Category Archives: Blog

Haringey Council spends £ millions on consultants

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Haringey Council just gets worse and worse. This latest is jaw-dropping. The Government has been granting money to local authorities to help with schools buildings – ‘Building Schools for the Future’. It is a good program as so many schools have dilapidated buildings and no local authority would have the money to renew or repair to really make those schools up to date, modern with a clean, good feel. I think the environment for learning is very important – so very much welcomed this approach.

Now Haringey received something like £214 million for this program. Yesterday we found out that they spent £24 million or thereabouts on external consultants. To be fair – some of the money went on architects’ fees – which may be legitimate – but to spend 10% of the amount granted on external consultants is way out of order. The guidelines recommend 3% on consultants. So – needless to say – I will be making enquiries as to just what on earth Haringey Council has been doing. They have always been appalling at procurement – and almost every PFI deal they have negotiated has been dreadful for Haringey and very good for the developer! Robert Gorrie, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Haringey Council (who is a very experienced businessman) will be demanding to see the breakdowns and the figures. Given he is likely to be Council Leader if the LibDems win the Council from its 40 years of Labour misrule in next May’s elections – he is very, very concerned about the finances.

One thing concerned me though, was the newspapers focus on what part Sharon Shoesmith may have played in this. She was Director of Education – but how much procurement involved her I am not sure. It needs looking into – but whilst I believed that she should lose her job because she was in the accountable position in Baby Peter’s case – she has lost her job. I don’t think she should come in for a battering on everything to do with education in Haringey – and in fact – she had a very good reputation in terms of her education role. It was the child protection and social services side wherein the problems lay.

Sky has the cojones!

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Three cheers for Sky TV! At last – a broadcaster has the cojones to try and force a leadership debate. The nation demands. Sky will deliver.

Nick Clegg and David Cameron have accepted the gauntlet laid down by Sky – but guess who’s late to the party?

Now he’s damned if he does – but probably more damned if he doesn’t. Gordon’s nightmare just got worse – and no – he can’t send Mandy in his place.

I remember threatening, when I was Chair of Transport at the London Assembly and South West Trains would not turn up to an emergency meeting to try and avert a strike, to place a ‘tub of lard’ in their empty seat. This wasn’t an original idea – alas – but stemmed from Roy Hattersley’s famous failure to appear on Have I Got New for You as Paul Merton’s team mate.

Could the famous tub of lard be resurrected and placed on the threatened empty chair promised by Sky if Gordon flunks it.

I digress.

The question Gordon really has to answer is which is worse? Going on the show and making a complete stuff up? Not going on the show? A nasty choice. Of course – there is a third way – he could prep for it and answer honestly. That’s his only and best bet.

Social workers needed!

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I watched Ed Balls this morning on GMTV. He was there to launch the Government’s new campaign to recruit more social workers. The campaign uses actors to give a voice to those in society who are in trouble and need the support of social workers. And I really welcome the move as we are having some trouble attracting social workers to Haringey (not surprisingly) – but also generally throughout the country it is a job that people are reluctant to take on.

And I thought the GMTV interviewer was spot on when she said to Ed Balls – who was banging on about the use of the actors in the ad -that it wasn’t about an ad or a campaign, but surely it was much more about what they were paid, what support they got and the importance of training and good management. Absolutely right.

Balls said that they were putting a lot of resources into training and support – so let’s hope that is the case. As to the campaign to attract social workers – I hope it works. It must be one of the most important jobs there is to do – and to do a job that can and should do so much good and bring so much hope and help into the lives of people at their point of need must be worthwhile.

North London Hospice

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Had an interesting meeting with North London Hospice.

I have always been shocked – that end of life care (dying basically) is often left to charities rather than being part of the NHS and properly funded by them. The NHS funds about 30% of North London Hospice – but that clearly leaves a mega-gap to be funded by donations and bequests etc. In this recession their receipts are 30% down – so problems ahead. And when it is our relative dying – we want the best. If they can’t die at home – then hospital is not really the right place.

There is a proposal afoot – from the NHS – that when a dying person is referred to a hospice – a patients’ tariff should go with them to cover the costs of that referral – which seems an excellent idea to me. So I will definitely support this and see where Haringey PCT is on this and how soon it can be brought in.

The other thing that surprised me was that Haringey has no ‘end of life’ strategy. Our neighbouring boroughs do have such a strategy – which I believe is a requirement now by the Department of Health. So – equally – I am going to contact Haringey PCT to try and arrange a mini-summit to try and encourage them to enjoin with local partners and the North London Hospice to put forward an end of life strategy.

It’s the sort of thing we don’t much like thinking about – which is even more a reason to get it sorted!

Highgate School Summer School

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I visited Highgate School summer school this morning. Highgate, which is one of the foremost independent schools in the country, for a long time was relatively segregated from the rest of the community of schools in Haringey. With the arrival of a new head a little while back, Adam Pettitt, that changed hugely. Combining its community responsibility and its academic status – Highgate now runs a summer school for children from other schools in Haringey and Camden from years 10 and 12 – to raise horizons, benefit from top academic input, learn life skills like negotiation, team-working and so on.

So I gave a brief talk to the Year 12 students and Year 10 students – and watched a bit of an English tutorial and a workshop on enterprise. I asked some of the English students how it compared to their school. Interestingly, two of the girls from Haringey 6th form college, said it was fantastic to be able to learn in a learning environment where they didn’t get put down for being interested in studying. Food for thought I thought!

Anyway – delighted to see the continuation of this excellent project- exemplar in  how the wider school community can benefit from what Highgate has to offer.

Patients fight back!

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Published today is the Patients’ Association report today that says that patients are often treated rudely, left to wet themselves, have their call buttons taken away, etc – and that it is nurses who deliver such abuse. Let me first say that many nurses do a brilliant job and are often very hard pushed for time. They have a lot of clinical work to do, particularly on high-dependency wards, but also have to spend a great deal of time form-filling. Clearly, however, there are something like 200,000 patients each year whose treatment is completely unacceptable. We would all be horrified if a relative of ours received such rough treatment when in hospital.

Two personal experiences: firstly when I was a volunteer at the Royal Free Hospital (many many years ago) I was on a highly clinical ward where the nurses were rushed off their feet. The patients were dreadfully sick and dying – but when a nurse had time to plump a pillow or stop for a two sentence chat – you could see the patient (despite however awful they were feeling) brighten and perk up – a little. And it is that caring side of nursing that helps recovery just as importantly. Imagine the devastating effect on well-being of being treated rudely or agressively.

Second personal story came from one of my daughters – quite a few years ago at the Whittington – where she had to be admitted as an emergency overnight and was put (because there were no other beds) on the geriatric female ward. During the night there was one old woman calling a nurse because she needed a bed pan. The woman called and called. After an hour, my daughter got up and walked to this woman’s bed and she was crying and saying she was desperate. So my daughter then went to the nurses’ station to tell them of the woman’s need for a bed pan. The nurse said she was too busy and that that woman was always asking for things. A further hour passed and then – inevitably – she wet herself.

Since becoming an MP, I meet regularly (about four times a year) with the Chief Executive of the Whittington – and top priority for me has been about nursing care. In the days gone by that I describe above – there was a nursing shortage under which circumstances – although not excusable – the nurses were rushed of their feet. However, that is not the case now, and in my Annual Residents’ Survey the year before last I asked a question about treatment in hospital. There was praise and criticsim for nurses – as you would expect – but the real shock is that anyone would receive rude or agressive treatment in hospital – and yet there it was. David Sloman, Chief Exec of the Whittington has assured me that nursing care is top priority there now. I just heard yesterday that he has gone to the Royal Free (need to find out why – as the health shake up in London will mean winners and losers.)

So – anyway – the point is I am very glad that the Patients’ Association has done the work and produced these statistics. And whilst we all rush to protect the good nurses – we do need to keep up the pressure on weeding out the bad ones.

2,000 sign petition against lap dancing club location

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Handed in the LapOff petition this morning with local campaigners and Dave Winskill (Lib Dem Crouch End councillor). Over 2,000 signatures against the siting of this lap dancing club plonk in the middle of local shopping high street.

Considering these were only collected in a two week period – amazing groundswell of local people. No – not nimbies – just a reasonable view that sex-encounter establishments need to be sited more sensitively than an ordinary pub or club. The law is changing to recognise this as we speak. The problem is the current application is under the old law where location was not a primary reason to object. However, there are so many good reasons for refusing both planning and licensing applications – I am hopeful that the submission we handed in today together with such a powerful petition will hold sway at the hearing on the 10th of September.

Amazing work done by Action for Kids

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Fantastic visit to Action for Kids. I have been before a couple of times – and it never ceases to make me well up when I see the commitment and enthusiasm from those who work there and the benefits that flow from a day well occupied. Finding day placements, useful and rewarding ones, for those with learning disabilities is not easy. In Haringey we have the Harrington Scheme, the FAITH Centre and Action for Kids – and that’s about it.

But what a difference it makes. If it wasn’t for this charity their attendees would be simply stuck at home. Instead they are stimulated in a great environment, learning skills and doing useful work.

The facilities have expanded since I was last there – they now have a kitchen. It doubles as a social club – and they have boys night, girls night and mixed night – as well as a family room. Such a warm atmosphere and lovely people. Today they had invited me for lunch – and they cooked a splendid Mexican casserole – very spicy!

The constant quest is for money, though, so that they can continue to offer this service. It is mainly through donations that they operate and given that sometimes the care needs to be one to one – I am amazed that they manage the sort of projects and outings that they do.

I had the loveliest time – and that feeling stayed wit me all day.

Peter Hendy promises to meet about better bus links for Hornsey Hospital

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I went to see Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport for Transport for London – the big cheese – to present the postcard campaign for a new bus to serve the new health facility at Hornsey Hospital.

Miraculously – he said he would be willing to come personally and meet Haringey Health Trust to discuss the provision of public transport to the new facility. Hurrah! Score!

It was clear that Transport for London don’t think they should pay for all new public transport access – because in Mr Hendy’s view – Haringey PCT (Primary Care Trust) should have thought about the need for access before choosing the site.

Well – as someone who campaigned against Hornsey Hospital’s closure, against the taking away of the W2 bus route, and for a new facility for years – actually the site is the right place. However, I can see that there is an argument over why TfL should foot the total bill for any public transport now needed to serve it.

So – what I said to Mr Hendy was – well come and meet and perhaps you can go 50/50 on it. I don’t care which of you pays – what I do care about is that local people can get to the health centre easily.

The transport consultants that the PCT commissioned came up with a report that said that something like over half the people using the new centre would have journey’s of over 20 minutes and have to change buses. Every one knows that anyway. There isn’t a public meeting that I have been to about Hornsey Hospital where the issue of transport hasn’t been raised.

There are bus routes – but only one stop outside the hospital. The others leave a walk of over 400 metres – which if you are old or ill is too far – let alone those who have to change buses.

Anyway -chuffed with at least coming away with a promise to personally meet with local Trust and myself to thrash out what is needed and who will pay for it at least give us some hope.

The top MP blogs

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Well – I see that the Total Politics top MP blogs are with us again – thanks to Iain Dale’s devotion to measuring everyone and everything in blogworld! Anyway – this year I come in at number 8 – which is still in the top 10 – albeit a descent from the giddy heights of number 5 last year. Apparently this is voted on by 1,500 people or so – so that’s pretty good going. Thank you!