jeffs posts
A 66-year-old rough sleeper has been found dead beneath a flyover, just days after the local authority allegedly “removed his sleeping bag and possessions”, it has been reported.
The rough sleeper, known locally as ‘Kev’, was being supported by a local homelessness charity and was a regular face at the charity’s soup kitchen and liked by many of the volunteers.
The Daily Mirror reports that his body was discovered under a flyover in a car park in Bournemouth, just yards from the council’s offices. He had reportedly complained to a friend that the Tory-run council binned his sleeping bag and only possessions.
Bournemouth Council has previously faced strong criticism for playing bagpipe music to deter homeless people from sleeping rough in parts on the Town centre.
His unnamed friend has reportedly known ‘Kev’ for around 18 months and said his “heart sank” when he found his friend’s frozen body.
“I put my hand on him to shake him and that’s when I knew something was wrong and my heart sank”, he said.
“A couple of weeks ago he said the council took his sleeping bag.
“They see it as rubbish but they don’t realise these are homeless people; sleeping bags are the stuff that keeps them warm.”
He added: “I commute through Bournemouth every day and he would sit on the wall at the corner of the road.
“That’s what made me pull over the first time – I stopped to ask him if he was okay and we got talking.
“I wondered, if I gave him some money, would it go on drugs and alcohol but to be honest he never did any of that, just smoked roll-ups.
“He never, ever asked for anything from me.”
Claire Matthews, from the local homeless charity ‘Hope For Food’, said: “Kevin was a lovely man, he came to the soup kitchen four days a week, never asked for anything and was always grateful for what he got.
“We give out sleeping bags to homeless people and we’ve been told by some of them the council has removed them to clean up the streets. More needs to be done to help these people.”
Councillor Robert Lawton said he was “saddened” to learn about Kev’s death, but claimed “the council did not remove his bedding and belongings and we have been attempting to engage with him for the last 10 years”.
Mr Lawton added: “The St Mungo’s rough sleeper outreach team had been offering support to him on a regular basis.
“However, for whatever reason, he felt unable to take up any of this support and regretfully turned down ongoing offers of help for his health and accommodation.”
A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “At 8.31am on Monday Dorset Police were called by the ambulance service to reports of a sudden death after the body of a man was located in Braidley Road car park in Bournemouth.
“It is not believed there are any suspicious circumstances and the coroner has been informed.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 26 January 2018
Jeffs posts
By John Pring Disability News Service 25th January 2018
Disabled activists have called on the charity Mind to explain how seconding a senior member of staff to work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the last year has affected mental health service-users.
In an open letter to the charity’s chief executive, Paul Farmer, the Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN) raises fresh concerns about Mind’s closeness to DWP, and the impact this has had on its willingness to criticise government policy.
Mind’s decision to allow its policy and campaigns manager Tom Pollard to join DWP on secondment as a senior policy adviser sparked a protest outside the charity’s headquarters in east London in October 2016.
MHRN, which helped organise the protest, says in the letter that it is keen to discover “what came out of the secondment, and how it might impact on us”.
It also asks Farmer how the secondment helped alleviate the distress caused to disabled people by cuts to disability benefits.
The letter adds: “We would be interested to know if Mr Pollard found any of the DWP plans potentially harmful to people in mental distress and, if so, how he has intervened on our behalf.”
The letter points out that Farmer was found to have lied to service-users and other disabled activists who took part in the protest about his charity’s close links with DWP.
When Farmer left the building to speak to the protesters, he told them the charity had “no contracts with DWP” and that he was “not interested in future contracts at this stage”.
But after the protest, a disgruntled member of Mind staff leaked details that showed the charity was applying to join a DWP framework that would allow it to bid for employment and health-related contracts, each of which could be worth between £2 million and £30 million a year.
The leaked information also suggested that Mind had taken measures to avoid being named publicly, allowing it to dodge the potential “reputational risk” of bidding jointly for a contract with a controversial partner.
DWP has so far refused to publish the names of the organisations acting as the main sub-contractors under the Work and Health Programme, even though the scheme went live last week (see separate story).
The MHRN letter adds: “We believe that any role as advocate for people in mental distress has been compromised by governmental outsourcing of public services to charities, which requires such charities to supress any negative comment on government ministers.
“Now that the government has announced they will be pushing more people with mental health problems into work, can you please tell us to what extent Mind will be working further with the DWP to progress the government’s political agenda?”
The letter concludes: “We wonder if Mind only speaks on behalf of people with mental health issues who are well enough to work, or perhaps you are of the same view as the government; that no one is unable to work due to mental distress.
“Please can you clarify your position on this?”
A Mind spokeswoman said in a statement: “We want to assure the members of the Mental Health Resistance Network that we campaign passionately and independently for a better benefits system that works for those of us living with mental health problems.
“We will look into the many important issues that they have raised in their letter and respond in due course.”
She said later that Pollard’s secondment was due to end in April and had been extended to allow him to “complete work on a number of projects that were delayed because of the general election and subsequent changes in the ministerial team.
“As we have said before, we have no plans to bid or tender for back-to-work contracts from [DWP] that would include any element of mandation or sanction, an approach we believe to be cruel, inappropriate and ineffective.”
But the charity later appeared to suggest that some of its local branches are involved in sub-contracting under the WHP.
A Mind spokeswoman said: “Because the Work and Health Programme contract generally has elements of mandation, we decided Mind couldn’t be involved and sent a briefing to all local Minds detailing why.
“At a national level we won’t be getting involved in the contract or any sub-contracting and we have had very positive feedback from local Minds about our decision.”
But she said there was “no reason why a local Mind should avoid supporting people on the Work and Health Programme provided their participation in whatever courses or therapies we offer is completely voluntary”.
A spokeswoman added: “We are all very clear that if there is any suggestion that accessing a local Mind service is mandatory then we don’t want to be anywhere near it.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 26 January 2018
doffing your cap
This week the media and government have pushed it’s mass NLP programme (Behavioural Insights Team) a step further into the spotlight denigrating the working class for their lifestyle choices while hiding their own. This week alone we seen stories in media which hints to the general public by subtle means that basically the working class are their own worst enemies and to blame for the difficulties they face, which may apply to some but most certainly not all. The mantra about poor lifestyle choice is a perceived thing which has always dogged the Tories and working class alike .Tories have always had a long held belief most of us were wasters and of little value other than to serve our masters by working our asses off to provide them with wealth and profits they deserve due to privilege and their own sense of entitlement . I mean we all like a occasional pint, the odd takeout now and again after a hard working week, and partying to let off some steam, or booking the family holiday (if you can afford one under Austerity Britain) once a year to help us recharge our batteries and enjoy some family time together. Universal Credit will highlight this more than ever because until now it only affected the poor who relied on state assistance, well this is going to be a total game changer as they consume workers ,yes those hard working people.
Well now you all have to get back in your place and doff your caps to your masters who are tightening their grips on the working classes while choking them off of any fair or equal quality life. Make no mistake it is a Class War.
Isn’t it time that if we are going to look at peoples lifestyles we should also look at all the UK citizens lifestyle choices not just working class people.Many middle class people and those at the top, consume many a rich dining experience, drink excessive amounts of alcohol,take up risky sports, and behave badly, and are likely to suffer from high end drug addiction than the working class person due to cost ,the big difference is they do it behind closed doors where they are not open to scrutiny of prying eyes and have the morals of an alley cat like any other. The working classes also need to take a long hard look in mirror too as sometimes ,we do not help ourselves by providing them with plenty of incidents which they jump on to exploit us,when the reality is most of us don’t live like they think we do.
Just look at the bills for parliament on the cost of alcohol alone and its eye watering amount of taxpayers cash I wonder if all those Daily Mail and Sun readers are as angry by that ,cos for years those ruling over us have abused the taxpayer wallet for decades, and they should take a long hard look in the mirror, as we can all fall from grace,and our lives have never been so fragile as they are now with the looming Brexit and 8yrs of Austerity, life can change overnight.
I used to work in hospitality and I can tell you many a good tale about the so called posh classes and celebrity icons. Truth is they are no different to the rest of us.
It is that sense of entitlement which makes them distance themselves from the working class, and fail to understand them and the hard lives many generations have lived. It is totally different lifestyle and Professor Greens White Working Class programme illustrates that they do lack opportunities afforded to those who are born in a different class because the system is designed that way to keep you in your place. There are many amazing working class people who has come from poverty ridden Britain over the centuries who aspired to want more and achieved it, but the doors and obstacles placed in the way for the majority is because the system is designed to make them fail. It divides us into sub groups too, Male ,Female, Worker,Disabled,Claimant,LGBTQ,Race or Religion and further.
This is how the state social controls its population and dictates how we should live according to their ideology, which still smacks of Colonial Britain remnants of superiority over others. It also sets them off against each by blaming one group or another for the countries present situation, and while we fight over the scraps on table it leaves the door open for any vacuum to be filled by the far right and further stir up hatred. This is what happened in 1930 Germany and that’s why the people followed Hitler. I certainly hope we never see a repeat of those terrible times on the scale it was carried out, but we cannot deny similarities with our present day situation in how it came to be, when we don’t value human life equally. The class war on those deemed irresponsible, is done by controlling their lifestyles,while ignoring their own because they are entitled, are valued more due to class,work,position in life is something that really needs to be addressed. The working class let them off every single time, well not this blogger I will call it out for what it is.
I think that working class people should start calling these hypocrites out on their lifestyles leading to a burden on our public services or ,their drunken bawdy behaviour, or their bad behaviour generally, their abuse of power and position, and corruption which is why many of them hate social media, because in the modern age of technology it is harder for them to hide even when they try to hide links to their human failures.
Posted by jeffrey davies on 24 January 2018
jeffs posts
It isn’t that long since people were telling me life expectancy wasn’t dropping.
They said figures showed the increase in the age to which we could hope to live was slowing down.
Would anybody like to suggest that now?
Last April, The Independent reported that men could expect to live to 87, on average, and women to 89.
Now, the same newspaper is saying that, by 2041, the average age of death will be 83.4 for men and 86.2 for women.
That’s a major fall in life expectancy.
And – read the extract below – it’s all due to Conservative government policies. They are engineering early deaths for us all.
Life expectancy in some parts of the UK has plummeted, according to official figures.
By 2041, women will live to 86.2 years and men 83.4 years, projections by the Office for National Statistics showed – a decrease of almost a whole year compared to previous figures released in 2015.
An analysis of the data, conducted by Public Health England, found alarming disparities in longevity by local authority.
Danny Dorling, professor of human geography at the University of Oxford, said influenza, obesity, alcohol and smoking could largely be ruled out as contributory factors.
“The fall in life expectancy in several geographical areas of England is most likely a result of the effects of public service cuts and austerity,” he said. “Many other possibilities can be ruled out. Rates of smoking and drinking alcohol have fallen in recent years so that cannot be blamed. Between 2009 and very late 2017 there has been no serious influenza outbreak.
“A government that has chosen to make these cuts, and any of the organisations it directly sponsors, will understandably find this very hard to face up to.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 24 January 2018
jeffs posts
Thousands of people who suffer with mental health problems look set to receive higher disability benefit payments, after the Government decided it would not appeal a High Court judgement that benefit changes discriminate against people who struggle to get around outdoors due to mental health issues.
The decision follows a case brought by a woman struggling to cope with the psychological distress caused by a common mental health condition, who argued that changes to Personal Independent Payment (PIP) eligibility criteria discriminate against people with mental health problems.
The High Court agreed that the changes to PIP, limiting the amount of support for claimants who suffer psychological distress when outdoors, such as severe anxiety, were "blatantly discriminatory" and "could not be objectively justified".
Newly appointed Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey MP, announced on Friday that the Government would not seek to overturn the High Court's judgement.
Getty Images
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey MP.
In a written statement, McVey said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would "take all steps necessary to implement the judgment in mental health in the best interests of our claimants, working closely with disabled people and key stakeholders over the coming months".
McVey said that although the Government accepts the High Court judgment, “we do not agree with some of the detail contained therein", adding: "Our intention has always been to deliver the policy intent of the original regulations, as approved by Parliament, and to provide the best support to claimants with mental health conditions.”
McVey added: “We will then write to those individuals affected, and all payments will be backdated to the effective date in each individual claim."
It is believed that more than 160,000 people on PIP could see their benefits increased and backdated as a direct result of the High Court's ruling.
Getty Images
Debbie Abrahams questioned how much public money had been wasted defending the cruel changes to PIP.
Commenting on the Government's decision not to appeal the High Court judgement, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Debbie Abrahams MP, said: “The Government was wrong to bring in the PIP regulations last year and it was wrong to ignore time and time again the views of the courts.
“Labour supported the initial Tribunal judgment and pledged in our manifesto to reverse the PIP regulations.
“Serious questions remain including; how many people have been adversely affected by the Government’s reckless decision to oppose the tribunal’s original judgment?
"How much public money has been spent on lawyers, trying to defend the indefensible? And how quickly will people with severe mental health conditions receive the support to which they are rightly entitled?
“This is yet more evidence of the duplicity and disarray of the Tories’ social security policies.”
SNP Social Justice spokesperson Neil Gray MP said: “I was pleased to see the UK government has been forced to backtrack on their punitive policies.
"Up to 164,000 people will get higher disability benefits following this massive victory at the courts.
“We hope it marks the start in a change of approach from the UK government and urge them to ensure policy and payments catch up with the judgement as quickly as possible – and that policies in the first place are done to ensure people have access to support and not put barriers in their way.
“This should mark the start of a change in their approach to disabled people and we hope Esther McVey, the new Secretary of State, will right the wrongs of her predecessors.”
Posted by jeffrey davies [82.9.81.48] on 23 January 2018
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hunger cold they culling you
This article titled “More than 1m UK older people risk ‘withering away’ from hunger” was written by Patrick Butler Social policy editor, for theguardian.com on Monday 22nd January 2018 14.44 UTC
More than 1 million older people are at risk of “withering away in their own homes” as a result of malnutrition caused by social isolation and cuts to public services, a cross-party group of peers and MPs claims.
The all-party parliamentary group on hunger says social isolation caused by bereavement, illness, immobility or confinement – such as through the loss of a driving licence – are the main causes of a largely “hidden” problem of elderly hunger in the UK.
Malnutrition, which costs the NHS an estimated £12bn a year, is exacerbated by reductions to social care packages, cuts to meals on wheels services and bus services, and local shop closures, a report by the all-party group says.
“Loneliness accompanied by a bowl of cereal and two sandwiches, every day, every week, should be unacceptable in modern Britain. But within the current legislative framework, it is almost inevitable,” it says.
The report says there is a heightened risk of malnutrition among older people who do not qualify for formal social care packages or whose help does not include assistance with shopping or cooking hot meals.
Annual spending on meals on wheels services was cut from £96m to £42m in the decade to 2013-14, it says. Fewer than half of local authorities now provide the service, down from 66% in 2011. Some councils have replaced meals on wheels with a link on their website to takeaway food shops, the report adds.
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It calls for the withdrawal of winter fuel allowances from the very richest pensioners to invest in local services aimed at reducing isolation, hunger and malnutrition by providing – or making it easier for older people to access – hot and fresh food.
Supermarkets should do more to make it easier for older people to go shopping, it says, by providing community transport, offering lunch clubs in store cafes and introducing special “slow” checkout lanes for less mobile customers.
There are at least 1.3 million older people suffering from or at risk of malnutrition, the report estimates, although it points out that the latest robust figures date back to 2011, and hospitals rarely record malnutrition as a primary reason for admission.
Frank Field, chair of the parliamentary group, said: “Hidden beneath the radar, there are malnourished older people in this country spending two or three months withering away in their own homes, with some entering hospital weighing five and a half stone [35kg] with an infection or following a fall, which keeps them there for several tortuous days, if not weeks.
“The elimination of malnutrition amongst older people is urgently required for the sake of the NHS, and social care services, but above all for purposes of humaneness.”
Izzi Seccombe, chair of the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board, said: “Significant funding pressures on councils are already threatening services that elderly people and their friends and families rely on, particularly meals on wheels and luncheon clubs.”
A government spokesperson said: “Malnutrition is a complex issue and most patients diagnosed in England have other serious health and social problems. We know better diagnosis and detection is key which is why we continue to train all health staff to spot the early warning signs of malnutrition so effective treatment can be put into place.”
Posted by jeffrey davies] on 23 January 2018
virgin health care
According to the Post, Virgin Care emailed staff during a period of serious IT troubles that were causing cancelled appointments, missing letters and reports, asking them not to send ‘statutory notifications’ to the CQC:
Virgin Care completely replaced all the IT infrastructure used by services after it took over from Sirona
As such, at the moment I would ask that we hold off from submitting statutory notifications.
As the name suggests, health staff have a legal obligation to report safety concerns to the CQC.
Virgin Care told staff it was itself in communication with the CQC, but staff reported “widespread distrust” about what the company would be disclosing to the watchdog and said that repeated queries to management to find out had received no response.
The Bath Chronicle sent eight questions to Virgin Care about the situation – and received just one answer.
We asked Virgin Care for comment on the Bristol Post allegations and received an almost identical response as that sent to the Bath Chronicle. A company spokesperson said:
As was previously reported in the local newspaper, during the local transition of the IT systems there was no interruption to services for patients and, as soon as issues arose, we quickly implemented contingency plans which ensured services continued to operate safely.
Colleagues were supported to deliver safe and effective care while our local and senior teams met regularly to monitor progress and brief our commissioners and the CQC on the issues and what was being done to resolve them; we have shared comprehensive details with the CQC and they have not raised any concerns.
Unlike NHS organisations, private health providers are not subject to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, so statutory reports and whistleblowers may be the only way serious and even life-threatening problems come to light.
The FOI exemption is just one of the areas of serious concern to campaigners for the full re-nationalisation of the NHS – a Labour Party commitment.
Posted by jeffrey davies [82.9.81.48] on 21 January 2018
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jeffs post
extract from one of our doctors One patient is said to have gone into cardiac arrest at Colchester General Hospital after taking themselves to A&E due to ambulance delays. Picture: LUCY TAYLOR
A damning dossier compiled by a senior whistleblower from the region’s ambulance trust has claimed at least 40 patients died or were harmed due to delays over Christmas and New Year - including one person who froze to death.
The damning dossier has been compiled by a senior whistleblower at the East of England Ambulance Service. Picture: SIMON FINLAY
The damning dossier has been compiled by a senior whistleblower at the East of England Ambulance Service. Picture: SIMON FINLAY
The region’s NHS came under intense pressure in less than three weeks between mid-December and early January, with ambulances queuing outside A&E departments and patients reporting they were treated in corridors.
But the whistleblower, who wants to remain anonymous, revealed 19 people died in the east of England during the period and they expected the total number of patients harmed or killed due to delays to soar to around 80 when all cases had been reviewed.
A copy of the dossier seen by this newspaper included a man who waited 16 hours for an ambulance in Lowestoft on December 27.
The man was outside and no ambulance was sent when the first call was made by police.
Suffolk Police made a second call when they found the man, who apparently appeared to have frozen to death.
East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) said when the call was first made they were told the man was conscious and breathing and had no obvious injuries. Therefore the call was categorised as a non-emergency call.
When they received the second call a paramedic arrived within eight minutes but the man was dead.
In north Essex and Suffolk the whistleblower’s document claimed six people died and one was harmed as a result of the delays in that period.
These included:
• December 19, in Newmarket, a patient waited four hours and 20 minutes and there was evidence of harm due to the delay.
• December 25, in Maldon, it took six hours, 39 minutes for back-up to arrive to assist with a sepsis patient.
• December 26, in Stowmarket, a call for an ambulance was made on Dec 24 and no ambulance was sent. The patient died on Dec 26 after a cardiac arrest.
• December 26, in Ipswich, a sepsis patient waited four hours and 43 minutes.
• December 29, in Clacton, a patient with a serious spinal injury waited seven hours and 56 minutes.
• December 29, in Thetford, a patient died after going into cardiac arrest and waiting one hour and 12 minutes.
• December 30, in Walton on the Naze, an ambulance was called to a fractured ankle with an obvious deformity - a limb threatening injury - and took six hours 11 minutes.
• December 31, in Maldon, a patient arrested on arrival to hospital after waiting six hours and 46 minutes with asthma-related symptoms
• January 1, in Bury St Edmunds, a patient who had a seizure waited three hours and 41 minutes.
• January 2, in Tiptree, a patient died after going into cardiac arrest and waited for 47 minutes.
• January 2, in Clacton, a patient died from a cardiac arrest after waiting three hours and 45 minutes.
• January 2, in Chelmsford, a patient having a stroke waited 16 hours 49 minutes.
• January 2, in Colchester, a patient went into cardiac arrest after self-presenting at Colchester hospital A&E due to ambulance delay.
After years of missed targets EEAST changed its response programme last year, but in the most serious cases crews are expected to arrive within seven minutes.
The whistleblower also accused senior executives of being on holiday during the crisis, and said some of the trust’s £2.5m surplus should have been spent on hiring extra staff.
EEAST denied this was the case and a spokesman said: “The trust absolutely refutes claims that there were no senior managers in over the Christmas period. In line with all ambulance trusts, this trust operates a gold command system, which consists a 24/7 on-call rota of the most senior operational managers who are highly experienced and well trained.”
He added: “The trust is on the public record stating that it has a gap between funded capacity and demand. It is good financial planning to ensure that the trust is in a position to hire any additional resources that may become available across the months of January, February and March. The trust is well placed to buy such resources where available. We are aware of the claims made by MPs but note no complaints have been received from patients or their families at this time. Nor have any concerns been expressed internally through our line management, whistleblowing or freedom to speak up processes.”
Trust had ‘plans in place’
A trust spokesman added they “had plans in place however experienced extreme levels of demand over the new year period in particular.
“The trust was unable to respond to a very small number of the 50,000 calls we handled over a 15-day period as quickly as we would like. The trust is undertaking a rigorous analysis of that small proportion of calls.
“Where any suspected cases of potential harm are identified, then the trust will exercise it’s duty of candour to notify patients or their families. It is worth noting that any cause of death not certified by a doctor can only be established if there is a coroner’s case. It is best practice to always review the effectiveness of any plans and the trust will be doing that.
“Depending on any preliminary insight, the trust will invite an independent review of our decision making process. The trust has also requested a system wide review of these periods of high demand and lost capacity.”
Call for independent review
Former health minister Norman Lamb said the whistleblower had raised “very serious issues” with him.
Mr Lamb, the MP for north Norfolk, said: “It’s really shocking in my view, these are all suggestions which have been put to me but they are things which have to be fully investigated. I think there needs to be a urgent review by someone outside the trust.”
Sandy Martin, MP for Ipswich, said: “It is almost impossible to prove that anyone may or may not have died as the result as a result of an ambulance delay.
“However, it is clear that a better resourced ambulance service would lead to less unnecessary death and life-changing situations.
“It is time for the government to get to grips and to give our NHS the £30billion that the practitioners themselves say that the service needs.”
Giles Watling, MP for Clacton, said: “I shall be calling for an inquiry. If it is a question of funding then I shall be calling for more funding but I will wait for the findings of the inquiry.
“But we do need to get to the bottom of this.”
Suffolk health watchdog responds
Andy Yacoub, chief executive of Healthwatch Suffolk, said: “Healthwatch Suffolk is fully aware of the severe pressures all our health [and social care] providers have faced together this winter.
“I believe that at times the ambulance service has looked after and transported well over 4,000 patients a day, which would put a strain on any service. That said, each and every patient that requires an ambulance in an emergency, should rightly expect a service that is responsive and of a good quality.
“Planning and the best use of resources, in collaboration with hospitals and other providers, is essential, especially for the pressures that winter periods bring.
“For example, at a time when our hospital’s A&Es are as busy as they have been, ambulances can at times be held up, before their patient can be safely moved into the care of the hospital staff.
“The best use of what limited resources there are helps to respond to our region’s patients’ needs in as timely a fashion as possible.
“Communication is a key to this, because when ambulances are ‘delayed’, the patient and their carer(s) desperately need to know. The appropriate use of the amazing First Responder volunteers is also essential.
“Healthwatch Suffolk is currently asking the public to share stories about the ambulance service they have received recently, whether this is good, bad or indifferent. Your voice matters and any themes and trends we identify will be raised directly with the trust’s quality and governance committee.”
Posted by jeffrey davies on 21 January 2018
