#NHS Detectives are on the case, collecting evidence to thwart the crime of privatisation.
Here is our report on the privatisation of some mental health services in Calderdale – some mental health hospital services, and community mental health services for Children and Adolescents, and for Adult Drug and Alcohol Recovery. Continue reading
Three NHS and social care organisations are planning the future of Calderdale’s mental health rehabilitation and recovery services.
Only two of them have explained their proposals to Councillors on Calderdale Council’s Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel. They want to cut beds and put patients into their own homes with unclear “support” in the community.
If you are affected by these proposals, please contact Plain Speaker.
Research shows that cutting mental health beds puts patients at increased risk of suicide. Continue reading
Calderdale Council has unanimously agreed a motion that calls on their NHS commissioning partner, Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group, to delay the public consultation on proposals that are more than likely to cut Calderdale Royal Hospital acute and emergency services, until there is evidence that taking community services out of the hospital and transferring them to GP hubs reduces acute and emergency hospital admissions.
The Council’s motion sidesteps the fact that the Care Closer to Home scheme (transferring community services from the hospital to GP hubs) is a big change to Calderdale NHS and we need to be consulted on this too – not just on the hospital cuts.
What kind of patient care and NHS staff working conditions will come with Care Closer to Home? We know the community hubs will employ less qualified staff like physician associates and there will be big reliance on voluntary carers, family and friends. Continue reading
Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Campaign Group were out on the street in sunny Halifax on Saturday 11 July to launch their Calderdale Public Service Users petition, which is addressed to Calderdale Council.
Hundreds of people signed the petition and the campaigners were kept busy answering questions from passers by.
The Petition calls on Calderdale Council to set up a new procedure for providing public services, so that the Council:
Through its privatised household waste and recycling service, Calderdale Council have been handing over public money to a subsidiary of a global waste and water company that puts profits above the human right to water and other vital utilities.
But Calderdale Council’s contract with Sita runs out shortly and the Council has put a new waste and recycling contract out to tender.
This raises some questions about:
Plain Speaker suggests that the process of privatising public services should include the online publication of all procurement documents, so the public can see what our money is being spent on, whether the contract specifications meet the public’s needs and whether companies bidding for the contracts are ethically fit to provide public services. Continue reading
The Secretary of Calderdale NHS 38 Degrees campaign group has slammed a statement by Calderdale and Huddersfield hospitals trust’s Chief Executive and other hospital bosses across England, that they’ll accept the government’s proposed £22bn efficiency cuts in exchange for the Prime Minister’s backing for rapid hospital cuts and closures, and funding for “new models of care”.
Among these new models of care are Calderdale’s “Care Closer to Home” scheme, which aims to cut acute and emergency hospital services by taking services for frail elderly and chronically ill patients out of Calderdale Royal Hospital and putting them into the “community”.
Owen Williams, Chief Exec of Calderdale & Huddersfield hospitals Trust, recently co-signed an NHS Confederation letter to the Prime Minister where NHS bosses accepted the government’s £22bn “efficiency” cuts programme for the NHS, while calling on the new Conservative government to honour its manifesto promise of an £8bn extra funding/year to carry out the big changes identified in NHS England’s 5 Year Forward View, plus funding for “transformation” and social care. Continue reading
Calderdale Council’s Budget Proposals 2015/16 – 2017/18 include swingeing cuts to local services, in order to “balance the budget” in the face of massive and unprecedented cuts by central government to the local government support grant.
Labour has put forward an alternative budget that includes the use of prudential borrowing and Council reserves to invest in income-generating public services, like affordable housing and business support – but it still proposes making major cuts as laid out in the Tory/LibDem Budget.
Both the Labour and the Tory/LibDem budgets include big cuts to Adults Health and Social Care (AHSC) services.
£2.5m is the target for cuts in 2017/18 to be achieved through cutting Council social workers loose from the Council and setting them up as a “mutual” business. Both the LibDem/Tory budget and the Labour budget include this measure. Continue reading
The dismemberment of our NHS proceeds apace.
On 7th January, the private community health care company Locala announced that Calderdale Council has awarded them two new NHS contracts in Calderdale.
The Council has taken away these contracts from our hospitals Trust, which is in the middle of serious financial problems. Continue reading
In January 2014 the Coalition government announced its Community Energy Strategy. At the same time Calderdale Council’s Cabinet voted to accept proposals for the Council to set up a community benefit society, Calderdale Community Energy, in partnership with local third sector organisations like Hebden Bridge Alternative Technology Centre and Pennine Community Power.
The aim is to support the development of community renewable energy projects in Calderdale.
Continue readingWritten in 2012, updated in 2013 and now re-posted. Sorry comments have been lost in the process.
Calderdale’s Energy Future (CEF) strategy expects householders to cut 25% of their carbon emissions by 2020, based on 2005 levels. To achieve this target, the Council will encourage households to buy in to the Green Deal.
This is despite the fact that even the government’s own advisers on the Climate Change Committee have calculated that the Green Deal won’t work, and recommend instead that the Big Six energy companies should pay for insulating homes across the country, on a street by street basis. Continue reading