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The snow has dominated our lives during the last week. I pay tribute to those responsible for the many acts of selflessness, generosity and indeed heroism which have taken place.

Last Friday I managed to get through the snow for my regular meetings with Shepway District Council’s Leader and Chief Executive and the local police.

Later I went to Canterbury for a meeting with Stuart Bain, the Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust.

These discussions are often difficult.

I fully accept that most people receive excellent treatment from our local hospitals and I am the first to pay tribute to the selfless work of the doctors and nurses who make this possible.

But a minority, and judging from my experience, a significant minority do not get the treatment and care they are entitled to expect.

This is particularly upsetting when the cause is some administrative error which can cause great inconvenience and sometimes distress which could easily have been avoided.

This kind of thing can affect the length of time people have to wait for an appointment and also the circumstances surrounding their discharge. If, for example, relatives are told that a patient is ready for discharge only to be told, when they arrive at the hospital, that the discharge cannot take place because the pharmacy is closed so the medicine they need to take home with them are not available, the dislocation and distress are often very considerable.

I put all these points to the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Trust. They are keen to learn lessons from these unhappy experiences and improve their systems where this can be done. So if you have an unhappy experience at one of our hospitals let me know. It may mean that others will not similarly in future. Equally, of course, I am always happy to learn of the good experiences you have encountered.

Finally my apologies to anyone inconveniences by my failure to attend my advice centres on Saturday morning. I set off through the snow but skidded off the road and it was clearly going to be impossible for me to make it. Fortunately I was able to telephone all those who had made appointments to see me and to deal with their concerns.

Hopefully normal service will be rescued for my advice centres at Folkestone and Hythe next week.