Brent Disability Forum 6-8pm tonight Harlesden Methodist Church

Book: sophia.thompson@brent.gov.uk

Local Action on Clean Air - Wednesday 18th April

The air we breathe - Local Action April 18th Harlesden Methodist Church

Clean Air for Brent invites you to a public meeting

‘THE AIR WE BREATHE: LOCAL ACTION'

Speakers include Professor Martin Williams (Air Quality Scientist at Kings College) and Jennifer Barrett (Air Quality lead at Brent Council)

Wednesday April 18th 7-9pm
Harlesden Methodist Church 25 High Street London NW10 4NE entrance from side passage in High St next to Church

Please use public transport. 8 min walk from Willesden Junction station, 12 min walk from Harlesden, buses 18, 187, 206, 220, 226 and 266

FREE EVENT – ALL ARE WELCOME
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-air-we-breathe-local-action-tickets-44325338280
or email us at cafbrent@gmail.com

Registering children as British Citizens - training session Tuesday 13th October

This is an excellent project which tries to circumvent some of the nastier aspects of the UK government's policies regarding the children of EEA and other nationalities whose parents have been granted the right to reside and are being told this right does not automatically apply to their children.

Names of those attending need to be sent by midday on Monday October 12th. Email nic.lane2@gmail.com

Another free school makes its pitch in Brent

Another free school has emerged in Brent. The One Degree Academy  wants to set up an all through school in the borough. Like most free schools its website is short on detail including staffing and site. It is derived from the One Degree charity that offers 1:1 mentoring to underachieving GCSE students and claims to have helped 200 in the past 6 years based on 'personalised support and inspirational role models'.

Clearly it is a big step to running a school for ages 5-19 and it is not clear from the website LINK how many of the staff will be qualified teachers,  They are having an Open Day on Saturday from 12-3pm at Harlesden Methodist Church.

Gladstone secondary free school has still not got a permanent site although they are having discussions with the Education Funding Agency and the DfE on a Foundation site.

It has emerged that the 'innovative' writing method promised by Gladstone, 'Do it WRITE'  LINK is the product of a company LINK owned by Jim Gatten, Gladstone's Project Director, a governor of the school and partner of vice chair of governors Marie Evans. They are both directors of the Gladstone school company. So far, according to the records, the company has yet to make a profit.

Concern over Brent Meals on Wheels transferring to community providers

Brent Council is proposing to end Council provision of the Meals on Wheels service for the elderly and vulnerable and hand the responsibility over to community organisations. They will end the contract with the present provider Apetito which will also lose the contract for meals provision at day centres.

The Council projects that it will save more than half the costs of the present service in 2014-15 although the budget may be overspent this year because of set up costs.

One issue of concern is that the proposals are based on a pilot with Harlesden Methodist Church which eventually involved evaluations by only six users. The total number of residents receiving meals on wheels currently is 187 and 1345 have meals at day centres.

The need for meals on wheels on a geographical basis is

South (Kilburn; Queens Park; Kensal Green; Brondesbury) 27
Central East (Dollis Hill; Mapesbury; Dudden Hill) 16
Central West (Stonebridge; Harlesden; Willesden;Cricklewood) 49
North East (Alperton; Wembley; Preston; Tokyngton; Sudbury; Northwick Park) 59
North West (Barnhill; Fryent; Queensbury; Kenton; Kingsbury) 36

The day care meal requirements break down as:

 Kingsbury Resource Centre 384
John Billam 430
Elders Voice 118
Hibiscus Club 24
Aspects Unit 38
Asian Disability Alliance 5
Wise Project 250
Rendezvous Club 96

The Council suggest the following provision:

Cricklewood Homeless Concern – can cover the whole of Brent, and provide Western European/Caribbean/Indian meals
- Early Bird Catering – can cover the Wembley/Sudbury/Kingsbury/Tokyngton area and provide Western
European/Caribbean meals
- Harlesden Methodist Church – can cover Harlesden, Stonebridge and Kensal Rise and provide Western European/Caribbean/Indian meals
- Catalyst Catering – can cover Harlesden, Stonebridge and Willesden and provide Western European/Caribbean meals
- Sudbury Neighbourhood Centre – can provide for day centres only and provide Western European/Caribbean meals
- Jalaram Foods – who can cover the whole borough and provide Asian Vegetarian meals

Residents will contribute £3.50 per meal as at present but payments will be via pre-paid cards with help for those who find the system hard to manage. The Council also currently contribute £3.50.

The current meal charge to the Council via Apetito is £8.52 and they project that this will be cut to £3.50 for door to door provision and £2 for day centre provision.

The Council will put aside a contingency in case of failures by any of the new providers. Apetito staff are unlikely to qualify for TUPE so will become redundant. No redundancy costs will fall on the Council.

A risk assessment is provided by the Council.

I hope councillors give this very serious consideration. I know from personal experience with my mother that both the meal itself and the person delivering it are vitally important to the housebound. The meal and visit are often the day's major event. The quality and suitability of the meal are important to maintain physical health and the friendships that develop with the deliverer, however fleeting, are socially important. Maintaining quality of meal and quality of service across many providers is going to be a major challenge.

Let's have a 'healthy' Harlesden debate on Saturday

 I had to try for ages to find out what time the Question and Answer session was at the 'Shaping a Healthier Future Roadshow' to be be held in Harlesden on Saturday.

Finally we were told that although the consultation was from 10am until 4pm that the Q&A would be from 11-12. There were problems about the timing of the Q&A at the Wembley roadshow and it began late.

Now expensive advertisements from NHS North West London have appeared in the local papers and guess what? They just have the 10am-4pm timing with no mention of the Q&A and its timing.

The Q&A is of course the only time the public get to hear alternative views about the proposals which include the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. Perhaps they really want to keep it to cosy 1:1s where the PR people have more chance of pulling wool over people's eyes.

Get there at 11am and let's have a public debate!

Harlesden Methodist Church, 11am, Saturday September 29th.

Brent LINk vote against Central Middlesex A&E Closure

After a debate between Dr Mark Spencer of NW London NHS and Graham Durham of the Brent Patients Campaign, Brent LINk members and any public attending, voted to oppose the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. There were two abstentions and no votes against.

In the course of the debate Dr Spencer repeatedly failed to answer Graham Durham's request for him to explain why he had stated in a BBC interview before the consultation began that four Accident and Emergency units would have to close in NW London.  Dr Spencer also admitted that despite the rise in the number of children in Brent schools and the importance of child health, that schools, headteachers and governing bodies had not been consulted.

There will be another chance for the public to make their views known when the 'Shaping a Healthier Future' roadshow comes to Harlesden Methodist Church on Saturday September 29th. The Q&A session will be from 11am until 12 noon.

Will Sarah Teather MP  come and hear what her constituents have to say about the proposals so that she can champion their views in the House of Commons?

Let local people decide our health needs - not accountants

Guest blog by Pete Firmin, Chair Brent Trades Union Council

Central Middlesex - soon to be down-graded despite recent investment?

Sarah Cox wrote last week in the Brent and Kilburn Times about the consultation which NHS North West London is carrying out into the future of health services across the area. As she says, there is a strong feeling that this “consultation” is merely window dressing for decisions which have already been taken, such as the downgrading of several hospitals in the region, including Central Middlesex. Central Middlesex has already lost its night-time Accident and Emergency service, an indication of things to come.

Although the Health Authority claims its proposals will improve services, much of what they say is purely speculative – relying on new forms of health services which are not yet in place without proposals (including financial) as to how this will change.

Because of these serious worries about the future of the health service across the region, the Trades Union Councils in the boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Harrow are working together to build a campaign to ensure we have the health services the people of the area need and not ones which managers and accountants – let alone private health companies – think are appropriate.

We have commissioned a report from Dr John Lister of Health Emergency, looking at the effects of the NHS’s proposals in detail, both in terms of the loss of services and the effect on jobs in the NHS. This report will be launched early in June, and Brent Trades Union Council is holding a public meeting on the issues involved on Wednesday 13th June at Harlesden Methodist Church, 25 High Street, NW10 4NE. As well as John Lister, speakers will be from the campaign Keep Our NHS Public and the unions organising health workers. All are welcome, and there will be plenty of time for discussion.

June 13th: NHS under the knife

Enormous changes to our local health services are being proposed. They include the merger of Ealing Hospital with Central Middlesex and Northwick Park, permanent closure of A & E at Ealing or CMH, or both, and moving many services out of hospitals into the community.

Unless we campaign to oppose them, these changes will open up even more services to the private sector to be run for profit. The population is growing and health needs are increasing, while NHS budgets are being cut.

Community health services are already understaffed and overstretched. If new services are not put in place before hospital services are withdrawn, the most vulnerable patients will suffer