Comments in Manchester Evening News

I was quoted in an article in the Manchester Evening News. Here is the article. What is wrong and shows how much the Labour Leader is out of touch is when he says that Ind Cllr Bob Brierley doesn't understand politics. I would put it that it is the leader who doesn't know what politics is about because I am sure it is not telling people to go and take more tablets!

No wonder Wigan Council is in the mess that it is.

Standish report on housing

Wigan Labour control Council are now proposing to allow 1000 new homes in Standish. After over a year of go and back and forth the Council said that the Government had told them to do this, which is incorrect, then the Council said that they would do a traffic survey and if that said that the roads couldn't cope then the 1000 houses wouldn't go ahead.

There report is now out and here it is. The report says the roads can't cope but guess what? The Council are still going to allow the houses. What a let down again on the Council!


The report basically says that residents of Standish will have to cut their use of their cars or get used to longer delays. The question that I have to the Council is why should they?

The plan that the Council are looking at is 500 houses on the line. That will go from behind Robin Hill and Almond Brook hotel all the way past Standish High school to the new estate behind the beeches. Then 300 houses would go on the land at the front of golf course and some land opposite. Then finally there would be 200 houses would go on the back of the golf course on the opposite of the railway line. Access would be off Chorley Road.

We are holding a meeting at the Unity Club on Monday 2nd December 2013 at 7.30pm. This is to update people with the plans of the Council and see what action people want to take.

NHS - my thoughts including the £10 per night

In today's media there is talk about charging £10 per night for hospital stays. As I have just spent 10 nights in hospital due to a medical condition I was going to write about my thoughts on the NHS, now that the £10 charge has been announced today, I will include my thoughts on this too. Prior to my own experience I had heard about people being kicked out because of shortage of beds to weekend shut downs.

First of all it all starts with A and E. I have spent a number of hours there and whilst many, including myself, complain about waiting hours it is obvious that there are many people that go there when they don't need to. Sometimes I know we try and get into our GP's but their system means that you have to wait days before an appointment comes free, so people might then go to A and E. This is wrong and putting a drain on A and E. However, I can see the frustration if you can't get in your GP. So there should be open surgery every morning at every GP's. That way you can always go in a  morning. Next is the drunk. After seeing what I have seen it actually makes me mad. When youngsters, and I was one too, go out on a Friday and Saturday night you are responsible for yourself. If you go and get wasted then that is your own doing. But when you get in a state and then need medical attention because of your recklessness then you should pay. I mean either out of your own pocket or night clubs and bars in Town Centres should be charged a tax to cover the extra burden. I have suggested this in the past that some kind of treatment area be set up at the top of Wigan and the drunks be treated there. When I have seen people queuing waiting for a cubicle I just can't believe it.

Next I have been admitted for A and E. It is amazing some of the staff that we have. But there does seem to be a different culture between week and weekend teams. I have heard before about the fact that hospitals shut down a little at weekends and it certainly does seem the case but I am not sure why. Surely there should have enough staff to work 24/7. I think the government are looking to address this and if they can do this and it is successful that will stop people staying in hospital longer than what they needed to plus they will be getting better soon. Got to be a win win situation.

The first time I was admitted it was obvious that people where shipped out of hospital to free up beds. The doctors were waiting for something for me, however, after a couple of days they said I was OK to leave. They prescribed me some medicine and then sent me home. I was clearly not ready to go home and the medicine they put me on sent my condition a lot worse. The next morning I had to go back through again through A and E. That night I was in theatre for a 5 hour operation. Had I not been release the night before then that would not have put a strain on A and E the following morning. I found out that the day I was released the hospital was short of beds and it was a code amber, meaning we need beds. Sending people home only for them to come back the next day is not only wrong for the patient but it is a false economy.

The big issue is consistency! I have experienced some amazing teams who have worked the unworkable shifts to teams that are ok. the level of treatment you can receive can be down to pot luck. I am not having a go at the front end staff as some shifts may have more nurses than others but, like in every way of life, some do need to keep up with the rest. I don't know if there is some kind of mentoring system in place but this could help. Some night staff, single digits here, see it as an easy shift where others are doing loads. One young nurse was busy all night checking on every one, I couldn't sleep numerous nights, and I could not believe how busy she was. She is ambitious and this could be a key to her as she wants to strive forward all the time.

Charges

So in the media we hear that hospital are considering charging £10 per night for helping to cover the cost. I think that unless all other issues are looked at and resolved to make the NHS more cost effective then it is a damn cheek to ask people that have already paid their National contributions for more money What they are saying is, " pay for our incompetence." It doesn't make sense.
The one charge I do think that we should be open up too if people go out and deliberately get drunk. I do believe that this should be addressed and that hopefully will make people drink responsibly too.


`

I'm back!

As you can see I have not been online for a number of days. This is due to me being in hospital for 10 days. I am now home and on the long road to recovery.

One thing that popped up last week is a developer wanting to put in a planning application for 500 houses on the land on the line. The developer is Wainhomes and I will be speaking with the planning dept tomorrow about this and all the other major applications that are in and coming in.

There is a traffic survey report coming out on Wednesday which will identify the number of cars Standish can accommodate. I am hoping this is zero as I do not believe that Standish can cope with anymore.

We are looking and planning a residents meeting too, probably next week.

I like to thank everyone that sent in well wishes messages, it meant a lot, thank you.

Overview of last night Full Council meeting.

After so many years on the Council I shouldn't be surprised at the new lows Labour will go to.

The first thing I want to highlight is the despicable person - Leader of the Council - Cllr Peter Smith.  The situation was that Hindley Green Ind Cllr Bob Brierley was standing, the Mayor asked him to sit, but he said he had a medical condition and the mayor said ok. Then Cllr Peter Smith stood to speak about what ever the item was and started by saying he and the other Labour Members knew that Cllr Brierley was on tablets and in their view he should take more tablets. This could have serious implications. What a despicable man! He should quit as Leader of the Council and possible his Council seat too. No wonder the Council is the worse behaving Council when it is lead by such a horrible person.

Next trick that Labour did was talk seats that didn't belong to them. After the Council is formed each Yr, after election, the seats are divided politically to represent propositionally the Council, i.e if Labour has 75% of the seats on the Council they get 75% of the seats on committees. Nothing wrong with that. However, in our case we had Cllr George Fairhurst who was on the regulation and licensing committee due to an disability that he has, and as such just had an new hip operation, we took him off the committee because he was unable to attend for a short time whilst he recovered. The Council knew that once he was back on his feet he would return but Labour used some rule that said because it was vacant they could have it. The thing that was even worse was Cllr George Fairhurst is now recovering and on the mend so we informed Council that he is OK to go back on the seat which had been allocated to us. Labour voted against this and voted their person on. They did this will all other vacant opposition seats too.

The Council talked about standards but I guess with comments like Cllr Peter Smith making that there is massive improvements need there and we are a long way from sorting this out until he goes. 

Well done and well deserved

Some of you might remember this story here. I hear on the grapevine that today these residents will be awarded the police Commanders award for bravery. I think it is great that they are being recognise this award and well done to you all, each and everyone of you as it is well deserved.