Author Archives: jenny

West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Units to merge

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The NHS Commissioning Board website reports that West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Commissioning Support Units are to merge.

Commissioning Support Units have been set up under the 2012 Health & Social Care Act, and are supposed to support the Clinical Commissioning Groups in their areas.

The West Yorkshire CSU  business plan is being prepared by Pete Thomas, a Leeds KPMG employee on secondment from the global accountancy tax and financial advisory company. CSUs are widely expected to become privatised within the next 2-3 years.

It’s not clear how the CSUs’  merger will affect Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group meeting 14th March, 2pm – open to public

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People who want to keep tabs on what the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is up to can attend its next meeting, which is open to the public.

The 14th March Calderdale CCG meeting starts at 2pm, in  the NHS Calderdale premises, 4th Floor, F Mill, Dean Clough,  Halifax, HX3 5AX (near the Travel Lodge hotel in Dean Clough).

There is every reason for the public to be vigilant about CCGs – a British Medical Journal study has just found that one in three GPs who are members of CCGs have financial links with a private healthcare provider; and that this represents a clear conflict of interest for CCGs when they come to commission health care services. For example, the Guardian report on the study says,

“six of the eight GPs on the board of Blackpool CCG have an interest in Fylde Coast Medical Services, the local out-of-hours provider, and five have an interest in Virgin Care, which is part of Richard Branson’s business empire.”

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Oxfam/Eden Project volunteering opportunities this Easter

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Oxfam’s Growing a Better Future project is looking to recruit volunteers over Easter, to spend some time working on a global food justice campaign at the wonderful Eden Project in Cornwall.

Volunteers will work on an interactive exhibit that encourages Eden Project visitors to learn about the issues underpinning Oxfam’s GROW campaign, including climate change, land grabs, food price spikes and calling for support for small scale farmers world wide.

Here are the role profile and Application form. If you have any questions please contact Elisa Sandri on esandri@oxfam.org.uk

ConDems public spending cuts mean 23.4% of Calderdale Council staff have lost their jobs

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Office of National Statistics data  show that 31,800 Yorkshire and Humberside Council employees  lost their jobs between the first quarter of 2010 and the third quarter of 2012. This is 13.1% of the total Council workforce in the region.

Calderdale Council job losses over this time were even worse – 23.4% of  Calderdale Council employees lost their jobs. Staff numbers fell from  9,869 in the first quarter of 2010 to  7,564 in the third quarter of 2012.
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Calderdale Council refuses Freedom of Information request about proposed PFI waste incinerator

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Calderdale Council has just sent me their refusal to provide information about the proposed Bradford/Calderdale Private Finance Initiative (PFI) waste incinerator and power station that I requested before the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) withdrew their funding for this and other proposed waste incinerators.
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Germany’s energy transition

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Blackshawhead Environmental Action Team’s Finn Jensen commented on Dodgy nuclear documents, that

“Germany plans a 25% reduction in their electricity demand but the UK plans for 50% increase. If Germany can do UK should be able to do the same.” 

Here Finn outlines Germany’s “breathtaking” transition from fossil fuels and nuclear power to renewable energy. 
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Growing Futures – inspired by Bradford’s Newlands Community Association Business Park

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One of the interesting things about working on IncredibleEdible Mytholm’s Growing Futures project is the way that people keep coming up with useful ideas.

The latest example is a suggestion that IncredibleEdible Mytholm look at what Tony Holditch and the Newlands Community Association have done at the Inspire Business Park in Bradford.
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Top stories over 28 days to March 10th

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The most popular stories on Changing More Than Lightbulbs over the last 28 days have been:

If there are stories you’d like to see reported on the website, please let us know. Changing More Than Lightbulbs welcomes guest contributors – or, if you don’t want to write it yourself, you can send info about the story and if it looks interesting, we will research it a bit and then write it up.

Calder High escapes sponsored academy clutches

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June Eaton, who organised the anti-sponsored academy petition to Education Secretary Michael Gove MP and a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron,  reports that yesterday (8th March) Calder High School sent parents a letter. The good news being, said June, that

“there is no longer a requirement that the school becomes a sponsored academy.“

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