I live in the ward and am a local County Councillor so I am very familiar with the wide range of challenges facing our community.

A big thing you have been raising with me is the problems you have getting dentist and GP appointments.

We all agree how hard our doctors work and saw their heroic efforts during the pandemic. But there have been problems with accessing GP’s for a very long time in parts of Basingstoke. Many people feel it’s become a post code lottery.

Like me, many of you struggle to get through to our GP surgeries on the phone and are unhappy about waiting so long for a telephone appointment. Some of you have told me about waits as long as three weeks. And without a set appointment time it’s easy to miss the telephone call. And then you have to start again.

You made it clear to me that those in authority were just not listening. So I decided to take direct action and called a meeting with patients groups, councillors, Operose and the local Clinical Commissioning Group to discuss the problems.

As a result, Operose who run CGH, Shakespeare Road and now Beggarwood, understand our concerns and are now working on a plan to improve things. They have committed to reduce current waiting times for routine appointments from five weeks to two. This is excellent news. But we must keep monitoring progress.

The CCG also agreed with me that Basingstoke needs a strategic review and plan for primary health care in the town. They are now doing this.

I’m asking you to lend me your vote so I can also represent Kempshott and Buckskin on this and other important issues.

Kim Taylor