NHS in crisis: ambulance service failing in SW
They moved the goalposts, but still couldn’t score: ‘The number of most urgent calls taken by the South Western ambulance service between May 2016 and March 2017 compared to the year before was reduced from 308,000 to 44,600. But the proportion of calls hitting the eight-minute target remained stagnant at 70 per cent.’ (The minimum acceptable is supposed to be 75 per cent.)
Bluebell Day escapes the rain
People of all ages enjoying the beautiful Holyford Woods for the annual Bluebell Day celebration yesterday. Plenty of INDEPENDENT supporters among them!
Claire Wright gets Devon to back keeping environmental protections
East Devon’s sole Independent county councillor, Claire Wright (Ottery St Mary) has persuaded Devon County Council to become the first council to press the Government to keep EU environmental protections.
CCG closing Seaton Hospital beds by stealth
Seaton Hospital League of Friends annual meeting
I went to the Seaton Hospital League of Friends’ Annual General Meeting last night. About 50 people crowded into the Harding room. It was in many ways an inspirational occasion, as you could almost feel the excellent work, by hospital staff and League volunteers alike, which was reported to the meeting. It was all the more poignant therefore to realise that the in-patient beds, regularly full and working well as part of the local health system, were slated for removal by the CCG.
The League is fully behind judicial review, if Seaton Town Council decides on Tuesday (2nd), following the legal advice which we are about to receive, to pursue this. The League has established a holding account for those wishing to donate towards the legal costs, details of which will be made available in the next couple of days.
Note. The Town Council discussion of judicial review will be in closed session, for legal reasons.
A successful hustings – but a bizarre moment towards the end
Yesterday’s County hustings in Seaton – attended by about 50 people – demonstrated that the election is mainly a contest between the official Conservative, Helen Parr, who supports the East Devon Tory policy of ‘bed-less hospitals’, and my campaign, fighting to save Seaton’s and Honiton’s beds. The Labour candidate, who comes from Exeter, also took part.
Two other candidates, Peter Burrows (Lib Dem) and Jim Knight (‘Independent’ Conservative), showed that they are not serious by absenting themselves from the debate, organised by the Town Council. However Peter obviously needed to see what was going on – he turned up just before 9 and watched the last few minutes of the debate!
