I hope there is a General Election soon… let me explain my eagerness.
As the county councillor for Ramsgate for the past seven years I’m tired of the endless debate about budgets, the ceaseless discussion’s about how to spend your cash, and tired of witnessing the need for huge cash injections into our public sector. From potholes to play parks there just isn’t sufficient cash for our public services. What money we have is being spread so thinly that it really isn’t working as well as it should. It’s really best described as managed decline.
Let me give you an example; a resident told me he’d watched ‘a workman pull up in a work van, then he chucked some muck into a pot hole – stamped it down and drove off!’ ‘Really?’ I queried. ‘Yes, it really wasn’t worth bothering with. And it was only done by another team three months ago. I mean it’s ridiculous and such a waste of money.’ I can only agree and I wonder how many examples there are of these half done, half-hearted repairs? We all know these shoddy shortcuts cost us more in the long term.
KCC’s £1.4B budget setting recently was a fiasco. The ruling Conservative council cannot even admit how bad the situation is. Instead, they cry crocodile tears, make lame excuses, and stick dogmatically to their ‘cuts and more cuts’ ideology. That’s why Ramsgate has lost its only open access youth club, it’s also why there’s no money for much needed road traffic improvements, it’s why every time it rains our drains block and roads and pathways flood, it’s why our roads are falling apart… I take issue with my fellow Tory councillors on many issues… I believe prevention is both better and cheaper than cure, I believe investment in communities is a benefit for us all and not a cost. I wholeheartedly disagree with the Conservatives faulty logic of cut, cut and cut again. The truth is it’s their own Government that has not only slashed council budgets, but stoked a crisis of need like we’ve never witnessed before.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what the LGIU published on 28/2/24
Councils in England are in a state of financial crisis with many facing effective bankruptcy in the next few years unless the funding system is reformed. More than half the councils that responded to a survey said they were likely to be unable to balance their books in the next five years. Two-thirds said they were cutting services. Parks, leisure facilities, arts and culture are at the top of the list. There have been repeated warnings about the state of council finances, with the Government announcing an extra £600m of funding earlier this year to help plug budget gaps. Despite that, many councils are currently setting budgets that will see service cuts from April, at the same time as increasing council tax and charges. Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGIU, said: “This year’s State of Local Government Finance report reveals the desperate, ruinous financial situation councils find themselves in. Cutting services, borrowing more money and spending reserves year after year is completely unsustainable. Citizens are being failed. With over half of councils warning us they are at risk of bankruptcy within the next Parliament, it is no longer possible to blame individual governance issues. There clearly is a systemic issue and rather than bungling local government panicked injections of cash, whoever wins the next election will need to reform the entire system, bringing back multi-year settlements based on an area’s need and developing new ways of revenue-raising.”
LGIU BBC News
On health the picture is equally if not more concerning and it appears that most people know this, as a recent You Gov poll shows health and care is the public’s major concern. I wait with bated breath to see if the Tories address this particularly thorny issue in next Wednesday’s Spring budget? Don’t forget that there are 7.6 million people languishing on the NHS waiting list and the Institute for Fiscal Studies concludes that it will take about four more years to clear the back log. Please – don’t get ill! I was amazed to hear one Tory councillor say that the backlog was due to Covid – I put him right by pointing out in particular the Conservatives illogical decision to axe nurse and midwife training back in 2014 has a huge impact. The government were warned. They took no notice. We are reaping what they sowed.
Which brings me to the HASU update.
You may recall the fight we had, the petitions, the demo’s, to try to get the NHS to see sense and to retain a stroke unit at QEQM. I helped our community star Marion Keppel to launch a Judicial Review to challenge the decision. Unfortunately, we and others were unsuccessful. Which is a crying shame because Thanet has the most strokes in Kent, ‘It is acknowledged that deprived areas have higher instances of strokes. This is demonstrated particularly in Thanet, which has the highest hospital admissions rate for strokes in Kent: some 165 people per 100,000 resident population.’ Our population was estimated at 142.000 in 2022. We were all concerned about the prospect of having to travel to a HASU, a hyper acute stroke unit, which is a better version of a stroke unit delivering better clinical outcomes over in Ashford. In 2017 we thought it was too far – in 2024 we still think it’s too far.
But Covid threw the NHS managers a curve ball. The East Kent HASU plans were halted and K&C (Canterbury) began to deal with strokes. I have suggested more than once that we should keep the service there.
I was therefore flabbergasted to find K&C is now building a Thrombectomy unit which is the latest practice in the mechanical removal of clots on the brain. Brilliant! It’s such an advanced lifesaving treatment. But – the plans for a HASU at Ashford are still going ahead. But the NHS managers can’t say when!
Meanwhile two other HASUs have been completed. One in Dartford and one in Maidstone.
But why oh why has Thanet been left behind again?
Frankly I’m baffled and I will be pursuing the issue vigorously starting with a demand to know a new timeline, and a cast iron reassurance that the original budget has been ring fenced, and post Covid, there is enough money in the pot.
In the meantime, a good stroke service exists at K&C where they have two scanners and a very cohesive, hard-working stroke team.
In an ideal deal world Thanet would have its own HASU.
With a General Election at some point this year, I hope whoever is elected to serve East Kent will fight, fight and fight to get YOU the NHS services that are so urgently needed and that you deserve. Thanet has been once again left behind.
… and please remember FAST.
Face, Arms, Speech, Time is a test to quickly identify if someone is having a stroke.
Face weakness: Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
Arm weakness: Can the person raise both arms?
Speech problems: Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
Time to call 999: if you see any of these signs.
