Poor turnout at NHS hospitals consultation

August is a curious month to have consultations, especially an exceptional August when the borough is hosting an Olympics. I was not expecting an enormous turnout at the 'Shaping a Healthier Future' road show on Tuesday but the 6-8 members of the public (some may have been from the PR company or local GPs) who had turned up by 2.45pm at the Patidar Centre was disappointing to say the least. Advertised variously as starting at 1pm or 2pm there were no NW London NHS people at the 2-4pm Q&A until one arrived at 2.45pm. Although a table had been set up for speakers at the back of the room the public chairs were arranged around the edge of the room like a school dance. There were half a dozen laptops on a table in the corner and some panel displays about the proposals. The room arrangement served to split people off from each other.

Because I had to catch a train from Wembley Central shortly after 3pm I button-holed the clinician with my questions. I first asked about the differencee between what the Urgent Care Centre offered and the service provided by A&E. I noted that the consultation document said that most UCCs were housed alongside A&E but that Central Middlesex would not have an A&E.

I was told that UCCs would deal with most cases - it could deal with broken arms but not broken legs! I was assured that cases that had gone to Central Middlesex UCC but could not be treated there would be transferred to Northwick Park by ambulance. Clearly this poses dangers for urgent cases.

I asked how school or work place first aiders would know whether cases should go to Central Middlesex UCC or Northwick Park A&E (would there be a 'menu'?) and was told that people would soon get used to the services offered by both as the changes would not be implemented for 3 or 4 years. Ambulance usage was only expected to rise by 5% (!) and NW London NHS supported the extension of the 18 bus route to Northwick Park to serve the people of Harlesden and Stonebridge.

When I reported the difficulties that a friend had with treatment at what appeared to be an overloaded A&E at Northwick Park I was told that £20m would be spent on expanding the ward, staff would be transferred from Central Middlesex A&E and additional doctors and nurses hired.

I would be interested to hear whether there was better attendance at the evening session and hear about any discussions that took place,

The roadshow is next in Brent on Saturday September 29th at Harlesden Methodist Church, 25 High Street, NW10 from 10am-4pm.

Find out more about Green Party leadership candidates

Please find below a list of the candidates for leader and deputy leader of the Green Party. Click on each name to link to their campaign website and find out about their election platform.  We are lucky in the Greens to have some excellent candidates.

Voting information can be found in the current edition of Green World which should be delivered this week.

Party Leader
Natalie Bennett
Pippa Bartolotti
Peter Cranie
Romayne Phoenix

Deputy Leader
Caroline Allen
Will Duckworth
Richard Mallender
Alexandra Phillips

Kensal Rise Library petition: don't delay, sign today

 Kensal Rise Library campaigners are meeting with All Souls College today about the future of the building. They urgently need more signatories for their petition below to reach the 3,000 target and thus  strengthen their hand. Sign HERE
 

Kensal Rise is a melting-pot of culture, faith, and class, and the Library has been at the heart of this community ever since Mark Twain opened its doors 111 years ago. The Library was created for the betterment of the working class residents, and while the land was gifted by All Souls College, Oxford, the local community and local taxes financed the building itself.

Kensal Rise Library has survived two World Wars and the Great Depression; but sadly it was not able to fend off Brent Council’s closure threats, and the Library was brutally shut in October last year when Brent shamefully disposed of six of its 12 libraries (brentsoslibraries.org.uk/sos).

The local community is determined to save Kensal Rise Library and has established a campaign (savekensalriselibrary.org) as well as a charity, the Friends of Kensal Rise Library (friendsofkensalriselibrary.org), to oversee the running of the Library. The Friends are ready and able to take over the Library at a moments notice, but there is one significant hurdle before this can be achieved - All Souls needs to RESTORE THE BUILDING TO THE COMMUNITY.

All Souls has previously stated that they are “happy for the Friends to run the Library”, but they are preparing KENSAL RISE LIBRARY for an OPEN BIDDING PROCESS. All Souls current plans are in contrast to their previous commitments to the community and their long history in Kensal Rise. Surely this cannot be what the Fellows intend?

We therefore ask All Souls to revert their current course and transfer the freehold of the building to the Friends of Kensal Rise Library so that it can be restored to the community.

Brent Council joins the 'cloud' - what are the risks?

Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing

In its recent Corporate Risk register Brent Council recognised that there was a possibility of an IT failure in its move to the Civic Centre in the summer of 2013.  Brent Council has reached an agreement with other London councils to share services via a 'cloud' computing company, Capgemini which put out the following statement:

Six London borough councils have signed a four-year contract with Capgemini that will see them move their finance, procurement, HR and payroll services to the cloud.
The shared services project involves Lambeth, Lewisham, Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Croydon and Havering councils.

It is the first programme to be announced under Project Athena, which will lay the foundations for a single ICT platform for use by all London-based public sector organisations.
Capgemini claims the deal is the most ambitious IT programme ever undertaken by local government and will pave the way for similar initiatives across the UK.

The councils' new systems are scheduled to go live in July 2013 and will be managed by Capgemini for a further three years.

Mike Suarez, executive director for finance and resources for Lambeth Council, who led the bid for the transformation contract, said:

All councils share common support functions - like HR, finance and procurement - but we have our own ways of doing them. If we can use the same system, we will streamline our processes and save money without cutting services.

Managers will have access to budgets in real time and not need to complete endless paperwork for the simplest of tasks – making real savings for the tax payer.

Suzy Foster, head of local government of Capgemini UK, said:

We have helped many public sector bodies improve services to the public and save money by streamlining their IT and business processes. We are now delighted to have the opportunity to deliver these same benefits in the greatest city in the world.

I hope that officers and councillors have addressed the issues of security, lock-in (to contract), lack of control and reliability that the diagram above identifies as possible drawbacks to such a system. Clearly these pose risks for both residents and council services. It is not clear what the move will mean eventually in terms of job losses.

The combination of both a physical move and a digital one presents a major challenge,

More on cloud computing services HERE

Cllr Allie's new allies have questions to answer on health and libraries

Guest blog by library campaigner Gaynor Lloyd

I refer to the “open letter” from James Allie published on Martin Francis’ required reading Wembley Matters blog.

Speaking as a Labour supporter of the “Old” variety - and so heartsick at understanding this - Mr Allie will forgive my saying that he displays a woeful lack of understanding of New Labour’s role in the impending car crash of the NHS currently being accelerated by the Coalition Government.

Thatcher may have started the bridgehead of the private sector into the NHS – of which our Shaping a Healthier Future – Brent/Ealing plans are just the latest manifestation - but Blair, his assistant and his Ministers of Health pushed it into pole position. 

·        Simon Stevens walked out of Blair’s private office to a senior position in the British arm of United Health (an American healthcare company) which was keen to bid for my doctors’ surgery, amongst many other NHS facilities. 

·      Alan Milburn left the Health Ministry to walk into a£30,000 a year post as adviser to Bridgepoint Capital which is a private equity company investing in Care UK – on your front page last week as “managing” the Urgent Care Centre at Central Middlesex - which is all we’ll have left if the consultation goes through and A&E goes. 

·        Patricia Hewitt came from McKinsey (American management consultants) into Blair’s Health Minister’s job and promptly set off introducing the necessary means to get the American health model here, with its opportunities to take profit from our marketised health service. McKinsey have a role in drafting the very constitution of the Clinical Care Commissioning Group that will take over the responsibility for commissioning health services in our Borough (just like many other Boroughs) – so many thanks to New Labour, Mr Allie, for facilitating that. I would just say – be very careful, Mr Allie who you jump into bed with on the grounds of their “Labour values”.

Tory Andrew Lansley has to take prime liability for the latest reforms, of course but, as far as I can see, whilst the Lib Dems may have been useless in stopping the recent legislation, they do seem to be the only one of the three main parties without some “high up” compromised by his/her role in this debacle.

Why I really needed to burst into print was to rebut Mr Allie’s disgraceful comments about Paul Lorber and his alleged “posturing” in relation to the library campaign. Has Mr Allie had any sort of clue about the facts behind these cuts and the Library campaign in particular, he might have amended the script of his open letter. 

I have been involved in Brent SOS campaign virtually from inception. I am no Lib Dem but at least I keep my political points to facts. If you feel like getting a few facts, try asking the Council’s officers, Mr Allie, about what appears to be their gross mismanagement by the Council of their trusteeship of the Barham Charity resulting in losses over the years while the Officers treated our building in Barham Park as though it was the Council’s own. Perhaps if the Council had paid the rent it ought to have done to the Charity for the use of its buildings, the alleged losses that the Council based its closure of Barham on, might have disappeared!

I cannot speak for other members of Brent SOS campaign but, in so far as Barham Library is concerned, without Paul we would be nowhere. He works unceasingly for the disadvantaged people of his Ward – crucially affected by the closure of “our library” at Barham. Mr Allie, ask the 210 members – mostly children – who have joined the Barham Library in exile. Ask their parents whether their children love coming to our Volunteer Library for the fun we have, the educational quizzes and activities we do, and the number of books we issue, as Paul devotes time week after week after week. He is an inspiration to us volunteers. He does all of this, because he cares about the effect of the closures – not for the purpose of political point scoring but for the disadvantaged of Brent. 

I sat in the Council Chamber (as I can only think you did but perhaps you had dropped off) while your new colleagues laughed as they acclaimed the closure of our libraries. Some of them have had the grace to come and look at the work we are doing – even commending it. I still have enough naivety to believe they meant it and you just aren’t up to speed, being a new recruit. Please, Councillor Allie, remember that comments like yours may win you a few friends in your new “safe” home with Brent Labour Group – but they don’t cut much ice with anyone who knows anything about Brent’s unique policy on library closures, or the figures behind it.

My choice for the Green Party leadership: Romayne and Will

Campaigning is hotting up for the Green Party leadership. In this video my personal choices for Leader and Deputy, Romayne Phoenix and Will Duckworth explain their policies.

'Betrayed' Brent Lib Dem councillor defects to Labour

Open letter from Councillor James Allie – Alperton Ward, Brent

It is with great sadness that after more than 10 years as a Liberal Democrat Councillor, this week I have resigned my membership of the party. I joined the Liberal Democrats because I wanted to help make Britain a fairer, greener and more equal country. I no longer believe that the Liberal Democrat Party has the will or the ability to make this happen. They have betrayed the values that I once shared with them.

However, I believe that the Labour Party, under Ed Miliband in Westminster and their new Leader of Brent Council Muhammed Butt, shares my values and that I can as part of a Labour administration, once again work to improve the lives of the people I represent. 

I have always struggled to lend my support to the devastating policies the Coalition is inflicting on Britain. I have also been sickened by the hypocritical things the Liberal Democrats do and say here in Brent. While my feelings about this have built up over the past two years, there are three issues that have finally pushed me to take this decision:

1. The people I represent in Alperton are struggling more than ever under this government, but the Liberal Democrat Leadership in Westminster is prioritising reform of the House of Lords instead of a plan for economic growth.
2. The closure of the A&E at Central Middlesex Hospital under this government is an astonishing betrayal. Brent MP Sarah Teather campaigned to keep the A&E when it was not under threat of closure. Now she is in government closing it. I am only sorry that I trusted her back then and I am sure that a number of her constituents feel the same way.
3. The Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Brent, Paul Lorber, also knows very well that had the Lib Dems won the Local Election in 2010 they would have faced the same pressure to close the six libraries in Brent that have caused such a stir. It is the Coalition’s cuts to local government that have caused this problem and Cllr. Lorber’s posturing on the issue is just an insult to the library campaigners and the people of Brent.

I recognise that some of my constituents in Alperton will feel let down by my decision. I apologise to them if they feel I ought to have nailed my colours to the mast more firmly before the election. Equally I trust that many of them voted for me because they knew of the hard work that I have done as a councillor over the years.  I pledge to them that I will work harder than ever to improve the lives of everyone who lives in Alperton.

I know that there are many people who voted Lib Dem at the last election and indeed many Lib Dem members who feel as betrayed as I do by the party’s record in the coalition. I urge them to join me and to join the Labour Party.

Regards,

Councillor James Allie

Willesden Green regeneration consultation dates published

Further details of the August 8th consultation on Willesden Green Library Centre redevelopment plans have now been published as well as new consultation dates in September:

Open day on Wednesday 8 August 
 
An open day will be held at Willesden Green Library Centre in The Library Lab to give you an update on the project. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to share your ideas on the future of the WGCC.

There will be a display at The Library Lab throughout August if you are not able to attend the open day.
 
Wednesday 8 August
11am to 8pm at The Library Lab in the WGLC with presentations at 12noon, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm

Further workshops with the following focus groups are planned for September:
 
Tuesday, September 4 - Seniors
Thursday, September 6 - Small and medium enterprises
Tuesday, September 11- Community groups
Thursday, September 13 - Ethnic minority groups
Tuesday, September 18 - Teens
Thursday, September 20 - Families with young children

Further information

If you need more information or have any questions about the planning application please contact Galliford Try’s dedicated freephone information line on 0800 298 7040 or email 
feedback@consultation-online.co.uk. 
Web: www.willesdengreen.co.uk  Twitter: @Will_GreenCC