Liberal Democrats in Halewood have welcomed the launch of the Liberal Democrats’ vision for Britain by Party Leader Nick Clegg MP. Called ‘Make it Happen’, the paper will be debated at the party’s conference in Bournemouth in September.

In ‘Make it Happen’ the Liberal Democrats say:

• They will cut taxes for ordinary families
• If your local hospital can’t see you on time, they will pay for treatment elsewhere
• They will switch taxes from people to pollution - so it pays to go green
• To improve standards in education, they will fund extra help for those who need it most
• They will put Britain at the heart of Europe to make us a force for good in the world
• They will stop ID cards so we can keep control of our privacy
• They will change the voting system so everyone’s voice counts
• They will bring communities together with local people in charge
• They will give communities a say in how offenders pay for their crimes

Cllr Dave Smithson said, “I am delighted to be able to back ‘Make it Happen’. It sets out how the Liberal Democrats will run Britain.

“No resident of Halewood has escaped the rising cost of food and fuel. The credit crunch is biting hard and local people are feeling the pinch.

“Nick Clegg has set out how we can help ordinary people through cutting taxes on those on low and middle incomes. Thousands of people in Halewood will benefit from this.

“We are taking the plans in ‘Make it Happen’ to the people of Halewood during the summer to get their response. And in September, we will be heading to the Liberal Democrats’ conference where we are looking forward to taking part in the debate.”

Strange goings on in the House of Commons today when Home Secretary Jacqui Smith MP appeared to perform one of the fastest u-turns in the history of Parliament over the Government’s proposals to tackle knife crime following a rash of fatal stabbings in recent days.

The following is an extract from the BBC News web site –

Meanwhile the home secretary denied she wanted to make youngsters caught with knives visit stab victims in hospital.

Conservative leader David Cameron told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’m completely baffled. Over the weekend we were told by the government that knife criminals were going to be taken to accident and emergency departments.

“It sounded like a gimmick… Now they [ministers] are in wholesale retreat.”

Ms Smith insisted she had been talking at the weekend about “knife referral schemes” - where young people caught with knives would “face up to the consequences of their actions”, including “graphic” weapons awareness workshops and visits to hospitals to talk to health workers to hear about the impact of knife wounds.

“We are not, and I have never said we are, proposing to bring young people into wards to see patients,” she added.

So were the proposals reported widely by the media over the weekend half baked plans that were hastily scrapped by the Home Secretary in the face of criticism of them prior to her Commons speech? Or did the PM step in and order a change in approach? Or even worse did our national press hype up (or even worse sex up?) the briefings they were given or merely misunderstand what was said?

Meanwhile Sky News web site is also reporting it as a u-turn –

In an interview with Sky’s Adam Boulton on Sunday Live, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said youngsters caught with knives would be forced to confront the possible consequences by bringing them face-to-face with blade victims in hospitals.

But now, the Home Office said they would instead only be expected to meet doctors to be educated about the injuries caused by knives.

“One of those proposals is that people caught carrying knives should be taken to see people in hospital who have been stabbed, or to meet the families of victims, is that correct?” Adam asked.

“It is,” replied Ms Smith.

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said Mrs Smith had been “panicked” into bringing forward proposals which evidence in the United States had shown did not work.
“Jacqui Smith is coming up with half-baked ideas because the Government has been in denial about the scale of the knife crime problem,” he added.

Mr Huhne also launched his own response to the problem today in a paper entitled “A Life Away From Crime.”

The proposals include -

• The creation of a Youth Volunteer Force, to engage with young people, involve them in community projects and give them skills to benefit them in later life
• Establish Community Justice Panels across the country, where offenders admit their guilt to the community and agree on a Positive Behaviour Order as a course of action
• Create a dedicated PCSO youth officer within every Safer Neighbourhood Team to identify and work with teenagers most at risk of offending
• 10,000 more police on the streets by scrapping the ID cards scheme
• Intelligence-led stop and search and ‘hot spot policing’ targeted at gun and knife crime
• Restorative justice programs to be run in every community, specifically targeted at early intervention with widespread use in schools and care homes

Chris Huhne said: “This Government has spent 10 years trying to sound tough while failing to cut youth crime.

“In fact, ministers have embarked on the mass criminalisation of a generation of young people. By dragging more and more young people through the criminal justice system, they have reduced the fear of a criminal record and contributed to the problem.

“Instead of shock tactics to grab headlines, we need practical measures that are proven to work.

“Only the Liberal Democrats propose a dual approach to stop kids from getting involved in crime in the first place, and measures to make them face up to the consequences of their actions if they do.”

More details of the Lib Dems plans can be found here –

http://www.libdems.org.uk/media/documents/policies/A%20Life%20Away%20From%20Crime.pdf

I was recently contacted anonymously by a local resident who was concerned that the new medical facilities under construction in Halewood (Ravencourt) would not provide the same level of service or capacity to treat patients as the current GP practices do.

I have been assured that this is not the case and the following briefing has been provided to all councillors as a result of similar concerns being raised across Knowsley, I hope local residents find this useful.

Equitable Access to Primary Medical Care
Under the current NHS review, conducted by Health Minister Professor Lord Ara Darzi, each PCT area in England is required to commission a GP led health centre.

In Knowsley, we are not only doing this but also commissioning three brand new GP practices to provide out-of-hours (evening and weekend) health services and serve some of our most vulnerable patients during the day.

We wish to emphasise that contrary to some media coverage nationally, there is no question whatsoever of existing GP practices closing. This provision represents new capacity for Knowsley which is very much needed and is in addition to the successful recruitment of 20 new GPs to the borough in recent months. This is in direct response to extensive public engagement undertaken with local people, indicating a high degree of support.

What is Equitable Access to Primary Medical Care?

As part of the ongoing national NHS Review led by the Health Minister Professor Lord Ara Darzi, Knowsley Primary Care Trust is required to establish three new General Practices and a GP-led health centre to be commissioned by December 08.

This programme is commissioned by Knowsley PCT and supported by NHS North West (the regional Strategic Health Authority).

The practices will be commissioned through a tender process.

What is the aim of the programme?

The programme has been set up nationally to enable local NHS Primary Care Trusts that don’t have as many doctors as they need to attract new service providers to fill gaps in primary medical care provision within their area.

This can be through creating additional general practice capacity, increasing both GP provision and also other primary medical care clinical staff.

In Knowsley, the aim of the programme is to make sure that all Knowsley residents and patients have ‘equitable access’ to GP services.

What we mean by this is that everyone in Knowsley should get the primary medical care services that they need, regardless of their level of need and any other factors that affect their needs or their ability to use our NHS and related care and support services.

To do that, we need to understand and respond to the needs of local people who, for a variety of reasons, are not able to benefit from our traditional primary care services so that we take account of their particular needs in the way we provide services.

These reasons might simply be because they work shifts, so that they can’t get to the GP practice during normal hours.

Or it might be because they have family commitments that make it very difficult to get to existing services.

Or it might be because they are vulnerable and excluded because they have particular needs: for example, problems with alcohol misuse or with mental ill-health that make attending mainstream services difficult and require specialist understanding and support when they do use a service.

Why do we need this in Knowsley?

In Knowsley, there are currently 29 GP practices with almost 160,000 registered patients.

Within the last 18 months 20 new GPs have been recruited to work in these practices.

These GPs have increased capacity and capability of existing practices for their general patients. Our aim is to now focus upon meeting the needs of vulnerable and excluded groups, alongside providing additional access and capacity for all residents – promoting ‘equitable access’ to these services for all.

Whilst all Knowsley patients do already have the benefit of an out-of-hours medical service, which is commissioned by Knowsley Primary Care Trust from a local social enterprise called Urgent Care 24, this service is there to provide urgent medical help to local people who become ill unexpectedly through the night or at weekends and bank holidays when most other NHS services aren’t available. This service cannot, and should not try to, provide an ongoing service to vulnerable patients. Our new practices, however, will be able to cater for their regular health care needs and can also provide specialist support to those more vulnerable members of the community. They will also integrate with other Knowsley services, as is usual in our Knowsley way of working.

Significant engagement has taken place with local people over the last 18 months that helps us understand the needs of local people. We know we have many patients who are excluded from our mainstream services in Knowsley and we need to commission services to meet their needs. Local people with whom we have engaged are always supportive of this approach.

What services will the new practices provide?

The new practices will provide a mix of mainstream primary medical care services, plus a range of specialist services to meet the needs of particular vulnerable groups of patients.

The times the practices are available will overlap with current mainstream primary medical care services already provided at local GP practices.

The practices, which will be available from 8am until 10pm, with the last appointment being at 9.30pm, will assist vulnerable patients during daytime hours and will provide general primary medical care services in the evening.

This overlap with existing hours allows the new practices to undertake work with specific vulnerable sections of the population or those whose particular circumstances prevent them from gaining the best care from existing primary care.

Commissioning these new primary medical care practices to provide specific extended hours services for Knowsley patients will allow patients to book consultations through their existing practices, ensuring that from day one the new practices are providing the best possible service and are running at maximum efficiency and capacity.

The three practices will work alongside existing services to deliver a multi-faceted service, including a particular focus on effective referral through relevant health, social care, employment and housing services for the resident and registered populations of Knowsley who are at present vulnerable or at risk from experiencing social exclusion, or might do so at some point in the future.

The additional GP-led health centre will provide planned care as well as some urgent care.

What benefits will this bring to the patient?

The new practices will ensure that Knowsley patients have a choice to receive services either from a traditional GP practice where continuity and relationship are most important, or to use one of the new practices where opening times, convenience or the need for a particular specialist service are paramount.

Patients treated at the new practices will have the option to register with the site or remain with their current GP, since the new practices will be able, with the patient’s permission, to access the patient’s record.

The new practices will also be able to provide ‘in reach’ services to Nursing/Residential/Hostel/ based groups in order to provide preventative health services. It is also expected that the new practices will undertake preventative and risk detecting work within surgery consultations.

Where will these new services be based?

In order to implement this scheme it has been necessary to take into account the particular geography of Knowsley and equitable access for the whole population across the borough. Hence, it is planned to have two of the GP practices on a single site, one in Huyton and one in Kirkby, with the third on a split site in Whiston and Halewood. The GP-led provision will operate initially from existing premises within Kirkby on a temporary basis before a new GP-led health centre is developed.

Engagement with local people

We already have much information about the numbers of patients who need specialist support, as well as information about how some patients would like to be able to use GP and primary medical care services at times at which they are not currently available.

We have information from national and local engagement under a programme called ‘Fairness in Primary Care’ which happened in 2007 and led to our recruitment of the 20 new GPs.

We also have information from many sources locally about the needs of vulnerable groups.

In addition to this information, active engagement has taken place over recent weeks with vulnerable groups, including:

A Offenders on probation
B Drug and alcohol substance misusers
C People experiencing domestic violence in self-help or in supported residential accommodation
D Homeless men living in hostel accommodation
E People living in residential and nursing homes
F People on Drug Rehabilitation Requirement Orders

These views have been brought together with the other sources of information reports to help guide the development of the tender specification for our new practices and the services they will provide for local people.

Knowsley South MP Eddie O’Hara has been attacked by the Liberal Democrats for helping to vote down proposals for external auditing of all MPs’ expenses.

148 Labour MPs, 21 Conservative MPs and UKIP’s only MP united on Thursday night [3rd July] to vote down the proposal for an independent audit of all MPs’ expenses claims.

No Liberal Democrat MP voted against the audit plans.

This decision by MPs is foolish and wrong. It is a disaster for anyone who believes in cleaning up our politics and improving Parliament’s reputation. The House of Commons had the chance to vote for proper auditing of everything MPs do with public money, but an unholy coalition of Labour and Conservative MPs prevented it.

I am deeply disappointed that Eddie O’Hara MP voted against allowing all MPs’ allowances to be externally audited. 52 of his Labour colleagues joined the Liberal Democrats and some Conservatives in voting for independent auditing. Eddie O’Hara MP must tell us – why did he vote to water down the proposals?

Rarely a week seems to pass without a story in the press about MPs apparently fiddling their finances. The vast majority of MPs are not corrupt. But so long as they resist having their expenses and allowances subject to robust, external audit, the public can be forgiven for wondering what they have got to hide.”

I welcome the announcement by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg that the Lib Dems are committing to unilaterally introduce proposals rejected by Parliament yesterday, including independent spot checks of the expenses of the party’s MPs:

It is good to see Liberal Democrat MPs setting an example and showing that they have nothing to fear from open, independent scrutiny of their expenses.

I hope that the Labour and Conservative leaderships will follow Nick Clegg’s lead in implementing these measures, and we can begin to restore public confidence in politicians.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra entertained us with a wonderful performance of a Summer Serenade at Halewood Leisure last night along with a choir of children from Halewood C of E and Plantation primary schools.

However, for the best review of the evening’s entertainment I am indebted to the Rev Alan Jewell for the following account of the evening, produced for the log of the Halewood Culturefest!

Rev Alan Jewell said -
The words that come to mind are from the Ferrero Rocher adverts: “You’re really spoiling us!”

The CultureFest fortnight has produced any number of treats and tonight was right at the top of the tree. There’s something remarkable about sitting in the sports hall at Halewood Leisure Centre with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra right in front of you. (I’m grateful to the Mayoress of Halewood for getting me such a good seat!) Those who have been part of the steering group from the beginning will know that having the Phil as part of CultureFest was really something of a happy coincidence, but we were very happy to take them under the CultureFest banner.

The orchestra, led by Thelma Handy and conducted by Ian McMillan, romped through a selection of summer favourites - light and popular pieces: the ones with tunes you know. (I write as someone whose exposure to classical music is more or less limited to Classic FM. It occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve actually been to a concert with a real orchestra. No offence, Knowsley Youth Orchestra - you were fantastic - but you know what I mean.)

With the orchestra assembled and looking resplendent in white tuxes and summer frocks, Ian McMillan bounced into the room in a shirt that probably ought to be licensed as a lethal weapon and which should not have been worn in a built-up area for fear of frightening the horses. Describing the venue as “an raid shelter” might not have been the best way to win over the audience, but McMillan’s enthusiasm and larger-than-life personality certainly did the trick. You can’t accuse him of taking himself too seriously: he refers to the RLPO as “the band” and introduced ‘Summer’ from the Four Seasons (Quattro Stagioni) as being from the ‘four cheeses’.

If you weren’t there, you probably won’t believe what McMillan made happen during the evening. In the second piece he had us doing aerobics and ballet movements (proving that conducting an orchestra is harder work than you might have thought) and in the second half he had our lovely Mayoress, Dot, up on the rostrum and conducting a polka (apparently proving that conducting an orchestra is something that almost anyone can do. McMillan left the room for most of the piece and our Dot did a marvelous job, increasingly getting into the role and enjoying herself. McMillan later accused her of nicking his stick).

The second half also saw the orchestra joined by children from Halewood CE and Plantation Primary Schools. I don’t know what proportion of the audience were family and friends of the children in the choirs but I’m sure they were all immensely and rightly proud of them. Children produce a sound that you just don’t get anywhere else and which reaches the parts that nothing else does.

We also enjoyed a ballet suite based on the tunes of Arthur Sullivan and then McMillan had us singing along to Jerusalem to bring the programme to an end. Then we were treated to a rousing encore: Ron Goodwin’s music for the film 633 Squadron, before we were allowed to go home and enjoy our Horlicks.

Another wonderful evening. Do you want to know my definition of an orchestra? More instruments than you can shake a stick at (unless you are Ian McMillan or the Mayoress of Halewood).
© Rev Jewell