New health bodies must watch figures

COUNCILS nationwide are currently inviting tenders for the provision of the administrative support required by the new district-based “HealthWatch” organisations which are to replace the failed LINKS (Local Involvement in Health Networks) as NHS watchdogs.

For HealthWatches to succeed, the following criteria (which in my experience has often not previously been fulfilled) are, I believe, essential.

HealthWatch executive committees must be truly representative of the local, community, the members not influenced by service providers and their meetings publicised and open to the public and press.

All relevant information should be provided routinely by Trusts and other service providers on a yearly basis and when critical events arise.

The following information should include the number and nature of complaints and, if appropriate, the cost of setting compensation claims:

The length of hospital and social care waiting lists and the time spent by patients waiting for attention beyond appointment times.

The number and incidence of patients requiring re-admission within 28 days of discharge from hospital or community care.

Death and infection rates associated with surgical and medical treatment and childbirth.

The number and incidence of suicides and attempted suicide.

The number and incidence of pressure sores acquired in hospital and community care.

All the above are statistics Trusts and other providers are statutorily required to compile and should be accompanied by the relevant comparable national statistics.

Belonging to everyone

From: Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington.

WITH the astonishing decline of standards within the privatised water industry, for example, Australian and Chinese-owned Thames Water leaks over 600 million litres of water a day, the equivalent of filling Wembley Stadium to the brim every 36 hours, how much longer do the people of Britain have to wait before the control of precious water supplies is put back into public ownership?

In the words of Gary Smith, national secretary of the GMB union: “Water is a natural resource which is plentiful in this country and should not be in private ownership.”

What he says is the gospel truth.

On track to support HS2

From: Dr K Grady, Director, Leeds Civic Trust, Wharf Street, Leeds.

FURTHER to your recent report (Yorkshire Post, May 9) that civic societies in Yorkshire and Humberside voted to oppose the proposed high speed rail line to Leeds, I write to make it clear that Leeds Civic Trust strongly supports the proposed development of HS2.

A world-class rail service connecting Leeds to South Yorkshire, the Midlands and London is essential if Leeds is to aspire to be the best city in the UK. A new station in central Leeds would be a catalyst for extensive new-build and refurbishment schemes in the city and a great stimulus to the Leeds economy.

Through enhanced local rail services, these benefits can be spread throughout the City Region. Anyone who steps off the train at King’s Cross can see that the economic North-South divide is very real. HS2 is a vital part of overcoming this disadvantage.

The stamp of good value

From: Mary Fox, Clarence Drive, Filey.

I AM fed up hearing grumbles about the cost of postage stamps. What better value can one get for 50 pence? You can’t in some areas visit a toilet for this, but oh, what joy when a letter from a friend drops on to your doormat – the kettle goes on, feet up and read. The letter can then be put aside to revisit when you wish.

I have letters from my grandchildren which I have kept for 20 years and they still make me smile and give me pleasure.

And what about postcards from exotic places you may never visit? The stamp can then be cut off carefully to be recycled for charity.

Have we considered the poor philatelist, the Yorkshire Post letters page and the postman?

Find the real advisers

From: Dr David Hill, Chief Executive, World Innovation Foundation, Huddersfield.

NICK Clegg’s call for government to give priority to manufacturing is a laudable and an honourable task (Yorkshire Post, May 9).

But unfortunately it will not work. The reason is that successive governments have not listened to anyone else but themselves.

My advice to Mr Clegg is to get real advisers advising government and not the Whitehall elite who think that they know best.

Only then may he get somewhere, but if he keeps the status quo in Whitehall, it will lead him and thus the country to nowhere and possible ruin again.

Our young deserve a great deal better, for these unseen senior civil servants are constantly dabbling with their futures and where they will get it so terribly wrong again.