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East Devon Watch

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24 Jun 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

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Claire Wright’s report on the disgraceful DCC NHS meeting and its disgraceful chairing by Sarah Randall-Johnson

“It is just as well I have left it almost a week to write this blog because I was very angry on Monday evening.

Before the meeting there was a public demonstration of angry residents mainly from Seaton and Honiton, which was attended by film crews from the BBC and ITV. The BBC and a reporter from the Western Morning News stayed for the whole meeting.

The committee had also received dozens if not, hundreds of emails from residents who were asking us to refer the decision to close 71 community hospital beds in Eastern Devon, to the Secretary of State for Health.

Devon County Council’s newly formed Health and Adult Care Scrutiny met for the first time last Monday (19 June) to review this decision.

Almost all the committee members are either new to the committee or new Devon County councillors.

At the last health scrutiny meeting in March before the elections, I proposed that there were 14 grounds that the committee needed assurances on or it would refer the decision to the Secretary of State for Health on the basis that it wasn’t in the interests of the health service in the area and that the consultation was flawed.

These are legal reasons for referral.

The new chair of the committee is East Devon Conservative member, Sara Randall Johnson, following the retirement of long-serving Labour councillor, Richard Westlake.

During the time between the March health scrutiny meeting and the meeting on 19 June, Richard Westlake had taken the time to instruct the scrutiny officer to draft two letters to the CCG one requesting further information and the second, dated 24 April, expressing concern about the availability of end of life care under the new model of care.

Cllr Westlake alluded to the Francis Report, which was published following deaths at Mid Staffordshire Hospital and which criticised the health scrutiny committee there for lack of challenge.

Points were also made relating to the committee having been told several times previously that the new model of care to be provided in people’s homes instead of in a community hospital, was actually cost neutral, despite claims to the contrary.

The cost of people being cared for at home surely will increase as many people have co-morbidities (multiple conditions), the former chair had pointed out.

His letter also made references to the lack of information relating to the future of bedless community hospitals, given the ownership of NHS Property Services, the exclusion of Honiton and Okehampton Hospitals from the consultation process and the small number of staff who responded to the consultation (less than 2 per cent).
*****************************************

The team for the NHS present at the meeting included Rob Sainsbury, director of operations for NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Adel Jones, integration director with the RD&E, Sonja Manton, director of strategy with NEW Devon CCG and Em Wilkinson-Brice, deputy chief executive of the RD&E.

I started my questions, but before I could ask anything the new chair interjected to tell me to ask all my questions at once to save time.

I was a bit surprised at this as it is poor scrutiny technique. Invariably any reply will miss out much information. I said I would ask them in sequence…

Question 1
This was one I asked in March which at the time could not be answered, despite a decision on the bed closures already having been made. What had been the number of objections compared with the number of responses of support for the bed losses?

Answer: We will get back to you (they said that last time).

Question 2
Finance: How much money would be saved given that mixed messages had been received. Even the information from the CCG in the scrutiny agenda papers was contradictory and referred to different levels of savings, which ranged from £2m to £7m. Given that a decision had already been made wasn’t this a bit vague? See pages 11 and 22 of the agenda papers – link at the bottom of this blog post.

Answer: There is a range of savings and this depends on staff and resources. A fixed amount cannot be set. Savings are based on workforce only.

Question 3
Was it true (as I had been informed by Tim Burke the CCG chair) that the numbers of staff had to double? Are the staff in place?

Answer: Yes the staff do need to double, there are 200 staff that are being consulted with. We don’t yet have the workforce in place because not possible to “double run” (services).

Question 4
What happens to community hospitals that lose their beds? Will they be sold off by NHS Property Services which has a remit for this?

There was an interjection by the chair at this point who asked the CCG to clarify whether this was true (NHS PS having a remit for selling off hospital buildings).

Sonja Manton replied selling off NHS property was a trend….

Answer: This was a piece of work not yet carried out. It will be carried out next. (I am afraid it is not credible that the CCG does not have a list of which hospitals they intend to declare surplus to requirements for selling off by NHS PS, even if there has been no formal decision made).

Question 5
An audit on people fit to leave Eastern Devon hospitals in March shows a marked increase compared with the 2015 acuity audit carried out by Public Health. The public health audit 2015 revealed that around 34 per cent of patients are ready for discharge in community hospitals across Devon and the March 2017 audit stated that 64 patients were ready for discharge. How is this doubling in two years, in the number of patients well enough for discharge possible?

And who carried out the survey?

Answer: Clinicians (mainly RD&E) carried out the survey and the results had changed partly because of a new at home palliative care service and hospital at home. (I am sceptical about this because my understanding is that these services are available only in limited places and were in existence previously anyway).

Other councillors asked questions and made their own points.

After a few councillors had spoken chair, Sara Randall Johnson, said she thought there should be a task group set up to obtain evidence on what the committee was being told.

I disliked this pre-empting of the end of the debate by the chair, especially when she knew I wanted to add to my earlier points.

When I was called to speak I made a proposal to refer the decision to the Secretary of State for Health on the basis that this was the committee’s prerogative at this meeting based on 14 grounds. These questions remained unanswered I said. And out of all the bed closure decisions that I had scrutinised over four years, this was the decision that caused me more anxiety than any other.

LibDem and former fellow committee member, Brian Greenslade, seconded my proposal.

But the chair refused to take a vote.

She said the committee was new and needed to be clear about evidence before any such action was taken. She suggested leaving it to the September meeting.

This was unbelievable! A refusal to take a vote on a seconded proposal is very unusual in council committees.

I pushed the chair to take a vote. The CCG had already admitted they would be closing the beds by then. The suggestion appeared to be to me, an attempt to kick the issue into the long grass.

She refused.

There was significant heckling from the public who were understandably very angry at not being listened to.

A range of other councillors (mainly Conservative) then spoke to back her up claiming that there was not enough evidence to refer and what was the point anyway because the Secretary of State would just “throw it out.”

There were other suggestions that we simply work with the CCG to get a better deal. This was immediately dismissed by the CCG as they had already made the decision to close the beds some months ago.

Responding to this, I explained the process and how we had done this before as a previous committee and it was a very worthwhile exercise for guidance and feedback from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, which looks at the process in fine detail before commenting and/or advising.

Without a referral we simply lie down and acquiesce to the worst decision I have ever witnessed as a health scrutiny committee member. And we let down every single resident who is opposed to the plans.

I also reminded the committee that we were there to provide a legal check (the only legal check) on health services in Devon and it was our duty to represent local people’s views. The evidence that a large number of local people were deeply unhappy with the decision, was overwhelming.

The scepticism among new members was extremely disappointing because the Referral is the ultimate in our powers and of course we had the grounds to do it. It had been already established from the previous meeting that we had the grounds to do it! And it had the full support of the previous chair.

We were told by the new chair that that this was the position of the old committee and the new committee could choose to take an entirely different view if it so wished.

This was also extremely disappointing and members of the public were clearly furious.

I then suggested we have an additional health scrutiny meeting in July to re-examine this issue. I suggested it be held on the day of the full council meeting but this was dismissed by the chair who said there wasn’t time. I asked for a different date but this was also glossed over….

… until Conservative leader of EDDC, Paul Diviani, also proposed a standalone meeting sometime soon about the issue.

Was there a seconder for this proposal, the chair wanted to know?!

I reminded the chair that I had already proposed this. It fell on deaf ears.

The debate continued and appeared to go around and around, with interspersed heckling from angry members of the public.

Eventually, I was asked if I would accept an amendment to my proposal of a standalone meeting of the committee in July. I agreed.

The committee voted in favour.

The meeting has now been booked for Tuesday 25 July at 2.15pm, at County Hall.

Here’s the webcast – https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/288543

Here are the agenda papers – http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/documents/g2581/Public%20reports%20pack%2019th-Jun-2017%2014.15%20Health%20and%20Adult%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

The 14 grounds for referral to the Secretary of State for Health can be found on page 34.

**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Below is an extract from a letter to the chair after Monday’s meeting from one of the angry members of the public who was present

“Dr Sonja Manton offered for you to attend a meeting to see how the CCG works. Why didn’t one of you ask them to simply save everyone’s time and respond fully and completely to the requests for information made in March? Aside from which how can you both scrutinise and also collaborate – surely you have to be independent?

Meanwhile – the CCG are negotiating with nursing staff and nursing staff are leaving the hospital in Honiton. The RD &E is reducing or even not making admissions. By the time you get to your extraordinary meeting it will too late to do anything useful at all.

I expect members of the committee to have the will to ensure that residents in the county they represent have easy access to adequate and safe healthcare.

Why is it that the only member of the committee who consistently and unfailingly has the energy and the will to carry out their role efficiently and as effectively as the constraints of being on a committee permit is Claire Wright? Why do councillors agree to be on the committee if they’re just going to let the CCG do what they like?

Please take the time to reflect on yesterdays meeting and consider whether you and/or some of your colleagues were found wanting and then take steps to ensure that the committee becomes an effective scrutiny committee for the benefit of all the people who depend on it to safeguard them. The public may have the voice but it is the committee that has the power. Please use that power for the benefit of us all.”

Pic (on blog) : I was sent this pic of the demo before the meeting, by Honiton campaigner Gill Pritchett. The quote is by the founder of the NHS and says it all.”

http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/hospital_bed_closures_secretary_of_state_scrutiny_referral_pushed_back_unti

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

24 Jun 2017

Posted under

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

The latest “under the radar” NHS sell-off plans

“All health and social care organisations that drew up plans to overhaul care in England will eventually become accountable care systems, according to new plans released by NHS England.

[Here is a post on these devious plans]:
https://calderdaleandkirklees999callforthenhs.wordpress.com/2017/03/01/wake-up-to-the-accountable-care-organisation-threat/

Regional organisations that created sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) will ‘evolve’ into accountable care systems (ACSs), with some acquiring the status as early as April this year.

NHS England’s Five Year Forward View delivery plan has said that hospital trusts, CCGs and local authorities in the new ACSs will ‘take on clear collective responsibility for resources and population health’.

However, the report notes that CCGs alone will be responsible for improving emergency admission rates, which will be measured and managed on an STP or ACS level from April.

To do this, NHS England has committed to working with ‘upper quartile higher referring GP practices and CCGs’ to standardise the ‘clinical appropriateness’ of hospital referrals, using CCG data and ‘a new tool from NHS Digital’.

Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, announced at a Parliamentary Accounts Committee meeting last month that between six and ten STP areas would be launching as so-called accountable care organisations (ACOs).

However, the delivery plan says that ACOs are the next step after becoming an ACS, with some becoming an accountable care organisation ‘in time’.

In return for becoming an ACS, NHS England has promised the organisations ‘more control and freedom’ over their regional health system including receiving devolved national GP Forward View, mental health and cancer funding from 2018.

The healthcare systems will be set up in stages with the first to be implemented from April this year.

NHS England noted nine STP areas that are ‘likely candidates’ to become the first ACSs, including:

Frimley Health
Greater Manchester
South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw
Northumberland
Nottinghamshire, with an early focus on Greater Nottingham and the southern part of the STP
Blackpool & Fylde Coast, with the potential to spread to other parts of the Lancashire and South Cumbria STP at a later stage.
Dorset
Luton, with Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire
West Berkshire
The delivery plan added that areas applying for ACS status should have ‘successful vanguards, ‘devolution’ areas, and STPs that have been working towards the ACS goal’.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said NHS England’s new plans recognisethat the Health and Social Care Act 2012 ‘prevents the creation of a formal ‘mid level STP tier’ with statutory powers’.

He said: ‘The plan also recognises the importance of existing governance and accountability structures focused on trusts, but also the opportunity for shared decision making at the STP level.

‘Finally, it allows different STPs to move at different speeds: enabling the fastest to progress without delay but not forcing others to adopt a single uniform approach they neither want nor are ready for.’”

http://healthcareleadernews.com/article/all-stps-become-accountable-care-systems-under-latest-nhs-plans

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

24 Jun 2017

Posted under

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

“Be prepared to defend hospital closures in court”

“NHS leaders looking to deliver change and transformation in their local health economy should be prepared to defend their plans in court, rather than pretending that the likelihood of legal action will never happen, Rob Webster, CEO at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS FT, has warned.

Chairing a session entitled ‘Saving Our Services – Why are local campaigns fighting to save the NHS from transformation?’, at last week’s NHS Confed17, Webster, who is also the lead for West Yorkshire and Harrogate STP, said that even if the health service does “harness the power of communities, you can bet we will still have a fight with some people about change”.

“One of the lessons I’ve learnt,” said the former NHS Confed boss, “is so long as you have engaged with people throughout the process and have done it in the right way, and so long as you have some clinical and public voices behind the changes you want to make, and as long as you’re prepared to go to court, if and when you have to, and win, then the change will happen.

“Somebody will refer you either to the secretary of state or to a judicial review. Get ready for it, and work through it, rather than pretending it’ll never happen or thinking that if it happens it is the worst thing in the world. Get yourself ready and it will work.”

During the session, Webster asked panel members what they thought should be the priorities with regards to the STP and change agenda for the new government.

David Lock QC, former MP and legal advisor to the NHS, said: “STPs were an object lesson in how not to do public engagement.”

The idea that the NHS needed space to have honest conversations with itself before going out to the public created a huge deficit in public trust, he argued.

“The process and the constraints put on those running the process, and not to be public about what they were doing, was enormously damaging,” stated Lock. “If the ministers want to keep the STP process going on, they are going to have to do an awful lot more emphasis on bringing the public with them. In the end, you cannot deliver public services in the face of public opposition.”

Cllr Robert Smart, an advisor to the ‘Save the DGH campaign’ in Eastbourne, stated that the health secretary needs to slow down the process of the STPs “and make them into a proper 10-year strategic view”.

“And if that takes a couple of years to produce, then it takes a couple of years to produce,” he told the audience of delegates. “It isn’t a question of suddenly saying, ‘in three months’ time, we’re going to convert 40% of acute spending into community spending’.”

The following day, Jeremy Hunt admitted that, given the result of the latest general election and with the negotiations around Brexit starting just a couple of days ago, it is now unlikely that the government will be able to introduce legislation for STPs in the next few years – if at all.

Imelda Redmond, national director of Healthwatch England, also called on Hunt to “reward, and encourage, engagement with the public” on the STPs.
“It is number one on people’s agenda of what they love about the country, and what they care about,” she said. “Why would you not harness that, and get the best care we can?”

And Jeremy Taylor, CEO of National Voices, stated that the government must give the health and care system the resources it needs, and give it the time it needs to make change.

“There may be legal requirements on consultation, but there are also psychological requirements: you need time to build trust and relationships,” he reflected. “If you are doing this at breakneck speed it is just not possible to do it.”

However, NHS Improvement boss Jim Mackey also told the conference that it is possible to get “90% of the way there” with accountable care systems and accountable care organisations within the current legislative framework – “but we need to prove it”.

NHS England’s Simon Stevens later confirmed the nine areas that will officially form part of the first wave of ACSs.

Webster concluded by agreeing that time and resources are really important. “It sounds like you need to plan in the medium term and understand the money you have to do that. You could call it a sustainability and transformation partnership trying to bring everyone together,” he joked.

“I think it’s good that we have an audience that thinks it is not right to be dishonest or patronising. What we need to do is be honest and get alongside people and harness the power of communities.”

http://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/Health-Care-News/webster-be-prepared-to-defend-transformational-change-in-court?utm_source=National+Health+Executive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8412033_Newsletter+Jun+17+Week+3&dm_i=IJV%2C50ARL%2COIIF3N%2CJ36W7%2C1

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East Devon Watch

Posted on

23 Jun 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Hugo Swire, Martin Shaw (Seaton), Neil Parish, NHS (local)

STPs may not be introduced till after Brexit – but are ‘Success Regimes’ similarly doomed or not?

Owl has had to resort to CAPITALS it is so mad!

OWL DOESN’T UNDERSTAND: IF STPs WON’T BE LEGISLATED FOR TILL AFTER BREXIT – WHY ARE LOCAL COMMUNITY HOSPITALS AND MATERNITY SERVICES CLOSED OR BEING CLOSED?

HONITON AND SEATON COMMUNITY HOSPITALS ARE ALREADY BEING WOUND DOWN FOR CLOSURE LATER THIS YEAR – IS HUNT SAYING THIS IS NOT LEGAL?

OUR DOCTORS AND OUR COMMUNITIES ARE AGAINST THESE PLANS, WHICH HUNT SAYS NEED LOCAL SUPPORT, SO IS OUR CCG ACTING ILLEGALLY?

TIME FOR THAT REFERRAL TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND A JUDICIAL REVIEW. THIS POWER-MAD, ARROGANT CCG NEEDS TO BE TAMED OR, BETTER STILL, DISSOLVED.

BUT YOU CAN BET OUR TWO MPs WON’T TOUCH THIS HOT POTATO! AND THAT MS RANDALL-JOHNSON WILL BE DEAF TO IT, AND DCC TORIES SPINELESS TOO.

THANK HEAVEN FOR PEOPLE LIKE CLAIRE WRIGHT, MARTIN SHAW AND ROGER GILES!

What Hunt said yesterday:

“Given the result of the latest general election and with the negotiations around Brexit due to start later this month, it is now unlikely that the government will be able to introduce legislation for sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) in the next few years – if at all.

Speaking at NHS Confederation yesterday, health secretary Jeremy Hunt argued that the legislative landscape has changed after a hung Parliament was declared last week. Because of this, it is unrealistic to expect the government to enact legislative health changes before the Brexit process is finished.

“We said [in our manifesto] that we would legislate to give STPs a statutory underpinning if that was felt to be necessary,” he said. “To be clear, we’re expecting to be in power until 2022 and deliver a stable government to make that possible.

“But obviously, the legislative landscape has changed, and that means that legislation of this nature is only going to be possible if there is a consensus across all political parties that it’s necessary. I don’t think that is in any way impossible, but it’s realistically not something we would do while the Brexit process was carrying on.”

Post-Brexit, he added, the government will have “a lot better understanding” of the legislative changes required by STPs. But even then, changing the law would require cross-party support – a much greater challenge now that the Conservatives no longer hold the majority in the House of Commons.

Responding to audience questions after his keynote speech, Hunt – who survived Theresa May’s recent political reshuffle – also hinted that the NHS could be in line to receive some more transformation funding.

Asked by a West Hampshire GP about the possibility of supporting transformation with ringfenced investment in order to enable new models of care elsewhere in the country, the health secretary argued “that is what the STP plans are about”.

But the biggest risk to pouring in more capital funding, he noted, is “if we don’t maintain the financial rigour and discipline that we started to see coming back into the system in the last year”.

“That was really what slowed down this process in the 2015-16 financial year, when we would’ve liked to put a lot more money into transformation,” the health secretary said. “But I think now we’re in a much, much better position to do that. We absolutely want to make sure that money is not an impediment to the rolling out of the STPs, because they are central to our vision.”

In fact, the recent NHS response to the horrific terrorist attack in Manchester, which saw staff working around the clock to cope with the unexpected demand, is a “very good reason for exactly what we’re trying to achieve with the STP process”, Hunt argued.

“The interesting lesson for me about the response in Manchester was how joined-up it was as a result of the terrific progress, under Jon Rouse’s leadership, that trusts have made in coming together as part of their STP,” he added. “I think they’ve probably gone further and faster than anywhere else in the country. I know it’s not been easy to do that, but it was extremely streamlined and effective.”

He also suggested that the government would be prepared to boost the region’s cash pot “if there are specific aspects of the response to those terrible events where there have been unexpected costs that the NHS incurred that wouldn’t be part of its normal response to emergency situations”.

STPs need local support
Asked by another audience member to explain the importance of bringing all local communities together into designing and delivering change, Hunt emphasised that the reasoning behind STPs is to bring about “fantastically beneficial” changes for patients.

“It’s a transformation that is wholly positive for the public,” the secretary of state said. “But people are passionate about their NHS and they obviously worry about any change that happens, and that’s why we have a responsibility to communicate that change. And that change is usually best not communicated by politicians, but by clinicians, because frankly you guys are trusted a lot more than we are.

“That’s why I think it’s really important to have that local engagement, and that’s why, when it comes to the big transformation plans, Simon Stevens and I are supporting them with every fibre in our bodies at a national level.
“But at a local level, we need you to be making the arguments. The evidence is that when you do that, even with potentially controversial changes, it’s quite possible to win the case to do them. But it does involve a lot of local engagement and I think that’s going to be one of the central challenges for the next few years.”

http://www.nationalhealthexecutive.com/Health-Care-News/election-result-means-stp-legislation-now-due-only-after-brexit#.WUvMkaIufac.email

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
22 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, East Devon Alliance, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), Midweek Herald, NHS (local)

Oooh – Midweek Herald gets political – and on its front page!

Well, it’s a start. But, of course, it won’t offend EDDC as it is a DCC responsibility!

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East Devon Watch

Posted on
21 Jun 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, General Election, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, Minority Government, Police (local)

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1 Comment

DUP wants £2 BILLION – that’s roughly 66,666 nurses, doctors, firefighters, police, teachers

Owl says: how many nurses, doctors, police and firefighters would that buy? Lets say they cost £30,000 each (source http://www.pssru.ac.uk/pdf/uc/uc2010/uc2010_s10.pdf)
Answer: 66,666

“Theresa May’s most senior ally has admitted that a deal with the DUP is at risk as it emerged the Northern Irish party has demanded more than £2billion.

The DUP has demanded extra money for the NHS and infrastructure as a price for propping up a Conservative Government, according to reports.

It came as Damian Green, the Prime Minister’s own deputy, cast doubt on whether the Tories will be able to do a deal.

… The DUP is reportedly demanding an extra £1,100 is spent on each person in Northern Ireland.

Finance for devolved nations is usually allocated through the Barnett formula, which ensures any increases or decreases are proportional across the UK.

Every £1 spent in the province would require an additional £35 to be found for Scotland, England and Wales.

… There was speculation yesterday that the Conservatives could even open talks with the Liberal Democrats’ 12 MPs about supporting the Tory Government if the DUP talks fail.

The party believes that Downing Street’s approach to what should have been a relatively simple set of negotiations has been “chaotic” and insisted its support “can’t be taken for granted”.

Despite the drama Westminster sources have insisted that it is overwhelmingly likely that a deal will eventually be signed, most probably tomorrow.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/21/revealed-dup-demands-2bn-nhs-infrastructure-theresa-may-allies/

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East Devon Watch

Posted on
20 Jun 2017

Posted under
Austerity cuts, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Sarah Randall-Johnson says we should “grow our own”

Chair of DCC’s Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, Sarah Randall-Johnson, appears to think that one solution to the current care crisis is to encourage schools to promote careers in the health service:

“I am challenging schools, the council and other organisations in Devon to help promote working in the health service as a career, to help address the chronic shortage of staff in the NHS, and let’s grow our own.”

http://www.devonlive.com/potential-closure-of-devon-maternity-units-is-criticised/story-30400944-detail/story.html

Has she stopped to think of the reasons why young people are NOT joining the NHS?

Here are a few:

Chronic underfunding
Changing bursaries for student nurses into loans
Pay freeze on an already low base salary
EU staff leaving in droves and new EU staff refusing to come to the UK leaving local nurses to cope with unsafe conditions
Making hospital staff pay eyewatering charges to park while on shift
Never knowing if your hospital is going to be the next to close

The old Noel Coward song “Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington” might be adapted here.

The original lyrics:

Don’t put your daughter on the stage, Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter on the stage
The profession is overcrowded
The struggle’s pretty tough
And admitting the fact she’s burning to act
That isn’t quite enough
She’s a nice girl and though her teeth are fairly good
She’s not the type I ever would be eager to engage
I repeat, Mrs. Worthington, sweet Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter on the stage

might now be retitled

“Don’t put your daughter into nursing, Mrs Worthington”
as follows:

Don’t put your daughter into nursing, Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter into nursing
The profession is underpaid
The struggle’s pretty tough
And admitting the fact she’s burning to help
That isn’t quite enough
She’s a nice girl and though her health is fairly good
It’s not the type of job she ever would be eager to do
I repeat, Mrs. Worthington, sweet Mrs. Worthington
Don’t put your daughter into nursing

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
20 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, East Devon Alliance, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

DCC Scrutiny Committee “frustrating” for Seaton and Honiton community hospitals says Seaton DCC councillor

Posted by Martin Shaw, DCC Independent East Devon Alliance councillor for Seaton:

“The Health Scrutiny Committee meeting at County Hall yesterday was incredibly frustrating for the 60 or so supporters of Seaton, Honiton and Okehampton hospitals who attended. It resolved nothing and there will be another meeting before the end of July to consider the matter again (I will tell you when the date is fixed).

You can watch the meeting at https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/288543.

The speakers in the public participation at the beginning were good, much better than most of the committee discussion. My speech is at 0.34.50. You may have seen that we also made a good splash on regional TV.

There WAS progress, I think, in pinning down the irrationality of the decision to close Seaton’s beds. Speeches supporting Seaton were made by Martin Pigott, Vice-Chair of Seaton Town Council, Mike McAlpine, Chair of the committee for the Axe Valley Health Hub, Cllr Ian Hall of Axminster, as well as myself.

The issue was picked up on the committee, especially by Cllr Hilary Ackland, who twice challenged Dr Sonja Manton of the CCG on the issue. Manton declined to answer Ackland’s specific question.

I feel we can build on this at the re-run meeting. We also have an opportunity to challenge the CCG (who are answering questions from councillors) at EDDC’s Scrutiny Committee on Thursday at 6pm. EDDC doesn’t have any power but I think we should keep up the pressure on the CCG. I have put down to speak. If anyone else can do it – email Debbie Meakin dmeakin@eastdevon.gov.uk.

Would anyone who can come to this meeting – whether to speak or not – let me know (cllrmartinshaw@gmail.com)?

Thanks to all who came and who sent emails (they really had an effect).

A frustrating day, but further chances on Thursday and in July to challenge the CCG

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
19 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw, NHS (local)

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DCC community hospitals stitch up – part 2

“Councillors have delayed a decision to refer “Orwellian” plans to close hospital beds across Devon to the Health Secretary after a bad-tempered meeting at County Hall.

Placard-waving protesters gathered outside Devon County Council’s Exeter headquarters today to demand that controversial NHS plans be sent to Jeremy Hunt.

Critics of the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) scheme to close community hospital beds in Exeter, Seaton, Honiton and Okehampton, packed into a meeting of the health scrutiny committee on Monday.

A string of opponents were invited to speak and criticised the CCG for failing to demonstrate how adequate care would be provided in the community.

Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton and Colyton Martin Shaw said the CCG has never made the case for the “unmanageable” and “Orwellian” plan.

Fellow independent councillor for Ottery St Mary Claire Wright told the committee that a raft of assurances had failed to materialise from the CCG despite repeated requests.

Devon County Council’s Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee had previously objected to the decision by NEW Devon CCG to reduce the number of community hospital beds in Eastern Devon from 143 to 72 and regardless of cost no bed closures be made until it is clear there was sufficient community care provision.”

They said: “If adequate assurances are not given to the above and the issues set out below, the CCG’s decision be referred to the Secretary of State for Health on the grounds that it was not in the in the interests of the health service in the area and the consultation was flawed and there is no clear explanation of what care at home will look like or work and this model has frequently been mixed up with Hospital at Home which is entirely different.

Representatives from the CCG, who were questioned by the committee, asked councillors to work with them locally in a “constructive way” rather than involving Mr Hunt.

A spokeswoman said 200 staff were under consultation as the new plan to provide home care took shape.

However, they failed to satisfy members of the newly-formed committee on 14 separate grounds drawn up by the previous committee prior to the May election.

Ms Wright proposed a motion to refer the matter to the Secretary of State for Health, which was seconded by Liberal Democrat former county council leader Brian Greenslade.

Conservatives on the committee questioned the usefulness of such a referral, a complicated procedure which requires that a fully-financed alternative plan be submitted.

A suggestion by committee chairman Sarah Randall Johnson that a decision on the referral be postponed until September was met with jeering from the public gallery.

Protesters shouted down the move, claiming time is pressing as bed closures have already begun, prompting the chairman to threaten to clear the meeting.

After two hours of debate, an amendment which postponed the decision unto an emergency meeting no later than the end of July was unanimously agreed.

Speaking after the meeting, campaigner Gillian Pritchett, who chairs the group Save Our Hospital Services in Honiton, said she was “totally unhappy” with the decision.

“Beds are being closed, the system is already in place,” she told Devon Live.

“The whole thing is a waste of time as (the CCG) will continue to close beds.”

Ms Wright said the meeting had been “incredibly frustrating”

“There was incontrovertible evidence to refer this to the Secretary of State,” she added.

“Those 14 grounds the committee came up with still stood.”

http://www.devonlive.com/committee-delays-plan-to-refer-devon-hospital-bed-closures-to-secretary-of-state/story-30398766-detail/story.html

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
19 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Claire Wright, East Devon Alliance, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw, NHS (local)

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Sarah Randall-Johnson postpones decision on community hospital bed closures

Apparently, she and other Tory councillors decided her committee didn’t have time to study the CCG’s response to their earlier meeting and the CCG needs more time too.

Stitch-up?

What do you think?

Awaiting more news from independent EDDC councillors Claire Wright (on the committee) and Martin Shaw (newly elected East Devon Alliance DCC councillor).

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
19 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Chief of “Success Regime” ‘retires’ after a year in the post

Apparently, she said she had always planned to retire at 60.

Did the (Un)Success(ful) Regime know that when they appointed her?

https://www.newdevonccg.nhs.uk/2016-news-archive/lead-chief-executive-appointed-for-success-regime-101928

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
19 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Crucial health meeting at DCC this afternoon

“Devon County Council’s Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee will today examine the case for closing 72 community beds across Eastern Devon to see whether it can be justified.Back at the March health scrutiny meeting it appeared that a decision had been made in a huge hurry with a large range of important issues left unresolved. See my report of that meeting here –

http://www.claire.wright.org/index.php/post/hospital_bed_cuts_to_be_referred_to_secretary_of_state_for_health_unless_ra

The Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group has now responded to the proposal I made at the last health scrutiny committee, requiring justification on 14 grounds.

It was agreed at the March committee that if those grounds were not deemed to be satisfactory, then the committee would have the option of referring the decision to the Secretary of State for Health. I have read the paperwork and corresponding related papers and I don’t believe there the slightest justification for the decision to halve the remaining community hospital beds in Eastern Devon.

The meeting is held at County Hall and starts at 2.15pm and will be live webcast here –

https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/home Here are the agenda papers -http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=429&MId=2581&Ver=4

Source: claire-wright.org

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
19 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

Demonstration against community hospital cuts today 1 pm County Hall

BBC Radio Devon
Posted at
8:42

“Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt may be asked to review the decision to close community hospital beds in east and mid Devon.

The county’s new health and adult care scrutiny committee is discussing the plans to close beds in Honiton, Okehampton, Whipton and Seaton at its meeting today.

Local councillors said they needed assurances over staffing and the future of buildings.”

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
12 Jun 2017

Posted under
DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Seaton’s new DCC East Devon Alliance councillor starts fight for Seaton and Honiton hospital beds

PRESS RELEASE

“On Monday 19 June (2.15), Devon County Council Health Scrutiny Committee will consider the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s responses to 14 questions asked of the CCG by the Committee. If the Committee is not satisfied, it has the legal power to refer the CCG’s decisions to the Secretary of State for Health.

(http://democracy.devon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=429&MId=2581&Ver=4)

Seaton and Honiton are the two hospitals which serve my constituents in the Seaton & Colyton Division. Both are slated to lose all their in-patient beds. I have sent the attached 6-page letter to the Chair of the Committee, Cllr Sara Randall Johnson, showing why the the CCG’s replies are inadequate, their decisions still demonstrably flawed, and the Committee should use its power to refer them.

I shall be speaking at the Committee, along with other representatives of the Seaton, Honiton and Axminster communities which are worst affected by these decisions. My main points are:

Plans to halve the numbers of community beds do not take into account that the numbers of older people in Devon will more than double in the next two decades.

East Devon needs more beds than other areas because it has the oldest population in Devon and this will continue to grow.

Community beds are crucial to older patients without transport and when they are distant many relatives will have huge difficulty visiting their loved ones.

Savings from the closures will be small. Both financial logic and CCG planning suggest that the real agenda is to close a number of hospitals.
The CCG’s consultation was flawed because it gave no option to keep Honiton’s beds, and the CCG ignored the stronger support for Seaton from people who responded.

The CCG’s reasons for choosing Sidmouth over Seaton are based on misleading use of evidence about population and age distributions.

The concentration of beds in Tiverton, Sidmouth and Exmouth will leave the eastern margins of East Devon entirely without. The CCG’s claim that this is ‘a more even geographic spread’ is entirely false.

The CCG ignored the fact that Seaton also serves the Axminster area, and has reneged on the commitment it gave when it recently closed Axminster Hospital’s beds, that beds would continue to be available in Seaton.
Communities in the Seaton, Axminster and Honiton are angry about the decision and expect the Health Scrutiny Committee to refer it to the Secretary of State.

We are holding a public meeting in Seaton on Wednesday 14th (7 pm, Marshlands Centre, Harbour Road) to plan the community presence at the Health Scrutiny Committee. I will issue a further press release on Thursday.

Martin Shaw
Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton”

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Posted by
East Devon Watch

Posted on
10 Jun 2017

Posted under
Accountability, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Sleaze, Spin, Transparency

“Ordinary people” – millionaires!

“This morning’s BBC Breakfast show contained an absolutely astounding series of interviews about the the Tories’ hated Dementia Tax policy and the state of the NHS.

What the BBC failed to mention during the course of both sections is that their supposedly ‘impartial’ voice of concern for the NHS (a man who the BBC described as ‘loving the NHS’ was actually an ex-Tory Councillor, millionaire property mogul who had worked for a PRIVATE healthcare company for 33 years.

The ex-Tory Councillor was interviewed both as a seemingly ordinary member of the public at 07:25, saying the council had been “phenomenal” when his wife was diagnosed with dementia and needed help, and just an hour later he returned in a pre-recorded segment debating the future of the NHS with a junior Dr who was distraught at the destruction caused the Tory cuts.

The first discussion was about Theresa May’s disgusting dementia tax. The interview starts with another member of the public expressing deep concerns about the cap on social care, saying she is worried that her children will be left with nothing if her or her husband have to go into care.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

The conversation then moves on to a man who is referred to just as “Gordon”, and he speaks about his experience of funding care for his wife who he says was diagnosed with dementia in 2009.

Gordon Maclellan BBCHe says that he found the local council to be “phenomenal” in offering him and his wife support to help fund her care. He goes on to say that he would certainly benefit from the Tories proposals to raise the cap on care costs from £23,000 to £100,000.

Just over an hour later on the same programme, we encounter another interview with the same man, or to give him his full title Dr Gordon Maclellan, who introduces himself as being recently retired.

This time he’s here to talk about the NHS crisis and discuss the best way to fix it with a 33-year-old junior doctor.

Breakfast describes Maclellan as being somebody who “loves the NHS”, and the purpose of the segment is to help people decide which party is best suited to cure the NHS crisis.

Throughout the interview, Gordon consistently uses classic Tory talking points and the usual ridiculous defenses of their carving up of the NHS, at one point he defends the Tories cuts by saying:

“people died in my day too”

So, who is this Gordon Maclellan? And why does he always seem to keen to defend the Tories? …

… Dr Gordon MacLellan worked as a Private Orthopaedic consultant for the Nuffield Health Brentwood Hospital for 33 years.”

http://www.devonlive.com/five-sets-of-roadworks-to-affect-major-devon-roads-next-week/story-30381759-detail/story.html

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

30 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, General Election, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local)

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Pensioners, disabled and mentally ill scapegoated by Tories in this election?

“The dementia tax betrays the Tories’ underbelly. For a leader who protects our homes and offers our grandchildren hope, it’s got to be Corbyn for us pensioners.

The Conservative manifesto assault on pensioners bore all the hallmarks of Thatcherism – without the competence. Even the U-turn on the “dementia tax” will do little to win back pensioners who’ve been thrown under the bus – the one with £350m a day for the NHS emblazoned on the side – once too often.

Theresa May’s intervention was designed to mollify us oldies, but it did nothing of the sort. There was nothing that made me feel more secure in my home than I had before the whole sorry mess had started.

That the Tories would come after their most loyal supporters wasn’t a shock to me. We’re vulnerable and compliant and, in the past at least, voted Tory out of habit. Even with the extortionate charges for residential care and the drive to force people into buying their hip replacement surgery, pensioners were still set to vote Tory. But the election’s triple whammy – scrapping the triple lock guarantee on our pensions, attacking the winter fuel allowance, and the social care plans that mean vulnerable pensioners could be made homeless – has changed that.

This attack came in a context in which pensioners are increasingly scapegoated. The headlines would have us believe that it’s “bed-blockers” making the NHS grind to a halt. Not Tory cuts. There’s a constant, nasty subtext that, in times of austerity, old people are living too long which is damned inconvenient because we’re expensive to maintain.

The fact that May thought she could get away with this flagrant attack on her most steadfast supporters shows just how out of touch she is. But blaming the vulnerable is a strategy that has worked for the Tories. Deflecting the financial crash away from financial institutions and political failings, and on to the poor, the sick and the old, has allowed the Tories to justify austerity, to say: “It’s not bankers’ bonuses we should be cutting back, it’s the welfare state.”

The elderly, disabled and mentally ill are portrayed in much of the media as shirkers and spongers, so it’s no wonder we’re seen as easy prey.

Pitting the elderly against the young has been a growing and divisive tactic. Our protected state pensions and our dominance in the housing market are cited as causing the financial misery of the younger generation. We have our great big madeira cake and we’re jolly well going to eat it.

The reality is quite different; 1.9 million pensioners live below the poverty line, one in four people over 65 struggle to survive to the end of each month, the waiting list time for elective surgery is anything up to a year, and now, should we need nursing home care, our own homes will be sold to pay for it. Old people are not the cause of the problems of today’s younger generation, they are scapegoats for a social care system that has been made bankrupt by reckless cuts and Tory incompetence.

May’s dementia tax betrayed the underbelly of the nasty party. It has not only abandoned but attacked a generation of citizens, many of whom lived through the second world war and the dire austerity that followed. She would rather steal from her loyal pensioners than ask her friends in the city to pay their fair share. The curtain has been lifted, and we see May as she really is – a reverse Robin Hood, stealing from the palms of the poor to line the pockets of the rich.

This gigantic own goal will be followed by days of grovelling promises to “look after” older people. I may be old but I’m not stupid. Who on earth would trust anything Theresa May now says? I’ve lived through many an election but never in my life have I seen a U-turn on a manifesto pledge before an election has even been won. Incompetence on this scale is unprecedented. If Theresa May can’t get this right, how can we possibly trust her to handle complex Brexit negotiations? … “

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/30/theresa-may-most-incompetent-leader-dementia-tax-pensioners-corbyn-hope

Posted by

East Devon Watch

Posted on

28 May 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Claire Wright, Health and Social Care (local), Hugo Swire, Neil Parish, NHS (local)

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2 Comments

Health service underfund: nothing to do with patients, everything to do with politicians

All the more reason to vote for Claire Wright and not Hugo Swire, who voted for the Health and Social Care Act 2012 that created the money-gobbling, privatising internal market (though Blair started PFI as a way of cooking the Treasury’s books).

One reason for East Devon bed closures is that Tiverton Hospital (24 beds) CANNOT be reduced in beds or closed because it would be too expensive to break the PFI contract.

And Owl STILL wants to know if Neil Parish’s new hip is private or NHS.

“Councils and hospital trusts are trying to ditch controversial private finance initiative (PFI) deals as austerity makes them unaffordable.

The long-term deals, which were hugely popular in the 2000s, were used to pay for new schools, hospitals, prisons and roads. They were designed to shift risk to the private sector but were often struck on inflexible terms spanning several decades. Cash-strapped public sector bodies are increasingly trying to escape from PFI deals as the contracts eat up bigger slices of their revenues.

Councils are turning to an obscure arm of the Treasury, the Public Works Loan Board, to refinance debt at a much lower rate — shifting the risk back onto the state. Ending deals also exposes councils to hefty compensation fees.

Deals including a £2.7bn highways contract in Birmingham and a waste contract in Essex are under pressure. An industry adviser said several hospital trusts are trying to unwind PFI deals. “They have to balance shrinking budgets in the near term and the PFIs are increasingly gobbling up their revenues.”

Source: Sunday Times (paywall)