Hancock’s NHS ‘reforms’ don’t abolish privatisation, only competitive tendering – making crony contracting easier
A commentary in the British Medical Journal makes it clear that far from undoing the 2012 Lansley changes, Hancock proposes to keep most of the worst features.
The split between providers and purchasers will remain, but without competitive tendering – meaning that there is nothing to stop the crony contracting which we’ve seen from the Government during the pandemic becoming a routine feature of the NHS.
Devon CC Independents call for a Council Tax Holiday, plus investment in rural cycle routes and libraries, by taking money from reserves
The independents on Devon County Council have tabled an amendment for Thursday’s budget meeting asking that the proposed 1.99% increase in council tax is scrapped.
DCC would have increased its share of the council tax by £394.92 (24%) over the last five years if it goes through with the proposals.
We are also asking for the reintroduction of Community Lengths-people, to clear and maintain drains and gullies. We see this as a spend to save initiative as the cost of reactive works to flooding and the damage caused to road services far outweigh the cost of simple preventative work.
We want to see the end of commissioning services to private companies for adult and child social care and them bought back in house to create better value and most importantly better care.
We also want to see investment in books for our library service after years of decline.
Clearly the main problem for funding vital services through council tax is the unfair levels of government support Devon gets against urban areas, it is also more costly to deliver services in a rural area such as ours.
A quick look through the average council tax for last year, shows the residents of Westminster with a median salary of £46k paying £782 per Band D property.
At Devon it was £1,995 with a median salary for North Devon of £25.4K
A massive difference of £1,213!
Even if you look at nearby Plymouth it was £1,818 with a median salary of £29.2k, that is £177 per year less than Devon.
Leader of the Independent Group Frank Biederman says, ‘these inequalities have to stop, all we hear is about the levelling up of the North of England, it’s time that Devon MP’s and our own council started shouting about this, simply towing the party line is having a devastating impact on our residents.
We hope Council support our budget proposals as we believe with the hard times we are experiencing at the moment and with the impact on people’s incomes, using some of our significant reserves in support of our community is a right and proper thing to do. We have accumulated huge amounts of reserves over the years and surely they are there for hard times such as now.
We know the Police Crime Commissioner is increasing her precept by £14.92 this year and with the Fire Authority, Districts and Parishes likely to increase theirs, we as the highest of the precept authorities can help mitigate it, every little helps, when you are really struggling.’
Our full Budget Proposal is:
Budget Amendment by the Independent Group, Moved by Councillor Biederman and Seconded by Councillor Wright
We welcome and support the increase in Budgets for the Financial Year 2021/22 in all service areas, after the increased funding from Central Government this year.
We ask that Council supports us in giving residents a Council Tax Holiday this year, by not implementing the 1.99% rise proposed.
We invest £1m in Rural Cycle routes, signalling a real intent to meet our Carbon Reduction Plan.
We ask that £1m is also invested in a Lengths-person service, so that every community has someone checking and clearing more regularly drains & gullies. We see this as a spend to save initiative, but for this year, will be paid for from reserves so as not to impact on other front-line services.
We Invest £200,000 in new books for the Library Service.
Our medium-term strategy had budgeted for a public sector pay rise, which has been frozen, and our reserve levels appear sufficient at £116m. We would pay for the above by taking £10.54m from reserves this year but look to secure savings in subsequent years on Agency Workers in Commissioning services.
We write to all Devon MP’s & Treasury Department of Government, outlining the dire level of funding in all Public Sector Areas that Devon receives against the National Average, calling on them to level us up and ask that our MP’s representing Devon, vote against any measure that does not see Devon being treated fairly & equitably.
Devon Tories use postal vote applications to capture voters’ data
While the Government refuses to hold the postal-vote-based election which would be safe in current pandemic conditions, Devon Conservatives have nevertheless been mailing out postal vote application forms to unsuspecting voters.
What’s more, they’ve inserted a big black tick-box at the bottom of the official-looking form, so that they can harvest would-be postal voters’ information for sending out further propaganda. The form comes with a SAE to send to the local Tories and a copy of their ‘plan’ for Devon.
I gather one of the recipients is making a complaint to the Information Commissioner.
If you want to get a postal vote, act now to download a form here or phone East Devon Electoral Services on 01395 517402. You must of course be on the electoral register before you can apply for a postal vote! If you’re not on at your current address, you can apply online here.
My Midweek Herald column explains why how national politics keeps getting into local issues
This is being posted a little late, but some may have missed it – my column in the Midweek Herald last week answered some correspondents who said there was too much national politics …
… and urged everyone to act now to (1) register to vote (2) apply for a postal vote.
Seaton’s Beach Management Plan is now fully funded
I’m very pleased to say that the Seaton Beach Management Plan, which provides for reinforced sea defences between Seaton Hole and the town, now has full funding. I’ve been part of the Stakeholder Group from the start, and it’s great news that our new administration at EDDC, led by Paul Arnott of the East Devon Alliance, has managed to obtain the funds needed to go ahead with the plan. We’re now waiting for a timetable for the works.
My only regret is that the plan, agreed in principle some time ago, is not sufficiently ambitious because it does not include the measures – identified by the consultants – which could have helped slow down erosion from above due to rainwater. The main problem is that the formula for Government funding is too restrictive to allow for a more advanced scheme.
New article on the history of Seaton Hole, from the Seaton Museum newsletter
I’ve just published an article, Seaton Hole’s 150th Anniversary, in the February newsletter of the Axe Valley Heritage Association, which runs Seaton Museum. You can download it here:
Over-70s in Devon should be vaccinated this week – if you don’t hear from your GP, you can now book online
The NHS says that everyone in Devon over 70, and all those with serious conditions, should be vaccinated by the end of this week. If you haven’t heard from your surgery, you can now apply online for your vaccination.
I’m off to be vaccinated in half an hour!
Electoral Reform Society says Government’s plan for the local elections is unfair towards smaller parties (and Independents)
The Government has decided to go ahead with local elections in May, but proposes to ban leafletting and canvassing by candidates. The Electoral Reform Society, an independent body, says: ‘One row likely to grow is this: in-person leafletting by volunteers remains banned under England’s lockdown. That means smaller parties – who rely on door-to-door campaigning more than paid leafletting services (which is still legal) will lose out. This is an issue of fairness we must all be aware of in the coming month or two.‘
It’s even more unfair to Independents. The Conservatives will draw on their huge funds donated by hedge fund bosses and Russian oligarchs’ wives to send leaflets out by post which they would struggle to find supporters to deliver themselves. Independents who have the commitment to deliver their own leaflets will struggle to find the funds to have them commercially delivered. It’s just not acceptable for the Government to skew the electoral process towards their own party.
REGISTER TO VOTE AND TO GET A POSTAL VOTE, NOW!
The Government has also failed to make postal voting easier, which is essential to enable people to vote safely and take the pressure off polling station workers. They could have created a fully online application system. At present you can download a form which you print off and return by post. But some people don’t have printers or even computers – the only way then is to phone East Devon Electoral Services on 01395 517402.
You must of course be on the electoral register before you can apply for a postal vote! If you’re not on at your current address, you can apply online here.
Get on the register now, and get a postal vote now – you don’t have to wait until the election!
Closing community hospitals in a pandemic – the CCG hasn’t learnt, and Health Scrutiny lets down another local community
Yesterday’s Devon Health Scrutiny Committee faced a decision on the Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s proposals for Teignmouth and Dawlish. These involved 3 key proposals to move services from Teignmouth Community Hospital (TCH) to either Dawlish Community Hospital or a new health hub in Teignmouth which will include one of the GP practices. A 12-bed rehabilitation ward which the CCG previously promised for TCH would be scrapped. The plan would leave TCH empty and ripe for its owners, an NHS Trust, to re-develop the site.
Health Scrutiny received strong representations against the plan from the local community in November, and in December held a Spotlight Review at which it was agreed that the CCG’s consultation – held during the pandemic – had been flawed. Even despite a skewed questionnaire, none of the 3 proposals to move services had majority support among respondents – most were opposed or unsure. Even on its own terms, the CCG had failed to convince the local community.
What is more, it had failed to produce evidence that community care was an adequate replacement for, rather than complement to, bedded intermediate care in community hospitals, evidence for whose benefits had been provided by Dr Helen Tucker, chair of the Community Hospitals Association, and others. The Committee’s Labour Vice-Chair, Cllr Hilary Ackland, strongly emphasised this point, and was the main author of a paper Health Scrutiny sent to the CCG explaining its reservations.
The CCG then met, but ignored the Committee’s views – the only point in its recommendations which addressed them was a plea for the district council to look into parking for the new hub, a serious issue (as anyone who’s driven around Teignmouth town centre will know), but a secondary one.
Health Scrutiny therefore had to decide whether to follow through and use its key statutory power to refer the proposals to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) which reports to the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock – who incidentally has said that he’s a fan of community hospitals. However 7 Tories including East Devon councillors Sara Randall-Johnson (Chair), Phil Twiss, Richard Scott and Jeff Trail, plus (disappointingly) Hilary Ackland, voted against my proposal to do this. I got the support of Independent Claire Wright (of course), Lib Dem Nick Way, and Tories Sylvia Russell (Teignmouth) and Andrew Saywell, so this was lost 8-5. (For Claire and me, this was all very deja vu.)
Instead the Committee voted to try to monitor the development and have informal discussions with the IRP. Given the advanced stage of these proposals and the CCG’s dismissal of the Committee’s views, I’m afraid this will be taken as a green light. I find it astounding that in the midst of a pandemic which has exposed the beds crisis in the NHS, in Devon as across the country, the CCG should continue mechanically with this pre-pandemic scheme and Health Scrutiny should fail to stand up for the need to keep our community hospitals – or at least insist on postponing a decision until we can look properly at what the needs will be – in the post-pandemic world.
CCG Chair Dr Paul Johnson even referred to Long Covid, believed to affect up many Covid sufferers, the full scale of which is very much unknown. Yet at a time when the NHS in Devon and elsewhere is turning patients out of hospitals and in many cases into care homes (which continue to suffer more outbreaks), a possible role for the rehabilitation ward in Teignmouth was dismissed out of hand.
Perhaps the most depressing thing about this meeting, indeed, was that Dr Johnson suggested that as soon as the pandemic declines, the extra money for the NHS will be turned off, and Devon NHS will be back in the world of endless cost-cutting in which it was a year ago, when the pandemic hit. Either he has learned nothing, or he’s expecting the Government to have learnt nothing, or both.
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 
