On 25th May Wandsworth Guardian published an article about the last LINk meeting held on 18th May at Balham Library:

Patients voice fears over Foundation Trust plans for St George’s Hospital in Tooting

By Alison Lock »

Patients kept in appalling conditions, fewer staff and debt were some of the fears raised about planned changes to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, at a meeting last Tuesday.

Patients voice fears over plans for St George’s

St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust has started a public consultation on becoming a Foundation Trust, a more independent way to run the hospital.

Attendees at an opening meeting held by Wandsworth LINk voiced concerns that some foundation trust hospitals had been exposed as having poor care standards and had neglected patients.

Barbara Bohanna, of Beechcroft Road, Tooting, said: “Some patients had appalling treatment in foundation hospitals, and you have to ask, would that have happened in the old system? All the emphasis is on money and resources.”

She added: “What mechanisms do they have in place to make sure we don’t go down the same routes that other foundation trusts have done?”

Others were worried the trust could run up debts, cut vital services or take doctors and nurses off wards.

Peter Jenkinson, St George’s trust secretary, said the trust would be more accountable to users and local residents as a foundation.

“This is a real opportunity for you to be part of the future of St George’s,” he told the Wandsworth Local Involvement Network (Link) meeting.

As a foundation trust, St George’s would receive funding directly from the Department of Health, rather than the local primary care trust and would manage its finances independently.

Its patients, staff and local residents will be members of the trust and have an active say in management decisions.

The trust will be able to change and redesign the services it offers if members wish.

Wilfred Carneiro, equality and foundation trust membership manager, said St George’s had worked hard to improve standards.

“St George’s used to have very high infection rates and they’ve really transformed that,” he said. “We’ve got one of the lowest mortality rates in London.”

Mr Jenkinson said St George’s finances were sustainable and it had made surpluses for the past three years.

“We are not slipping into debt,” he said.

The trust will also take control of Wandsworth community services.

The 12-week public consultation officially launched on Tuesday 25 May.

Local Involvement Network ahead of the game

On 25^th May St Georges Hospital will begin a 12 week public consultation on their plans to become a Foundation Trust. Wandsworth LINk is getting in there early and offering residents a chance to preview these plans at their next public meeting on May 18^th at Balham Library. Peter Jenkinson, St Georges Trust Secretary, will be giving a presentation on the proposals and attendees will have an opportunity to comment on them at this free and open meeting.

NHS Foundation Trusts are a new type of NHS organisation, established as independent, not for profit public benefit corporations with accountability to their local communities rather than Central Government control. Senior staff at St George’s believe that ‘Achieving Foundation Trust status is important to the future of the hospital as it will allow us to develop our services to better meet the needs of our patients and local community.’

However, critics fear that Foundation Trusts go against the basic principles of the NHS and will create inequalities as other hospitals within the NHS will not be able to compete.  Unison has listed 7 reasons why they object to Foundation Trusts, claiming that ‘they are poor value for money, a backdoor to privatisation and their governance framework does not lead to greater local accountability or social ownership.’

The Wandsworth LINk meeting on 18^th May at Balham Library is open to all, just turn up on the night. The presentation from St Georges and open discussion will begin at  7.30 p.m. For more details contact Wandsworth LINk on 0208 516 7767 or email sarah@wandcareall.org.uk.

The Stroke Association’s Community Voices project

 The Stroke Association would like to invite anyone in the stroke community who wishes to influence stroke care in their local area to come to a networking event in Central London (Waterloo) on 26 Maybeginning at 10.30am and finishing at 3.30pm. Full details will be sent in due course once people have registered.

The project is currently being rolled out across England through a series of networking events. These events will be an opportunity for all those who are or wish to be involved in influencing stroke services to meet people from different areas, discuss experiences and tell us what improvements need to be made.

This event will include participants from London, Anglia, Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Kent and Sussex and if you would like to come please fill out the online form in the link below.

http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns/community_voices/networking_event.html

Lunch will be included and attendees will be able to claim up to £30 for travel expenses. Please note that we need responses back by 14^th May so that we can order the necessary refreshments in time.

For more information on this event please contact:

Shawna Spoor
Campaigns Assistant 

The Stroke Association
Stroke House
240 City Road
London
EC1V 2PR
www.stroke.org.uk

Direct line: 020 7566 1510

Helpline: 0303 3033 100 (From a textphone, please dial 18001 0303 3033 100)

KUF training has been commissioned by the Department of Health and Ministry of Justice to raise awareness and improve the skills of those who treat or come into contact with people with PDs.  The 3-day awareness level course is now being rolled out across London and we are looking for people who may like to attend.  This will include service users and carers with experience of personality disorder who might be interested in going on to train as trainers later on. 

 Please note that the course includes online learning and people will need to be able to access a computer between the 3 facilitated days.

If you are interested in attending this course please contact Diana Menzies on diana.menzies@swlstg-tr.nhs.uk, tel. (020) 7622 9337 by Monday 10 May.

The next 3-day course will run on

Tuesday 25 May, Wednesday 23 June and Tuesday 20 July 2010.

For a detailed training prgramme please click here. KUF awareness level training

Paul d’auria, Cancer Support Centre ….. 

A TIME FOR YOU

An afternoon for carers, friends and relatives of people affected by cancer

Friday 18 June, 1-6 pm

Paul D’Auria Cancer Support Centre,

Woburn House, 155 Falcon Road, London SW11 2PD

Do you care for or support someone affected by cancer?

Is there someone who supports you?

We are offering carers, friends and relatives of people affected by cancer a chance to try some of the therapies such as massage, have lunch and take part in social activities including a voice workshop, in a friendly, informal environment.

Lunch and refreshments from 1pm and all therapies and activities will be free

Please contact the support team in person, by phone on 020 7924 3924 or email support@pauldauriacentre.org.uk to add your name to the list.

To find out about the centre, please visit:  www.pauldauriacentre.org.uk

Make Some Shapes (Big Dance)

Please join Shape’s dance troupe ‘Make Some Shapes’ and Corali Dance Company in this one-off free afternoon of dance event as part of Big Dance 2010. You can come along and just enjoy the performance or jump right in to take part. This is a fully accessible dance experience and we want you to join in and have some fun!!

Shape is looking for a Wandsworth based disability organization or group to participate in ‘Make Some Shapes’, a free day of dance as part of Big dance 2010. We are looking for a group of young disabled participants to take part in an accessible dance workshop and then to become workshop leaders themselves in a public dance performance. If you would like to be involved and/or have young people wishing to participate in this event, contact me on Tel: 0207 424 7346 (direct line) or email me at marcia.superville@shapearts.org.uk

The following activities will take place on Saturday 10^th July 2010 at Battersea Sports Centre in the Indoor Sports Hall (whole area)

Workshop/part performances open workshop timings

10am – 12 noon         Closed Workshop with Corali Dance Company/Group of young disabled artists will devise and perform an integrated dance piece

12 noon – 1pm           Lunch break

1pm – 2pm                  Corali Dance Company/Group of young disabled artists to invite members of the general public to join in as Corali/group lead/teach interested participants an integrated dance piece and perform to an audience made up of friends and family, general public and arts agencies/organisations working with young people