated many times, this is a harder but not smarter way in terms of time management and directly impacts on the quality time spent talking to my patients and actually listening to them. The thing that most concerns me is the fear instilled in my colleagues of litigation and complaints and this appears to be the uppermost thought in their mind when they arrive on duty. My understanding is that the NHS is now big business and needs to generate income it needs someone like yourself to get involved with a no holds barred attitude. We seem to be dealing with complaints or fear of complaint that it is almost impossible to do the Job! I do know that we have to embrace change but as we are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER as the current government continues to tell us we still have this problem of all agencies involved in Holistic patient care not sharing information. Please help. Sue Abnett