Editor's blog: New hope in hospital campaign
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Some extremely interesting, and potentially
hopeful, news on the maternity services front this week. Last
Friday new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley issued a directive
ordering the suspension of all hospital reconfigurations which have
not ‘passed beyond the point of no return’. There is currently a
review going on into the way the proposal to centralise full
maternity services for the area at the new Pembury Hospital was
made. Decisions over the delivery of hospital services have been
made for Maidstone so how Mr Lansley’s dictat directly affects us
is unclear. Everyone, including us, have been trying to find out.
Previously, I have mentioned how it might be advantageous to have
our MPs and ministers from the same party, as opposed to the
previous regime, and so it has already proved as Helen Grant gained
an hour-long meeting with Mr Lansley on Wednesday. That would never
have happened previously - well, after 1997. After the
meeting, Helen accepted the intervention isn’t ‘the end of the
story’ but was ‘delighted’ with the outcome. In essence the new
criteria set for moving vital services away from a our hospital
must demonstrate patient need and proper consultation. Chairman of
campaign group MASH, Dennis Fowle, believes it will be impossible
for the trust to meet the new requirements. We wait and see.
A man was convicted of an horrific rape in
Maidstone’s Mote Park this week and is likely to face a long jail
sentence. The case was utterly appalling and shocking mainly
because it was carried out by three men on a defenceless woman in a
place much loved and used by families during the day. It has also
raised the question of why there was nowhere for that woman to stay
which was warm, dry and most of all safe at night. In the winter
cold snap there was the terrible case of Ronald Mosney, 89, who
froze to death and we hear rumours that another homeless person was
set alight as he slept there. Is it time to really think seriously
about having a night shelter in Maidstone to protect these
vulnerable people?
To the Kent County Council’s annual media
dinner at Oakwood Park on Tuesday night, which in the past has had
an esteemed list of speakers, from Kelvin Mackenzie to
Michael Portillo. This year was no different as the guest was the
Daily Telegraph’s spiky columnist and associate editor Simon
Heffer, seemingly ubiquitous during the election campaign for his
forthright views, described as ‘calling a spade a shovel’ by KCC
leader Paul Carter. Cllr Carter issued instructions that the event
conformed to ‘Chatham House Rules’ but I’m sure we won’t mind us
letting Helen Grant know that Mr Heffer is a big fan of MPs
who have second jobs. You might remember that our MP took a lot of
stick over her insistence, at a KM hustings event, that she’d would
carry on working at her law firm. Mr Heffer, a fierce opponent of
‘professional politicians with little experience of the real world
of work’, believes that’s precisely what MPs should do to keep them
in touch with reality.
Friday, May 28 2010
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