ONE excitement in London is that as there are now nearly 30 MPs who are not members of a major party, as a group we may be able to call for Opposition Day debates.

Also there may be money available from Parliamentary allowances for extra support as already provided for other opposition parties.

Understandably the debates on the Queen's Speech were virtually taken over by new MPs making their maiden speeches so I and other backbench MPs failed to catch the Speaker's eye.

I am planning other ways of making the points I wished to raise that would have been most appropriate in those debates.

The Whitsun recess is now underway and I was pleased to attend the Kidderminster Mayor- Making which was a happy occasion when all party political differences were forgotten.

The celebration was enhanced by the cheerful faces and enthusiastic singing by pupils from Birchen Coppice First School where our new Mayor, Peter Dyke, is a governor.

I visited Kemp Hospice in their new home on Mason Road.

The refurbishment and redesign of the building for its new purpose is impressive and the conservatory and garden will add greatly to the space and homeliness of the hospice.

All the money raised locally for this superb facility is entirely safe in the local community as no-one can take this away from us. There is the opportunity for expansion if it is decided that Kemp should be asked to provide inpatient hospice care in addition to the day care that is so well used and appreciated by patients now.

After one of my regular meetings with the chief executive of the Acute Hospitals Trust I visited the Millbrook Suite and the Renal Dialysis Unit in the hospital.

The nurse manager of the Millbrook Suite agrees that a move is necessary as they have outgrown the original premises provided by generous donations to the Hospital League of Friends in 1997.

Separate interview and counselling rooms and more consulting rooms are needed than can be fitted into the existing space so the move will be welcomed.

I was impressed with the dialysis unit and relieved to hear from the consultant in charge and the manager that, under private sector management, it is functioning well and now provides 13 places for dialysis for 16 hours on each of five days and 12 hours on one day per week.

This is a huge boon to local people who previously had to travel out of the county for their maintenance dialysis. There are facilities to treat more patients but so far no funds to make this possible.

I also met with the county director of education and was relieved to learn of the plans to make the change from three to two tiers in September 2007 as pain free as possible.

It is a huge challenge but meetings and interviews with staff are already taking place.