A Letter to the Editor from Whitby Town (and formerly Scarborough Borough) Councillor, ROB BARNETT, appealing for the service we deserve from the National Heath Service (NHS)
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Dear Editor,
Further thought: Nolan Principles, Scrutiny and NHS
Many thanks for publishing my last letter and to all those who shared it. I would like to revisit some of my thoughts with reference to the SEVEN NOLAN PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC LIFE.
Firstly, these ideas are for all those in local and national Government. If you wish, a Bible for all those who seek to serve the people of the country, i.e. all those whose sovereignty we uphold.
The Nolan Principles are as follows:
Clearly no one can dispute the good sense of these principles.
- Honesty
- Openness
- Objectivity
- Selflessness
- Integrity
- Accountability
- Leadership
Furthermore, they obviously underpin my previous thoughts on topics such as:
- Housing
- Parking
- Low pay
- NHS
- The Economy
Scrutiny is an essential CORNERSTONE of the democratic process. I will take scrutiny of our NHS as an example, as one who has had cause to have visited many hospitals as a result of illness.
We are proud of the NHS and want to show our appreciation of all the staff and the hard and dedicated work that they perform for us, often in difficult conditions. We want the NHS to be FREE at point-of-delivery and demand that the Government will fund the NHS so that it will be able to continue to serve EVERYBODY.
In reality, SCRUTINY reveals the following in our Hospitals:
- Health care professionals are having to manage three patients more than that which is recommended by their Professional Body. (11 or more patients per nurse, not 8)
- Staff are moved from High Dependency wards to cover other wards because of staff shortages.
- Ambulances cannot get casulaties into A&E because there are not enough beds in other wards.
- Outlying hospitals, such as Bridlington, Malton and Whitby, cannot cope with high numbers of admissions, so these are sent directly to Scarborough, thus making the situation more difficult to manage.
- Patients stay longer in hospital than necessary because there is no Social Care available.
- Stress issues on staff
- Some staff at the smaller hospitals are being transferred by taxi to Scarborough to plug gaps in staffing.
Yet somehow, they still do the jobs we expect of them!
WHAT A MESS!
How long can this go on? Is there a better way? Let us make our feelings public by demanding that the NHS deserves more.
Yours, etc
Cllr Rob Barnett
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