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                           <title><![CDATA[More help for Autistic children ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[DAVID KIDNEY MP TO SPEAK AT CONFERENCE ON AUTISM Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney is one of the speakers at this Friday&rsquo;s conference about services for children with autism and their parents at Cannock. He has been asked to speak about national developments in support for children and their parents. The MP says that he has a very positive message for parents and their children about Government support: &ldquo;When the current Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Ball, was himself a backbench MP he pressed for more Government support for disabled children and their families. He introduced...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Cookery in schools - essential for healthy eating ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[S08011 23 January 2008 STAFFORD&rsquo;S MP PRAISES DECISION ON COOKERY CLASSES IN SCHOOLS Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney says the Government is right to make cookery classes compulsory in secondary schools. He has campaigned over the past two years for healthy eating to be a higher priority in schools. He says a good understanding of cookery is an essential foundation for healthy eating all through life: &ldquo;Maybe the current obesity concerns are partly to do with our nation turning away from home cooking and relying more on fast food and processed meals. Learning to cook is one way of turning...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Taking obesity seriously ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[S08012 23 January 2008 GOVERNMENT TAKES OBESITY THREAT SERIOUSLY Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney was in the House of Commons today to welcome Health Secretary Alan Johnson&rsquo;s launch of the Government&rsquo;s new obesity strategy. David Kidney says the strategy is genuinely cross-Government with the full support of the Departments responsible for education, health and sport: &ldquo;Public Health professionals are warning us of a huge increase in obesity unless we act decisively now. It is up to all of us as individuals to adopt a healthy diet and regular exercise if we wish to avoid being seriously over-weight later. Obesity brings...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[vaccination ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[S08023 20 February 2008 UK CAN BE PROUD OF ITS CONTRIBUTION TO LIFE-SAVING VACCINATION PROGRAMMES, SAYS MP When he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown fought hard for the setting up of the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). His idea was endorsed at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit when the UK was G8 President. Today, the anticipated IFFIm investment of US$4 billion is expected to help prevent as many as ten million deaths between 2006 and 2015 through the immunization of half a billion people. Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney welcomes this progress: &ldquo;Thanks to IFFIm, the world&rsquo;s wealthiest...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[embryology ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[CONSCIENCE VOTES WILL DECIDE LAW ON EMBRYOLOGY RESEARCH Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has welcomed the Prime Minster&rsquo;s confirmation that major issues about embryology research will be decided on free votes in the House of Commons. David Kidney says that this approach accords with his views about how such sensitive issues should be decided by Parliament: &ldquo;In our country, we control the medical science of assisted reproduction and embryo research because of the law and regulator established in 1990. But since then, the science has moved on and now we need to update the law and the powers of the...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[David welcomes new money for stroke care]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[S08052 13 May 2008 STROKE CARE MONEY FOR EVERY AREA, INCLUDING STAFFORDSHIRE The Government has committed &pound;77 million over the next three years to support developments in stroke services and support in every area, including Staffordshire. Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney says this will mean that every local authority will receive a ring-fenced grant worth an average of &pound;100,000 per year and in addition, every Strategic Health Authority will receive &pound;2.4 million over the next three years to invest in NHS improvements: &ldquo;We have made great strides with stroke, heart disease and cancer in recent years. However, despite the considerable...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[hearing tests ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[RNID TELLS STAFFORD MP ABOUT HEARING TEST CAMPAIGN Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has met representatives of the charity RNID to learn more about a campaign for people to have a hearing test. RNID campaigns for a national screening service for older people, but as a step towards such a service offers its own confidential telephone test. David Kidney explains: &ldquo;Around 9 million people in the UK suffer some hearing loss or other impairment. Doctors can help preserve some hearing, for example by fitting a hearing aid. It helps if the diagnosis of hearing loss is made early so that...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[the future of the NHS ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[S08072 30 June 2008 FUTURE LOOKS GOOD FOR NHS Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney welcomes the Government&rsquo;s plans for the future of the NHS, announced in this week of its 60th birthday. The Government&rsquo;s proposals include a constitution of rights and responsibilities and a new focus on quality of healthcare. David Kidney says this is absolutely the right way to proceed: &ldquo;The NHS is the Labour Party&rsquo;s greatest achievement. We created it, we value it and we will always support it. Since 1997, Labour&rsquo;s investment in the NHS has trebled to &pound;100 billion. This has paid for 38,000 more doctors,...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[NHS direct ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[20 February 2007. NHS DIRECT &ndash; A POWER OF GOOD IN STAFFORD Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has praised NHS Direct &ndash; both for its benefits for the nation&rsquo;s health and for jobs in Stafford. Around 100 people work for NHS Direct at the Stafford Call Centre, which David Kidney visited last week. David Kidney says the future of the jobs in Stafford was reviewed recently: &ldquo;The whole NHS Direct set-up was reviewed recently and as a result some of the smaller Call Centres around the country were closed. Happily, it was decided that there shall continue to be a...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Mental Health reforms]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[28 March 2007. MP BACKS MENTAL HEALTH LAW REFORM In Monday&rsquo;s debate on the Government&rsquo;s new Mental Health Bill, Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney spoke strongly in favour of reform. He praised the major investment in mental health services since 1997, drew attention to local successes in Stafford and said it is now time for the law to be updated: &ldquo;There have been many advances in treatments and practices for mental illnesses since the law was last brought up to date in 1983. So much has changed that we now need law changes in order for the law to keep...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[David's part in scrutinising the mental health bill ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[START OF COMMITTEE STAGE OF MENTAL HEALTH BILL Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP is one of the 21 MPs who today started work on the scrutiny of the Mental Health Bill. The Bill is controversial for its measures to broaden the definition of mental illness, provide for new community treatment orders and to allow more mental health professionals to make decisions about treatment. David Kidney says that the scrutiny of the proposed new law is responsible work and he hopes to play a full part in the Committee&rsquo;s deliberations: &ldquo;In modernizing the law relating to the treatment of patients with mental illnesses,...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[getting the information we need to choose healthier lives ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[21 May 2007. WE NEED HELP TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR AND BE HEALTHIER Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has studied a new briefing from the Parliamentary Office of Science &amp; Technology about health behaviour. He concludes that people need help to change their behaviour to live healthier lives and that there is plenty of evidence of &ldquo;what works&rdquo;. The MP summarises the evidence: &ldquo;Smoking causes 1 in 4 cancer deaths, obesity reduces life expectancy by between 3 and 13 years and one third of all deaths are due to illnesses whose prevalence could be at least partly reduced by physical activity....]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Alchohol Harm Reduction Strategy]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[06 June 2007. LICENSING CHANGES DID NOT INCREASE PUBLIC DISORDER Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney welcomes the launch of the Government&rsquo;s updated Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy. It stresses the official determination to stamp out alcohol abuse that wrecks lives and fuels anti social behaviour and criminality. But the MP also notes in the new Strategy the evaluation of the effects of the new licensing law &ndash; and he says the predictions of disaster never materialised: &ldquo;When I brought the Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker MP to Stafford earlier this year, we discussed problems of tackling substance abuse &ndash; drugs and...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[NHS choices ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[19 June 2007. NHS Choices Website On Tuesday 19th June the Labour Government is launching the new &lsquo;NHS choices website&rsquo; which will be available for public access at www.nhs.uk. Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney is fully behind this new development: &ldquo;The site will help patients make informed decisions about their health and healthcare, with advice on healthy living, conditions and treatments and ultimately their choice of health service provider. &ldquo;Key features of the new site include: 1. NHS Library: Authoritative information on common conditions and procedures previously only available to clinicians. 2. Comparison of Hospitals: for the most common procedures...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Stroke consultation ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[MP Announces Stroke Consultation Document Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney wants constituents to know about a new consultation document called &ldquo;A New Ambition for Stroke&rdquo;, which sets out proposals for modernising stroke prevention, treatment and care. This consultation will look at how the NHS can bring the standards of stroke care up to the standards of the care and treatment of cancer and heart disease and will help shape the eventual Stroke Strategy which will be release later in the year. Key messages from the consultation include: &bull; Stroke is the 3rd biggest killer in England and despite more money...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[the health commission's report 2007]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[18 October 2007. HEALTHCARE COMMISSION&rsquo;S REPORT ON NHS IS GOOD NEWS, SAYS MP Today&rsquo;s report of the Healthcare Commission&rsquo;s assessments of all NHS Trusts in 2006-07 shows that NHS performance is improving. Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has quizzed the Commission&rsquo;s bosses about the results at a meeting in Westminster and says they are good news for NHS staff and patients alike. In Stafford, the mental health trust is one of only 19 trusts nationally to gain two &ldquo;excellent&rdquo; ratings, one each for quality of services and use of resources. The acute hospital trust has ratings of &ldquo;fair&rdquo; and &ldquo;good&rdquo;....]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[welcome for new Stroke Strategy ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[05 December 2007 PRIME MINISTER QUESTION ON STROKE SERVICES  At Prime Minister&rsquo;s Question Time today, Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney told of his pleasure at the announcement of a new NHS Stroke Strategy. He linked the news to his visit to a Stroke Association-led rehabilitation class in Stafford, calling on Gordon Brown to make sure the strategy involves the Stroke Association, patients and their carers. David Kidney explains: &ldquo;Approximately 110,000 people in England have a stroke each year. It is the single leading cause of adult disability, with around 300,000 people living in England with moderate or severe disability...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[NHS Dentist serices now available in Stafford ]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[18 December 2007 NHS DENTISTRY IN STAFFORD CONSTITUENCY Stafford&rsquo;s Labour MP David Kidney has praised the Primary Care Trust for providing additional NHS dental services in Stafford constituency over the past three years. Today&rsquo;s much better situation was reported to the MP in a reply he received from South Staffordshire PCT. The MP welcomes the improvements that have been made: &ldquo;In 2004, Parliament gave responsibility for ensuring people have access to NHS dentistry to Primary Care Trusts. Since then, I have worked with health commissioners in Stafford to build up much-needed capacity for NHS dentists here. &ldquo;Targeted initiatives supported by...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov -0001 12:00:00</pubDate>
                           
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