Salford: Blears branded ‘hypocrite’ in closure row

Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears was yesterday accused of hypocrisy after joining protests against the closure of the maternity unit of a hospital in her constituency – reports the Yorkshire Post.

The Labour Party chair insisted she supports the government’s plans to "reconfigure" services in the NHS but said this should not stop her from opposing a particular closure as a constituency MP.

The maternity unit as Salford’s Hope Hospital is slated for closure as part of a reorganisation of mothers’ and children’s services agreed earlier this month by primary care trusts (PCTs) in the Greater Manchester area.

The changes are part of a programme of reconfiguration of the NHS, which chief executive David Nicholson has said will lead to 60 closures – mainly of maternity and casualty units – in the coming years.

Campaigners at Health Emergency accused Ms Blears of riding on the back of local protests while being complicit in government policies which are driving closures.

"There are 29 hospitals up and down the country facing the immediate threat of cuts and closure to key services in 2007", said head of campaigns Geoff Martin.

"If the closure of maternity services is wrong in Salford its wrong in all those other parts of the country as well, and Blears should be piling on pressure to ditch the cuts policy or she should resign."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "This is astonishing behaviour from Hazel Blears – you cannot back a policy on the national stage and then campaign against it in your own constituency."

- Article contributed by: B.S., Hull

North Yorks: Furious GPs attack health chiefs over ‘panic’ cuts

Health chiefs are ordering swingeing cuts in health services serving 750,000 people in Yorkshire in a "panic" attempt to tackle a dramatically-worsening financial crisis – reports the Yorkshire Post.

Sick patients referred to hospital could be sent back home, injured casualties turned away from A&E and people forced to endure waits of up to 16 weeks for operations under plans drawn up by NHS managers in North Yorkshire.

Last night family doctors claimed the emergency package was a "panic measure" in the face of urgent demands from Ministers to make savings, and warned patient care would suffer.

North Yorkshire’s newly formed Primary Care Trust (PCT) had faced a deficit of £24m in 2006-07 but officials now believe the cash crisis has significantly worsened and it could run up debts of £45m unless action is taken.

Measures being put in place are:

• New assessments of emergency admissions to hospitals in Scarborough, Northallerton and York;
  
• About half of patients in A&E being told to seek alternative help from walk-in centres, minor injury units and GPs;
  
• The imposition of minimum waits of 12 to 16 weeks for patients requiring routine surgery and 8 weeks for outpatients;
  
• The suspension of a range of treatments including joint injections, a ban on some investigative procedures and curbs on IVF treatment;
  
• A ban on some drug treatments and non-essential follow-up hospital appointments.

John Givans, secretary of North Yorkshire Local Medical Committee which represents GPs said they were "horrified" at the package.

He said: "This will undoubtedly cause patients to suffer increased pain and I can see all sorts of risks associated with it.

"The whole thing is a panic measure as a result of pressure from the government."

Cllr Sue Galloway, executive member for adult social services on Lib Dem-run York Council said: "It’s no use passing the buck because local authorities are cash-strapped as well. Already our services are over-stretched and we just cannot take people on. People are going to be in really, really desperate straits."

Selby Labour MP John Grogan said: "My fear is that unless a grip is got on the financial situation, the next step would be to propose very significant bed and job cuts, which would be completely unacceptable."

In a letter to health chiefs, chief executive of the troubled PCT Janet Soo-Chung said: "We fully appreciate the difficulties that the introduction of these measures entail. However, the financial position of the PCT is such that there is absolutely no alternative programme if we are to avoid even more difficult decisions in the near future."

Of course, one alternative would be for the government to stop wasting vast sums by sending it to the European Union, and bail out troubled PCTs like this one with a tiny fraction of the money that would be saved.

Sadly the government cares more about propping up the wasteful and fraud-ridden EU than it does about preventing these hospital cuts.

If Selby MP John Grogan votes to hand the extra £2.5bn a year Tony Blair has gifted the EU when it comes before Parliament, unfortunately the same will have to be said about him.

That’s unlikely to go down well with voters come the next election.

- Article contributed by: B.S., Hull

Yorkshire: NHS facing more pain after dental fees blunder

Cash-stricken NHS trusts in Yorkshire face another blow amid fears a government blunder in calculating controversial dental charges will leave a multi-million black hole in budgets.

A survey by the Yorkshire Post has found health chiefs in the region are predicting losses of up to £11m in revenue from the new dental charges introduced in April.

The huge shortfalls are being felt across England.

If the same pattern were to be repeated nationwide it could leave the NHS facing a dental charge deficit of more than £100m in 2006-07 – on top of an escalating crisis in health service finances which is already leading to big cuts in care.

Last night dentists’ leaders warned the shortfall could be made up in future years by big increases in dental charges.

The total loss in Yorkshire is predicted to be £10.9m, although the figure excludes East Riding.

The biggest predicted deficit is in the Bradford district, where health chiefs estimate they will be £2.4m below target by March.

Sheffield primary care trust (PCT) could run up losses of £2m.

The losses are exacerbating the NHS financial crisis. In latest estimates, NHS trusts in Yorkshire are predicting they will plunge £129m into the red by the end of March.

Scarborough dentist John Renshaw warned there were dangers charges would go up. He said: "If PCTs are not getting this money, then it’s going to hit them big time when they’re already in trouble.

"You can see what will happen. Charges will go up to make up the shortfall and the trouble is it’s already fairly expensive to get treatment on the NHS.

"It will cause further damage to services in the future as it will get more difficult to get affordable care under the NHS."

Hounslow: Budget cuts could mean loss of six community teachers

Anger is brewing over council proposals to cut funding for six valuable community teachers working in Hounslow schools - reports the Richmond & Twickenham Times.

The community outreach officers currently help organise activities - including fun trips, adult education classes and evening clubs - at the Beavers Community, Green Dragon, Berkeley, William Hogarth and Edward Pauling primary schools, as well as Sparrow Farm Infants school.

But, as part of £1.3million cuts to be made to next year's children's services and life long learning budget, Hounslow Council has proposed cutting funding for the officers in a bid to save £350,000 over three years.

It is believed that alternative funds might be available to allow these workers to carry on their work, but some teachers and parents said they still feared the worst.

Kim Osborne, whose eight-year-old daughter Broghan attends Beavers Community, has written to all the parents at the school asking them to support her fight to keep the funding.

In her letter, Mrs Osborne writes: "Without our valuable community teacher, school funds will dwindle, families will not get the opportunity to socialise, our children will not be able to continue taking part in fantastic educational events, the PTA may fold and teachers may not get as much vital support as they would like from parents. The school will never be the same again.

"We cannot allow this to happen."

A petition has been placed at The Hub community centre and in shops around Hounslow by Mrs Osborne.

Mrs Christine Haflam, acting headteacher at Berkeley Primary, said her school would "lose out a great deal" if community outreach officer Stephanie Collis had to leave.

"I think we would either be working really hard to maintain the work that Stephanie does, or some of these services might not happen," she said.

In its report on the proposed cuts, the council recognised that "these community officers are based in some of the most deprived areas of the borough and perform a valuable role in involving parents with education".

A final decision on the fate of the teachers could be made as late as March 2007 when the council sets its final budget for the next year.

At the time of going to press, Hounslow Council could not be reached for comment.

Other possible changes proposed in the Children's Services and Lifelong Learning report:

1) Increasing school meals by 10p from 2007, raising an extra £100,000 per year for the Hounslow council's coffers.

But a council report warned there was "the risk of a reduced take-up of meals if prices are increased".

2) Grants for voluntary language classes could be cut to save £33,000 a year.

The classes help residents to learn English.

A report examining all possible budget cuts said that "opportunities for ethnic- minority communities would be reduced at some cost to the council's policies for social cohesion" if the classes were stopped.

3) The Ride children's home in Brentford could be closed to cut £200,000 a year from the budget.

Cared-for kids would be placed in other facilities and staff would be made redundant, the council's report said.

The under-utilised home is in a prime residential area, the council noted, and could be sold to generate a "significant" amount of money.

Mr Valery Agborsangaya, manager of The Ride, did not wish to comment on the proposed closure.

York: Fears for city as funding cuts force review of flooding defences

A review of York’s flood defences is under way as concerns grow that the city could be put at risk by multi-million pound cuts in government funding – reports the Yorkshire Post.

The Environment Agency is currently battling to make multi-million pound cuts to meet government deadlines.

York Council has launched the review of contingency plans put in place in the wake of the 2000 disaster to ensure the flood-prone city is adequately protected while having to contend with the planning financial cuts.

The River Ouse burst its banks earlier this month following torrential downpours and parts of the city remained under water this week.

Chairman of the council’s scrutiny management committee Madeleine Kirk said: "There is a financial crisis in Westminster and vital defences in York look as though they could be put at risk. We can only hope that any reduction in funding does not have disastrous consequences for the people of York."

"It seems ludicrous that at a time when we are being warned of the danger of global warming the government is looking to reduce funding for flood prevention."

880 police stations have closed since 1992

Almost 900 police stations have closed in the past 14 years, reports the Daily Mail.

Figures from the Home Office showed 880 have shut in England and Wales since 1992.

But the real number is almost certainly higher because some larger forces have only provided figures for recent years.

Of the 880 closures, a total of 516 were under Labour, while 364 were under John Major's Tory government.

They have been partly counter-balanced by the opening of 376 stations in the same period, leaving a net loss of 504 stations since 1992.

However, many of the remaining police stations offer only a part-time service to the public, often only open 9am to 5pm during the week and closed at weekends.

Thousands more post offices will go

The implications of cuts to government subidies for post offices are being highlighted today by the Daily Telegraph.

The paper is reporting that somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 face the axe out of a total network of 14,500, according to Whitehall sources.

Rural areas are likely to be hit hardest by such cuts, with the local post office often playing a central role in community life. More than 4,000 offices have closed in the past six years and more than 5,000 in the past 10 years. Many of the remaining 14,500 lose money, particularly those in rural areas.

The Government provides a £150 million annual subsidy, but this subsidy is being cut causing the closures.

Royal Mail executives are understood to have given ministers a detailed breakdown detailing how many offices will have to close if the £150 million-a-year subsidy is cut to various levels.

The question is why is this subsidy being cut? It isn't even 10 days worth of the cash Tony Blair has promised to pay the EU from next year - at £115 million a week (net). Were we to Stop the Cheques there'd be money for an increased subsidy and much more besides.

If only the government could get its priorities right and start looking after essential needs like post offices rather than lavishing billions more on an already wealthy but wasteful EU.

Colchester: £4m health cuts fears

Mental health services in north Essex face cuts of up to £4 million, reports the Colchester Evening Gazette.

Beds could go at key outpatient units like The Lakes in Colchester and Peter Bruff ward at Clacton Hospital, as NHS bosses aim to plug budget black holes.

North East Essex, Mid Essex and West Essex primary care trusts (PCTs) are all reviewing the services they commission from North Essex Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust.

As well as Colchester and Tendring beds, areas under "particular scrutiny" include home visits and long-term care for elderly patients.

The blow comes hard on the heels of evidence that already too little is being done to help those with mental illness, which affects one in four of the UK population.

An official study revealed that an average of 52 people a year – one a week – are killed by violent patients released into the community.

A lack of support at home was blamed for figures showing 1,300 mentally ill people commit suicide every year.

A spokesman for the Mid Essex PCT said: "The PCT is looking to all its partner NHS organisations to endorse a joint approach to achieving efficiency savings."

Colchester MP Bob Russell said: "I believe what we are witnessing is further evidence that the NHS is in financial crisis."

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

London: Health cash row in parliament

The escalating row over NHS funding in South London was taken to the House of Commons.

MPs Simon Hughes and Kate Hoey quizzed Health Minister Patricia Hewitt about the future of health-care last week.

Even though Lambeth and Southwark's primary care trusts performed well in their annual ratings, their budgets will be slashed and services hit.

Mr Hughes is spearheading the campaign to stop the cuts which will mean less cash spent across the services, with sexual health services the worst hit.

Last month he met with Ms Hewitt but said he was disappointed with the outcome.

During the heated Commons debate last week, Mr Hughes asked: "What changes in the budgets for 2006/07 for NHS trusts serving Lambeth and Southwark have been agreed?"

Ms Hewitt replied: "I asked NHS London to look again at budgets in Lambeth and Southwark. "It has confirmed that after other factors have been taken into account, Lambeth and Southwark primary care trusts were asked to contribute less to the London-wide risk reserves for this year than most other London PCTs."

Mr Hughes told the Commons he had thought that after meeting Mrs Hewitt a "fairer" allocation of money would be agreed.

He pointed out that despite Lambeth and Southwark being among the two most deprived boroughs in the country, an estimated £23million would be chopped from the budgets for Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley trusts.

However,the Secretary of State answered that Southwark and Lambeth would get the money back once the other badly performing London PCTs were up to speed.

Until then Lambeth and Southwark PCTs will have to continue to bail them out.

After the debate, Mr Hughes said:"I and the other South London MPs are upset that it appears the Government are refusing to budge on this."

Presumably both MPs Kate Hoey and Simon Hughes will be voting against the EU budget deal - a clear waste of billions of pounds a year of public money.

The government plans to give this money to an organisation that, for twelve years in a row, hasn't been able to get auditors approval for its accounts, while there's clearly not enough money to go around London's NHS trusts.

Blocking the EU budget deal and making this saving would be an obvious source of much more money than is needed to prevent these NHS cuts.

Trust warns it may axe leisure services

A trust formed last year by Edmundsbury Borough Council to run leisure services in west Suffolk has warned it might axe services unless the council contributes extra funds – reports the East Anglian Daily Times.

Council members have been warned that the trust, which runs leisure centres in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill, needs an extra £79,400 to cover unforeseen cost hikes.

Without a cash injection, proposed cuts include closing the football school at Haverhill Leisure Centre, ending the agreement with Haverhill Lawn Tennis Club for use of courts, closing the creche facilities at both Haverhill Leisure Centre and Bury Leisure Centre.

The other option would be hiking prices at the centres by 6%, rather than the 3% planned.
The trust’s acting chief executive Alison Bowyer said the main cause of the problems was a 33% hike in energy costs, which was unforeseen by the trust.

West Suffolk MP Richard Spring said: "Obviously I would be very concerned if sport and leisure services were impaired in any way. It is a key element of giving people things to do that are healthy and productive."

Article contributed by: Foster, (IP19 1QB)

Elderly face an end to home care

Blaming a "funding shortfall and the widening impact of NHS cuts", Britain's social care watchdog reports today that hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people are facing the withdrawal of their home care services.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection report highlights more than 100 councils limiting care services to only the most dependent people, leaving without help those regarded as unable to manage "several" care tasks like washing, dressing, cleaning or shopping, highlights The Times.

North Yorkshire, Northumberland and West Berkshire are singled out as areas where councils have already started restricting home care services to the most critical cases.

Local authorities are blaming government grants for social services failing to keep up with growing numbers of elderly people, along with extra burdens being placed on their finances by NHS cutbacks.

Grant shortfall leads to cutbacks of £22m

The government was last night accused of short-changing Suffolk after it received an annual grant which will spark £22 million of county council cutbacks – reports the East Anglian Daily Times.

Although the figure was roughly what the council had expected, the grant is not high enough to offer a last-minute reprieve to the services earmarked for cutbacks earlier in the year.

Jane Storey, portfolio holder for resources, finance and performance, said the authority would be "deluding" itself if it thought much bigger grant increases would be given the next year, meaning more savings would have to be made in the future.

She said: "We have plans to cover most of the shortfall by changes to the way we deliver services. However there will be an impact on services in some areas, as we will have to choose between what we want to do and what we can afford."

Reg Hartles, chairman of Protest Against Council Tax Suffolk, said he blamed the need for the controversial milti-million pound savings 90% on the government.

He said: "This is making life more and more difficult for the council - £22 million is a hell of a lot of money and a lot of worthy causes will suffer for this."

- Article contributed by: IP19 0QB

Brighton: City's £20m cuts shock

Town hall chiefs are being forced to consider more than £20 million of cuts to services to avoid council tax rises of up to 30 per cent over the next four years - reports The Argus.

Brighton and Hove City Council is already considering slashing the budgets for street cleaning and social services after revealing it needed to claw back £3 million of debt accrued so far this financial year.

But the authority is predicting a freeze in Government funding - meaning huge pressures on every department's budget.

The news led campaigners last night to call for a root-and-branch review of local government funding.

To avoid slashing services, council tax would have to increase by 4.9% in April next year, 8%the year after, then 7% in 2009/10 and 6% in 2010/11.

This would result in the average Band D household paying an extra £400 a year by April 2010, or £1,661 in total.

But ministers limit council tax increases to 5% and a council spokesman said it did not plan to go beyond the cap - meaning savings of more than £20 million will be needed.

Before the end of the financial year, the council is set to close a home for five children with autism, stop the night-time street cleaning service and cut just under £1 million from adult social services, including scores of council employees not being replaced when they leave.

Council leader Simon Burgess also warned of job losses.

Green councillor Keith Taylor said he would be pushing for charities and not-for-profit organisations to take on more of the council's work.

He said: "We cannot carry on delivering the same for less. It is impossible to carry on making cuts."

Colchester: Evicted special needs nursery faces closure

Owners of a ‘lifeline’ special needs nursery say they have no choice but to close when council chiefs evict them, according to the Colchester Evening Gazette.

The Stepping Stones Nursery cares for more than 80 children each week, coming from as far afield as Norfolk, Suffolk and the London boroughs. It provides vital respite care for families and an important social opportunity for otherwise excluded youngsters.

The nursery, set up 16 years ago, has been asked to relocate by the council from its home at the Wilson Marriage Centre in Colchester. The transfer of adult education classes to the centre following the closure of Grey Friars College will mean there’s no longer room for the nursery.

As the nursery has nowhere to relocate to, it will be unable to continue providing care.

A special £100,000 sensory garden and room funded by community groups at the centre, will be wasted if the nursery is forced to leave.

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

Colchester: Library cuts leave estate on the shelf

Plans for cuts in mobile library services will mean axeing trips to a fast-growing estate, reports the Colchester Evening Gazette.

Library bosses have also indefinitely postponed plans for a permanent libraery in High Woods, Colchester. Community services supremo Iris Pummell confirmed it would not be built, as there was no cash available.

Colchester councillor Gerard Oxford (Ind, High Woods) has said the double whammy would penalise elderly and disabled residents, and undermine work to combat illiteracy.

A number of other mobile library stops are set to go, including one at Brinkley Grove Primary School.

Brinkley Grove head teacher Gillian Jasper said: "The mobile library plays a key role in helping our children to enjoy reading and developing their reading skills. Lots of children have benefited greatly from having regular and easy access.

Mr Oxford added: "It’s very frustrating because this is only going to save them a few thousand pounds for each stop."

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

Poole: ‘Tell Tony to give more’

Poole Council leader Cllr Brian Leverett has issued a plea to local residents for help in getting fairer funding for the district from central government.

Unless funding improves, Cllr Leverett claims, there will have to be drastic cuts in essential services, such as social services, in the future.

Concerned that every year Poole is falling further and further behind, the Borough is now asking people to make their feelings known.

Along with Cllr Leverett, deputy leader Cllr Ann Stribley said: "I want to say to the people of Poole: write to Tony Blair – the buck stops at 10 Downing Street – and express in their own words their total dissatisfaction."

The inequality can be graphically demonstrated closer to home where borough boundaries split roads in half.

In Spicer Lane, Bearwood, people living on the Poole side get £168 per head while Bournemouth residents get £294.

Cllr Stribley said it made no sense that Poole received £128 less to spend per child on education than Bournemouth.

Warning that the future looks bleak, Cllr Leverett’s budget forecast now is for a £3-3.5m shortfall.

Trust set to wield axe again

Essential medical services look to be axed as the Mid Essex Primary Care Trust (PCT) tackles its £24.5 million debt, reports the Colchester Evening Gazette.

Last month the Trust admitted that it had inherited £16.5 million of debt when it was formed from the Witham, Braintree and Halstead Care Trust in October.

But a new financial report has revealed the Trust is expected to be £24.5 million in the red at the end of this financial year.

External auditors KPMG, who have been brought in to address the crisis, will be looking at cutting and merging services in order to bring the deficit down before the end of March 2007.

Mental health services are thought to be particularly under the spotlight for cuts.

Sheila Bremner, chief executive of the Mid Essex PCT said: "We must do absolutely everything we possibly can to curtail spending in the near future. It is likely there will be a number of significant and difficult decisions to be taken by the board."

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

Threat to outdoor pursuits centres

Special centres that help to "transform the lives" of vulnerable youngsters through outdoor pursuits face possible closure due to county council budget cuts – reports the Colchester Evening Gazette.

Essex County Council admitted today that funding for the centres at East Mersea, Lamarsh and Bradwell-on-Sea and other sites in Essex was "under review".

Amid fears that too many children are overweight, lacking in job skills and at risk of turning to crime, service manager Martin Lowe warned that county officials were looking to withdraw help at a time when youngsters needed it most.

The centres receive about 21% of their funding from the council, with the rest coming through fees charged to schools, youth groups and participating youngsters.

Cuts would inevitably push up such fees and end up excluding the youngsters who could benefit the most.

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

No cash to repair historic bridge

Essex County Council has admitted it does not have the money to fund repairs to a weak historical bridge.

Saul’s Bridge in Witham was due to be updated two years ago. In July the county council said it had set aside £150,000 to strengthen the bridge, but then put the repairs on hold.

Concerns have been raised that lorries are flouting the 7.5 tonne weight restriction on the bridge. Yet English Heritage has said the bridge must stay where it is to preserve its historical significance.

Witham town mayor Phil Barlow said: "Until that is done, any ideas we have to improve congestion cannot be carried out."

Rodney Bass, Essex County Council cabinet member for highways said: " It is a question of working off a limited budget, and there is only a limited amount of things we can do."

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

Hounslow: Green energy as school plans 15-metre turbines

A Cranford college got a step closer to its dreams of green energy this week when Hounslow Council said it could put up two wind turbines – reports the Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth Times.

The 15-metre tall turbines planned for Cranford Community College will cost around £50,000 to install but should substantially reduce power bills and help the environment.

Julie Spiller, senior laboratory technician at the college, said that the turbines would also be a helpful tool to give pupils practical lessons in sustainable energy.

The machines will be connected to college computers so that youngsters studying geography or science can keep an eye on how much power is being generated.

If MPs weren’t going to vote £2.5bn extra a year away to the EU, 100,000 wind turbines like this could be installed on public buildings across the country every year, making a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

Surely if MPs were serious about tackling what they call the serious threat of global warming, this is what they’d choose to spend that money on.

Instead they choose to lecture us all about making drastic changes to our lifestyles, while throwing public money that could help combat the problem away on the EU.

There’s a serious credibility problem looming for MPs on climate change if they vote this £2.5bn extra every year away to the EU.

Keen MPs help victims of Farepak

Husband and wife MPs Ann and Alan Keen have visited Feltham residents hit by the collapse of Christmas hamper company Farepak – reports the Brentford, Chiswick & Isleworth Times.

The MPs visited Burns Avenue neighbours said to be worst affected in the borough, after losing £30,000.

The government introduced a Farepak Response Fund after the company went bust last month and Ann Keen has confirmed that she supports the idea.

"Seeing people on such low incomes being exploited really turns you inside. I am doing everything I can to support my constituents who are affected.", she said.

Adding: "On this occasion I can also confirm that Alan Keen MP will be following suit."

Alan Keen MP said: "The top priority is to get the best financial settlement possible for those families affected before Christmas, and every contribution no matter how small will help towards that."

However, the Response Fund, welcome though it is, can only hope to repay a fraction of the amount people have lost.

The fund currently stands at £4m, whereas the total loss to Farepak customers in the UK is estimated at between £60m - £80m.

Yet meanwhile, both Ann and Alan Keen intend to vote to approve paying an extra £2.5bn a year to the EU – a 60% ‘raise’ over the billions we already pay.

That’s money that could relieve the victims of the Farepak collapse at a stroke, if Ann and Alan Keen were really prepared to do "everything" they can.

What would the EU do with the money instead? No-one knows for sure how the EU spends the money we give it. Auditors haven’t been able to sign off the EU’s accounts as accurate for twelve years in row.

Ealing: MP fears at police opening hours

Steve Pound MP has backed calls for Greenford Police Station to be opened for longer in the evening – reports the Ealing & Acton Gazette.

The Ealing North MP backed residents after a series of violent incidents left people feeling "insecure".

He said: "The station is not fit for purpose. It needs to be refurbished and improved so that it can be staffed throughout the night.

"There seems to have been an increase of crimes in the area and people would feel more secure if the station was opened longer."

Last month, a student was stabbed after getting off a bus in The Broadway, while gangs of professional pick-pockets have been targeting shoppers in the busy thoroughfare.

However, funding longer opening hours will take more money and Mr Pound needs to explain where’s that money going to come from. Perhaps he shouldn’t, as he intends to, vote to waste an extra £2.5bn a year on the EU – a 60% increase over current payments?

Especially given there’s no justification for handing the EU such a vast amount extra while auditors can’t tell us how the majority of what we already pay is being spent.

But if Mr Pound doesn’t like that idea, he needs to come up with a better one.

Demanding in newspapers that public services like the police do more, while voting to waste vast amounts of public money on the EU that could help improve their work, is surely simply posturing.

That's unlikely to go down well with Ealing voters, come the next election.

Ealing: Three groups make final list for community award cash

Three deserving groups have been shortlisted for a local community award that will see the winner receive a £1,000 grant towards their work – reports the Ealing & Action Gazette.

Mind in Ealing, the 5th Hanwell Cubs and the Holy Cross under 5s in Greenford are the finalists for the prize, which has been donated by Barclays Bank.

The competition attracted a flood of entries of a "very high calibre", from youth clubs to support groups for children with special needs.

Readers of the Gazette were asked to nominate the ones they felt made a real difference to people’s lives.

Jeri Appiah, chief executive of Mind in Ealing, said: "This is really great to be a finalist. We do give a very good service to the community, supporting people with mental problems, in employment and helping people gain access to services."

The popularity and high number of entries to this competition shows just how many "high calibre" small groups that people feel are "making a real difference to people’s lives" are in need of even small amounts of extra money towards their work.

Put this scramble among community groups for just £1,000 – with only one lucky organisation winning the cash – next to the £6bn a year the government is planning to lavish on the EU. The injustice and waste is glaring.

If Ealing’s MPs weren’t planning to vote pay that money to the EU, when the EU budget deal comes before Parliament for approval, several thousand community groups in each Ealing constituency alone could be given £1,000 to aid their work. Every year!

Sadly this abject irresponsibility with large quantities of public money by Ealing’s MPs means only one deserving group in Ealing will get support for their work.

And an organisation that hasn’t had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running is getting billions more to waste.

Is this what MPs think standing up for their communities means?

Deep sense of mistrust over NHS cuts

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Leeds to protest over NHS cuts, reports the BBC.

Similar demonstrations have drawn enormous support at events across England, promoted by job losses and possible cuts in services.

Last month thousands of demonstrators packed the centre of Guildford, and there were also protests in Haywards Heath and Worthing. Another is coming up in Epsom.

Surrey has five major hospitals yet the local NHS trust is heading for a deficit of more than £90 million (less than one day’s worth of Britain’s contribution to the EU budget).

At a hotel in Guildford last week about 30 people including health managers, clinicians and activists met to exchange ideas and information ahead of formal consultation about NHS changes.

Darlington: MP criticises town police

MP Alan Milburn has criticised Durham Police for a dramatic rise in the time it takes the force to respond to incidents in Darlington – reports The Advertiser.

Statistics from Durham Police show that the number of immediate incidents that were attended by police within ten minutes have fallen from 82.8% to 62.9%.

Mr Milburn said the response times were a ‘real cause for concern’.

The revelation comes only days after Durham Police announced that up to 300 officers could be axed from the force to stop them sliding more than £10m into debt.

Mr Milburn said: "These response times are not brilliant, and people from across Darlington have contacted me about this. I am very concerned about what I have heard."

The MP was in the Lascelles area of his constituency, where many residents were outraged when their dedicated beat bobby patrol was axed last year, despite significant rising crime levels on their estate.

Isn’t it somewhat hypocritical of an MP like Alan Milburn to complain that his local police force is not responding adequately, when it has been forced to make cuts due to a lack of money – while quietly intending to vote billions of pounds extra that could solve such local policing problems away to the audit-failing EU?

Such behaviour would surely expose his ‘concern’ about shortfalls in local policing to be nothing more than posturing, as he would appear to be unwilling to prevent public money that could help being instead wasted on the EU.

Thousands protest at NHS cuts

Oxfordshire health union representatives joined thousands of campaigners marching in London today to express their concern over NHS cuts and privatisation - reports the Oxford Times.

People from across the country were meeting in Westminster to lobby MPs over health trust deficits and hospital department closures.

The rally has been organised by NHS Together, an alliance of unions and organisations representing NHS staff.

Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing's area manager for Thames Valley, said 20 union leaders from Oxfordshire were attending.

She said: "The issues have not changed - we are talking about funding issues affecting the NHS in Oxfordshire and cuts to NHS services, including plans to downgrade the Horton Hospital.

Durham: Police cash crisis forces job cuts in Blair's backyard

The Daily Telegraph reports that Durham Constabulary - the police force that patrols Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency - is facing a £10 million deficit that could lead to a cut of 300 officers. That would represent nearly one in five of its staff.

This shortfall of public funds for essential services mirrors the problems and cutbacks being suffered by the NHS.

Yet the £10 million that's causing this problem is not even one day's contribution to the EU budget, at next year's net level of £115 million a week.

Is one day of the EU worth losing 300 police officers? This is the choice MPs will endorse if they vote to approve the EU's new financing arrangements agreed last December, when it comes before Parliament early next year.

The costs of the EU have swung wildly out of control relative to the needs of essential services directly affecting the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of people.

MPs need to send a clear public signal that Tony Blair's priorities in promising 60% more money to the EU last December are all wrong, or face the blame for local spending and service cuts come the next election.

Bury St Edmunds: Day centre facing axe

A cash-strapped day centre for elderly in Bury St Edmunds could be forced to close next April after Suffolk County Council funding cuts – reports the Bury Free Press.

The council is only picking up the tab for 38 people a week to visit the Beetons Lodge day care centre and will not be referring or paying for any more people to attend.

The centre will be forced to turn to private paying customers if it is to survive.

The news comes as Suffolk County Council warned of more cutbacks to services and job losses next year, ahead of expected cuts in government funding.

The administration said is expected a shortfall of £22 million and anticipates the loss of 134 full-time posts.

Anne Bines, manager of the centre, said: "The elderly are being victimised, once again, with cutbacks because the can’t fight back.

"They have given us the okay until March next year, but after that date we don’t know if there is a job for us or not.

"It’s devastating for the people who come here. Sometimes this is the only place they get out to each week. Once that is taken away they have got nothing."

The day centre can cater for up to 92 people a week, but currently has 57 people attending.

Richard Freeman, chairman of the Beetons Lodge trustees said: "All of our customers are over 70 and have some sort of moderate level of disability, such as dementia, Alzheimers or Parkinson’s Disease.

"Some come twice a week so that costs around £40 – a lot of money for someone who is frail and elderly to find."

Britain now No 1 al-Qaida target

Britain has become the main target for a resurgent al-Qaida, which has successfully regrouped and now presents a greater threat than ever before, The Guardian reports today.

Counter-terrorist officials have revised their views about the strength of the network abroad, and the methods terrorists are able to use in the UK.

With this apparently growing threat, would it not be more sensible and responsible for the government to spend extra money on ensuring our security, rather than paying billions more to an organisation like the EU. The EU remains beset by reports of waste and fraud and auditors can't explain where the "vast majority" of its money goes.

It's worth remembering that the security services stopped watching one of those involved in the 7th July London bombings due to a lack of resources, according to the official report into those events.

MPs who vote to approve paying billions more to the EU will need to explain their choice to their constituents if lack of funds to support anti-terrorism work compromises our security again.

MP challenges Blair over cuts

Hastings MP Michael Foster has delivered a petition against hospital cuts to the Prime Minister, reports The Argus.

Mr Foster took a delegation from the Friends of Conqest Hospital to meet Tony Blair and present their case along with 40,000 signatures.

It is the second visit in a month by East Sussex MPs.

Eastbourne's Nigel Waterson visited earlier in October to head off plans to downgrade Eastbourne General Hospital.

Mr Foster's visit took place after Prime Minister's Questions yesterday when he accused the Government of "wrong headed" policy.

There are fears for the future of the accident and emergency and maternity units at the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards under proposals being considered by health chiefs.

He told Mr Blair: "We have to persuade you that that policy is wrong. Fundamentally a democracy depends on listening to what people say.

"A 40,000- name petition and 7,000 on the streets of Hastings is not only spectacular but highlights the support for these services."

He argued that emergency and maternity services need to be local for a population which was largely poor and elderly.

The poverty meant many residents do not have their own transport and an ageing population meant there was a greater risk of strokes and heart attacks which require immediate attention, he said.

He argued that the poor infrastructure around Hastings with busy, narrow roads, meant the town was not well equipped for long ambulance journeys.

Initial proposals for service cuts will be made within six weeks which will be followed by a consultation period. Final decision are expected next Spring.

Mr Foster added that he disagreed with suggestions it would either be the Conquest hospital or Eastbourne District Hospital due for cuts.

He said: "There are all sorts of options and both hospitals could keep their key services.
We are by no means undermining Eastbourne."

Millions petition for post offices

Tony Blair has ruled out further subsidies to safeguard the country's declining post office network despite a petition with four million names demanding urgent action being handed in to 10 Downing Street today, reports The Times.

The PM said that up to £2 billion had already been invested and with current subsidies at £150 million a year, no more money would be made available.

As he spoke, thousands of postmasters attended a rally in Westminster to try and stave off the unravelling Britain's rural network.

Current subsidies at £150 million a year sounds a lot. But it's nothing in context of the cash we pay the EU, without justification given they can't tell us how they spend it.

That post office subsidy will be a bit more than one week's worth of next year's net contribution to the EU at £115 million a week, if MPs vote to approve the EU budget deal Blair did last December when it comes before Parliament.

The government could afford more to keep these vital community services open if such vast amounts weren't being wasted by handing them to the EU.

MPs who vote this money away to the EU will have no defence if their local post office faces closure due to a lack of government support.

Plea to lift ban on Alzheimer's drugs fails

Alzheimer's campaigners lost an appeal yesterday for drugs to be made available to sufferers in the early stages of the disease, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Campaigners claim that the decision victimised some of the most vulnerable people in society.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) ruled that Aricept (donepezil), Reminyl (galantamine) and Exelon (rivastigmine) should only be used to treat those with moderate Alzheimer's. Ebixa (memantine) is only to be used in clinical studies for moderately severe to severe sufferers.

It means the drugs will not be available on the NHS for sufferers in the early stages of the disease, although those currently on the drug will not have them withdrawn.

The licence holder of one of the drugs attacked the decision, saying it was "perverse" and that they would consider seeking a judicial review.

Campaigners and doctors who had appealed against Nice's initial guidance in July accused the body of penny pinching, saying the drugs cost as little as £2.50 per day per person.

Supplying these drugs would cost a tiny proportion of our £115 million a week contributions to the lavishly-funded EU - who needs our help more?

Oxfordshire: Protesters march in support of NHS

Four hundred people gathered in Oxford's Hinksey Park to protest against cuts and privatisation in the NHS - reports the Oxford Times.

They marched on Saturday from the park in Abingdon Road, up St Aldates and finished in Broad Street where Jim Campbell, the Mayor of Oxford, was one of the speakers.

Earlier this year, Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust announced plans to cut 600 jobs and downgrade the Horton Hospital in Banbury as part of a £33m savings plan.

Joseph Richards, 75, from Blackbird Leys, has had to use the NHS regularly over recent years due to heart problems.

He said: "I am here because I am an old-age pensioner and we use the hospitals more than anyone else."

There are also concerns about some sectors of the NHS being neglected.

Dr Beth Rimmer, a GP in East Oxford, was on the march as a mother as well as a front-line worker.

She said: "I am here to raise public awareness about the frightening changes that are happening in the NHS. There are already things that are hard to get in Oxford like dietary and dentistry help.

"I am also worried about vulnerable people - those less able to put their point across and those who most lose out over privatisation. The choices will be made for us."

Chemistry labs 'need £2bn boost'

A small report in the Daily Telegraph today says that plans to upgrade chemistry laboratories in schools will fall a quarter of a century behind a government target unless extra money is earmarked.

According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, almost £2 billion is needed to achieve the right standard and keep the country competitive.

Richard Pike, the RSC chief executive said, "Without something being done to address this slippage, Britain could drift to the margins of world science as potential young talent goes unexploited."

MPs intending to vote three times this amount to be paid to the EU every year until 2013 need to decide who they are elected to represent. Co-operating with other European countries and supporting economic development abroad does not need a vast central EU budget - especially one that auditors cannot sign off as accurate, and which is beset by reports of waste, maladministration and fraud.

Banbury: Plea for anti-flood cash fails

A flood-prevention scheme for Banbury has failed to secure vital Government funding, preventing the project from going ahead - reports the Banbury Cake.

Since 1998, when the town last flooded, the Environment Agency has been working on a scheme to protect against a repeat occurance.

But the main part of the scheme, set to cost £12m, depended on support from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to go ahead.

Facing competition from flood-prevention schemes around the country, Banbury's bid for funding has not been successful.

Richard Harding, the Environment Agency's project manager for the scheme, said: "We are aware this will disappoint people hoping for the protection a scheme like this would have provided.

"We believed this was a perfectly viable scheme."

Kent: Hospital wards to be closed

Hospital wards across the county are facing closure as the cash-strapped NHS tries to balance its books, reports the Kent on Sunday newspaper.

Concern is being expressed for elderly patients as hospitals prepare to cut beds.

Wards for the elderly are under threat in Margate and Canterbury, and further cuts have not been ruled out at Ashford, Dover and Folkestone.

The cuts are being caused by the £35 million of debt being suffered by East Kent Hospitals NHS trust and are aimed at saving money so that this debt can be repaid.

Trust chiefs have refused to reveal the full details of their plans, but the Kent on Sunday has learned that two wards at Margate’s Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital are under threat, as is one ward at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

Wards could also be closed at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Buckland Hospital in Dover and Royal Victoria Hospital in Folkestone.

Kent and Sussex Hospital and Maidstone Hospital are also set to lose 120 beds, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has said.

Campaign group Concern for Health in East Kent has raised fears that old and vulnerable patients may be forced out of their beds when wards are shut.

Article submitted by: Mr. D.B., Maidstone

Bedford: 200 jobs lost at hospital

This week more than 200 redundancies have been announced at Bedford Hospital, according to the local Bedfordshire on Sunday and Bedford Times & Citizen newspapers.

Union bosses have been told by hospital managers that up to one in eleven jobs will be cut because the hospital cannot meet its financial targets

In addition, more than 120 existing vacancies will be withdrawn or remain unfulfilled.

The hospital has brought in a financial ‘turnaround team’ to help pay back its £12 million deficit.

The moves have left staff from cleaners to consultants furious, with the cutbacks likely to affect patient care.

John Toomey, regional organiser for public sector workers union Unison said: "This is going to devastate the hospital.

There are not 200 people in the hospital who have little or nothing to do. Everybody is already rushed off their feet.

"We are not at a point where we can afford to lose 20 jobs at Bedford Hospital, let alone 200."

He added: "Bedford will not have a proper hospital any more, plain and simple."

Red tape kills care home

A holiday home that offers respite breaks for hundreds of disabled people is set to close after struggling to cope with the spiralling cost of care, reports the Eastern Daily Press.

The Norfolk-based charity which runs the home has been forced into the move because it can't find the £500,000 needed to meet the strict standards demanded by the government.

Hundreds of families from East Anglia depend on the centre to ease the strain of round-the-clock care.

One parent described her "total despair" if the home can no longer help her severely-disabled daughter.

All 23 staff, several of whom have worked there many years, have been told they face redundancy as the charity looks at a radical overhaul of its service to save money.

Maybe if the government weren't wasting billions of pounds by handing it to an organisation like the EU with a terrible record for waste and fraud, and that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running, it could afford to make grants to hard-pressed charities like this one - to help them fund work necessary to meet the "strict standards" the government is setting.

Dorset: County council cuts libraries

The Blackmore Vale magazine reports on page 124 that swingeing cuts are being planned to Dorset's libraries in a bid by the County Council to bridge a funding gap.

The article states that: "A reduction in social care provision and the closure of a number of libraries across the county will not bridge Dorset County Council's funding gap.

"Further measures, including redundancies at County Hall are to be taken over the next three years to achieve potential savings of £20 million."

Surely it can't be right that the government is unable to find the money to provide Dorset with enough to sustain these essential local services, but can find the money to increase payments to the audit-failing EU by an extremely generous 63%.

Let's hope Dorset's MPs don't vote for such an obvious failure to properly prioritise scarce public resources, when the EU budget deal that pledged this increase comes before Parliament for approval.

Certainly the claims of MPs that vote for the terrible EU deal will never be able to claim credibly that they are standing up for public services.

Article submitted by: B.W., Dorset

Oxfordshire: 'Drugs would help me live longer'

The Oxford Mail reports today that a cancer sufferer fears he will die before he can finish his revolutionary eco-home because he has been refused what he believes is a life-saving drug.

Malcolm Cole, 67, from Fulbrook, near Burford, says he knows the Multiple Myeloma cancer he developed in 1993 will kill him eventually, but says a new drug called Velcade could buy him two more precious years of life.

That would give the former RAF officer the time he needs to complete a unique underground energy-saving home he has been working on for years.

However, although Velcade is available on prescription in Wales and Scotland, and in some prmary care trust areas in England, the South West Oxfordshire NHS PCT has denied Mr Cole the drug.

The trust said it followed the advice of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which said the drug, which costs £30,000 for a course of treatment, was not cost effective.

Mr Cole says he is in a battle against time to get Velcade and believes that without the drug he will die of Multiple Myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer, before Christmas.

"Doctors have given an oath to try to preserve life, but they have the power over life and death and I feel they have decided to end my life.

Mr Cole said he had seen evidence which showed the drug had a 70 per cent success rate, but PCT spokesman Alison Brumfit said: "Decisions made on funding are based on the cost of something against how likely it is to be effective.

"There has never been a limitless pot of money and it's true that the less money we have got, the fewer treatments we can provide, but decisions are never solely based on cost."

Certainly funding can never be "limitless" - nobody believes that. But there could be a lot more money available for less "effective" yet nevertheless helpful treatments if Oxford's MPs weren't so keen on wasting billions more on the audit-failing EU.

Sunderland: Health trust plans 500 job cuts

A health trust is to axe about 500 jobs in the latest round of NHS job cuts, the BBC reports today.

City Hospitals Sunderland Foundation Trust said it had to cut 10% of its 5,000 workforce to clear a debt of £5m.The trust, which runs Sunderland Royal Hospital, Ryhope General and Monkwearmouth Hospital, also wants to save £20m over the next few years.

It said it hoped the jobs could be shed through "natural wastage".

Since March 2006 more than 9,000 jobs have been shed by trusts across the UK. Chief executive of the trust, Ken Bremner, said losing jobs was a major concern, but necessary to save money over the next three years.

Spalding: NHS in crisis

The Spalding Target this week launches a major attack on health secretary Patricia Hewitt over NHS cuts being experience in the East Lincolnshire area.

The local East Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust is being accused of cutting services to fight a £13.5 million debt.

The Target lists services that are under threat as family planning clinics, teenage advice centres, rationing of drugs like breast cancer drug Herceptin, cutbacks to district nurse visits and a "host of measures that will hit every section of our community."

The newspaper is accusing local NHS trusts of trying to "railroad" through the cuts, claiming not to have received "a single word by way of press release or notice" about the consultation document or two public 'drop in' events in Spalding.

Under a headline "Putting £££s before lives?' on page 4, the Target reveals that a cancer sufferer - Jan Steward from Holbeach - has accused health officials of "putting a death sentence on people's heads" through rationing of breast cancer drug Herceptin in order to cut costs. The plan could impact on thousands of women across Lincolnshire.

The article also reveals that the trust aims to slash £900,000 from its community nursing services budget alone. One retired district nurse claims that the service is already "less than perfect", following her experience of a lack of home support after having a knee operation.

The trust also plans to limit the availability of hip and knee replacement surgery to only people with a Body Mass Index below a certain level. However, as another retired nurse points out, people can become overweight through being inactive, rather than for diet reasons - and a good reason for inactivity is if you have a hip or knee problem.

On page 7, the Target gives the full list of cuts, aimed at saving just £3.1m of the trust's £13.5m debt:

- £900,000 from community nursing;
- £900,000 from "low priority procedures list", for example restricting Herceptin and barring certain people from having operations;
- £400,000 from therapy services;
- £340,000 from speech and language services;
- £270,000 from closure of contraceptive clinics;
- £90,000 from minor surgery;
- £60,000 from podiatry (foot) services;
- £20,000 from cutting the opening hours of Gainsborough hospital minor injuries unit;
- £120,000 from flouridation of water supplies budget.

The bottom line is that the E. Lincs NHS Trust wouldn't have to make these cuts or quibble about who qualifies for surgery if they were given the resources necessary to meet local NHS needs.

If the government can't do that, then it certainly shouldn't be increasing payments to a body like the EU by an unjustified 63%, handing an organisation that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running an extra £2.5bn every year.

Chichester: Thousands rally to support St Richard's

Thousands of people took part in the biggest public protest ever seen in Chichester on Saturday morning, reports the Chichester Observer.

They were demonstrating against any major cutbacks in services at local St Richard's Hospital.

The crowd filled the Chichester Cathedral green from end to end, with people carrying placards, banners, balloons and posters, with slogans that made their feelings plain - 'stop this madness,' 'lives are at risk,' and 'please save our hospital.'

Chichester MP Andrew Tyrie, who organised the demonstration, joined three fellow MPs in addressing the rally, in the shadow of the cathedral. A senior clinician from St Richard's and a local GP spelled out the implications if major trauma accident and emergency and other services are lost.

Impact of NHS deficits 'deepens'

The BBC reports today that dozens of hospitals are facing acute pressure and social care services are being scaled back because of NHS deficits, quoting two separate reports.

The Liberal Democrats said 16 NHS trusts, running 28 hospitals, were facing "high pressure". They said services would be scaled back and hospitals might even close.

And a Local Government Association survey of 55 councils in the areas affected by NHS deficits said some services had been withdrawn.

The health service finished last year more than £500m in deficit, with one in three NHS bodies failing to balance their books.The problems have already led to jobs being cut, operations delayed and wards closed.

Manchester: Troubled NHS trust sells office

A hospital trust which is £28m in debt is to sell off its headquarters to help balance the books, the BBC reports today.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust said its Westhulme building in Oldham - a former infectious diseases hospital - is going on the market. Staff were told on Friday that they will move to offices across the trust's four hospitals.

It is hoped the move will also help reduce the number of posts to be lost, now estimated as 325. The trust said the majority of staff affected will be redeployed and it hopes that less than 100 will actually be made redundant.

Pennine Acute runs North Manchester General, The Royal Oldham, Rochdale Infirmary and Bury's Fairfield General Hospital. It has an annual budget of more than £400m and employs about 10,000 staff.

But it is facing a £21.3m deficit this year and has an underlying recurrent deficit of £28.3m.

As part of its "recovery programme", about 10% of the trust's 2,500 beds will be reduced, but bosses said that this in line with wider NHS forecasts for moving health services into the community.

The 284 Westhulme staff will move to different hospitals, with the management team and official headquarters based at North Manchester.

So this trust is having to chop 250 beds and cut staff with all the implications for patient care and increased suffering that has - all due to a deficit equivalent to less than TWO days worth of our payments to the EU? Surely the EU can spare a couple of days of our cash to save 250 hospital beds.

Oxford: NHS cutbacks hit social care

Oxfordshire's social services are creaking at the seams because of the NHS funding crisis, councillors claim - reports the Oxford Mail.

County councillors are set to complain to the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust that changes to its services are putting the social care department under extreme pressure.

On Tuesday, members of the council's cabinet called for a halt to cuts in community-based NHS services. The knock-on effect has forced the council to spend £250,000 more on social care at this stage of the financial year than projected.

This figure looks set to more than double by the end of March next year, as NHS cuts cause demand for council-run services to grow.

At the cabinet meeting, councillors were told that:

- a joint primary care trust and council budget used to buy care home beds for the elderly was £300,000 overspent by the end of May and planned expenditure for September was now being used;

- an NHS fund to pay for long-term care beds was not increased in line with inflation this year, putting more pressure on the same budget

- the ORH is reducing the average length of time people spend in hospital, leading to increased demand for social care beds;

- some 31 beds in the Radcliffe Infirmary have been closed this year and while PCTs are paying for alternative beds this financial year, there is no commitment for payment to continue next year.

With this news, can Oxford's MPs in all conscience vote billions of pounds extra per year away to the EU - completely without justification - while local services clearly need more cash to provide necessary care? What would such irresponsible choices with scarce public money communicate to local voters about the real interest of their MPs in ensuring decent local health and social care services?

NHS 'lets down allergy patients'

People with allergies often feel let down by the NHS and can wait months to see a specialist, a government review of services has found, highlights the BBC.

The report said charities and other groups were often left to plug the gaps in NHS care. It said more should be done to help the third of people who are affected by allergies at some point in their life.

But doctors said the government could not devolve responsibility for allergy care to local health groups.

The report was compiled after submissions from groups and individuals with an interest in allergy care. It followed criticisms of NHS allergy services by the House of Commons health select committee.

Around a third of the total UK population - 20 million people - suffer from allergies at some stage in their lives.

How much could the £115 million a week leaking away to the EU contribute towards alleviating a problem being suffered by a third of Britain's population?

Witney: GPs hit by PCT cash shortage

Plans for a bigger, better building for Witney's largest health centre have been scuppered because of a lack of NHS funding, reports the Oxford Mail.

GPs and staff at Windrush Health Centre - which has about 12,700 registered patients - were finally given hope of replacing the cramped, outdated surgery with a new building after getting the go-ahead from health managers to develop its site in Welch Way.

They organised for architects to assess the site and plans were drawn up - but have now had to postpone work after South West Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust said there was no money available to fund the surgery once it was built.

Senior practice partner Dr Paul Watson said: "Unfortunately, because of the dire financial circumstances in the health economy, no surgery developments are currently being supported, even though we are desperately short of space.

"We do not know when or whether we will be able to begin work on our new building."
The new centre would have had double the floor space of the existing surgery.

Dr Watson added: "The problem is that there's always buck-passing. Government sets new targets, but the funding doesn't match."

Witney's 15-bed Moorview Hospital, which treated elderly people with mental health problems, closed last month as part of the Mental Health NHS Trust's plans to reduce a projected £7.2m gap in its budget.

Ruth Atkins, spokesman for South West and South East Oxfordshire PCT, said before 2004, rent payments for GP surgeries were funded centrally at no cost to PCTs or local health authorities.

Ms Atkins said although Windrush Health Centre was a number one priority for South Oxfordshire PCT, this may not be the case when the PCTs merge in October.

Anger over 'legality' of NHS cuts

A Cornish district council boss is questioning the legality of an NHS trust's plans to cut health services, says the BBC.

Penwith Council chief executive Jim McKenna has written to the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust over proposals for hospitals in Hayle and Penzance.

He has questioned plans to close St Michael's Hospital and cuts at the West Cornwall Hospital given that the county council has not been consulted.

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust's chief was unavailable for comment.

The NHS in Cornwall is facing a potential £31m deficit. The Trust is cutting costs and 300 jobs to try to reduce the projected deficit. Emergency surgery will not be carried out at the West Cornwall Hospital from the end of August.

Cornwall: MP moves to oppose hospital cuts

The BBC reports that a Cornwall MP Andrew George is to meet a health minister to discuss the possible closure of a Cornwall hospital.

The Lib Dem MP for St Ives opposes plans being considered by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust to shut St Michael's Hospital in Hayle.

The Trust is cutting costs and 300 jobs to reduce a potential £31m deficit. A memo leaked to the BBC revealed plans to close St Michael's 70 beds.

Yet the £31 million deficit causing the problem is a tiny fraction of the £115 million a week we'll be sending the EU from next year, if the deal Tony Blair did in December is approved by MPs like Mr George.

So more interesting than his meeting a minister, is Mr George going to vote for this 60% increase in our payments to the EU while EU auditors still can't tell us how the majority of its budget is spent, and while a hospital in his constituency is threatened with closure for a small proportion of the extra amounts Blair wants to fire-hose at the EU?

That'd take some explaining to his constituents, come the next election.

Oxfordshire: Stark warning on NHS cuts

A report by Oxfordshire County Council's director for social and community services, Charles Waddicor, issues a stark warning about the cuts being proposed to health services in Oxfordshire - reports the Oxford Times.

He makes it clear that the rush to cut services to keep within budget is being made with little thought about the impact on services provided by other authorities like the county council.

It is a classic example of the lack of joined-up government.

We have said before that the health authorities should not be forced to make cuts to get within budget in a short space of time. If they do have to go through this, then it should be phased over a period of two or three years.

It avoids the need for drastic decisions and it means the health authorities can take a more measured look at what they are proposing to do, including the knock-on effects of any cuts.

Grantham: Hospital consultants speak out on plans

Consultants at Grantham Hospital have passed a vote of no confidence in managers over proposals to cut services at Grantham Hospital – reports the Grantham Journal.

Members of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee say their views were not taken into account by managers when the preferred option for the future of hospital services in the county was drawn up.

It includes the downgrading of A & E services, an end to most surgery, the closure of the midwife-led maternity unit and cuts to women’s and children’s services.

The changes would leave the county with just two district general hospitals, in Lincoln and Boston.

Chairman of Grantham’s medical advisory committee Stephen Vogt said: "We unanimously passed a vote of no confidence in thr Trust board in the light of the practices they were going through to map out the money-saving motivated changes to services at Grantham Hospital.

Mr Vogt said he personally was upset by plans to close Grantham’s midwife-led maternity unit.
He said: "It would be 100% spiteful to close the midwifery unit. There are a lot of people who never approved of the midwifery unit and they’ve kept their knives in their sheaths waiting to stab us."

A public consultation will be launched in November and a hospital action group has been established to co-ordinate a campaign against cuts to services.

But where is Grantham MP Quentin Davies while this devastation is being wrought to local hospital services in his constituency?

He’s busy in Westminster planning to vote a £2.5bn a year pay rise to the audit-failing EU – money that could solve NHS problems in his constituency at a stoke.

If he does vote that money away, that’s unlikely to go down well with local voters, come the next election.

Article submitted by: Mr. R.H., Grantham

Chichester: Rally to save St Richard's

One of the biggest demonstrations ever seen in Chichester city centre is being planned for Saturday, July 22, in support of St Richard's Hospital - according to the Chichester Observer.

Many hundreds of people are expected to gather at the City Cross, as a huge campaign against the possible closure of accident and emergency services – or even the whole hospital – continues to escalate.

After arriving at the Cross, the protestors will be invited to walk to the cathedral green, where cathedral authorities have given permission for a mass meeting to take place.This will be from 10am to 11.30am.

Meanwhile, the number of signatures on a petition backing St Richard's has soared above 40,000, and names are still pouring in.

North Surrey: MP’s challenge over downgraded hospitals

Esher & Walton MP Ian Taylor has challenged the Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt over the downgrading of local hospital services affecting his constituents.

In a question in Parliament, Mr Taylor said: "Epsom hospital is losing its general hospital status quite rapidly, and three community hospitals (Cobham, Thames Ditton and Molesey) are being starved of revenue because the primary care trust is encouraging patients to move out of a general hospital straight home, which has led one local GP to say that there were unsafe discharges."

He added: "There are serious revenue problems, so how will the Secretary of State’s announcement about her capital spending plan help my constituents?"

After the debate Ian Taylor commented: "I don’t feel that the minister fully appreciates the difficulties downgrading of hospital services creates for my constituents.

"There is already removal of full acute and maternity services at Epsom and three local community hospitals are unclear about long term commitment to NHS funding.

"This is not a happy situation"

Presumably, then, Ian Taylor will not be approving the payment of billions of pounds extra to the EU, when the EU budget deal comes before Parliament.

Given paying 63% more to the EU is completely unjustified while auditors cannot approve how the vast majority of the money the EU already receives is being spent, would he not rather see the extra £2.5bn a year at stake spent on preventing the downgrading of local hospital services, or even improving them?

Complaining about cutbacks to services, but quietly voting billions of pounds away to the EU that could otherwise be used to rectify the problem he is taking a stand against will leave Mr Taylor open to charges of hypocrisy, likely to seriously hit his support at the next election.