Nobody Discussing Healthcare?

[Ubique]

Flamboyant, it will be a tough challenge just to get past Bob Matthews, he's a proper old warhorse with much of the elderly vote in the Credenhill Ward, but one never knows

Hopefully the Regiment who reside in the village plus those on Camp ( or on Deployment and have postal vote ) will have read the relevant papers and vote accordingly .

 

As an aside I and Mrs U have completed our postal vote and it's now in the Post Box - just hope that the Ruck works !

[mikefitz]

Have to say this is one of the best threads on this site.  So good to see real problems being aired. Though I am not seeing the terrible housing neglect in Hagley and poverty on the scale that Chris has described I have been shocked at the number of elderly who are trapped in their homes lacking nursing-home care, access to doctors and dentists (unless they can afford taxis), transport to day centres etc.  We need caring councillors to address these issues.  Well done The Voice for focusing on this.

[Aylestone Voice]

Wye Valley NHS Trust - planning application for temporary 16 bed adult acute ward - P151135/F 

[dazza333]

Unique, top bloke.

dippyhippy, one subject area that I will do further research into is children and adolescent mental health facilities and services within Herefordshire/Worcestershire. Within the UK the children's mental health figures make for distressing reading: 1 in 10 children have a form of mental health problem and between 5 and 10 children per 100,000 actually complete suicide........so, whether elected or not, as a registered emergency nurse it would certainly be in my interests to know exactly what's going on within this patient group.

With regards to adult mental health figures the statistics are even more shocking but I'll let you all read about that yourselves, plenty of research in the public domain.

Chris Chappel, I believe, is most certainly going down the right track of treating the cause rather than the symptoms, however, with mental health it's not quite so clear cut is it. I think many of us have had plausibly 'happy' friends go on to attempt or complete suicide, as such we are relying on the person to be open about potential mental health disturbances they may have which ironically even they might not be aware of eg: psychosis etc....

[dippyhippy]

My primary concern is the lack of bed availability for CAMHS locally. The well being of the young person being foremost in my mind.

 

However,If we look at the cost, it is astronomical, and don't forget Dazza, when looking at the money involved, that there are also the added costs of paying for these childrens education whilst they are out of county. The amounts involved are eye watering. 

 

I honestly feel that we should be able to have a more local provision.

 

I feel the same way about children with disabilities who end up in residential placements at the other end of the country. Separating them from their families, fracturing relationships, costing up to a quarter of a million pounds per specialist place. We could do far more to keep these young people within county.

 

It would be far better for them, would be far more economical..... and we have the expertise within this county to make it work.

 

Assets surplus to requirements???? Hold a fire sale? give them away?... or......USE them for the benefit of some of this counties most vulnerable? 

 

I know what my answer would be, but it would take a great deal of joined up thinking and planning. Something which we have been sadly lacking in, here in Hereford.

 

Hopefully, that will change......

[dippyhippy]

I should have also added my thanks to you, Dazza, for saying that regardless of the election outcome, this is an area you will look at further.

 

I do appreciate that statement.

[dazza333]

dippyhippy, thank you. I regard this subject as my duty to know especially as this thread has uncovered an obvious disregard for mental health services to younger people and all mental health sufferers in the broader sense. It comes as no surprise really, I blew the whistle on Hereford County Hospital last year which you may remember reading about in the Hereford Times because the emergency services provision was and still is woeful and that is inclusive of both general AND mental health admissions. Richard Bekken will grow to despise me if he doesn't already.

[dippyhippy]

I do remember that, Dazza.

 

All credit to you.

 

If I was only in the process of beginning to hold you in quite high regard before, I certainly do now.

 

Well done.

[Chris Chappell]

Some years ago a family were causing a great deal of problems. No father figure, the five kids shared three dads who were not around. Mum could not control kids and neighbours in street were always concerned that their property would get smashed up.

There were four boys and a girl who I think was six at the time.

 

Although lots of complaints to Housing and police about kids and their behaviour very little was done. There were police cautions and. Housing officers read the riot act but it takes a great deal more than that to get a family to behave.

The young girl was often reported to me as being seen sitting on some communal grass at 1 or 2am because she did not want to go home as mother was doing things with men and brothers were doing their own thing at home. The only people who showed her any love was her school but there is a limit to what school staff can do. On one occasion, a neighbour could not sleep for the noise and when at midnight he banged on front door a boy told him to p... Off. So neighbour asks where is mum upstairs says boy, neighbour goes up stairs to find her in bed with two men. What hope have children when adults behave like that?

 

Some weeks later I was phoned by residents to be told the kids were going up and down street with metal pole bashing cars and they wanted something done now, but had phoned the police. I arrived to see mum shouting at two cops as they were putting eldest, 17 year old boy in police car. No sign of neighbours even when police took boy away and mum and rest of kids went indoors.

Leaving my car safely up the road I ventured to the people who had phoned me. As I got near the mum and two boys came out of house. Mum shouted how dear i phone the police and belted me one. As I was not expecting punch I was caught on side of face and went down in gutter. Fortunately, several neighbours had witnessed this from their windows, and to cut an already long story shorter, the resulting court case meant troubled family lost their home, mum got done for assault, and children, not least young girl received the foster care and help that they needed.

 

Moral of the story is, bad parenting can lead to all sorts of problems for kids and mental health problems in later life. It takes a long time for officialdom to do anything. It was admitted by Housing and police that if I had not been assaulted they would not have been able to get problem family moved and children into some foster carers who could give TLC. So I do have some use!

(Please do not use this as an excuse for assaulting your local councillor)

 

By the way, the young girl is now a young woman who I understand has turned out to be charming and very unlike the rest of the family.

[dippyhippy]

Chris, thanks for sharing this experience with us.

 

I - like you - and I'm sure many more, get so frustrated by the system.

 

I'm very pleased to hear that your punch in the face - although unwanted -proved to be the catalyst for this child to get moved to the loving and stable home she so desperately needed.

 

(Lovely to read your last sentence though, that this child has grown up into such a lovely young woman.)

 

From reading this, it would seem that this was quite some time ago.

 

We all need to remember, that similar and worse, are sadly happening around us today.

[dippyhippy]

"Kids In Crisis" documentary on tonight, Channel 4, 10.00pm.

 

This new documentary meets families from across the UK whose children are being separated from them, to receive treatment for mental health issues, sometimes hundreds of miles from home.

[Roger]

CQC have been sniffing around Hereford in the past week .... I'll post a link if anything is published 'online' .... 

[dippyhippy]

Many thanks, Roger.

 

I'm determined to keep highlighting the lack of local provision.

[dippyhippy]

Interesting news item, over at HT.

 

It would appear that Addaction are to provide the substance misuse programme from December. This is currently being provided by The 2gether Foundation Trust.

 

I wonder if there are plans afoot to replace them as providers for CAMHS services.....????

[Ubique]

The below is the Councils Press Release , short and to the point ! Very surprised that there are over 900 people being assisted , that's a very high percentage of the population of the County

 

 

Helping people recover from drug and alcohol addiction

29-07-2015 01:00 PM BST

 

A change in focus is set to help people with drug and alcohol addiction recover and live positive active lives in their local communities. Herefordshire Council has this week awarded a three year contract worth more than £5m in total to national organisation, Addaction to deliver substance misuse services across the county. The service will replace that currently delivered by 2gether Trust’s DASH project, which provides treatment and support to more than 900 people helping them get off drugs and alcohol and back into work or, training and involved in healthy activities.

[Roger]

On the subject of healthcare a contributor to the HT letters page (who gives his address as HMP Hewell) says this about the County Hospital food:

 

How is it, then, in our nice, clean hospital, we are served up amorphous brown cubes of mystery meat? Pie crust welded to the plate, cauliflower florets (grey/yellow and disintegrated by heat), lumpy custard and rock-hard crumble?

 

Hereford Times

[dippyhippy]

Ah yes.

 

The pie which was welded to the plate.

 

I have no comment to make.

 

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones........ my cooking is atrocious!