Good news – finally! Guy Njike has been granted indefinite leave to remain here. While his solicitors were still preparing his new fresh claim, the Home Office has granted him indefinite leave to remain under the legacy cases programme. Congratulations to Sara Hall and all those who campaigned so tirelessly for this happy ending.
Lynne Featherstone celebrates with award winning green workshop graduates
To celebrate their graduation from award winning environmental workshop ‘waste not want not’, Lynne Featherstone MP on Wednesday presented graduates with certificates at the Mitalee Centre in South Tottenham.
Not-for-profit organisation Language Network, who runs the workshop, was recently awarded almost £9,000 from the Big Lottery. Their course focuses on increasing environmental awareness for women whose first language is not English, with the help of interpreters. The women, many of whom are Wood Green residents, and mainly speak Bengali and Arabic, have been attending the workshop for six weeks, learning about issues ranging from how to recycle, to the effects of global warming, to how to grow your own vegetables.
Local residents who want to participate in workshops running later on in the spring, should visit http://www.lnetwork.co.uk/workshops.html.
Lynne Featherstone comments:
“This workshop is a fabulous initiative that really looks at green issues across the board- how it affects our daily lives, and how we all need to do our bit to preserve the planet.
“The turnout has really been excellent, and I understand that the next course is almost fully booked. It’s really heart-warming to see residents who dedicate so much of their time to learn how to live greener lives.”
Second doctor suspended over death of Baby P
Whilst Haringey Council was undoubtedly the first in line for responsibility for failure to protect Baby P – their woeful performance deflected some of the heat from the health services. But news today that on the health side further steps in accountability are being taken as reported on Sky News:
Dr Jerome Ikwueke twice referred the little boy to hospital specialists after becoming concerned about suspicious marks on his face and body.
The General Medical Council’s interim orders panel suspended his registration as a doctor on Tuesday.
This follows the suspension in November of paediatrician Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat, who failed to spot that Baby P had serious injuries two days before he died.
Police launched an investigation but nobody was charged until Baby P died in a blood-spattered cot on August 3 2007.
According to prosecution documents, Dr Ikwueke saw the child 14 times in the months before his death at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and a lodger in Haringey, north London.
There is clearly much we don’t yet know about who did what and when, but I’m glad to see that the health side of the equation is getting the scrutiny it needs – because in the end, if things were done wrong or people not up to the job, that needs to be put right before anyone else suffers.
You should not have to move out of Haringey to get proper mental health care
A woman came to my surgery last week (obviously cannot go into detail) but I wanted to place in public the utter poverty of treatment and support for those suffering from mental health issues and their families in Haringey.
Services just seem to diminish and diminish endlessly. The ward at St Ann’s where you can be admitted as an emergency is not suitable for many of those admitted due to an episode of one sort or another – for example an episode for someone with a long-term bipolar condition.
Such a person needs to be taken in – but where they are placed is so important. Currently it is a ward with psychotic and highly disturbed patients.
If you or I were placed in such a ward – we would be frightened – as was my constituent’s partner. He was so frightened he could not sleep at all due to the noise and disturbances from the other patients throughout the night – and of course these conditions hardly assist recovery or state of mind.
There is virtually no continuity in mental health care. Senior managers were not in the slightest bit interested in helping him move elsewhere where there was a doctor who had been dealing with him and with whom he felt comfortable. They just kept passing him on – and on – and on – from one to another. There was virtually no patient engagement.
And there is no support for his wife – the woman who came to me for help. Nobody helped her when her husband was threatening suicide. And there has been a complete lack of care for him outside of the hospital. Where they have now moved to – psychiatric nurses come to the house. In Haringey, when the threats of suicide were at there worst – all my constituent got was advice from social workers who suggested that he drink some warm milk before bed.
They have moved and now get much better care and the husband is vastly improved. You should not have to move out of Haringey to get proper mental health care. Yes – I will be raising this with the new Chair of the Mental Health Trust and the PCT when I meet with them shortly.
It is an utter disgrace – and if this was your or my loved one – we would be up in arms. I hope this new Chair wants to hear what I have to say – because this is not acceptable. And if the Government say – it’s the local PCT and Mental Health Trust who are responsible – and if the PCT and local mental Health Trust say it is the Government – I think that will demonstrate pretty conclusively that the system we have to protect us and provide our local health services stinks!
Fun at the dentist
Half-term – good time to go to the dentist if you are a child! One of our locals – ‘my dental care’ in Myddleton Road, Bounds Green – has made it a special children’s week. Existing and new young clients are invited in for a check up so that they get used to the dentist. And they then receive a goody bag with very special toothbrush, toothpaste etc.
They have made a huge effort to get the word out locally that there is a very friendly and happy NHS dentist ready to meet and help children’s introduction to the world of teeth hygiene and care. A good start that will help them for the rest of their lives – and keep their teeth!
Post Office news – and some of it is good!
Here’s my latest piece for the Highgate Handbook & Muswell Hill Flyer magazines:
And it came to be! We all said that if our precious sub-Post Offices closed, the displaced users would have to go to other post offices and queues would lengthen. Even outside of the Christmas pressures – queues have been out the door at the remaining Post Offices.
To move it from anecdotal to actual, in the autumn I launched a Post Office survey where I asked local residents to count their waiting times. I have now put together the numbers and they show what we all feared – waiting times are absolutely outrageous in many of our local Post Offices, with waiting times of up to an hour in both Muswell Hill and Wood Green!
Given the Post Office promised extra resources during their ‘consultation’ on the closures so that we wouldn’t be faced with extra queues – and spoiling for a fight because they haven’t delivered on that promise – I met Crown Post Office Network Manager Richard Barker and presented him with the results.
Being able to show him actual numbers really worked, as he promised three more staff at Wood Green Post Office. But sadly – for the rest of us it is about managing the business better and about getting people to go in when there are no queues – for the time being.
Mr Barker also listened good and hard when I told him that many elderly residents find it very difficult to stand and queue for such long periods of time. He has now promised to put in as much seating as possible when the Crown Post Offices in Crouch End, Wood Green and Muswell Hill get refurbished this summer.
I have also been nagging the Government about the continued need for local postal services. In the Government’s response to me there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon and Mr Baker mentioned this too – that Royal Mail are planning to introduce Post Office outreach services in communities, and I will fight hard for our local parades to get as many of these as possible – so watch this space!
A fantastic film about Mary Fielding House
Attended a screening over the weekend at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley of a film made about Mary Fielding House – a fantastic residential home for older people where the standard of accommodation and gardens and treatment is par excellence.
They had a film-maker with them for months. The film was very well shot and showed very sensitively some of the issues that face older people – the agonising slowness to walk down a corridor with a walking frame – made poignant by the stillness of the camera just waiting.
But the film really centred on three residents of immense age and their lives and thoughts. In many ways it was far more about them than Mary Fielding itself – and I am not sure that was the original intent. That having been said – the lives of these three women were incredible. Political activists and peace campaigners whose mind and opinions were strong and inspirational.
One other aspect which came across very strongly was from a conversation by two of the staff there who were telling the interviewer that something like 98% (I didn’t take notes at the time, so forgive me if that number isn’t quite correct) often said things like ‘they wanted to go to sleep’ and they had ‘had enough’. It was very moving – but just like my summer project when I visited so many local residential homes for the elderly – what you really come away with is the ability to stop seeing ‘old people’ and you see people – with real lives and real history and phenomenal experience of life.
Local MP makes home for Haringey's birds
To kick-start National Nest Box Week and provide a much needed home to Haringey’s rapidly dwindling bird numbers, Lynne Featherstone MP put up a nest box in her garden – hoping to inspire other Haringey residents to do the same. Haringey’s birdlife, which has drastically declined in diversity and numbers over the past thirty years, is in desperate need of more people to follow the Liberal Democrat MP ‘s example.
The house sparrow, once one of Haringey’s most common garden birds, was according to the result of last year’s RSPB Great Garden Bird Watch survey seen less than twice in the average Haringey garden; an 80% reduction in 30 years. Lynne will be following the latest development in Haringey’s bird count, as she announces the local results of the RSPB survey next month.
Anyone wanting to find out more about how to fit a bird box should visit the National Nest Box website at http://www.bto.org/nnbw/index.htm.
Lynne Featherstone comments:
“Diminishing biodiversity isn’t something that is only happening on the banks of the Amazon, but here in Haringey too!It saddens me that we see fewer and fewer birds in our gardens, and that’s why I feel it is extra important to that we do our bit and support National Nest Box Week.
“Loss of habitat and lack of food is really the reason why we see fewer birds in our gardens. So putting up a nest box in your garden is really the best and easiest way to help Haringey’s feathered friends.”
Liberal Democrats uncover secret health budget cuts
Haringey’s health budget could be slashed by £10 million over the next two years in a bid to bail out failing health trusts in the capital. Information revealed by Haringey Liberal Democrats shows that a London-wide strategy aims to impose a 1.3% levy on prudent Primary Care Trusts (PCT) to settle debts in other London areas.
PCTs are also not going to get back ‘top-slices’ taken in previous years – which means that Haringey health trust could fail to recover another £10 million ‘lent’ to other health trusts.
Liberal Democrats have criticised the secrecy surrounding the issue and have called on health bosses and Haringey Council to come clean on what they know.
It is understood that discussions have been ongoing for some months. However, in an answer to a written question tabled by Cllr David Winskill to Haringey Council’s ‘watchdog’ committee, it emerged that Haringey Council had to resort to looking at the PCT’s website to find out what is going on. It is claimed by Haringey Council that the PCT refused to give more information.
Cllr David Winskill comments:
“This is a dreadful situation. We had a similar ‘top-slice’ two years ago and cuts in services were forced on the people of Haringey with no debate or discussion. It is incredible that, despite an apology form the chairman of NHS London over how the cuts were imposed, Haringey PCT is making the same mistakes again and paying lip-service to the idea of partnership working.”
Cllr Nigel Scott, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson, adds
“There seems to be gaping holes in the alleged partnership between Haringey Council and the democratically unaccountable Health Trust. Haringey Council seems blissfully unaware of the proposal that could see Haringey’s residents losing out on £20 million of health funding.
“We have called for a joint statement by Haringey Council and the PCT setting out the details of the budget reduction, their likely impact on services and what actions Haringey Council and PCT will take to mitigate that impact.”
Lynne Featherstone MP, adds:
“Once again we see that the trusts that have managed to balance their budgets in difficult times are being asked to bail out other areas where, for whatever reason, costs have not been kept under control.Haringey has many pressing health needs.Its planned budget was thought necessary to meet these needs.It should be protected for the patients of Haringey.”
Pressures on local school places
So – interesting. Just listening to one of the new reports saying that due to people taking their kids out of private school, secondary schools are experiencing an influx.
Only last Friday I asked our senior education officer at Haringey what preparations they were making in case this happened. He said that there was some capacity – and that the new school being built in Haringey Heartlands would also come on stream in due course. But there is a birthrate increase of great proportion coming along too – so although the first pressures from that will be on primary schools which have been expanding capacity like billy-o here – the extra capacity at secondary will also in due course be taken up to a great extent.
Anyway – he didn’t seem to think that this would be a problem as the last thing that people do in a recession if they can possibly avoid it is take their children out of their education at private school. But the report on the TV news said different – which is why I raised it as an issue.
So I hope Haringey LEA (local education authority) will keep a close watch on this – as many children in Haringey are sent to private schools – and extra pressures on school places end up impacting everyone, private or not.
I did ask what figures Haringey had for children who live in Haringey but who do not go to state school here. Apparently Haringey have no figures available on this! Last time I got any sort of figure was years ago – and it was that 40% go out of borough or to private schools.
So – don’t know if the figure is still in that league – but imagine the pressures if a large proportion of those wanted or needed to go to our schools. Boy scouts motto – be prepared! Or at least find out the figures and keep a close watch!
Lynne Featherstone 