Category Archives: NHS (local)

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23 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Democracy, EDDC, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Sarah Randall Johnson, Scrutiny

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Q: who does Diviani represent on the NHS? A: Jeremy Hunt

How does Owl know?

Well, he DOESN’T represent East Devon District Council – they told him to vote to keep local community hospital beds and maternity services open. He went to a DCC scrutiny meeting and voted to close them.

He DOESN’T represent the eight district councils he is supposed to represent at DCC [as a co-optee NOT a full member of the committee – and he was only allowed to vote because the badly-worded DCC constitution does not make the voting power of a co-optee clear] because he admitted in public that he did not consult any of the other councils before voting.

He DOESN’T represent DCC because he has not stood for election to that council and been successful.

WHAT was his reason/excuse/pathetic flim flam for his vote then?

That other attempts to refer the closure to the Secretary of State had failed, so this one would also fail.

How did he know that? Does he have a direct line to Hunt’s office or what passes for Hunt’s brain? He must have one or the other because he KNEW in advance what would happen and chose to vote on what he says he KNEW.

But if he KNEW what would happen (and he says he did) then why not vote as EDDC told him to do? The letter would have failed and he could still say he had voted as instructed at EDDC (though not as other councils wanted as he had no idea about that.

BUT – as he again admitted – it would have slowed down the closure. It would have given councils, the staff and supporters of the hospitals, the patients and their carers, more time to put alternative plans into action. More home care staff, more suitable plans for hospital buildings, better care for patients at home.

He did none of these things. He and Sarah Randall-Johnson consigned community hospitals to the rubbish heap.

And all because, he says, he knew what Jeremy Hunt would do.

So, now we know, he has a direct line to Jeremy Hunt and does what Jeremy Hunt wants him to do.

But why? Owl can only guess that he wants a gong from this despicable government to add to his only other qualification – an innkeepers certificate.

And the only way to do that is do the bidding of those who hand them out.

And if that isn”t his rationale, Owl would welcome a comment from him which would be published on the blog in full.

And what of his “representation” of the other councils? Who voted for him to be their representative? Was there a vote at all?

Or conversations in dark corners of County Hall?

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22 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, Consultation, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Phil Twiss, Sarah Randall Johnson, Scrutiny, Transparency

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“Tories block recording concerns over biggest ever planned health service cuts in Devon”

Oh, how different it will be if (when) Tories lose control of DCC. We will then hear Twiss and his party colleagues saying EXACTLY what Claire Wright is saying!

Party politics sucks. More Independents needed – urgently.

From the blog of Claire Wright:

“.. And the County Solicitor will be called to address the committee to remind it of its responsibilities.

Devon County Council conservatives blocked my proposal yesterday to record significant concerns over the biggest cuts facing Devon’s health service in living memory.

Sonja Manton from NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group gave an update on the plans to slash around £500m by 2020, as part of Devon’s Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).

The county’s STP is one of 44 across the country and is the government’s main programme of major cost cutting and centralisation in the NHS, to stem a £30bn shortfall by 2020.

I asked a number of questions mainly on staffing, budgets and buildings, along the following lines:

What are the vacancies and how do you plan to fill them and when do you plan to make redundancies (which has been previously hinted at)?

The answer was woolly (and no amount of pushing would encourage Dr Manton to reveal more). It contained no information on numbers, but she did mention that there is a 30 per cent turnover rate across Devon, in home care staff and that 75 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on staffing.

Next I asked whether pregnant women would still have a genuine choice where to give birth, as three community maternity units at Okehampton, Tiverton and Honiton were set to close (two have already closed temporarily due to staffing issues).

The answer was that the new service would meet national guidelines, so I pushed and asked whether pregnant women would be able to have a choice of a midwife led unit and how far they would have to travel. The answer was that there will be a new midwife led unit at the RD&E, adjacent to the consultant led unit.

So essentially women from all over Devon will soon have to either have a home birth, or travel to Exeter to give birth, whether that’s at a midwife led unit or a consultant led unit. There was a bit of a disagreement about me saying the current midwife led units were closed, despite the announcement having already been announced that this was the intention and two being temporarily closed due to staffing pressures.

Next I asked how many more beds were planned to be cut.

More prevarication.

I pushed. Was the figure of 600 bed cuts recognised, which was the broad figure in the first draft of the STP?

Yes this figure was recognised but it depended on a raft of issues.

Finally, I asked about the selling off of redundant estate. How many, where and when? Another non answer ensued. It was the next piece of work.

Entirely frustrated at the refusal to answer questions, not because I believe, the answers are not known but because there is a total refusal to get into any detail whatsoever, I expressed my complete frustration and disappointment at the answers. It made no difference.

Other councillors asked other questions.

At the end of the debate I proposed a resolution that the committee express significant concerns over the STP, its potential effect on patient care and the lack of transparency so far.

I called for urgent information on staffing, beds, buildings and budgets, in particular.

The proposal was seconded by Chair, Sara Randall Johnson, who added that a piece of work would be done on this.

Unfortunately, my wording appeared to upset the conservative group. Cllr Philip Sanders said he didn’t like that I had said the process appeared not to be transparent and wanted this word deleted. I replied that that it was entirely justified and refused to amend my proposal.

But fellow Conservative, Phil Twiss, wanted ANY mention of concerns deleted.

He said: “We don’t need the emotional language.”

Three years ago, Cllr Twiss reported me and this blog to the police cyber crime unit. You can read about it here, if you like – http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/eddc_tory_whip_reports_me_to_the_police_for_a_comment_on_this_blog

Cllr Twiss then proposed that ALL my words were deleted, simply retaining the section that relating to a task group being set up.

This was voted through by the vast majority of the Conservative group.

Letting down every single resident in Devon who relies on the NHS.

Yes, I think that’s everyone.

Ambulance Trust response targets are failing and RD&E unable to discharge its patients in good time

Later in the meeting we were examining the performance review.

The South West Ambulance Trust which used to meet the national target of eight minutes largely without a difficulty, are now significantly under target. Only 59 per cent of calls were answered within eight minutes, across Northern, Eastern and Western Devon, in July of this year. The target is 75 per cent.

Lives are surely being put at risk. Certainly news of the failures are hitting the local media.

The narrative attached to the graph claimed that the reason was the rural nature of the South West. Yet the South West has been rural for years and this wasn’t a problem previously. Of course there have been cuts to budgets, and reductions in the number of ambulances so that is more likely to be the cause of the failure.

Problem with delayed discharges at the RD&E

Similarly, the RD&E was shown to have a significant problem with delayed discharges.

In June this year a daily average of 66 beds were occupied by patients who were well enough to go home.

It was obvious from the graph that the problem was clearly way out of kilter with other local NHS trusts.

This was largely to do with major staffing problems in the care sector, an officer confirmed.

of course it is these staff among others that we will rely on, to look after people in their own homes following community hospital bed cuts.

I proposed a resolution that the committee record its concerns at the ambulance response rates and the high level of delayed discharges at the RD&E and invite both trusts to the next committee meeting.

I had to argue with the chair that the proposal should retain the bit about recording concerns, before it was seconded by Cllr Brian Greenslade.

One of the Labour councillors was unhappy with me mentioning the RD&E at all in my resolution because she was chairing a piece of work looking at delayed discharges. I tried to point out that the resolution supported her work but she was adamant …

Then Cllr Twiss started up again. He said he didn’t like my wording and that I was simply making a statement that “looks good in the press.”

I reminded Cllr Twiss that the committee is legally constituted to scrutinise health services on behalf of the people and our job is to hold the health service to account. In fact such words had been used recently in a standards committee hearing minutes.

Anyone who is familiar with the basic requirements of an audit trail will recognise the importance of the committee recording concerns about service failures in this way.

I told Cllr Twiss that I intended to ask in the work programme agenda item, that the county solicitor attends the next committee meeting and outlines our responsibilities.

The final amendment removed my words about concerns about the RD&E’s delayed discharges but retained the words about the ambulance trust target failure.

So Ambulance Trust representatives will be invited to the next meeting.

I have certainly heard anecdotally that things are very challenging indeed within the Trust, with too few ambulances and low staff morale.

I duly asked in the final agenda item for the County Solicitor to attend the next meeting to remind the committee of its remit.

Some councillors appear to be in sore need of training.

Playing political games with health scrutiny resolutions is a dirty and unacceptable game.

NHS Property Services and buildings

Cllr Martin Shaw spoke to a report he submitted to the committee on this. The upshot will be that a sub group will examine the future of community hospital buildings.

The speaker itemised webcast can be viewed here – https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/301904”

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

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22 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Councillor Cathy Gardner EDA, DCC, East Devon Tories, EDDC, NHS (local), Paul Diviani

EDDC Tory councillors voted against themselves to protect Leader

Sir

“A letter, copied below, from today’s Sidmouth Herald (22/09/17), explains:

The issue of no confidence in EDDC Leader Paul Diviani is nothing new, as the 4,000 people who took part in the SOS Mass March to Knowle, nearly 5 years ago, would agree. (Nov 3rd, 2012, photos archived on http://www.saveoursidmouth.com).

How is it, then, that the ‘Motion against East Devon District Council leader’ failed’ (Sidmouth Herald, 15/09/17)?

Paul Diviani had, according to a senior Conservative colleague, clearly broken trust with the District Council. At the County Health Scrutiny Committee, the EDDC Leader had failed to represent his own Council’s unanimous (i.e. cross-party) recommendation that hospital bedcuts should stop until an effective alternative had been shown to be in place. His contrary vote had influenced the outcome at the DCC, the only body capable of statutory action, thereby apparently betraying not just his own Council, but the people of East Devon that they represent. This left the Tory group of District Councillors “caught between a rock and a hard place”, as Cathy Gardner (EDDC Ward Member Sidmouth Town, East Devon Alliance) reminded them, at the Extra Ordinary Meeting at Knowle (13/09/17).

But all the Tory Councillors present (just one abstained), did an extraordinary thing. To the disbelief of the public crammed into the Council Chamber, they turned the debate away from their uncomfortable Leader’s conduct, and onto problems with the National Health Service. Then, in voting against the Motion of No Confidence in the Leader, they effectively blockvoted against their own unanimous recommendation regarding NHS problems and bedcuts, taken just a few weeks’ earlier. The sort of thing, and Leader, that brings a Council into disrepute?
Jacqueline Green
Sidmouth”

How ‘no confidence vote’ came to be rejected by Council let down by its Leader

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21 Sep 2017

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

“STPs ‘need more funding and to be better implemented’ “

“Sustainability and transformation partnerships need more funding and to be better implemented, the Healthcare Financial Management Association/CIPFA health and social care conference heard today.

The partnerships are the best hope for health and social care integration, Richard Humphries, a senior policy fellow from the think-tank the King’s Fund, told delegates at the conference in London.

“The ambitions of the plans are good but the delivery and implementation is fraught with problems in the current financial climate,” he said.

“I think everybody agrees that we do need to transform social care but history tells us that the only way you do that is to have transformational funding for the double running costs of building up services in the community so you can then reduce hospital activity.”

He added: “The existing system is fragmented, based on commissioners and providers. Nobody wants another top-down reorganisation to reverse those [current] reforms.

“So [greater integration] is being done through the backdoor, essentially, through these STPs.”

Humphries believed STPs were the “right direction of travel” but noted that there were issues.

He outlined the following problems:

The STPs are being driven by NHS financial control, which he said was “unrealistic”

There are “heroic assumptions” being made about how much care you can shift out of hospitals

The plans are not engaging local government and social care enough.

Humphries said: “Although it is a laudable motive, the current structures that we’ve got in both commissioning and providers, separation, funding, payment mechanisms was designed from an entirely different purpose when it was based on the idea of competition and choice being much more important than collaboration.”

The conference also heard the findings from a survey conducted by CIPFA and iMPOWER. It showed 55 of 56 respondents said they did not believe joint working will be achieved between local government and the NHS in the next five years.

Rob Whiteman, CIPFA’s chief executive, commenting on the survey of 25 local authorities and 31 NHS bodies, said: “While it is now clear what the overall ambitions are for STPs, the survey released today highlights there may be major barriers to achieving these.

“The survey shows that there are some significant concerns with regard to joint working, which is vital to the success of STPs. Therefore, serious care and attention must now be paid to building relationships and trust between partners.”

Whiteman also echoed the sentiment of Humphries when he said suitable levels of funding were needed, or the ambitious targets set by the STPs would turn out to be “financially unachievable”. “

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2017/09/stps-need-more-funding-and-be-implemented-better-0

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20 Sep 2017

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Accountability, DCC, East Devon Alliance, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Scrutiny, Transparency

EDA DCC Councillor Martin Shaw asks council to scrutinise ownership and governance of community hospitals

PRESS RELEASE from DCC Councillor Martin Shaw (Seaton and Colyton):

“Tomorrow I am asking the committee to consider a proposal on ‘Ownership, Community Stakeholding and the Governance of Community Hospitals’, the briefing note for which is copied below and is self-explanatory:

Ownership, Community Stakeholding and the Governance of Community Hospitals

Community hospitals in Devon have always been built and maintained with a high degree of community involvement and support. In many cases, local communities took the initiative to build the hospitals and raised a substantial part of the original funding, or even the entire funding of additional wings and facilities, as well as contributing to staff and other running costs, the introduction of new specialist services, etc.

Unlike Private Finance Initiatives undertaken in partnership with private companies, these ‘community finance initiatives’ – which sought no profit from their investments other than the improvement of the facilities and services they enabled – appear not to have secured their interests in the hospitals they helped to build. The Leagues of Friends and others who raised funds for hospitals trusted that their investments would continue to be used for the benefit of place-based health services in their local area.

Since the 2012 Health and Social Care Act, however, the organisation of the NHS has changed and the ownership of NHS buildings is in the process of being transferred to a new company, NHS Property Services, wholly owned by the Secretary of State and charged with managing the NHS estate in line with national priorities. NHS Property Services is enabled to sell off parts of the estate and to charge NHS organisations market rents for their use of NHS buildings.

This change creates dilemmas for local communities which have invested in Devon community hospitals. Clearly Leagues of Friends and other local bodies, including town and parish councils as representatives of communities which have raised large amounts of funding, can be considered ‘stakeholders’ in community hospitals. However these community stakeholders appear not to possess formal rights in the ownership and governance of the hospitals.

The proposal is that the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny undertake an investigation into

1. The changing ownership and governance of community hospitals in Devon and its implications.
2. The historic and ongoing contributions of local communities and Leagues of Friends to funding the hospitals.
The purpose of this investigation would be to address the question of
3. How community stakeholders’ interests should be secured in the future governance of community hospitals.

It is envisaged that in the course of this investigation, the Committee would both collect evidence and invite expressions of views from all stakeholders, including both local community organisations and NHS bodies, including NHS Property Services.

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

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15 Sep 2017

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

Only 93 NHS beds freed up after bed (un)blocking drive!

“Only 93 beds have been freed by an NHS drive to get elderly patients home quicker, official figures show.

Doctors warned that the health service was not ready for winter after figures showed it ended the summer by missing most of its main targets.

This week Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, said that the health service needed to do more as a severe outbreak of flu in Australia threatened to move north for winter. He has given hospitals until November to free 3,000 beds by sending home patients who do not need to be on wards.

However, at the end of July there were 5,861 beds occupied because no suitable care could be arranged for patients elsewhere, barely down from 5,954 last year. “Progress over the next eight to ten weeks is going to have to accelerate markedly in conjunction with local authorities in order to free up further bed capacity ahead of winter,” a spokesman for NHS England said.

Long waits for routine surgery are also up, with 390,659 patients having waited more than 18 weeks, the highest number since 2008. More than four million people are on a waiting list.

A&E visits were down but only 90.3 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, compared with 91 per cent last summer. The target is 95 per cent.”

Source: Times pay wall

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15 Sep 2017

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

Save Our Hospital Services

Facebook page post:

““Lest we forget”

Over the past few years as a result of piecemeal demolition of our NHS in Devon we have lost ALL the inpatient beds at 20 community hospitals, named below, from across Devon.

Many of these hospitals have been closed down completely and others have been turned into “hubs” providing some limited health services to day patients. [Many of these services are provided by private businesses and have to be paid for]

This means we have lost a staggering 71% of our community beds across Devon, most in the last year.( In North Devon we have only 16 beds remaining at South Molton and these are now under threat).

They now want to make further cuts to our health services and we are told when it comes to cuts to, “think the unthinkable” as they aim to cut £557 million from Devon’s health budget.

If they even think about implementing these cuts, then they should be prepared for the anger that will follow, and they should be prepared to “think the unthinkable” as far as the opposition that they will face.

All beds now closed at these community hospitals:

Bideford Community Hospital
Holsworthy Community Hospital
Tyrrell Hospital, Ilfracombe
Lynton and lynmouth Hospital
Torrington Community Hospital
Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Community Hospital
Bovey Tracey Community Hospital
Brixham Community Hospital
Dartmouth and Kingswear Community Hospital
Paignton Community Hospital
Teignmouth Community Hospital
Axminster Hospital
Budleigh Salterton Hospital
Crediton Hospital
Exeter Community Hospital (Whipton)
Honiton Hospital
Moretonhampstead Community Hospital
Okehampton Community Hospital
Ottery St Mary Hospital
Seaton Community Hospital”

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15 Sep 2017

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Accountability, DCC, Democracy, Devolution, Exeter City Council, Local Enterprise Partnership, NHS (local), Spin, Transparency

Devon and Somerset devolution deal goes wrong on Day One

“The leader of Exeter City Council has complained that he was left out of talks in London to secure devolution for Devon and Somerset.

Devon county council leaders as well as those from Plymouth and Torbay council chiefs were invited to the Westminster meeting this week with Jake Berry, the Minister responsible for devolution and coastal communities.

Following the meeting, it was announced by Devon County Council Tory leader John Hart that an agreement had been reached to devolve powers to an economy estimated to be worth £34 billion, more than Birmingham.

Peter Edwards, leader of the Labour-controlled city council, warned that the deal had no “mandate” from Exeter and revealed he had not been invited nor even told about the planned announcement.

Tory MP Gary Streeter, who organised the meeting and drew up the guest list, said he had never heard of Mr Edwards but offered an assurance that he would be “pleased” with the deal being struck.

Mr Hart emerged from the gathering on Thursday to declare that a plan had been agreed by “the two county councils, the two unitaries, all the district councils, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the two national parks and NHS representatives”.

“We have 17 local authorities working closely together on this plan with our other partners,” he added in a statement.

But hot on the heels on the press release came a strong response from Cllr Edwards.

He said: “Mr Hart went to this meeting without my knowledge. I would be interested in knowing if any other district councils took part or knew about it.

“He met me the day before and didn’t feel the need to mention it, let alone say he intended to indicate we were all signed up. I don’t have that mandate from my council – and he certainly doesn’t.

“We agree there is a need to go to Government and to unlock funding. We have been eager to see this happen and to see what is on offer.

“But we don’t agree that you should be offering up a new combined authority for Devon and Somerset blindly without knowing what any deal is. Councils could be giving up all their powers – without knowing that the prize is.

“Exeter has a strong economic agenda – it would be madness to jeopardise that without knowing what any benefits could be – or even if there are any benefits.

“My council’s position is that we could welcome devolution – but only once you know what any benefits are.”

Mr Streeter, MP for South West Devon, told Devonlive.com that there had been no snub and said “none of the districts” had been invited.

“I invited the county and unitary councils,” he added. “It was just a meeting to find out where we are in the devolution process with ministers, post election, with councils to report back.

“It was a lively successful meeting – the others will find out next week when a full report is made.”

Asked if Cllr Edwards, a longstanding councillor and city leader since 2010, was right to feel aggrieved, Mr Streeter added: “I don’t know him but I am sure he is a wonderful person.

“We don’t have dealings with Exeter or North Devon – it is very parochial. I know know who this gentleman is but once he gets the full story he’s going to be very pleased.” …”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/council-leader-angry-exeter-snub-483839

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15 Sep 2017

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

Finding an NHS GP is going to become as hard as finding an NHS dentist

Owl particularly liked the very last sentence where it showed the local CCG initially got its figures wrong!

“… The seven practices in Folkestone – which cover around 64,000 patients – have applied to NHS South Kent Coast CCG for formal list closure, saying there is a shortage of 16 full-time equivalent GPs.

They took the step of applying for formal list closure after they announced this month that 4,700 patients previously under the Folkestone East Family Practice (FEFP) would be – in the practices’ words – ‘forcibly allocated’ to practices after partners handed back their contract in May.

This is the latest in a growing number of towns that have had to close their lists en masse, including Bridlington in East Riding of Yorkshire and the Three Towns area in Ayrshire, Scotland.

This move also comes after a survey of GP practices by the BMA revealed half of practices were willing to close their lists in response to the pressures facing general practice.

The BMA said that what was happening in Folkestone was indicative of pressures across the country.

A statement issued by the practices in Folkestone said: ‘The following GP surgeries – Central Surgery, Guildhall St Surgery, Hawking & Elham Surgery, Manor Clinic, The New Surgery, Park Farm Surgery, Sandgate Rd Surgery – have taken the unprecedented action of applying to NHS South Kent Coast CCG for formal list closure in order to maintain safe patient care to their current patient population.

‘We all feel that as a consequence of the national GP shortage which has been acutely felt in Folkestone, with a shortage of 16 full time equivalent GPs we have no other option in the interest of patient safety.’

The practices say they have been highlighting the crisis for ‘over a year’ to local authorities, including the CCG, the council, the local foundation trust and the local MP.

The statement added: ‘The crisis became more acute with the handing back of the Folkestone East Family Practice (FEFP) contract which affected 4,700 people in May.

‘The practices have advised the CCG throughout that we are unable to take on more patients safely without long term investment in clinical staff as well as infrastructure to ensure the safe integration of these patients without jeopardising patient care for all residents of Folkestone.’

Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s GP Committee, said: ’This crisis in Folkestone highlights why four out of ten GP practices in England told the BMA in a survey only last week that they were considering applying to have their practice lists closed because their services are at breaking point. Many GP services across the country are being put under unsustainable pressure from rising patient demand, falling funding and staff shortages that are stopping them from providing safe, effective care, including enough appointments, to their local communities. The situation for practices is made even worse when one in the local area closes altogether and local health bodies fail to provide sufficient support for those practices remaining.

’It is unacceptable that even one surgery should be being placed in the position of having to close their practice list. We need politicians to realise that general practice needs an urgent, immediate plan to invest more resources into frontline patient services as we cannot allow GP services to slide further into crisis.’

A spokesperson for NHS South East Kent CCG said: ’If a GP practice feels it needs to close its patient list over a significant period, it must apply to us so we can consider the potential impact on patients and neighbouring practices and avoid displacing a problem elsewhere.

’We have received applications from seven practices in Folkestone to close their lists to new patients. These applications will be considered by the CCG and we will reply to the practices within 21 days.’

They added: ’To support practices to take on new patients, the CCG will pay practices an additional £42.68 per patient to support any additional costs for the first year. This compares favourably with other patient distribution investments to recognise the specific issues in Folkestone.’

Please note – this story was updated at 13:15 on 14 September 2017. The CCG originally said it would pay an additional £48 per patient, but it later corrected this to £42.68p.”

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/your-practice/practice-topics/access/all-seven-practices-in-town-set-to-close-patient-lists-en-masse/20035268.article

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14 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, EDDC, Exmouth, Honiton/ Gittisham, Independent Councillors, Inequality, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Spin

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Some councillors value party over people … and they are all Conservatives

“Knowle Council Chamber yet again rang with cries of “Shame” from the public gallery, as entrenched Party allegiance took precedence over East Devon’s wellbeing, and the Motion of No Confidence in the EDDC Leader was lost by 31 votes to 18.

Of the 32 Tory members present (there were some notable absences, including some who had distanced themselves from Diviani), one abstained and 31 voted against. The Motion, called by the Independent Group, was supported by strong and clear arguments condemning Diviani for his conduct at the Devon County Health Scrutiny Committee*. As Cllr Roger Giles (Ottery St Mary) spoke of it as “a day of shame and infamy”, adding, ”In 26 years on this Council, I cannot think of a single occasion where a Leader has gone against his Council”.

Condemnation came from Council representatives far and wide across the District, to frequent applause from the crammed-full public gallery. Cllr Ben Ingham (Lympstone), who had called the Motion, pointed out why Diviani’s conduct had failed “all of the 7 Nolan principles in one go”, indicating how “This council continues to fester under a pernicious Leader”. Cllr Val Ranger (Newton Poppleford and Harpford) reminded Members that “We relied on Paul Diviani”, and arguing that “He does not understand the role of his own Scrutiny Committee.”

Cllr Cathy Gardner (Sidmouth) sympathised with Tory Councillors now finding themselves “between a rock and a hard place” (as they’d voted unanimously for the decision that their Leader had then ignored), and asked them, “Are your principles with your Party or with the people of East Devon?”

Cllr Geoff Jung (Woodbury) put his support for the No Confidence Motion succinctly, “Cllr Diviani agreed to take our vote to the DCC meeting, but he voted the other way”. Cllr Cllr Marianne Rixson (Sidmouth-Sidford ) said, “He’s betrayed everyone. How can we trust a Leader who ignores us? When will he do it again?”. Cllr Susie Bond (Feniton & Buckerell) reported her own town council’s “unanimous and extreme dismay”. Cllr Steve Gazzard (Exmouth) reasoned that “The Leader has got it totally wrong” . Cllr Peter Burrows (Seaton) said, “Councillors should support Community first, Party second.” Cllr Peter Faithfull (Ottery St Mary) drew attention to the central issue that “The personal views of one councillor (Diviani) is not what this is about. It’s whether we can have confidence in him”.

In contrast, contributions from the Conservative Councillors supporting their Leader, seemed to be largely out of focus. Cllrs Mark Williamson , Geoff Pook, Ian Hall and others, spoke mainly about NHS difficulties, some citing personal stories at some length. There were frequent calls of “irrelevant” from the public.

The Chair made no attempt to remind them of the wording of the Motion they were there to debate, but cautioned the public on several occasions, that hecklers would be removed.

So many members of the public had registered to speak, but the time allocation of 15 minutes in total, meant that several questions could not be put. The Chair, Andrew Moulding (Axminster) did however ensure that one question to the Leader, from East Devon resident, Jane Ashton, was answered straightaway. Here it is, with the response.

Jane Ashton : “When members of the public stand up for democracy, honesty and representation, to accuse them of being politically motivated is disrespectful. Would you acknowledge that?”

Paul Diviani replied that he “doesn’t recall himself ever saying these words. I would not like to be seen to be disrespectful in any way.”

The Leader’s reply might perplex the public who were there last night for the second Extra Ordinary Meeting concerning the fate of the Exmouth Fun Park.

Full report on both Extra Ordinary Meetings on the Devonlive news:

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/council-leader-survives-vote-no-473700”

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14 Sep 2017

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Accountability, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Phil Twiss, Sarah Randall Johnson

NHS given 6 weeks to EMPTY beds – not CLOSE them. If we don’t have enough beds, blame Diviani

Diviani’s excuse for not (at least) buying time for our closed community hospitals was that 14 such pleas had been refused so ours was unlikely to succeed. Not CERTAIN to succeed – unlikely. BUT the referral would have

(a) bought us time and ensured our beds stayed open over winter, and
(b) forced the CCG to give us MUCH more information about their numbers.

IF/WHEN we run out of winter beds the BLAME will lie fairly and squarely on Diviani, Randall-Johnson and all those Tories who voted for bed cuts at DCC – PLUS Twiss – who although he voted for referral at DCC, according to news reports, supported his Leader at EDDC last night.

“Hospitals and GP surgeries will struggle to cope this winter as a severe flu outbreak heads towards Britain, the head of the NHS has warned.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has given the health service six weeks to empty beds in order to avoid chaos in A&E as more elderly people than usual get sick.

He also told NHS leaders that he would have a “hard look” at why life expectancy growth is slowing, after The Times revealed this week that progress in Britain has stalled while people in other countries live ever longer.

Theresa May has been briefed about health chiefs’ fears of a winter crisis after hospital wards ended the quieter summer months already dangerously full. Now Mr Stevens has warned that after Australia experienced its worst flu season for many years during the southern hemisphere winter, the virus is likely to strike Britain hard.

NHS flu vaccination will shortly get under way and while it will include the H3 strain dominant in Australia, health chiefs never know in advance how well the jab will protect patients. Last year the vaccine did not work in the elderly but protected children.”

Source: Times (pay wall)

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13 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, EDDC, Honiton/ Gittisham, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

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Diviani no confidence vote defeated – Tories stand by their man, even though he ignored them in DCC health vote

THE MOTION OF NO CONFIDENCE FAILS KEY EVENT
For – 18
Against – 31
Abstain – 1
shouts of shame from the public

Diviani’s statement show in photographs in the article along with councillors comments

Mayor of Seaton said:

“The stance of the closure of the hospital beds is well-known in trying to get them saved. On April 1 at a meeting, Cllr Diviani attended a meeting and was vociferous in wanting the beds to remain open.

But I don’t know what evidence that he has seen that supports the closures, particularly about supporting the care at home model.

I don’t see evidence that rapid response is working 24 hours a day.

I was disappointed with how the DCC meeting was chaired, but I couldn’t listen to Cllr Diviani as his microphone was switched off for the whole meeting.

CCG still not provided any compelling evidence about the new model”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/vote-no-confidence-east-devon-470930

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13 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Hugo Swire, Misc, Neil Parish, NHS (local), Paul Diviani

A response to Councillor Shaw’s response to Councillor Allen’s response to Diviani’s vote at DCC!

Comment post to Councillor Shaw’s post:

“If councillors like Mike Allen want to distance themselves from Paul Diviani and regain some respect from the electorate, the first step will be to vote against him at today’s council meeting.

Any councillor voting against the motion of no confidence, then they are aligning themselves with Diviani’s anti-democratic approach of ignoring the electorate, his own council, and other councils he was supposed to represent, and they are showing everyone that they are no better than he is.

And if Mike Allen was relying on Hugo Swi[r]ne and Neil Pari[s]ah to fix the NHS issues in East Devon he was backing the wrong horse.”

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13 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), Independent Councillors, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Sarah Randall Johnson, Scrutiny, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

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Independent councillor challenges Councillor Mike Allen’s letter on Tories and NHS

Independent East Devon Alliance councillor Martin Shaw (Seaton and Colyton) makes this observation on EDDC Tory councillor Mike Allen’s attempt to distance other EDDC and DCC councillors from Leader Diviani’s actions which led to the vote of no confidence meeting at EDDC tonight.

(Assemble Knowle 5.30 pm if you wish to make your presence felt for this meeting)

““It is not credible to say that Diviani acted alone – he may not have consulted other district councils, but remember that three of the East Devon Tories on Health Scrutiny (Randall Johnson and Richard Scott as well as Diviani) voted for ditching the hospital beds, with only Twiss against and Jeff Trail absent. Even at the time of the County Council elections in May, E Devon Conservatives advocated ‘bedless hospitals’, so Mike Allen’s story doesn’t add up. If they back Diviani tonight they will be consistent with their party’s betrayal of Honiton and Seaton.””

Letter referred to in post below and above:

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13 Sep 2017

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Accountability, DCC, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Phil Twiss, Sarah Randall Johnson

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Tory councillor puts many Tory cats in front of a single Tory Diviani pidgeon!

Tonight sees the vote of no confidence in EDDC Leader Paul Diviani, who, with his former EDDC pal and DCC Councillor Sarah Randall-Johnson, sabotaged a last-ditch attempt to keep beds at Honiton and Seaton hospitals open.

Now EDDC Tory Councillor Mike Allen has written an extraordinary letter in today’s Midweek Herald claiming Diviani acted alone at DCC and, in fact, all other Tory councillors at EDDC backed the action to try to keep the beds open.

We know Diviani acted alone when he voted at DCC, as he was supposed to consult all the other councils in this part of Devon (8 councils in all) about his vote, which he admitted he did not do (see post yesterday on his censure for this).

So, tonight he faces a vote of “no confidence”.

What will Tory councillors do?

Diviani allegedly refused to follow their unanimous instruction about how to vote at DCC. Which councillors will vote to keep him in his job and why?

Could it be like the national Tory situation – where Mrs May stays in power only because her party has no-one better to offer so her bodge-jobbing is the best bodge-jobbing they can muster?

Or will we someone emerge from the shadows to oust the Leader – and, if so, will it be an improvement?

We note that Councillor Twiss voted against the motion that Diviani voted for at DCC (though maybe because he valued his Honiton DCC seat more than the community beds). Is he waiting in the wings?

Tonight will tell.

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13 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Privatisation

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So, this is what you get when you destroy the NHS

PRESS RELEASE:

“Shocking news is just emerging from the Midlands. Nottinghamshire is one of the first 8 ‘Accountable Care Systems’ (ACS) which the Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships (STPs) are morphing into.

We’ve just discovered that US Centene Corporation via Capita, has landed a contract with this ACS for upwards of £2.7m of our public money, to come and impose the discredited public/private healthcare system on the area. This involves a health management company running an area’s entire health service and hospital buildings, paid for with a mix of private and public money, with the Nottinghamshire ACS completely ignoring the fact that Ribera Salud system, which Centene half owns and is setting up here, is being investigated by police in Valencia for corruption,

Centene Corporation runs the publicly funded Medicaid programmes in 20 states and an Insurance business for low income people who have lost their Medicaid status. Remember Insurance companies are there for shareholders not for patients and do everything they can to avoid paying out. Is that what we want here?

If this is happening in Nottinghamshire, what is happening in the other 7 ACSs? Healthcare does not fit with the market.

We do not want to increase health inequalities.

The US has the worst healthcare in the developed world, exporting that here via Valencia is unacceptable!

The UK is the 6th richest counry in the world and CAN afford a proper health service.

Please help us STOP the STPs, by signing and sharing the petition.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-plans-to-dismantle-our-nhs

“

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12 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Claire Wright, DCC, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), Independent Councillors, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Sarah Randall Johnson

“Devon County Council health scrutiny committee district representative [Diviani] must consult before voting”

From the blog of Claire Wright.

If you wish to show your disapproval of the man and his conduct (see below), turn up at EDDC HQ, Knowle, Sidmouth tomorrow evening from 5.30 pm onwards for the vote of “no confidence” in him – brought by Independent members of EDDC.

Watch and note which Tory councillors cave in and continue to back the man who neither represents us nor cares about us.

“The district council member of Devon County Council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee will need to consult before speaking and voting, it has been recommended today.

The Procedures Committee (which I am a member of) met this afternoon and debated the fallout of the controversial July health scrutiny meeting where the chair ended up as the subject of a Standards Committee hearing, following a vote against a referral to the Secretary of State over the loss of 72 community hospital beds.

Paul Diviani, leader of EDDC, also voted against a referral to the Secretary of State, despite his own council robustly opposing the bed cuts.

His actions have been much criticised by local people, who quite reasonably, believe that Cllr Diviani did not carry out his responsibility fully.

If he had voted in line with the views of his own council a referral on the closure of 72 hospital beds, would now be winging its way to the Secretary of State for Health, as the vote was so close – 7/6.

Later, Cllr Diviani (who is now facing a vote of no confidence at a specially convened meeting tomorrow evening) admitted that he had not asked any district council for its position on hospital bed closures.

At this afternoon’s Procedures Committee, it was proposed, seconded by me, that the district council member of the health scrutiny committee, should be required to “collate” the views of local councils before speaking and voting on health scrutiny agenda items.

It’s a nonsense that an appointed representative should not actually need to represent the views of local councils so this move should mean that in future, the representative will fully and fairly discharge his duty.

The recommendation will go before full council next month.”

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

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12 Sep 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Democracy, East Devon Tories, EDDC, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, NHS (local), Paul Diviani, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

TOMORROW 6 PM: “Motion of No Confidence in EDDC Leader, this Weds 13 Sept, 6pm at Knowle. Considerable public presence expected.”

“With the BBC Spotlight report (03/09/17)* and considerable coverage in the local press, most East Devon constituents will be aware of the Extra Ordinary meeting this Wednesday 13th September, to consider a motion of no confidence in Paul Diviani for voting against referring hospital closures to the Secretary of State.

The meeting will take place in the Council Chamber, Knowle, starting at 6pm. Good attendance of the public is anticipated. The first agenda item is public speaking . Those wishing to speak should register on arrival, by completing the speaker request slip ( with topic, name and contact details) available on table just inside Council Chamber, and handing it in to the secretary.

For precise details of the motion, see

‘Motion of no confidence lodged against district council leader’, reports today’s Sidmouth Herald

‘Motion of no confidence lodged against district council leader’, reports today’s Sidmouth Herald
* The Spotlight report, by Hamish Marshall, has been captured on https://www.facebook.com/eastdevonalliance/”

https://saveoursidmouth.com/2017/09/11/motion-of-no-confidence-in-eddc-leader-this-weds-13-sept-6pm-at-knowle-considerable-public-presence-expected/

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Head of NHS says it needs more winter beds! Already blaming councils for potential problems

Hot on the heels of the closure of Honiton and Seaton community hospitals comes this from the head of the NHS:

“… The southern hemisphere has just experienced its worst flu season in many years, and previous experience suggests Britain may be hit by the same H3 strain this winter.

The World Health Organisation is now reviewing the efficacy of the flu vaccine used in Australia and New Zealand to prepare for the last winter, Stevens said. The NHS’s own annual campaign is due to start within weeks, using a vaccine ordered months ago. Questions may now be raised about whether it will prove effective if the same H3 strain arrives in Britain.

Putting the NHS on high alert, Stevens told bosses to do everything they could to ensure that the health service is was as well-prepared as possible to deal with a potential spike in people falling ill, including reducing hospital overcrowding so that flu victims can be admitted.

Australia in grip of worst flu season yet, with experts saying vaccinate now
“For the next three, four, five months the top priority for every leader, every part of the NHS, is ensuring that the NHS goes into winter in a strong a position as possible.

“We know we’re going to have more hospital beds open, we know we are better prepared, but we also know that the pressures are going to be real. We know that there is a great deal of work to be done over the next six to eight weeks with our partners in local authorities to put the NHS on the right footing for the winter ahead,” Stevens said.

He said he was reviewing the Australia and New Zealand experience, where hospitals had closed to new patients and reported very long waiting times.

“The evidence is we are likely to have a more pressurised flu season this year,” he said.

NHS England has already committed to freeing up between 2,000 and 3,000 extra beds to help avoid a repeat of last year’s struggles, which led the British Red Cross to describe the chaotic state of hospitals as a humanitarian crisis, by clearing out “delayed discharge” patients who are medically fit to go home but cannot safely be discharged, often because a social care package has not been put in place for them.

Stevens said, however, that the NHS’s ability to meet that pledge, which will assume extra urgency in light of the fears about flu, was out of its hands and down to action taken by local councils, which have been given £1bn more this year to improve social care. It is unclear how many beds have been freed up so far. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/12/nhs-boss-puts-service-on-high-alert-in-case-of-heavy-winter-flu-burden

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11 Sep 2017

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Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Rural communications, Rural communities

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“Health services top rural concern” but there are many other concerns too

“Rural residents are more concerned about declining healthcare services than any other issue, reveal the preliminary results of a wide-ranging survey.
Health topped the list of the topics of most concern to rural residents – ahead of public transport, rural housing and rural crime.

The survey of 1901 people was conducted on behalf of Rural England Community Interest Company by researchers from the Countryside and Community Research Institute, based at the University of Gloucestershire, and in partnership with the Rural Services Network.

The survey – believed to be the largest of its kind for many years – highlighted a range of issues with health services of most concern to respondents.

Full findings are due to be published later this autumn.

However, the preliminary ‘headline’ – summary results are being published at this year’s annual Rural Services Network Rural Conference – held at the University of Gloucestershire’s Cheltenham campus on Wednesday, 6 September.
RSN chair Cecilia Motley said: “The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Infrastructure of Success – New Routes to Economic Growth’.

“What we mean by ‘Infrastructure’ is all those things essential to economic and community well-being.

“So we include health services and care, reliable, affordable fast speed broadband and mobile connectivity; affordable homes to meet the needs of local people; reasonable public transport; accessible training and development opportunities; good quality schools and the accessibility and affordability of all of the essential services provided by local government.
“These preliminary results are very timely to aid discussions at the conference.

“Confirmation that health – together I suspect with social care – is the main preoccupation for rural communities will surprise many people who might think other issues are more pressing, as past surveys (by others) have shown.”

“This early evidence of concern about healthcare provision comes at a time when many countryside communities face the withdrawal of vital GP services, NHS Service re-configurations and general recruitment difficulties. NHS providers are already expressing grave concerns about what they are describing as the worse winter in recent history.

“Although rural residents have other concerns – such as lack of affordable housing, poor public transport, often non-existent mobile and broadband connectivity and fears over the future of rural schools – health provision, social care and accessibility has risen sharply up the rural agenda.”

The aim of the survey was to canvass rural opinion with a view to creating, for the first time it is believed, a statistically valid representative panel of people to highlight the need for the adequate provision of rural public services and other policy issues affecting rural areas.

Largely rural shire areas score badly on some Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicators, according to a recent report by the Rural England Community Interest Company.

This includes the provision of health checks, mental health services, access to health screening and late HIV diagnosis.

In terms of rural public transport, the survey findings come as little surprise with significant reductions in public transport services across rural areas as a result of government cuts in financial support for local government services.

And when it comes to rural housing, campaigners have long warned that high prices mean people are often unable to afford to buy their own home in the communities where they were born.

Meanwhile, a National Rural Crime Network report in 2015 warned that crime in the countryside was costing as much as £800m annually – putting further pressure on already stretched police forces.

Councillor Motley said: “There is a lot of concern among rural communities about the impact of public service cuts on services generally.

“Rural areas have always had thinner services than in other areas and funding cuts are hitting those services very hard – rural people, businesses and communities are still having a very difficult time.”

http://www.rsnonline.org.uk/services/health-services-are-top-concern-–-survey