I was able to attend the first part but had to leave just after 19.00. It was, in my view, a decent presentation of the achievements in stroke care which however totally failed to address the failures. Medical care in strokes has indeed improved, but there is so much more to it. A question asked by an audience member about joining up and improving the social and non-hospital care was glossed skillfully and the answer avoided any specific measures that may have been implemented in favour of a generalised agreement that it could be better. There were no specific assurances about nursing or social care, and although I fully support the medical advances and applaud them, and I am an advocate of telemedicine and have been for some time, it is not "working in partnership with the public and GPs" if the whole process including care of people who will not recover is not addressed. It is genuinely fab that some things have improved, but given the fact that CQC and Dr Foster - who were touted during this presentation as organisations who had awarded East Kent high marks in audits - were giving them the same high marks last year which was when I personally witnessed chaotic and inadequate nursing care, appalling management of resources, and complete neglect of patients, it is hard to buy into them. Indeed, one of the procedures being bigged up in this presentation, the clot busting, was one of the reasons (or excuses, perhaps) I was given at the time for the chaos: I was told that it had been implemented too soon and without enough planning, leaving staff shortages and over-booking of beds. In short, too many patients and too few staff as a direct result of poor planning of these new techniques.
So, a mixed bag. A glossy presentation of some good achievements, but absolutely no realistic assurances of that crucial component, good nursing care. A real promotion of medical elements, and that should be acknowledged and applauded, but a complete avoidance of any specifics or proof of ordinary life improvement. I have no faith in CQC assessments not only because of my experience of East Kent stroke services, but also because in my line of work I have seen how shallow and inadequate and very subjective CQC assessments can be. So I am not as impressed as a lay person by CQCs approval as I realise it is relatively meaningless. Lots of use of the usual words like passionate, partnership, excellence, outcomes, but few if any specific examples of support that would reassure me that things had changed significantly. Disappointing, if you know what you are looking for.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
wow thanks for that bern.
the way i am reading this is that there was an excellent presentation that only "someone in the trade" would see through.
you recent experiences would have seen through the caring side, incidentally what is telimedicine?
Just got back , thank you Bern , I understand your comments about the CQC and Dr Foster , really useful feedback , thanks again
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Howard, telimedicine is the practice of using live video links to enable consultants to remotely examine patients.
The presentation on Dover's new polyclinic, or 'cottage hospital' as they insisted on calling it, was even more suspect. They opened with a timetable of delays since 2008 which explained that all the problems were other peoples fault (first DDC for suggesting a mid-town site and then Charlie for wanting them to reassess a Whitfield site). They then explained that the Buckland site was ideal because they could build a smaller unit and sell the rest of the land for housing development.
They hope to build what is in essence another health centre in 2013 to open in April 2014, after waiting for the results of a "public consultation" into the birthing unit. After showing a slide showing that they could knock £4million off the cost by not including a maternity unit, they declared that people had "voted with their feet" by 'choosing' (their word) to have their children elsewhere.
I did ask if this was more to do with the fact that very few are given the option to give birth at Buckland to be told that there was a long list of boxes to be ticked if it was safer to go elsewhere and that, apart from the lucky few, most people were ticking them.
In the summing up they did show proposed plans for the new clinic and said that if they "did not need" the maternity unit they would only have to build half of the second floor.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Thank you Chris.
`Cottage Hospital`...........The Chronology sets out the Fiasco.
It has always been a Land Swop Deal......Hospital never the issue.....Housing......DDC!!!!!!
`Public Consultation`......No Comment.
`Knock off £ 4,000,000.`................Set Philosophy............
`Voted with their feet`..........`Choosing`.....`Did not need half the second floor`............
Par for the course.................their minds have been set from day one..............
If you care .............please be there............
``Hospital Rally``...............Watch this space............
Thank you for that Chris, I am sorry I had to miss the second half (did they change ends...?!) It sounds like it was a bit of a copy of the first half in that questions were glossed rather than meaningfully addressed..? And thank you very much indeed for the opportunity to attend.
Telemedicine, by the way, is an incredibly useful tool for future social and health care at home, and also in institutions such as prisons. There is a cost cutting element, and that isn't a bad thing: costs saved in this way can be re-routed into more effective and value for money products and services. My view is that telemeds have the potential to revolutionise home care (very much the topic du jour and quite rightly so) and also prison and institutional care and support. Sounds alarming, but when applied properly delivers quality care and support remotely and supports people staying at home for longer and going home earlier. It doesn't replace hands on care, of course, but it does allow people to manage and retain control of their own medical and therapy care and means expensive home visits by doctors and consulotants can be reduced to a minimum. It has roll-out beneflts as well in that other organisations and individuals can use it, for example, if a prisoner needs UKBA interviews they can be done on screen rather than bus in people, which is more costly. Ditto housing, employment etc officials. The implications for better (ie cheaper, more targeted and more "joined up") support and planning are huge.
Thanks Chris. Polyclinic is what it is
I have been telling you all this for the last two years but no one would listen well you get what you get biggest load of bull s*** from from NHS Ever.Cottage Hospital Never has to have at lest two levels and at least two theaters the old Victoria was Dover's Cottage Hospital. well i am getting so feed up with this town just takeing what its given no body On DDC got any Balls you make me sick.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
nothing much to do with d.d.c. alan - more to do with the health authorities.
incidentally most people have been saying the same for more than 2 years.
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Apart from Vic, who wanted to know how soon we could have it, most people were sceptical. Given that most of the services to be offered will just match the present Health Centre in Maison Dieu Road, you have to ask (if they go ahead) how long before they decide they do not need both?
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Bern, I agree on the benefits of telemedicine, and its use for savings etc in a range of fields. I was, however, concerned by Kent Police's presentation at a recent KALC meeting where they stressed the time saving factor of using the system to save officer time when giving evidence to courts. They then plan to waste the time by sending all prisoners from Dover to Folkestone thus taking officers not only off the strets but also out of the town.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
some questions
1) how many people turned up?
2) how much time was spent on the hospital?
3) what sort of biscuits were on offer?
Howard: Chris will probably know better than me how many people were there, but it must have been about 40ish....? I left just after 19.00 and it was the end of the first bit about stroke care so the rest of the time was on the hospital/polyclinic/day centre/health pod/walk in centre/chair in a room with a phone and a GPs number/whatever. The biscuits looked rather nice, but I was very good and did not have any.....
Chris, I agree, telemeds is, I think, a really smart move but needs to be used in proper context in a joined up way ( to borrow a well worn phrase) and as part of a proper strategic plan rather than just plopped in as a "good idea". Planning? Strategy? Am I mad....?!
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
#. 28 ....Spot on............DDC`s ``maladministration``produced Two and a Half year delay which meant the Health Authorities being unable to make the necessary arrangements to build our Hospital.
Then we had PCT and EKHT dragging their feet for two dreadful years.
What a terrible waste of time by our Authorities!!!!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
thanks bern, not a bad turnout.
reg
in my recollection most of the delays have been caused by people(yourself included) insisting that they knew the right location.
the health authorities have played on this and can rightly say that they offered us the money and we messed them around.
nett result we end up with a bottom of the range hospital.
Absolutely - strategically Dover played a poor hand, opening up opportunities for a better strategic hand to be played by others.
PS - I may have over estimated, Howard - spatial awareness and numbers (of bodies) are not my thing!
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Including the attending govenors I would have thought 40 was about right. A selection of chocolate and plain Howard.
A good hour plus was spent on the hospital, including a short film of the trusts 5 hospitals (they include Folkestone and Dover in the description) which only had exterior shots of Buckland. Vic had the first question, when he asked if they could promise to build it and how soon. The remaining questions were more searching, and sceptical about its definition as a 'cottage hospital'.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i am not sure how they classify dover and folkestone as hospitals, last time i visited the latter for a blood test 3 quarters of the building was boarded up, there seemed to be a minor injuries unit and not much else. as for buckland not much better, there is signs leading to the endoscopy unit - i don't remember one ever being there.
were there any of those nice wafers chris?
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Didn't notice any but there were some jammy dodgers.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
# 35.............The Chronology of events previously sent to the `Forum`will help your recollection to be corrected.
The Mid Town site was/is on a flood plain.
DDC ignored this fact for a variety of reasons.............mainly because of the ``Land Swop`` arrangements between
DDC and the Health Trust..........................and the Chronology explains all this.
An article on the Rally will be in the ``Dover Express``tomorrow.............we need to spread the word...........we need
as many people as we can to attend................fingers crossed!!!!.
