I know this is on the wrong forum and its a bit naughty leaving it here but I wanted this to get a bit more exposure at least until an admin moves it.
The decision to possibly close Paignton hospital is an utter disgrace, There are many services to use there such as Minor Injuries, Physio, XRay, respite and critical care beds and much more, all are used a lot. The decision to close will just heap more pressure on the other district hospitals, Torbay is pretty rammed as it is and parking is ridiculous. Respite will be intended for care homes, as if they arent already full and bloody expensive.
It seems the powers that be feel the services can be replaced with more community based options, yeah right. tried getting a physio to make a home visit lately. Trying to save a buck, trouble is these sort of things might look good on paper but they always prove to be more costly down the line.
Please anybody that can support the campaign, just signing the petition would be good, I doubt it will do any good but you have to try, the know it all suits will likely have made up their mind already but at least we can show them what we think.
Three public meetings tomorrow, lets see what we can do.
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You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
I know it's no consolation, but these closure plans are happening all around the country. My BBC local news 'Look North' continually has pieces about plans for closure on a wide area ranging between the Solway Firth and Whitby.
It just annoys me so much that the suits make these sort of decisions and they are the sort of people on the sort of salaries that this type of thing doesnt effect.
If they want to cut costs and save money they could start by looking at the fat cat management salaries, sorting out the NHS inefficiencies starting with inter department communication and mainly sorting out how many billions of pounds a year are wasted, trust me on that one. Mainly though instead of constantly throwing more and more money into a black hole they could invest a lot more into social care therefore keeping hospital care clear for those who really need it.
This sort of thing might look good on paper but it doesnt work, we could do with a few more small hospitals not less. All this sort of short sighted thinking will do is cause more troubles and cost more money down the line.
Please can we get some signatures on the petition, it probably wont do much but at least it tells them how we feel.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
I went down early for the 7 pm meeting and couldn't get in. The doors closed at 6.45 pm. Those that did get in had queued in the drizzle for a while. Questions asked by the throngs of people outside why they had chosen such a small venue when they must have known the strength of feeling and the numbers that would want to attend!
I did get to voice my concerns to Kevin Foster who is very supportive of the campaign. (I may have to vote for him next time round - I wonder if he supports the Gulls like his predecessor?)
Well yes, I heard this morning due to health and safety numbers many people were locked out from the meeting, at least 50 including the MP for Torbay Kevin Foster, Adrian Sanders, Nick Bye and some councillors.
I saw it on Spotlight discussing todays events and saw tonights was a lockout also, they had a fella from Torbay CCG, not really a lot to say there. This was clearly a stitch up so not many people get to attend the meetings, hear what is going on and get to protest and air their views. Although its being mooted more meetings in a bigger venue will be arranged, its mainly the League Of Friends and the local clergy combined which are trying to get people together though.
I went to the 4pm one, got there at 3.20, yes you guessed it, full, at least 80-100 people got locked out again. Such a tiny venue for such an important issue.
In the end a fine chap from the Paignton hospital league of friends gathered everybody outside around, gave us all a rundown of whats going on and then Kevin Foster addressed us and gave us his thoughts and advice, therefore he missed part of the meeting again.
Basically, we were told its not a done deal, we can make a difference a bit of people power can save the hospital, get signing petitions, written or online, in particular though writing will help the most - write a letter/email to the Herald Express, write to the MP,Torbay Healthwatch (based at Paignton library) but most importantly
South Devon and Torbay CCG
Pomona House, Oak View Close, Torquay TQ2 7FF
Tel: 01803 652500
Write to these people and tell them your concerns and objections, its this short sighted lot that we need to stop.They have a questionaire which is going around and I have read online and was told today by the L.O.F bloke and a few in the crowd that a lot of the questions are loaded to trip people up into agreeing the closure so its best to avoid the questionaire.
For those of you that dont live in Paignton but in the surrounding areas and might be thinking so what, it affects you and yours too, the services are ear marked to move to Brixham, Totnes and Newton Abbot, of course most people arent going to trek that far and most will just go to Torbay hospital.
Time for the people of Torbay to shake off some of the apathy and actually come together to truly do something important.
Please everybody lets get as many letters and emails fired off to these people, it can work, it has to.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
It seems Ashburton and Buckfastleigh (or was it Bovey Tracey) hospitals are suffering the same threats. I appreciate things need to change from time to time as society changes, and they do have financial restrictions, some of them resulting from management or organisational failures, some imposed by Government. But I looked at the consultation website, and I have to say the whole thing looks more like a propaganda exercise than a consultation. These things are usually a fait accompli, the consultations being almost an afterthought to cover their backs. But that's even more reason to respond to the consultation. If enough people do so, they must at least listen.
Thats pretty much it Gullscorer, they want us to just accept they have made their decision and we all go away. Well we were told yesterday the more noise and protest we make, the more meetings we attend, the more signatures on petitions we write , the more letters/emails we send, it can be stopped, dont just let them have their way, its short sighted at best, it will cause more problems and cost more money down the line and its not good for people.
The NHS is suffering financially mainly because of poor management, lack of organisation, inefficiency, lack of communication and negligence and ridiculous waste. They dont need billions and billions more, they dont need to make savage cuts like closing hospitals, they could do with more funding yes, but not a massive amount in comparison if they actually made better more organised use of what they have. The whole structure is top heavy with management, when you think there are pen pushers on the sort of money that could fund at least 6-10 nurses salaries it makes you sick.
I can tell you something from experience and from what people I have met and friends and neighbours have told me, some stories just in the last two days when the hospital subject has come up, - The amount of money wasted from people receiving unneccessary medication which gets stockpiled in their home and never used is phenomonal, month after month people either pick up or receive repeat prescriptions week after week month after month that they dont need or use and finally when there is a huge excess and the meds get returned to a chemist etc it gets destroyed, money down the drain. Estimated waste cost apparently at least at 300 million a year, its likely to be a lot more than that, add to that a lot of unneccessary meds administered and it is deemed to be a modest guess at 2 billion.
Smilar waste is things like bandages/dressings that people end up with in their home, nurses visit to apply these and then patients keep getting them sent to their home by the box load, over and over again, many of which never get used, no disrespect to community nurses but I have seen a few who just cant be arsed to look through boxes of what is there and what they need is there but they order more and the cycle repeats, other people have told me the same story. Guess what happens when the bandages finally get returned?
Another waste is equipment, people get given things to use at home, - Commodes, walking frames, sticks, crutches, hoists, all sorts. Try and return it when you dont need it anymore, nobody wants to collect it, nobody wants to deal with it, you get given the run around, loads of it can collect and pile up in peoples houses. I myself have put stuff in my car, returned it to whence it came and been told - "you cant bring it here mate, you cant leave It, we have to come and collect it", "But its right here in front of you, you now have it and dont have to do anything" was my reply, so I walked away and left it, I heard a very similar story yesterday.
I do understand people could be a bit more responsible with regards to what they receive from the NHS and they could make sure they only take what they need and return equipment themselves somehowwhen finished with it, I know hospitals/physios etc will take stick, frames and crutches back off you. However many people who need things are elderly, disabled or vulnerable so personally I feel most local NHS authorities could set up a task force to ensure by checking equipment and medications arent being wasted or going to waste and also check people still need or intend to attend appointments that are made for them. It might cost to set up and run but it would be cheap in comparison to the money it would save.
Dont even get me started on hospital beds and admission prevention, the politicians and media love to talk about throwing more money at the NHS to solve it, but with the lack of forward thinking organisation it wont help, its just a black hole, investing in more social care to free up the hospitals is the key, it would save the NHS billions down the line, but its not such a good headline grabbing soundbite as "we're going to put more money into the NHS", is it.
Please everybody lets just do what we can to save the hospital, dont let the suits win, sign the petition, write a letter/email objecting, anything, this must not happen.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
Extra consultation meetings have been organised at Preston Baptist Church, Old Torquay Road, TQ3 2RB. 3 are being held on Tuesday 1 November, starting at 1 pm, 4pm and 7pm while a further two meetings are being held on Thursday 10 November, starting at 4pm and 7pm.
From the blurb - "If you would like to attend one of these November meetings, please can you telephone by Monday 24 October 01803 652511 or email [email protected] to reserve a place stating which meeting you would like to attend."
I got a phone call from someone about those meetings, they took our name and number when we were locked out of the last one. From the disturbing things I am hearing they are determined just to arrogantly push through the closure regardless of what people think. Have heard most of the staff are being shipped out elsewhere by the end of the month, even before the meetings have taken place and way before the consultation period is over.
The CCG apparently have even said the closure has the support of the local GP's, I find that very hard to believe. I hope they care to name them.
I asked one of the organisers for some petition sheets I could take around with me and get signed, I got some photocopies and a couple of workmates took some to get signatures also. One young lady got her local shop to have some and within a day there were 140 signatures. This shows how strongly people feel about this matter when they find out about it. That is the problem though, getting the information and knowledge out. People have complained to me when asked for a signature that they either hadnt heard of it or had not seen any info or a petition anywhere. Not to criticise the people who are running the campaign but its a bit disappointing, the message and the petitions need to get out there more. Get the petitions in more shops, see if you can get some volunteers to stand outside a couple of supermarkets, they would get hundreds of signatures very quickly.
I wrote a letter expressing my views, I emailed it to Torbay healthwatch, Herald Express, our MP and the CCG who are wanting to close the hospital. Only the healthwatch has replied.
I am mad as hell about this, it just seems ludicrous. Worse still I found an article the other day that was not even two years old and the hospital had just had a hell of a lot of money raised and spent on it. I just dont see any good coming out of closing it, just makes no sense at all.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
