November 25: Bed blocking crisis is years in the making

Public should not be expected to cover shortfall.

THE failure of Yorkshire hospitals to achieve their goal of halving the number of patients taking up beds when they are well enough to be discharged could not be more resounding.

Instances of so-called “bed blocking” are in fact rising at an alarming rate at hospitals in Leeds, at a cost to taxpayers of thousands of pounds per day.

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Yet this is not a problem that should be blamed exclusively on a single NHS trust or, indeed, the health service as a whole. Rather, it is a natural consequence of wider issues that have been apparent for many years.

A steady reduction in the number of beds in our hospitals, combined with an ageing population, is a major factor. This is then compounded by the raft of cuts to local authority funding which have seen councils reduce their spend on adult social care at a time when demand is rising.

The result is that council-run care homes have been closing on a regular basis. So, when an elderly patient recovers and responsibility for their care passes from hospital to local authority, the required resources are simply not available.

It is why George Osborne is set to announce in today’s autumn statement that local authorities will be given the power to raise council tax by an additional two per cent to help plug the shortfall.

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For a Band D property, this would equate to an extra £30 a year.

Whilst the rise in itself may be relatively small, it amounts to yet another stealth tax on a public which increasingly finds itself being squeezed by a Government which promised to create a “low-tax”, “high wage” economy.

More curious still is that the Chancellor has chosen to protect public spending on overseas aid, which is set to rise in real terms.

Such largesse abroad and austerity at home makes for an uneasy mix, one which will do little to inspire faith in government policy at a time when the impact of continued cuts is set to become ever more apparent.

Divided alliance

Time for Turkey to choose sides

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THE downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey in response to an alleged incursion into its airspace marks the first time since the Cold War that a Nato country has taken such a course of action.

Turkey’s response is made more alarming by the fact that the warplane was on its way to bomb Islamic State fighters in Syria, underlining the fragility of the so-called alliance against IS.

David Cameron and other western leaders have long harboured concerns about the Turks and their role in the region – and this incident makes the need to resolve them even more pressing.

That is not to say that Vladimir Putin is blameless. The Russian president’s continued sabre rattling – which has also seen reports of a Russian submarine lurking off the coast of Scotland – shows that his thirst for revanchism remains unquenched, despite the more imminent threat posed by IS.

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Yet if the Islamist forces in Syria are to be defeated then it is imperative that there is clarity as to where countries’ loyalties lie.

The time has now come for Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan to choose sides. Despite being a member of Nato, his country stands accused of facilitating the oil sales that finance IS, providing safe passage for jihadis to enter Syria and bombing the Kurdish resistance groups fighting the Islamists on the ground.

The fallout from this incident risks hampering the mission to eradicate IS and will no doubt provoke a response from Putin beyond banning flights to Turkey.

It is to be hoped that it also answers the question as to whether the Turks are with us or against us.

Villages in demise

Rural communities fight back

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TO those who live in rural communities the story of Sutton-on-the-Forest will no doubt be a familiar one.

On the face of it, this pretty village nestled in the countryside eight miles north of York has everything going for it. But scratch beneath the surface and you find another, more worrying, picture. The village has recently lost its last pub and local residents fear its entire identity is under threat.

Sutton is not alone. Villages like this up and down the country have seen the heart ripped out of their communities. Ageing populations and a growing numbers of commuters have fundamentally changed the fabric of village life.

Organisations like the Plunkett Foundation are leading the fightback by supporting local people who are trying to safeguard their way of life.

It is a battle that we should all support, otherwise the quintessential English village that we know and love could become a thing of the past.