Cllr Paul Bell | Working for Telegraph Hill

In these bad times, politicians and in particular the Labour Party needs to be the voice of those being attacked by a nasty Conservative led coalition. I do despair as there are some decent people in the Lib Dems, but the parliamentary Lib Dem Party are the rats being played a tune by Pied Piper Cameron. The problem is that most of us will become the victims in one way or another. Personally, I will be the victim of NHS changes, but many others will see their lives turned upside down by people who are reforming the country to expand the difference between the rich and poor; squeezing the middle class out of democracy, as why would you vote when you are worried about losing your job? We are going down the American route, but more alarmingly, the American Nixon route. 

Nixon reformed the American healthcare ‘system’ to introduce the HMO – Health Maintenance Organisations, which are insurance companies who find ways of not paying people’s claims, leaving them in desperate debt and without treatment. Without treatment…well you can fill in the blanks. As I have previously written, the chilling words are always on the lips of these less than human individuals who say, ‘pre-existing medical condition’ followed by ‘your claim has been rejected’. Children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled are left without treatment in the pursuit of profit.

I pour scorn on all those people who advocate this health-care system. It is a death sentence to people and a blight on civilisation.

You do not need to take my word for it. I would recommend you have a read of this blog: http://onegpprotest.org/

British people must start to resist more or end up blindly sleepwalking into Nixon’s America.

I need say nothing here, as the TUC has said all that needs to be said. For an informed view, click HERE.

Take a look at the Pledge Card to stop a Sainsbury's Local on Lewisham Way.

Barack Obama's stepmother joined in the debate, saying that she owed her life to the NHS. Kezia Obama, 66, who now lives in Bracknell, Berkshire, suffered chronic kidney failure on a visit to the UK seven years ago.

She told the News of the World: "I was very down at the time but luckily I was here in Britain, in what was then a foreign country to me, where the doctors, nurses and surgeons cared for me like I was their own child. It's very simple. I owe my life to the NHS. If it wasn't for the NHS I wouldn't have been alive to see our family's greatest moment – when Barack became president and was sworn into the White House."

This story was first reported in 2009.

This government has no electoral mandate to make changes to the NHS. This is especially true if you consider that the World Health Organisation last year rated the NHS as one of the most efficient and best health services in the world.

Therefore, please write to Her Majesty and ask her to refrain from giving Royal Assent to the bill if it passes the Parliamentary stages.

The address to write to the Queen is:

Her Majesty The Queen, Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA

I've decided to trial using Audioboo for latest my news. Being dyslexic adds many additional steps to writing articles, e.g. checking, rechecking and checking again. Therefore, given that I have very few problems opening my mouth, this method may result in more articles in a regular timeframe.

Thanks to Delores for introducing me to it.
You can access my Audioboos from my home page or by clicking on the QR below.

Here is what I said at full council last night to support my motion (in red)...

“In light of the serious concerns regarding the care provided by some private providers, this Council calls on the Executive Directors for Community Services and Children and Young People to advise on the measures being taken to ensure the quality of care provision in all care homes used by the borough and calls upon the Care Quality Commission and OFSTED to implement a programme of non-announced inspections of all care homes providing residential care facilities for people with disabilities and older people.”

Furthermore, it calls upon the Healthier Communities Select Committee to undertake a review of Lewisham's commissioning, monitoring and the arrangements for the inspection of these services.

Because commissioning is a political and not just a technical issue, the involvement of elected members is critical. Councillors have a statutory duty to put in place arrangements that will result in the continual improvement of service delivery with reference to economy, efficiency and effectiveness (Local Government Act 1999).

However, the recent cases of two private sector providers has shown how fragile some parts of the private sector is and as Lewisham commissions these services it has a duty make sure that the residents are benefiting from the best possible care.

The recent outing of Castlebeck to the media by Panarama, a company that Lewisham places two residents out of the Borough and its sister company Barchester which runs Westwood House in Sydenham, has demonstrated the pitfalls of some larger private sector providers. Furthermore, the example of Southern Cross is particularly bitter to swallow as for executive short term gain they sold their profit portfolio and leased it back, thereby potentially destabilising the group…but why would they care, the public sector will always pick-up the tab. Right?

However, the inhumanity in the Winterbourne View unit [Castlebeck], near Bristol made me sick to my soul and it is not acceptable for the private sector to simply wash its hands of its responsibilities, by apologising. But as with all things in life, bad practice has to be discovered and cannot simply be found. The Winterbourne unit is purportedly an assessment hospital for adults with profound learning disabilities or autism, but most of the patients had lived there for more than a year – each at a cost to the public purse of £3,500 a week.

For those here who did not see the programme, here are some of the recorded incidents:

In one scene in the programme, a male support worker seems to goad a female patient to throw herself out of a second-floor window. He says: "Go on, do it now I'm here. I'd love to see you try it: you will go flying. … When you hit the floor, do you reckon you will make a thud or a splat?"

In another scene, a second male support worker is seen to act as a Nazi camp commandant, repeatedly slapping a patient across the face with a pair of leather gloves and saying: "Nein, nein, nein!"

Staff, sometimes with qualified nurses watching, used forms of restraint that an expert described as closer to martial arts rather than any approved technique.

A female patient is seen pinned beneath a chair for more than 30 minutes with one support worker sitting in the chair and keeping his foot on her wrist, while a second worker kneels on her legs.

So what of my motion? Well I am told that the Care Quality Commission is responsible for the inspection of care homes, but this organisation has recently been rolling back its inspection and monitoring provision.

The Care Quality Commission conducted 2,008 site visits between the beginning of October 2010 and the end of March 2011, compared with 6,840 for the same period 12 months earlier – a 70% fall. [Community Care May 2011].

In February 2011, Adult care directors sought "urgent" talks with the Care Quality Commission over concerns that a new ratings system for providers will reduce scrutiny of services, to the detriment of users.

The government has proposed replacing the quality ratings system, under which the CQC graded all registered providers as poor, adequate, good or outstanding, with a voluntary "excellence standard" for the best providers, in consultative plans to overhaul the adult care performance system.

However, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services warned that the proposed system failed to provide the same degree of "assurance" and transparency as quality ratings.

CQC is also now under more scrutiny since the Panarama programme; critics have seized on the fact that the CQC's annual budget of £164m is 30% less than the combined funding of the organisations it succeeded in 2009, even though it is being expected to do more. As well as NHS trusts, care homes, care agencies and dental practices, the body is due next year to start regulating GP practices. According to Dame Jo Williams, chair of the Care Quality commission each of the full quota of 900 inspectors – and until recently there have been up to 130 frozen vacancies – handles a mixed portfolio of some 50 different provider units and makes judgment calls, based on evidence of relative risk, about when and how often to visit. Bad practices can therefore be missed.

Even in the unlikely event of the CQC receiving a big boost to its budget, Williams emphasises that the primary responsibility for safeguarding the welfare of people in the care system will always rest with the care provider. "My challenge,” she says, “is to every provider who watched that programme is: 'How do you know that the people you are offering services to are getting a service that protects them, promotes their welfare and helps them develop and enjoy a quality of life?' However, all commissioners have a role to play.

So how do we make sure that Lewisham residents have confidence in a private sector, whose motivator is profit. Well that is where Lewisham has the responsibility. It is worth noting that the CQC has admitted inspecting Winterbourne View three times in the past two years.

The examples of Southern Cross and Castlebeck do not fill me with confidence; but more importantly, if the council commissions services it has a responsibility to make sure the private sector is performing not just for best value, but the quality of the care. Making profit out of the care needs of older people or people living with disabilities I believe to be wrong, but that is the society we live in. What we should not do is let the pursuit of profit undermine the quality of care.

Date: Tuesday 5th July

Time: Assemble 5.30pm March depart 6pm

Starting point: Savoy Street, Strand, WC2E

Route: The Strand, past Trafalgar Square down Whitehall, Finishing point and Rally: Old Palace Yard, opposite the Houses of Parliament