Daily Archives: 3 Dec 2017

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Inequality, NHS (local)

A Christmas Carol for the NHS

Good king Jeremy Hunt looked out
so did Simon Stevens
healthcare crisis all about
they were disbelieving.
“There’s no problem on the wards
waiting times are super.
Moan too much, we’ll sell the lot
to our friends at Bupa.”
Long term sick and elderly
shoved where you can’t see’em,
care from cradle to the grave
now in a museum.

Trolleys for the dying poor,
posh wards for the wealthy
don’t expect an ambulance –
pray that you stay healthy.
Give us back our stolen wards,
two hundred beds and counting.
Give us back our hospitals:
hear the anger mounting
Pay our nurses what they’re worth,
cherish those who mend you:
Happy Christmas, NHS,
we’ll always defend you.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality

“More than 3,000 foster children are excluded from the Tories’ flagship free childcare pledge”

“More than 3,000 foster children will be excluded from the Tories flagship free childcare pledge, ministers have revealed.

Under the policy, three and four year olds with working parents are entitled to 30 hours of childcare paid for by the government.

But early years minister Robert Goodwill has revealed foster children is only available for the 15 hours a week available whether parents are in work or not.

Some 3,030 children in care will lose out on care, even if their foster carers are in full time work.

It means a vulnerable child receiving 30 hours a week would lose up to half of their childcare funding if they were to be taken into care.

Labour’s early years spokesperson Tracy Brain said: “The decision to exclude foster children is cruel and clearly discriminatory.

“Every child should have access to high quality childcare and early years education, and while not every foster parent would decide 30-hours is best for the child, they should have exactly the same right to access as if they were with their birth parents.

“We’re looking at a few thousand children added to a policy already used by hundreds of thousands, in the interest of equality and our commitment to foster children, the Tories should think again and end this unfair exclusion.”

If foster children were included in the policy, they would make up just 1% of the roughly 300,000 expected to be eligible for the full 30 hours from January.

While foster carers do receive an allowance from the government, childcare costs are not included in the calculations.

She added: “We’re looking at a few thousand children added to a policy already used by hundreds of thousands, in the interest of equality and our commitment to foster children, the Tories should think again and end this unfair exclusion.” …”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/more-3000-foster-children-excluded-11632976

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Hinkley C

Comments

1 Comment

Government money for UK, US and Chinese-backed mini-nuclear power stations but not cheaper green energy

“Ministers are expected to back the first generation of small nuclear power stations in Britain with tens of millions of pounds this week, in an attempt to give the UK a competitive edge on the technology and provide a new source of clean power.

Rolls-Royce and a host of US and Chinese companies have been lobbying and waiting for the support since George Osborne first promised them a share of £250m two years ago.

Now, after industry frustration at huge delays to the government’s competition to find the best value “small modular reactor” (SMR), funding to develop and test the power stations will be confirmed.

The energy minister, Richard Harrington, is expected to announce support for the embryonic technology on Thursday, industry figures told the Guardian. The funding is likely to be up to £100m, one source said.

Small modular reactors provide about a tenth of the power of a conventional large nuclear power station, such as the one EDF is building at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. But their backers pitch them as a cheaper and quicker way to generate the new, low-carbon power the UK needs.

Rolls-Royce has been publicly and privately lobbying the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) over its SMR design, which it positions as an industrial opportunity for Britain that would generate thousands of UK jobs.

The firm argues that with electric cars likely to drive up future energy demand, the reactors will become a vital part of national infrastructure. …

…The funding is designed to help Rolls and other consortia, including the US companies NuScale and Terrapower and the controversial Chinese firm CNNC, undertake the research and development for a small nuclear power station to be built in the UK. It is not yet clear who will win a share of public funds, or how the pot will be carved up between the 33 participants in the SMR competition. …

… However, energy experts said the case for SMRs was far from proved, especially given the falling cost of alternatives such as offshore windfarms.

Paul Dorfman, a research fellow at University College London, said: “The real question the government must ask is this: given the ongoing steep reduction in all renewable energy costs, and since SMR research and development is still very much ongoing, by the time SMRs comes to market, can they ever be cost competitive with renewable energy? The simple answer to that is a resounding no.”

An energy industry source also questioned how credible most of the SMR developers were. “Almost none of them have got more than a back of a fag packet design drawn with a felt tip,” the source said.

A BEIS spokesperson said: “We are currently considering next steps for the SMR programme and will communicate these in due course.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/dec/03/mini-nuclear-power-stations-uk-government-funding

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Austerity cuts, Developers/ Development, Health and Social Care (local), Hugo Swire, NHS (local)

Comments

1 Comment

Swire fails to save another hospital

In August 2017 Swire spearheaded a campaign to keep heart services going at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital (having miserably failed to lead similar campaigns in East Devon, leaving Claire Wright to fight for us:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2017/08/05/more-on-swire-saving-services-at-royal-brompton-hospital-london/

Well, his attempts in London don’t seem to have worked either:

“The world-leading Royal Brompton Hospital in London, recently ‘saved’ by NHS bosses, is being lined up for a billion pound sale to make way for luxury flats. …”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5140315/World-class-heart-hospital-make-way-luxury-flats.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Education (local), Privatisation

Comments

1 Comment

“40,000 children trapped in ‘zombie’ academy schools”

“The government has been urged to review its policy on multi-academy trusts after it was revealed that more than 40,000 children were being educated in “zombie schools” waiting to be transferred to another academy chain.

Department for Education figures, obtained through a freedom of information request, show 64 academy schools are waiting to find a new sponsor after being abandoned by, or stripped from, the trust originally managing them. A calculation using the average number of pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools in England – 279 and 946, respectively –suggests the 64 schools would contain more than 40,000 students.

The government has encouraged academies to join multi-academy trusts, promoting them as a support for schools that have left local authority control, although some have been criticised for financial mismanagement and a lack of oversight.

Half of the 64 “zombie schools” are waiting to be transferred from two chains: the Education Fellowship Trust and Wakefield City Academies Trust. In March the former became the first trust in England to give up control of its 12 academies – including a school in the prime minister’s Maidenhead constituency – following concerns about educational standards. In September the Wakefield trust said it would divest itself of 21 schools across Yorkshire, as it could not undertake the “rapid improvement our academies need”.

The DfE said it was in the process of securing new academy chains for the schools in both trusts.

Until a new multi-academy trust is found, the schools remain in limbo, often unable to make long-term planning decisions, hire new permanent members of staff or organise pay rises. They do not have the option to return to local authority control. Campaigners say that the government is struggling to find new chains willing and able to take on the schools, many of which have been left in a precarious financial position by their previous sponsor.

“The Tories’ fragmented education system is now creating ‘zombie schools’ caught between academy chains who are under no obligation to take them on, and a government that won’t step in to help them,” said Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow education secretary. “Even in the prime minister’s own seat it seems there are classrooms of children not getting the education they deserve. … ”

The figures come after it was announced on Thursd

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Democracy, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Comments

2 Comments

BBC: Save our Hospital Services Totnes demo “disrupted traffic and Christmas shoppers”

Well, now we know for sure where the BBC’s priorities lie!

“Hundreds of protestors disrupted traffic and Christmas shoppers as they marched through a town centre.

The protest in Totnes, Devon, was over the loss of two hundred hospital beds and four community hospitals – and the threat of further cuts.

Save Our Hospital Services campaigners wheeled a hospital bed and carried placards through streets on Saturday. …”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-42213994

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, EDDC, Environment (local)

Comments

1 Comment

A reader asks: what is the definition of “kerbside”?

“A few weeks ago I had to phone EDDC up re. a missed collection of my kitchen waste and recycling. All the refuse had been placed in the normal place (where it has been collected for a number of years) and ALL of it was put there the night before collection.

My landfill bin was emptied but not my kitchen waste and the recycling containers, so I contacted the refuse department.

Firstly, I was questioned as to whether the containers had been put out on time and, secondly, where they had been placed (they are always placed just inside the gate and I need to keep this shut for various reasons). This, apparently, is not acceptable and I need to put them on the pavement if the gate is shut. Surely, this is a trip hazard?

I emailed them later on and said that I am not insured for leaving them on the pavement and I am sure they are not either. In fact, after the landfill bin had been emptied the gate was left open, so there was no excuse for the recycling not to have been collected. What is the definition of kerbside?”

Owl replies:

Did you ask if EDDC’s public liabilty insurance includes accidents “kerbside” when waste bins are involved?

Best to do that by email and get their response in writing!

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Conflict of interest, Democracy, Sleaze, Standards Committee, Transparency

Half of Parliament’s sleaze watchdog panel have themselves breached its code!

“Half of the members of a sifting panel for the appointment of a new Commons sleaze watchdog have themselves broken parliamentary rules. …

The disclosure prompted fresh concerns last night for the appointments process for the role and the principle of MPs “marking their own homework …”

Sunday Times (paywall)

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Dec 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, NHS (local)

“UK, Romania and Poland: fewest doctors in EU”

“The UK has the third-lowest number of hospital beds per person in the European Union as well as the third-lowest number of doctors, with only Romania and Poland worse off, a European Commission report has found.

The report, which compared the 28 EU countries, warned that hospitals will struggle to cope with the winter crisis predicted by many doctors and NHS managers as intensive care beds were full even during the summer.

It warned of the UK’s “limited capacity to absorb shocks”, adding: “Difficulties finding beds have introduced inefficiencies.”

Ian Eardley, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said Britain’s low ranking in the report should act as “a wake-up call for NHS leaders” and that the cuts have “now gone too far”.

He said: “Bed shortages lead to cancelled operations and patients waiting longer for treatment. Some will find themselves in pain for longer, possibly unable to go about their daily life. In the worst cases their condition may deteriorate while they wait.”

Last week doctors in intensive care units (ICUs) — where the sickest patients are given life support — said they were also nervous about the coming weeks.

Dr Christopher Bassford, a consultant in intensive care at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, said: “At our intensive care unit we have operated at 100% capacity or over for most of the summer. This winter we are anxious.”

Dr Gary Masterson, president of the Intensive Care Society, added: “It does feel as if we are on the cusp. This [bed occupancy at 100%] is the norm for many ICUs. It is right to worry about ability to cope should we have a busy winter.”

Bed occupancy runs at over 100% when more than one patient uses the bed during a 24-hour period.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, recently warned that doctors would need to make drips out of coat hangers this winter because of the anticipated shortage of beds and equipment.

While the number of doctors working in the NHS has increased, the report also found the UK still near the bottom of the EU league table. It said: “There have been steady increases in recent decades, despite which the number of doctors per 1,000 of the population was the third lowest in the EU.”

NHS England said: “These figures show our NHS is much more efficient than other countries such as France or Germany in helping patients avoid emergency hospitalisations, and we do so despite spending less and having fewer nurses and doctors than they do.”

Sunday Times (pay wall)