The malingering disabled (or so those that issue blue badges would have you believe)

Twice recently I have been contacted by Milton residents in respect of their blue disabled badges. These badges are issued to those whose disability means that they have to park near to home or where they are driving or being driven to.

Gentleman A has had his blue badge for eight years. This year, though, he was denied a renewal.

Lady B had had her badge for six years. Again, her re-assessment has meant that this lifeline to the outside world was removed.

Both Gentleman A and Lady B are elderly and, unless they defy all known medical science, are not getting better. The health conditions that saw them issued originally would have worsened rather than improved in the intervening years. This suggests one question: why are their blue badges no longer considered necessary?

The answer put simply is that goalposts have been moved. This must be part of an agenda, encouraged by a Conservative Government that sees society’s ills as being down to its most vulnerable members. Thus, those once considered to have disability are now considered fit – a no mean transformation.

Of course, no such transformation has actually taken place. Gentleman A and Lady B are as much in need of their blue badges as ever, more so considering that their conditions are worsened.

Those that change the assessment criteria must, one presumes, seem malingerers everywhere. It would also seem that the distribution of blue badges to people such as I have described is a sin against the more able, younger, and the fit.

Do not grow old and infirm is the clear message here – for a caring society is being replaced by one that treats such people with ill-disguised disdain.

I want cancer survival rates in Southend West to match the best in Europe

The UK’s cancer survival rates lag behind the rest of Europe, I am making them a priority.

#TimeToChoose

Macmillan is calling for the next government to take action to improve cancer outcomes. Currently, according to the Eurocare-5 study, the one year cancer survival rate for England is 68%, meaning 1 in 3 people with cancer die within a year of diagnosis. The best one year survival rate in Europe is 81% in Sweden.

I’m helping 5.300 ( the number living with and beyond cancer up to 20 years after diagnosis in NHS Southend CCG) people in Southend by prioritisng cancer care.

Pleased to be one of the 166

The dementia promise

The following actions are from the Alzheimer’s Society’s General election manifesto 2015. If elected on May 7th I hope I can help make these actions a reality.

These 12 actions from the next government will improve the lives of people with dementia:

1. Commit to increase diagnosis to at least 75% everywhere by 2017
2. Ensure a streamlined diagnosis process to cut waiting times
3. Ensure everyone with dementia has access to a dementia adviser
4. Ensure everyone has the right to a carer assessment and guaranteed support
5. Regulate that home care visits should be no less than 30 minutes
6. Fund an annual national dementia awareness campaign
7. Commit to all health and care settings being dementia friendly
8. Ensure all service providers and care workers in dementia care have protected dementia training time
9. Demonstrate leadership in creating a dementia friendly society with a commitment that all national and local government employees become Dementia Friends
10. Double the spend on dementia research, focusing on risk reduction and improving care as well as cure
11. Ensure every person with dementia has the same state support in managing their condition as people with cancer
12. Develop and publish a national plan, jointly owned by government and key delivery stakeholders, to raise the ambition for people with dementia

Campaign for the NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015

Labour MPs and candidates supporting NHS Reinstatement Bill

I support the Labour Campaign for Mental Health

Southend West Labour Candidate calls for a Hyper Acute Stroke Unit based in Southend

Southend West Labour Candidate, Julian Ware-Lane, wants to see the best outcome for Southend people when it comes to the treatment of strokes. Julian Ware-Lane is unequivocal about his support for Southend University Hospital, and is disappointed that the two local MPs seem reluctant to back this local popular facility. A local Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) would deliver improved health outcomes for Southend people.

Southend is at the frontier of new research and treatments for stroke patients. They have recently introduced Vascular Intervention (removing brain clots via catheter) with spectacular improvement and outcomes. They are the only unit in Essex offering this treatment, which will be the benchmark for future treatment in acute stroke.

Stroke thrombolysis is not just about delivery, but also speed of delivery – there is no debate that quicker treatment improves a patient’s odds of a better outcome.

Given the shortage of stroke physicians in England and therapy staff, it would not be possible to fully staff four or five HASUs in Essex without vacancies and gaps in the rotas. The impact of fewer HASUs for Essex has been considered; the Essex SCAG has strongly recommended stroke patients be able to access expert stroke teams with 45 minutes.

Julian Ware-Lane, Labour candidate for Southend West, says: “Unlike the local Conservative Party, I back our hospital. I have used the hospital and it has always provided first class treatment. Long may it continue to do so.”

“I would repeat and support the plea previously made by Alan Tobias, Chair of the Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, that it is imperative that a joint public consultation is held urgently across South Essex with a clear précis of the clinical experts recommendations, and an agreed commitment that the CCGs will deliver the public wish.”

Julian adds: “A state of the art stroke unit would be a beneficial addition to the facilities currently on offer. Southend’s residents deserve the very best that can reasonably be offered.”

Next time, they’ll cut to the bone

Analysis shows that in the next three years the Tories are planning cuts to public services which are deeper than any year of the last parliament; and in the next three years cuts to public services will be almost twice the level of the last three years. OECD countries which have cut public spending at the pace which George Osborne plans have ended up cutting health spending.

Britain needs a better plan. Labour will get the deficit down in a more sensible and balanced way. And we have a fully-funded plan to save our NHS and transform it for the future.

Labour’s plan means 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs and cancer tests guaranteed within one week. And we’ll pay for it by closing tax loopholes and a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million.

Julian Ware-Lane backs Labour’s plans for 20,000 extra nurses

Julian Ware-Lane, Labour candidate for Southend West has backed Labour’s plans to recruit 20,000 more nurses by 2020, including 1,800 in the East of England.

Under this government, nurse numbers have failed to keep pace with demand while more than half of nurses say their ward is dangerously understaffed.

Unlike the Tories, Labour will protect the NHS and ensure we have a health service ready to meet future challenges.

That’s why the next Labour government will provide these much-needed extra nurses. They will help ensure safe staffing in hospitals and provide personalised care outside hospitals – helping us to transform services so the NHS can meet the care needs of the 21st century.

These extra nurses will be funded through the Time to Care Fund – raised from a mansion tax on properties over £2m, cracking down on tax avoidance and a new levy on tobacco firms

Julian Ware-Lane said: “Our health service is in crisis under the Tories. The NHS as we know it cannot survive another five years of David Cameron.

“If we want a world-class NHS then we need enough nurses with the time to care for patients. That’s why I’m proud that the next Labour government will bring in the Time to Care fund which will see the East of England benefit from 1,800 more nurses.

“The truth is that only Labour can save the NHS from the Tories. Our plan is a blueprint to raise standards of care and ensure our health service is sustainable in the 21st century.”

Andy Burnham, Shadow Health Secretary, said: “David Cameron has brought the NHS to the brink. There are too few staff on our wards, the bill for agency nurses is out of control and hospitals are forced to travel overseas to recruit nurses because of Cameron’s cuts to nurse training places.

“This cannot carry on. Labour will recruit more nurses in every region of England including 1,800 in the East of England. We want this new generation of nurses to be home-grown and will offer young people a new ladder into the NHS.

“This will help build an NHS with time to care, that starts in people’s homes, ends the scandal of 15-minute visits and helps keep people out of hospital.”

Southend-on-Sea Health Profile 2014

I have just been taking a peak at the Southend-on-Sea Health Profile 2014. Here are some highlights, if that is the appropriate term.

Population: 175,000

Health in summary
The health of people in Southend-on-Sea is varied compared with the England average. Deprivation is higher than average and about 23.5% (7,700) children live in poverty. Life expectancy for women is lower than the England average.

Living longer
Life expectancy is 10.1 years lower for men and 9.7 years lower for women in the most deprived areas of Southend-on-Sea than in the least deprived areas.

Health inequalities is something that deeply concerns me, and it is something I have brought up on a number of occasions in council meetings, and elsewhere. This map illustrates the issue quite neatly. The darker the green, the more deprived the area.

Whilst it is true that this map represents generalisations, it clearly shows a large cluster of deprivation in the town centre wards.

The profile, in full, can be accessed here.