Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Tuesday, 24 January 2017
Norman Traub video, for the NHS campaign day
A short video of Norman Traub (Secretary of Southend Keep Our NHS Public) speaking about the NHS campaign day in Southend High Street on Saturday.
Monday, 23 January 2017
NHS Campaign Day Hits Southend High Street
PRESS RELEASE
On Saturday
21st January, the Labour Party organised a national Campaign Day to
raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in the NHS. Major hospital
incidents are being reported on an almost daily basis, and the danger to
the public is that the sick and vulnerable are being put at risk.
However, we hear stories about desperately needed beds, which cannot be
freed up, because a lack of Social Care in the community prevents
patients being released from hospital - the scandalous ‘bed-blocking’.
Those
who study the crisis complain that the NHS is both underfunded and
understaffed. The figures speak for themselves: there are now around 3.9
million people on waiting lists and 1.8 million having to wait four or
more hours at A&E. At GP surgeries one in four patients have to wait
a week or more to see a doctor.
With our
own local hospital currently under threat, Southend Labour Party took to
the streets to defend the NHS. As Councillor Julian Ware-Lane (Milton
Ward) said: “The National Health Service is a vital and much loved
institution. It is being undermined by a Government determined to shrink
public services.
“There is nothing more
important than one’s health, and good access to first class facilities
makes for a healthy society. Only Labour properly funds the NHS. You
cannot trust the Tories to properly fund it!”
So
on Saturday, local Labour activists appeared at multiple locations all
over Southend Borough to deliver leaflets door to door, as well as
collect signatures on petition sheets and to hand out hundreds of
leaflets to Saturday shoppers.
To increase
effectiveness Labour Party members joined forces with members of another
nationwide organisation, Keep Our NHS Public, under the railway bridge
in Southend High Street. Passers-by were stopped and asked if they knew
what was happening to the NHS, and they were alerted to the dangers of
the proposed changes to Southend Hospital’s A&E Department. There
was a constant stream of people queueing to sign the petition sheets,
and 430 signatures were collected in two hours.
Campaigning
against Government policy can only become more intense as the crisis
deepens. Councillor Helen McDonald (Kursaal Ward) made this comment:
"The NHS Campaign Day was a culmination of activism that has been taking
place in Southend for months now, and it certainly will not be the end
of campaigning to save our health care services from being decimated by
cuts.
“Many local people will have had
direct experience of this: our health care services are at breaking
point! More and more people are beginning to speak out, as they come to
realise that aspects of the Sustainability and Transformation Plans
(STPs) will have a devastating impact. I would encourage all local
residents to make their voice heard on these plans by signing the
petition and contacting their MP."
The petition can be signed on-line here:
Southend Labour become Dementia Friends
Here is a press release:
Southend Labour become Dementia
Friends
Members of Southend Labour took part in an initiative to spread
awareness of Dementia
On Sunday 22nd January 2017, Nancy
Smith of Dementia Action Alliance gave a presentation to Southend Labour, to
raise awareness of dementia and to encourage participants to turn that
awareness into action. The event followed on from Essex Dementia Day on Friday
20th January 2017, as part of a scheme to help build dementia friendly
communities across Essex. The session informed Labour members about what it’s
like to live with dementia, and how they can help those affected by dementia at
home and in the community.
Research conducted by the Alzheimer’s
Society found that there are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK
today (1.3 per cent), including over 700,000 people in England, over 45,000 in
Wales, nearly 20,000 in Northern Ireland and 70,000 people in Scotland. By
2025, the number is expected to rise to over one million, and by 2050 it is
projected to exceed 2 million.
In the UK, over 40,000 people under
65 years of age have dementia.
As a result of taking part in the
session, every participant became a Dementia Friend and earned an identifying
‘forget-me-not’ Dementia Friends badge. Southend Labour joined over 4,000 other
Dementia Friends in Southend, and is keen to encourage other organisations to get
involved.
Ashleigh Condon, Secretary of
Southend Labour Local Campaign Forum, organised the event and was delighted to
help increase participation in this initiative: “When I met Nancy and saw how
passionate she was about dementia awareness, I knew we needed to hold a session
for Labour members. The session was good fun, highly informative, and took just
an hour to do. We can now proudly join other bodies, such as Southend Airport,
in being a dementia friendly organisation”.
For more information about
Dementia Friends, and to join in a session near you, visit DementiaFriends.org.uk
Homelessness, dementia, NHS
Friday, and another interesting stint at
the Ferndale Baptist Church night shelter. This week there was an increase in
the number of guests eating and staying, and my four hours there were a busy
four hours.
 |
| Southend Labour becoming dementia friends |
Amongst those that I spoke with was a
twenty year old who had been living on the streets since the age of
twelve. His story was equally touching and
scary. The thought of such a young person sleeping rough is difficult to
imagine.
Today I attended a dementia awareness
event organized for Southend Labour by Ashleigh Condon. Becoming a dementia friend is important,
especially as so m any of us are affected at some by this disease.
I also ended up doing a spot of
leafleting in Milton, on the equally important subject of the NHS.
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