Daily Archives: 17 Oct 2016

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17 Oct 2016

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EDDC, NHS (local)

Full Council motion on bed cuts

Motion to full Council on 26 October

“That this Council register its extreme concern at the impending loss of 71 Community beds in this part of Devon.
It is a well-known fact, particularly in coastal Devon, that there is an above average population of elderly people. Older people take longer to recuperate from illness, hospital admission and operations.

Community services are already overstretched and there is an acute lack of appropriate carers to care for people in their own homes.

Our District General Hospitals increasingly find it difficult to keep up with demand due to the fact that they cannot discharge people when they are ready because of the lack of community services.

All the Government advice has been to encourage the care of people close to their homes. So we therefore urge our 2 local MPs to consider the plight of Devon and speak on our behalf to reconsider this ill thought out decision which has come about only for financial reasons.”

Proposed by Councillor Peter Burrows, seconded by Councillor Douglas Hull and supported by Councillors Eileen Wragg, Pat Graham, Brenda Taylor and Steve Gazzard.

Click to access 261016-council-agenda-with-minute-book.pdf

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17 Oct 2016

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Accountability, Democracy, Post-Brexit Adjustments

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“Opposing Brexit should be made an act of ‘treason’ punishable by life in prison, Tory councillor says in petition”

“Opposing Brexit should be made an act of “treason” and be punishable by life in prison, a Conservative councillor has suggested in a petition to Parliament.

Guildford councillor Christian Holliday’s petition, on the House of Commons website, calls for an amendment to the Treason Felony Act to make supporting UK membership of the European Union a crime.

He has since been suspended by the leader of Guildford Borough Council.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/17/opposing-brexit-should-be-made-an-act-of-treason-punishable-by-l/

Owl has just two questions:

How the heck did he become LEADER? Is the gene pool so bereft of talent in a place as big as Guildford, people such as him rise to the top?

and

If it can happen in Guildford – in how many other places is it happening and being covered up by Whips? Hhhmmm!

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17 Oct 2016

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Health and Social Care (local), Neil Parish, NHS (local)

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It may be terrible for some to contemplate but …

… the only way left to save the health service is NOT to vote Conservative.

There IS money for HS2, a new airport runway, Hinkley C, subsidies to farmers, even talk of a new Royal Yacht …

… but no money for the health service.

This IS Conservative policy. If you value the NHS then think long and think hard about your choices AT EVERY LEVEL of government now – from local to national.

You can change policies but you will have to change government to do so now.

If you want a chilling view of Conservative policies for the NHS, read:

https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/news/blog-hospital-beds-and-social-care

and:

Click to access nhs_bill.pdf

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17 Oct 2016

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Accountability, Democracy, NHS (local)

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NHS: on the point of collapse – now ‘eternal winter’

Back to Chomsky:
“That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.”
…

“Waiting times in A&E units in England this summer have been worse than every winter for the past 12 years bar one, figures show.

The colder months have traditionally been the most difficult for hospitals.

But pressures have grown so much that this summer saw one in 10 patients wait for over four hours in A&E during June, July and August.

Only last winter saw a worse performance since the target started in 2004, figures from NHS England showed.

During the summer months 90.6% of patients were seen in four hours. Hospitals are meant to deal with 95% in four hours.
The data also showed hospitals are missing a number of other key targets for cancer, routine operations and ambulance response times.

And the delays hospitals experienced in August discharging patients reached a record high. There were over 188,000 days of delays – a 30% rise on the same month the year before.
These delays occur when there are no services available in the community to care for frail patients on release.

Dr Mark Holland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the figures once again showed the NHS was locked in an “eternal winter”.

“The NHS is on its knees and, this winter, areas will implode around the country. There is no reserve left.
“Over the coming weeks and months, if we see a major increase in admissions due to flu or bed closures due to norovirus, we will collapse.” …”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37634687

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17 Oct 2016

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Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development

Renting now outstripping buying homes

“The property rental market is booming at the expense of the sales market, making it look as if house-buying will be outstripped for the first time in eight decades next year, as home-buyers face a continued struggle to find properties they can afford.

Activity in the sales market has cooled since June’s Brexit vote and a lack of property for sale combined with rising prices are set to lead to more new lets than purchases, the UK’s largest estate agency chain, Countrywide, said.

Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide, said: “As some would-be buyers and sellers sit on their hands, Brexit-induced uncertainty has continued to boost the rental market … September saw record activity, with increasing numbers of lets agreed and tenants choosing to renew their contracts. On current trends 2017 could be the first time since the 1930s that more homes are let than sold.”

Separate reports suggest that affording a new home is becoming increasingly difficult for would-be buyers, with asking prices rising since the summer and borrowers having to find bigger deposits than in 2015.”

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/17/property-rentals-to-outstrip-sales-for-first-time-since-1930s