USERS of Kidderminster Network Rail Station will know that the footbridge apparently completed over six months ago is still not open.

The delay has been caused by the wrong glass in the windows on the Worcester side of the bridge that allowed train drivers from Worcester to be dazzled so they could not easily see a signal and by flooring that was too slippery.

I was told the bridge would be open by the end of April.

As this has not happened I wrote to Network Rail who assured me that final work was to be done on May 11.

Then the bridge would have to be signed over to London Midland and, subject to agreement, be open this week. I wonder!

The Health Select Committee Report on the paper requested by the Department of Health from Professor Richards, the cancer tsar, on how to make top-up fees possible for drugs not available on the NHS to people who wish to pay for them without losing their right to other NHS treatment was published on Tuesday.

The aim of this paper is to minimise the numbers of drugs to which the need for top-up fees could apply and the committee welcomed this.

However, for those medicines that remain, either because they are waiting for NICE approval or they have been ruled as not cost-effective, Professor Richards has opted for a system that allows patients to pay for these extra medicines if they are given separately from NHS treatment.

Although the committee accepted this as the only possible practical option, several of us thought it was opening up a two-tier system and that separation of a patient for this extra treatment could lead to insuperable problems.

We have recommended stringent monitoring of what actually happens, standardisation of Exceptional Case Panels across all Primary Care Trusts and clearer information from NICE for patients and their families about exactly why a medicine has been rejected to allow for better informed decision taking by people considering paying top-up fees.

As well as feeling anger about the enormity of some MPs’ misuse of allowed expenses, I am disappointed that so little has emerged to point out that there are MPs who have not played the system for personal gain.

I believe the full details of all MPs’ expenses should be released as soon as possible. Staff costs and constituency and London office running costs never cross an MP’s own bank account and are all paid on a standard scale or in response to bills.

Travel to and from London is allowed and strictly monitored. For those constituents interested in my allowance arrangements, I use the train almost always and in Wyre Forest I do not claim for petrol as it would be difficult to separate business and personal miles accurately.

When I became an MP I quickly found a one-bedroom, furnished flat near to Westminster and so I took it up as I needed somewhere to live close to the House of Commons when on parliamentary duties.

Inevitably because of its location it is expensive. I claim for this and its council tax.

I make no claims for food, heating, electricity, cleaning or my mobile phone costs.

Please feel free to contact me at 137 Franche Road, Kidderminster DY11 5AP. Telephone 01562 753333.