Lobbying for Hornsey Central Hospital

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Off to the Haringey Primary Care Trust to meet its chair, Richard Sumray and Helen Brown. We (Richard Wilson, Lib Dem Health Spokesperson on Haringey Council and I) want a progress report on Hornsey Hospital, and what’s happening to clinics in Wood Green, on top-slicing, on the Government’s attitude towards District General Hospitals – and on and on.

On Hornsey Hospital it would seem that the bid is stuck on a technicality. We were assured that this was just technical and that the Health Department was looking to work it through. Our bigger interest is in what is going to be provided on site – and our 5 point prescription had a mixed reception. No – there was no need for more GPs – but yes there could be opening hours providing better service out of normal hours for local people. Good! Because thus far the GP contracts had delivered lots of dosh for doctors but not extra hours for local people.

As to the impact on pharmacists – we couldn’t manage to get them to promise that all would survive but we did manage to get a promise to supply all the local pharmacists with enough information early enough for them to bid or form a cooperative to bid for the new pharmacy.

We all agreed that it was vital to provide more public transport. Phew!

And in terms of consulting with GPs and local people we did manage to extract a ‘we can look at that’ when we put forward the need to ask far more widely what was wanted than just Haringey’s Area Assemblies. We suggested they do this through the GP practises and I think they agreed that it could be done when the consultation on the future of local Primary Care goes out. I suggested that could be a separate and special survey / piece of paper asking specifically about Hornsey Hospital.

So Lynne Featherstone MP at St Mary's School as part of National Story Telling Week– some progress I guess. I then had to leave Richard there to finish the meeting as I had to go and read a story to some of the children at St Mary’s for National Story Telling Week.

That was complete fun! I read a really ghastly tale of a boy who, to cut a long story short, watched so much television and ate so many crisps he ended up a crisp. And there was no happy ending. It was huge fun for me – certainly. I just hope the kids enjoyed it as much as I did.

Important meeting about our new secondary school

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Consultation is not Haringey Council’s strong suit and I was disappointed to say the least when I attended a (poorly publicised) public meeting to discuss the bids to run Haringey’s new secondary school and there were only six members of the public present.

Thankfully Councillor Engert, our local Lib Dem Education Spokesperson, with support from myself scored a mini victory and the Council have bowed to our pressure to organise a second meeting. This is to be held at 18:00 on Tuesday, February 6, at Alexandra Primary School in Western Road, N22 6UH. (For a map click here).

This bid process is a vital decision for our community. The new school will the biggest education investment in Haringey for a generation – so the local community must be right at the heart of the decision making process when it comes to the choice of who runs it. Obviously, I hope the Council will do a better job in letting local people know about this meeting, but I’m also publicising it too – such as with this blog entry! So please do pass the news on to other people – particularly anyone with primary school age kids.

If you won’t be able to make it there are more details online about the process, the bidders and how you can have your say on Haringey Council’s website.

Please feel free to copy me in on your comments – or make comments here on this blog – as I am interested to hear people’s opinions on the proposal.

Parking charges: ten questions Labour must answer, say Lib Dems

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The Liberal Democrats in Haringey are asking Labour some tough questions over their attempts to rush through a new system of parking charges in the borough. The Lib Dems will also be bringing the issue to the Haringey Council’s top watchdog committee in the coming days to make the Council address their concerns.

The key questions Liberal Democrats want answered are:

1.Why will the public not be consulted fully, as happened in Richmond?

2.Why has Labour chosen to invent a 4-band charging structure and chosen not to track the 7 DVLA bands?

3.Did the Council know it was going to massively increase CPZ charges when it conducted its most recent parking consultation?

4.Will the revenue created by the increased charges be ‘ring fenced’ for environmental projects?

5.Why has Haringey Council not provided any estimate of the introduction and administration of this scheme, and what is the cost?

6.How many cars in Haringey fall into each of the proposed bands?

7.What percentage of Haringey car owners will end up paying this tax? (including areas scheduled to become CPZs as a result of current consultations)

8.Which three wards will have the highest proportion of car owners paying this new tax? (including areas scheduled to become CPZs as a result of current consultations)

9.For how long has the Council been working on this proposal, and what advice was sought and from whom?

10.Given the incentives in the new parking schemes will Haringey’s Mayor now switch to a less polluting vehicle?

Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition, Neil Williams, comments:

“I am in favour of environmental taxes, but this is clearly a grubby cash grab by an utterly cynical Labour council. They have yet to present any evidence that their proposal will work, or work fairly.They must do so, or they will give green taxes a bad name.”

Cllr Martin Newton (Fortis Green), Lib Dem spokesperson for the Environment adds:

“Liberal Democrat controlled Richmond carried out a detailed consultation with local residents before going ahead with their scheme. The Labour group in Haringey are making a mockery of consultation. It’s a simple as that.”

Lib Dems slam Accord for failing to respond to audit concerns

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Liberal Democrats have expressed their disappointment at Haringey Accord’s failure to respond to recommendations made by auditors in July 2006.

Haringey Accord, the company in charge of Haringey Council’s waste disposal, was widely criticised for its management of the rubbish strike last summer. It has now been revealed that they have failed to show that they have met any of the eight urgent actions requested by auditors last July.

Haringey Accord’s response to the auditors was due in August, but they requested a meeting with Haringey Council. However, they have rescheduled this meeting on several occasions – the latest scheduled date is February 9th – meaning that six months after making their recommendations, the auditors have no assurance that Haringey Accord has taken action.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Audit & Finance Cllr Matt Davies commented,

“Last summer residents were knee-deep in their own rubbish and residents will doubt the competence of Haringey Accord. The fact that they have failed to respond to auditors’ recommendations on basic account controls and reporting of waste volumes will do nothing to improve that perception.

“It is unacceptable that Haringey Accord have not addressed these basic problems for over six months. The Council need to be much firmer with Accord.”

Holocaust Memorial Day

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Holocaust Memorial Day and Sheila Peacock, one of the local Labour councillors in Haringey has organised the ceremonies this year at Bruce Castle. I may not see eye to eye with Sheila on virtually everything else, but on this she does an excellent job – and full credit to her.

It is such an important occasion – and the symbolism of the Holocaust as a focal point for all the evils that man perpetrates on man pulls us all together as one. You cannot but fail to be moved by listening to a survivor of the Holocaust tell of what is what like actually living through it. It doesn’t matter how many books I have read, films I have seen, newsreels witnessed: listening to someone who lived through the hell of the camps brings it home in a way that no other medium can deliver. And I have never been to a Holocaust ceremony where, in addition to remembering the Holocaust, there was not also a remembrance for all the genocides across the world. Today was no different and we also heard from survivors from Rwanda. Shame on the Muslim Council for refusing to attend these ceremonies.

Evening was off to the Westminster Hour. It’s been a radio fest this weekend. We romp through the troubled Home Office and gay adoption issues – as both of these will come back next week. I raised the issue of the debate on the sale of a radar system to Tanzania – an opposition day debate by the Tories. Nevertheless – hopefully this time the Serious Fraud Office will uncover the truth and be left to do so without Government intervention. The Tories have been oddly silent on the Saudi Arabian arms deal corruption investigation (though the original deal was done by them) – so perhaps their interest in Tanzania is designed to help distracted from the otherwise silent acquiescence at Labour blocking international corruption investigations.

The Litvinenko murder

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So – we now have a public suspect in the Litvinenko murder story and it looks like the Russians aren’t keen for him to be extradited. John Reid promised publicly from the Despatch Box of the House of Commons when I questioned him that he would pursue this without fear or favour. So – I expect diplomatic relations to become extremely strained as he pushed the Russians and keeps his word!

Any Questions (UPDATED)

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Lynne Featherstone MP and other guests for Any Questions with pupils from Langtree SchoolLast stop of the day is Radio 4’s Any Questions in Woodcote. (If you missed the show you can listen again for a week on the BBC website). They get you down there about 6pm to have dinner with the other guests, Jonathan Dimbleby and the producer. It is always very pleasant – but being before the show also slightly tense. My co-panellists are Tim Yeo (Tory), Chair of the Environment Select Committee, John Cruddas (Labour) and would be deputy leader candidate and George Pasco Watson of the Sun.

We all troop off to the Langtree School (who are great hosts) and into the hall. It was a lively audience and actually great fun. Obviously if you are on you scan the news all week to make sure you have some idea of what might come up. I predicted correctly on releasing paedophiles through lack of prison spaces; gay adoptions and the Catholic Church; British Summertime. But I didn’t plan on the BA threatened strike or size double zero models and London Fashion Week. But it was fine – and being relatively near I was home by 11pm.

UPDATE: Iain Dale’s take on my appearance is here.

Salt Awareness Week

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It’s Salt Awareness Week this week. I put toooooooo much salt in and on my food. My blood pressure is borderline high (that’s my job I reckon). But blood pressure is a silent killer – and so I am off to my local hospital, The Whittington, to visit the cardiac department. They say about two thirds of us walk around not knowing that we have high blood pressure – and the ward I am visiting, the Montuschi ward, is where we will end up if we continue to take no notice of health warnings we are told.

The Lynne Featherstone MP at Whittington HospitalWhittington has kindly arranged for me to meet the whole team taking care of patients who suffer from heart failure, attack or other heart issues. Introducing me to everyone was Dr David Patterson, who is the consultant cardiologist. I met the Head of Catering, Cecil Douglas, who has virtually banished salt from hospital food – or at least got the daily intake for patients below the 6gm max figure. He has a job and a half: to get ill people to eat something and yet give them good nutritious food that won’t cause more health problems. And yes – there are a small number of remarks about blandness, but a hospital must be an example and they give you some education in nutrition whilst you are there. The problems really are when you go home and just cook with and/or and add salt for the rest of your life.

I learned something today in particular – that the Afro-Caribbean population is even more vulnerable to these diseases and that pickles and piccalilli carries huge doses of salt.

I also met one of my constituents who happened to be there and after talking to him what concerned me is that there is seemingly no real support package for when he returns home. He is elderly with a serious heart condition – can barely move his hands through arthritis – so how is he going to cook for himself, let alone worry about things like salt content?

Anyway – a very big congratulation to the Whittington with their Charter Mark for their cardiology department’s high levels of patient care and service provision. Very impressive!

Then I meet with David Sloman, the hospital’s Chief Executive, for my two monthly ‘chat’. I have been concerned over the Government’s outrageous cash grab in terms of top-slicing from budgets of health trusts etc – thus punishing those who have maintained their budgets properly. The promise is that after three years this ‘loan’ will be returned. Pigs might fly! But I have also been worried about the Government’s aversion to District General Hospitals – which the Whittington is. Of course we must provide the very best specialist hospitals giving the best care in the world for diseases – but that is not the staple diet of need. What the Government ignores is the fact that people want their services locally – including a general hospital that can deliver the medical treatments near their homes.

Straight onto surgery at Jacksons Lane – except I get a call from Ed (my head of office) to say that having arrived at Jacksons Lane they have discovered it is closed because of building works – and no one has told us. But quick thinking Ed gets Highgate Library to let me do surgery there. Thank you Highgate Library!