Around ‘Your Waverley’ the debate continues on how and where patients of the Guildford & Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group should be treated.

Click here for a recent post on the view from the East of the borough.

If you are going to have a stroke – make sure you are not living on the fringes of ‘Your Waverley’!

A group  created by Haslemere Town Council to monitor healthcare in South West Surrey linked to Haslemere Hospital League of Friends has spoken of its concerns.

Chaired by  local solicitor Ian  Doolittle, it team of ten,  include   health professionals, businessmen, borough councillors and residents. The Haslemere Health Group (HHG) maintains the proposals to move  hyper acute stroke services to Frimely Park Hospital with rehab at Farnham and Woking Hospital  present a “risk to patients” including the lack of critical and fast level of support required on long journey times.

The latter – it maintains – is not helped by an ambulance service which has been placed in special measures by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, because of its service failings.

It  highlights the “illogical and inconvenient location” and the creation of two specialist stroke centres “within a few miles of one another in the north of the district. Mr Doolittle says : “This is not beneficial to those in the south.”where transport and “access difficulties”  pose a problem, not only putting patients at risk, but creating difficulties for their families, while access to the Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) “is relatively easy.”

• Criticisms of the plans include the “failure to consult properly” which is considered by the heath group to be unsatisfactory, and the unacceptable claims to have RSCH and St Peter’s teams “effectively deciding between them” where future services should be located.
• Plans for post-acute care, HHG claims, have also not been thought through and a lack of inadequate planning are all featured in a  letter sent to the Guildford & Waverley CCG.
• With the consultation period ending yesterday April 30, it is understood a ‘secret meeting’ chaired by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is also the Haslemere MP, has taken place  between the key players in the scheme.

This  included  CEO  of South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb), Dr Eyre-Brook, NHS representatives and Waverley Borough councillors – but no-one  believed to represent Haslemere and areas in the East.
While he wouldn’t confirm a meeting had been arranged, a spokesman for Mr Hunt’s constituency office says he was “not in a position to discuss who is, or isn’t, attending the meeting.”
Mr Doolittle said the group recognised the problems faced by the CCG. “It’s just that Haslemere is on the borders of three counties, out there in the corner of Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire and suffers badly from being betwixt and between.” “I think the CCG is getting things wrong, We are simply saying while we realise it would be easier to remove stroke services from the RSCH, the upshot of that is if you look on the map, in our view is not sensible to have two HASUs in the north-west corner of the county.
“Our quarrel is this consultation has  pushed  people to endorse this current plan and there is no straight forward question asking whether people they would like their stroke services delivered through the RSCH.“We think that is unhelpful and unfair.”

And he asked the people of Haslemere and residents in surrounding villages: “Do you want to be taken to Frimley or to the RSCH given the critical time between having a stroke and being treated and relying on an ambulance service which is acknowledged to be performing badly.” “We are asking them to think again, geographically what the HHG says seems to make a whole heap of sense and the current proposals are genuinely scary.”

 Some residents believe services should be delivered in the way proposed and should  campaign immediately for a hospital car service. Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council, should urgently make  plans to improve  transport links in aBorough  badly served by public transport.

 Roy Lilley, a former Chairman of Frimley Park Hospital  said: Unquestionably getting a patient to a dedicated stroke unit is far and away preferable and the outcomes will be better.

Paramedics are no longer ‘ambulance men and women’ they are highly trained and the administration of thrombyletics has made a huge difference; there is no longer the desperate dash to the hospital. So, that bit doesn’t worry me.

I do understand the concerns of relatives and friends having to hike across the county to visit. There is no getting around that…. unless they make a hospital car service available to people with no transport. That is not impossible.

The move towards critical care centres is a good thing. It was interesting that the pedestrians mowed down on Westminister Bridge in the ‘terror attack’ were not taken to St Thomas’ on the other side of the bridge. They were driven three miles to King’s College where they have a Tier 1 A&E and critical care unit.

Time to hospital is less often a critical issue and the skills of the paramedics have improved.

NHS funding is such that it is no longer possible to have a Tier 1 facility in every town and village – ask the MPs what they are going to do about NHS funding come the election.

If I had a stroke I’d want to be in Frimley and I’d want to be in the Farnham rehab as soon as possible. It is a rough rule of thumb but by and large, with a stroke, you’ll plateau after 48hrs. That is the vital part of the treatment. Frimley is the best place and the attendant issues are significant for families, I get that, but I think we’d all want our friends and relatives to be in the best place.

It is possible to cushion the inconvenience of travel with FaceTime and Skype, for those who can do it and assisted travel for visitors is not beyond the wit of man.

We say here at the WW – what about the very elderly who haven ever heard of FaceTime of Skype?

This message on bus shelters in the town encourages residents to get out and about in Farnham’s green spaces – but you better be quick – because they are disappearing fast!

And… not just here but all over the borough of Waverley!

Developed Cottage That Divided A Village To Be Demolished.

A long-running planning dispute, which divided a village community, has come to a head recently as   the Court of Appeal ruled that a house on the edge of Blackheath, near Shamley Green –   must be demolished.

Owners Craig and Gaynor Arnold’s development to their property  left only a few walls of their  ‘Arts and Crafts’-style cottage standing.

 Other than a 1952 extension, the cottage remained largely as first built, that is until 2009, when the owners obtained planning consent for a very large house, under permitted development rules, that applied at the time.

Building work commenced but not in accordance with the permission granted and the re-build came to the attention of  Guildford Borough Council’s enforcement officers. 

Despite this, more and more of the original vernacular cottage  leaving only a few walls of the original structure resulting in  a building  regarded as  harmful to the character and appearance of the area.

Now a planning inspector has ruled  that the original Blackheath Cottage no longer exists and the couple’s construction has resulted in a “new” house with “fundamental design flaws.” 

 He  said it was  a “fundamentally different design” to the original, complete with a “jarring” expanse of glazing, “odd truncated roofs” and a “slate finish” out of keeping with the area. Now The Court of Appeal has confirmed th Inspector’s decision saying the cottage  must be demolished within nine months.

Although the house had “no harmful visual impact” and would not interfere with local views, it was “harmful by definition” to the green belt. It was “inappropriate development” in the green belt and there were no “very special” reasons why it should not be demolished.

The inspector said he had “some sympathy with the predicament Mr and Mrs Arnold find themselves in”, but added that it was “primarily of their own making”.

Meanwhile, several planning applications for a suitable replacement have been made and the latest, lodged in 2016, is of a more overall contemporary design, much reduced in height and bulk with a flat green ‘living’ roof.

This is what our former Waverley and Surrey County Councillor has written on his new blog as Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner….

 

To mark LGBT History Month, the APCC lead for Equalities, David Munro PCC, sets out what Police and Crime Commissioners are doing to help reduce inequality and promote safety amongst our diverse communities.

He says:

Celebrating our differences in policing is an area very close to my heart so I was delighted to be recently appointed as the national PCC lead for Equalities, Diversity and Human Rights (EDHR). This portfolio covers a range of issues including officer and staff diversity and hate crime. I therefore want to be the champion for these issues not just in Surrey but for PCCs across the country.

Taking on this role has given me a huge sense of pride and purpose and I believe we must do our part in policing to reduce inequality and promote safety amongst our diverse communities.

With this in mind, February has particular importance for me in recognising Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) History Month. This is an annual event but this year in particular marks the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality in England and Wales. You can find out more here: http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/

Society has come a long way in terms of acceptance and understanding of the LGBT community, yet there is still some way to go. In today’s day and age, no one should ever have to feel frightened or embarrassed to fully commit to who they are yet LGBT groups often still sadly experience prejudicial behaviour in their everyday lives.

We know that hate crimes are currently under-reported and policing needs to do more to encourage victims to feel safe to come forward. We must combat all hate crimes head on, be it on the grounds of sexuality, gender, race or religion. I am keen to work with my fellow PCCs across the country to expand support networks and find other ways that our diverse communities can feel safe and included.

Part of this is encouraging people from these communities to pursue a career in policing – in order to achieve this we must work at presenting a clear demonstration of our commitment to inclusivity within the police service.

I was encouraged to see a total of 18 police forces recognised in this year’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index which was announced last month. The index looks at LGBT+ representation across the workplace and recognises those organisations demonstrating inclusivity.

Six of those Forces made it into the Top 100 and it would be fantastic to see even more added to the Index next year. We will look at what distinguishes those top employers and share that best practice with colleagues.

My deputy for the EDHR portfolio is Hardyal Dhindsa, the PCC for Derbyshire. Hardyal has been working proactively to promote LGBT issues in Derbyshire, seeking a representative workforce and personally supporting the LGBT networks in the community. We will be inviting discussions with the rest of our PCC colleagues to explore ways we can tackle some of these issues together.

David Munro is a former Waverley Borough and Surrey County Councillor and was firmly behind  the Blightwells/East Street development.

 

In just a few days time the voting fodder of Surrey will pick up their polling cards and walk…

This will be their opportunity to get more of the same old, same old – or, perhaps, just perhaps, the politicians fodder will actually choose to vote for a candidate and not for the political party he/she represents.

Let’s just pose a few basic questions about ‘Our Surrey’ and how it has managed our county over  the past four years?

• Are we impressed with the closure of all the county’s old people’s residential homes – particularly those who, with amazing passion and care, worked  with those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia?
• Do we believe they have spent the £11.8m that was raised from last year’s council tax hike on improving adult social care? In fact – are we sure it was  spent entirely on ASC?
• Do we believe it did the right thing by deciding it would no longer fund the Meals on Wheels Service?A service aimed at enabling older people to remain independent in their own homes!
• Are we confident that it was acting responsibly by shutting down/or proposing to shut down all the Alzheimer’s Centres in the county?
• Are we all happy to see the lights turned off from midnight until 6.a.m. – except of course in you live in Spelthorne where they kick up a fuss!
• Do we back its  decision to invest £30m of our money in Farnham’s toxic East Street development, which was shunned by commercial investors.
• Are we concerned about  travelling around Surrey trying to find somewhere to pay to dump our rubbish at reduced opening hours. 
• As the pot holes deepen and HGV’s smash-up our  pavements as they mount them – do we feel safe, cycling, walking or driving any more?
• Do the £2m cut in bus services concern us? Particularly in the rural areas
• What about the serious funding issues in our schools?
• Or the crass decision to suggest one of Surrey’s most amazing beauty spots – at Newlands Corner becomes ‘Your Surrey’s” answer to a sort of moneymaking theme park?

We could go on…and on…

 

But the   just has to be the total cock-up when Bodger Hodge did a ‘not so’ secret deal with the Government and someone had the guts to film it and send it to the BBC. Otherwise – once again behind closed doors!

Pour yourself a stiff drink and listen to this – and then go down to the local polling station and VOTE … but remember – we get the Governments we deserve!

Surrey County Council takes star role in Radio 4’s ‘Councils in Crisis’ documentary

Remember – ‘All politics is local” and voters need to know they can influence decisions and not be ignored.

Here’s what one resident said in the amazing Guildford Dragon – the town’s on-line newspaper about the Shalford Tory candidate who has been helicoptered in! Can hardly wait cover his contributions at’ Your Surrey?’