MP for Beverley and Holderness, Graham Stuart, has toured the new East Riding Community Hospital site with the Chief Executive and Chairman of NHS East Riding.
Environmental work has started on the Swinemoor Lane site to trap protected great crested newts.
And, health officials say, in just a few weeks work will start on creating the entrance and slip roads which will reduce the hospital’s impact on traffic along the busy road.
Graham said: “It was great actually to get on the site, talk through some of the details of what will be built and even meet an ecologist who is trapping newts.
“The PCT has done a lot of hard work to get this far and should be applauded. I was also delighted to hear that initial work on the entrance and road junction will start very soon.”
The newt trapping is being done in two stages; the first a 30-day scheme which will see the front of the site cleared so work can begin on the new road junction and the second a 60-day scheme to trap and re-locate any newts on the remainder of the site.
Running alongside this work will be another project to remove grass snakes.
Karen Knapton is reappointed as Chairman of NHS East Riding of Yorkshire
Karen Knapton has been re-appointed as Chairman of NHS East Riding of Yorkshire for a second term to continue her role in helping to improve the health of local communities.
NHS East Riding of Yorkshire is responsible for buying health care services for more than 335,000 people spread across an area spanning 1,000 square miles.
Karen, a nurse and health promotion specialist by training, has more than 25 years experience of the NHS. She has been Chairman of NHS East Riding of Yorkshire (formerly East Riding of Yorkshire PCT) since 2006. Previously Karen chaired the former Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT and served as a Non-Executive Director at the former North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Strategic Health Authority and the East Riding and Hull Health Authority.
Karen champions rural health issues as a member of the national Primary Care Trust (PCT) Network Board and is involved in a range of community and charity projects.
Her second term as Chairman will run from 1st October 2010 through to 30th September 2014. The post receives remuneration of £34,152 per annum. This appointment will come to an end if NHS East Riding of Yorkshire is dissolved before this date under the proposals contained in the Government’s White Paper – Equity and Excellence – Liberating the NHS.
Karen Knapton welcomed her re-appointment “My priority has always been to ensure that we enable people to live as healthy a life as possible in the East Riding and have access to the best health care services. In the last four years we have introduced new ways of delivering community services closer to patients’ homes, achieved financial balance and consistently improved our Care Quality Commission rating.
“The NHS is undergoing major change and it is important that all organisations have effective leadership during this time. We will continue to work closely with GPs and other partners over the coming months as the changes proposed under the White Paper take shape locally.
Karen’s reappointment has been made in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.
All non-executive appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Karen Knapton has declared no political activity.