Election coming
I hear a rumour, about item 47 on the news headlines after "Dog saves family in Apopka from minor fire" that there might be an election in the offing...time to sharpen the claws and the wit and up the posting rate....
Quidinish Jones RIP
-
Fans of all sorts of music were saddened recently to hear of the passing of
Quincy Jones, whose 70-something year career as a musician, producer,
composer,...
5 days ago
3 comments:
I hope you're going to be doing a tad more than upping the posting rate. Someone remind me when nominations close ?
Hebrides News item today:
Health board make cuts to avoid £ 4 million loss 8/4/10
One of the more interesting proposals is described as follows:
"The health board is offering to wash Western Isles Council’s dirty laundry and hopes to generate £25,000 by opening up its service."
The CnES seems to have a lot of dirty washing, but not sensible to "air" so publicly!
The mantra of all parties in forthcoming General Election seems to be about promises to "protect front-line services". What about "Little Teddies", and Local Area Co-ordinators, Sp Needs posts? You ain't seen anything yet - we're just tinkering at the margins this year. 12 - 15% savings to be identified for next three years. Our aspiring politicians need to get honest and more realistic in facing up to the inevitable hardships in the years' ahead, at both national and local level.
Re previous post, and present/future difficulties being faced by NHS W Isles:
"The board is receiving nearly £69 million to run the islands’ health services for the next 12 months. But its initial draft budget puts its spending plans at almost £73 million". (In other words, between a rock and a hard place!)
To further compound their problems:
"The board must find £1.18 million savings in order to fulfil the Scottish Government’s demand for 2% efficiencies though it is allowed to reinvest the cash."
Proposals for savings/cuts in services (select from whichever "menu" is the more ridiculous):
"It hopes more efficient ways of delivering a health service will save £200,000 from GP prescribing, £50,000 from palliative care, £45,000 from the community nursing workforce as well as £40,000 from the community care service shared with Western Isles Council."
Which party declared "a fairer Britain" (?) with front-line services being protected from cuts! A good Qu for the Leaders' BBC Election debate.
Community Nursing and Community Care services being cut (?) at a time of increasing demands on services ... AND did I read somewhere of hospital beds/wards being closed?
"An “acute bed utilisation” review by the Nursing Director could save £200,000 and means an “overall reduction in the number of wards and beds will result from this with consequent staff savings.”
Pray, where may I ask, are the present nos of hospital patients going to be cared for ... if not in the community? Are the Comhairle not looking to W Isles NHS transferring resources to bolster increasing needs in the community? This is called "resource transfer" and is legislated for by the S Govt, to ensure the vulnerable being cared for at home are not left at risk.
This all begs questions about the corporate strategy and functioning of the W Isles Joint Community Health & Social Care Partnership (CHaSCP) - we seem to have a bunker mentality, with both agencies battening down the hatches (a "silo" mentality), with no overall clear thinking and
planning. (CnES also, of course, planning service cuts this year, with more... much more... to follow).
I think our prospective parliamentary candidates need to get their heads around this particular local difficulty. Let's hear their answers!
Post a Comment