Southport and Ormskirk NHS Hospital Trust to receive ₤458,000 to upgrade and refurbish local Hospitals

THE Health Secretary has announced that Hospital staff, patients and visitors in Hospitals which are part of the Southport and Ormskirk NHS Hospital Trust will benefit from refurbished wards, brand new electrics and upgraded ventilation systems.

The Government has announced allocations of ₤600 million to tackle critical maintenance work in Hospitals across England, including 9 projects in Southport and Ormskirk NHS Hospital Trust.

The Trust will receive ₤458,000 to carry out the work, which could include building new or refurbishing buildings to deliver key services, upgrades to electrical infrastructure, improvements to ventilation systems, works to improve fire safety and the replacement of Hospital lifts. The work will be completed by March 2021.

The money is part of a ₤1.5 billion announced by the Prime Minister in the summer to level up Hospital infrastructure across the NHS. While ₤600 million will be spent on these critical maintenance upgrades, the remainder will be spent on modernising mental health facilities, expanding A&E capacity and improving infection control ahead of winter.

As last year's General Election, the Conservatives promised to invest in the NHS to ensure NHS staff have world class facilities to provide care for patients. Since August last year, the Government has confirmed ₤850 million to upgrade 20 Hospitals and ₤3.7 billion to help deliver 40 new Hospitals by 2030. Last month's Spending Review announced a dedicated ₤1.2 billion for NHS new Hospitals in 2021 to 2022. Good progress has also been made on the Conservatives' pledge of 50,000 more nurses by 2025; with the latest statistics showing there are already 14,800 more nurses in the NHS than a year ago.

Commenting, Southport MP Damien Moore said:- "I am delighted that Southport and Ormskirk NHS Hospital Trust will benefit from Government funding to carry out vital maintenance work over the coming months. These crucial projects will deliver immediate benefits and provide NHS staff with the facilities they need to provide world class care to patients, helping our NHS to build back better after the Pandemic."

Also commenting, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:- "Alongside delivering on our manifesto commitment to build 40 new Hospitals and 20 major Hospital upgrades across the country, this investment will help our NHS build back better. These crucial maintenance projects will deliver immediate benefits and provide NHS staff with the facilities they need to provide world class care to their patients this winter, helping ensure the NHS is always there for you when you need it."

STAGECOACH, Britain's biggest bus and coach operator, has today announced that 5,600 extra socially distanced seats are being made available on its Megabus coaches over the Christmas period, and urges families and friends planning to be reunited to book ahead.

With support from the Department for Transport, Stagecoach can offer extra Megabus seats from all the major Cities and many regions across the country including:- the North East, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol, Cardiff and London. Additional seats will also be offered on services to and from Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The agreement with government will also allow Megabus to provide services from additional places across the South West including:- Falmouth, Plymouth, Exeter, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Swindon. There will now also be services running to and from the North including:- Doncaster, Bradford and Scunthorpe with extra stops at Cambridge and new services to Great Yarmouth.

Around 50% of the previously available seats throughout December have now sold out, with Cities such as Sheffield, Newcastle and Leeds showing big spikes in demand. Wednesday, 23 December and Sunday, 27 December 2020, are the most popular days for travel and now thousands of extra seats are on sale, Megabus is urging people to book ahead, especially as rail services are expected to be busy.

Students have also been successfully using Megabus coaches to get home for Christmas, with figures showing a 90% increase during the student travel week, compared with the previous week. Extra coaches were provided on many routes.

Mark Venables, Managing Director for Megabus, said:- "Direct and high frequency intercity coaches are an increasingly popular travel choice and this year in particular, they will play a vital role in helping families and friends to be reunited for Christmas. On the busiest days in December, we have already sold around 50% of the capacity we had available, so it’s great news that we’re working with the UK Department for Transport to increase the number of seats on our services in the run up to the festive break. This agreement also means we’re able to add many more towns and cities across the South West and Northern England onto our network. We know that coach and train seats are booking up quickly, and with the increase in advance ticket sales that we have seen, we're urging people to plan ahead and book travel as soon as possible. Our Megabus services offer safe, easy and hassle free travel and provide a great alternative to cars and train travel, which are typically a much more expensive way to travel. All of our tickets offer free amendments up to 24 hours in advance, so we're offering flexibility this year, as well as great value travel."

Extensive additional safety measures have been introduced across all services to ensure that people can travel with confidence. This includes:- regular touch point cleaning, social distancing and anti-bac stations on board all coaches. All customers travelling are asked to wear face coverings in line with the Government’s rules.

Customers travelling in the run up to Christmas are advised to:-

►  Plan and book ahead to try and avoid busy times and routes.

►  Reserve a seat in advance.

►  Try to avoid making unnecessary stops during your journey.

►  Come with a face covering to wear throughout your journey.

►  If you feel unwell or have any Coronavirus symptoms, please do not use public transport.

Megabus will be operating throughout the festive period including on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, providing a safe and convenient way for people to get together with family and loved ones in line with the government’s Christmas rules.

All Megabus tickets can be altered up to 24 hours in advance free of charge. Those wishing to reserve a seat benefit from double the usual luggage allowance, and the coaches can be tracked while they're on the road at:- CoachTracker.UK.Megabus.com. All tickets can be booked at:- Megabus.com.

Pubs and publicans facing Christmas crisis unless Government changes course

THE Campaign for Pubs, the national grassroots campaign group representing pubs, publicans and pub goers has written to the Government, calling for an urgent change of approach and policy, when it comes to pubs to avoid a Christmas crisis for tens of thousands of pubs and pub families.

The Campaign have sent a powerful letter, on behalf of pubs, publicans and pub families, to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Rt Hon. Alok Sharma MP laying out the stark situation facing pubs and publicans with restrictions and making clear that without urgent changes, that many pubs face closure and many families face hardship.

The letter explains how the situation for pubs and publicans is now gravely serious and that it’s clear that this is simply not being understood or appreciated within the Government. Successive policies have led to a widespread crisis for pub families just before Christmas.

Many of our nation’s pubs are at risk of closure and many pub families are facing real hardship through the loss of their livelihood and without some urgent changes to the Government’s approach and levels of support, the Government is condemning many pub families to having no Christmas at all. A worrying number are now facing the complete loss of their business and ongoing income, as well as the threat of bankruptcy and in some cases homelessness, especially where the family lives in the pub.

The letter is calling for 6 key urgent things needed to avoid a Christmas crisis for pubs and publicans within England:-

1. Announce now what the situation will be for pubs from 16 December 2020.

2. Review all the current questionable rules.

3. Drop the substantial meal rule.

4. Urgently announce a meaningful and adequate package of support for pubs.

5. Supermarket funds repaid must be used to support pubs and hospitality.

6. Address issues and problems with the December Grants for wet led pubs.

The letter expresses the anger at the way pubs face restrictions that no other businesses are facing; with rules that mean pubs must either remain closed or be expected to operate in a way which is simply not viable. Once again, traditional ‘wet led’ pubs have been singled out for especially harsh treatment as they are expected to change their entire business model under Tier 2 or remain closed. The feeling is growing that pubs have been unfairly scapegoated by the Government, and there is huge anger amongst pubs, publicans and their families who now feel victimised by the way their pubs and livelihoods have been threatened without credible evidence.

The anger and sense of betrayal has increased with pictures of huge crowds in:- shopping centres, stores, supermarkets and City and Town Centres up and down the country with no social distancing in place and, unlike pubs, no supervision.

The current grants are not remotely adequate even to cover costs, never mind making up for the devasting loss of normal December trade. The recently announced 1 off Christmas "bonus" grant of ₤1000 for substantially wet-led pubs, this amounts to just ₤32.26 a day. That is basically the cost of a round of drinks and is frankly a derisory amount to compensate for lost extra trade during the busiest month of the year, and a month that is vital for pubs getting through the difficult months of January and February.

The level of support for pubs in England is wholly inadequate, with even closed pubs still having to meet significant fixed costs, especially in the case of many thousands of pubs that are burdened with huge rent debts from unsympathetic pubcos and property owners. The real consequence of this is that thousands of pubs and publicans are simply getting into more and more debt each week, this is not sustainable and doesn’t seem to be understood by the Government.

The Campaign for Pubs are supporting the #SavePubsNOW petition, started by Campaign Director Greg Mulholland which now has over 10000 signatures backing an urgent support package for pubs, on:- Change.Org.

The letter also calls on the Government to use the money returned by supermarkets, who have been allowed to open all the way through the crisis, to support pubs and the hospitality sector.

Paul Crossman, Chair of the Campaign for Pub and a licensee in York said:- "The Government either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the desperate situation facing pubs and the tens of thousands of people who rely on them for an income. They need to urgently change course to avoid a Christmas crisis for pubs, publicans and their families. Pubs and hospitality are now subject to uniquely harsh treatment under the Government’s new winter restrictions, despite the fact that there is no meaningful evidence to justify the new measures. Our traditional community pubs have been especially hard hit by the absurd Tier 2 requirement for all pubs to provide a 'substantial meal,' which does nothing to make pubs safer, but has instead forced thousands more pubs into unwanted closure, at unnecessary cost to the state. The Government’s own evidence showed that pubs could already operate in a safe way by adhering to the previous, far more reasonable requirement to operate the rule of six in a responsible fashion. If the Government continues to insist on targeting our sector in this unfair way, that is so damaging to our businesses and communities, then they must accept their duty to protect jobs and livelihoods by properly compensating our pubs and our suppliers. The current level of support is woefully inadequate and will lead to business failure and great hardship."

Dawn Hopkins, Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and licensee of the Rose, Norwich said:- "Publicans up and down the country are feeling truly victimised by this Government; they have abided by the rules, changed how they do business, followed ever increasing demands put on them and spent thousands of pounds on adapting their businesses so that they can trade safely. Instead of being applauded for their efforts they are now facing severe hardship over the Christmas period, into the New Year and beyond, when there is no evidence, science or statistics to show that pubs are the cause of the problems in this Pandemic. The support offered to publicans is totally inadequate, and unless this Government takes seriously the effect their restrictions are having on the pub industry; and their suppliers including small breweries and food producers; then we will be facing a crisis that will see even more pubs closed for good, publicans and their families facing real hardship, and our customers losing their community hubs. Publicans, their suppliers & their customers need the Government to act now, do the right thing and save the Great British Pub."