Ceiling really has fallen in
It appears that the plan to move one of the Berrylands polling stations from the Berrylands pub, where it’s been for years, to the Christian Centre in King Charles Road, at the extreme opposite end of the polling district, has hit a snag. From what I hear the ceiling has collapsed.
This being so, the polling station seems to have reverted to its former site at the Berrylands Hotel – closer than the Christian Centre to the largest concentration of housing in the polling district.
In case anyone doesn’t know the geography of the area, the Christian Centre is a hall in King Charles Road just south of the junction with Berrylands Road, just round the corner from the Lib Dem HQ.
We wondered why the station had been resited there in the first place, grouping all three polling stations in the ward very close together – almost surrounding the Alpha Road estate.
Hunt on NHS
from the Rt. Hon Jeremy Hunt MP:-
Dear Paul,
No one can doubt the Conservative Party’s commitment to the NHS. In the toughest financial climate we’ve faced in years our party was the only party to commit to increasing the NHS budget. More money to the frontline and less spent on management and bureaucracy. A commitment we are delivering in Government, which remains unwavering today.
However, we’d be doing the NHS a disservice if we failed to speak out when things go wrong. The publication of the inquiry report into what happened at the Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust under Labour has shown that things did go wrong – badly wrong. And it’s now up to the Conservatives to ensure that this can never happen again.
The report is clear that the appalling standards of care at Mid Staffs were not just a failing of that particular hospital but were also a failing of the wider NHS system. The system Labour created focused on targets, ticking boxes and processes, while the core values of the NHS, those of care, compassion and respect were lost.
We are already doing things to put this right. Since we came to power we have ended Labour’s culture of meeting targets at any cost, developed a new vision for compassionate nursing and introduced a tough new programme for tracking and eliminating falls, pressure sores and hospital infections.
But we are going to do more. We will put patient care back at the heart of the NHS. Staff and managers throughout the system need to know if you’re failing on care then you’re failing full stop. That’s why:
| We will make sure nurses are hired and promoted for showing compassion – not just on their academic qualifications. And we will encourage a style of leadership from senior nurses which means poor practice is not tolerated and is driven off the wards. | |
| We will ensure those values go right to the top of an organisation by creating a regime where the suspension of a hospital’s board can be triggered by failures in care, not just by failures in finance. | |
| We will set up the new post of a Chief Inspector of Hospitals, who will make a judgement on care standards in an organisation. And to help them make that judgement we will give every patient, carer and staff member the opportunity to feed into that process by saying whether they’d recommend their hospital to their friends and family. |
We made our commitment to the NHS because we want it to have the resources it needs to evolve and improve in the years to come. I hope the legacy of our response to the Mid Staffordshire Inquiry will be to refocus on the values it needs to achieve this.
Jeremy Hunt
Secretary of State for Health
Surbiton Neighbourhood Committee
The next meeting is on Thursday 7th February at Dysart School, Ewell Road at 7,30 p.m.
Matters dealt with will be largely planning items, not yet available on the website, also the annual revenue budget and plans for the next years highway maintenance.
Berrylands: postal voting
Some people may have problems getting to a polling station to vote in the by-election on 28th February. The answer to their problem could be a postal vote, if they don’t have a postal vote already, our Postal Votes page will tell them how to get one. Applications must be in by 13th February.
Just click on the link above.
Tories out in force in Berrylands
Mike Head and Howard Jones on the campaign trail.
A large team of Tories made the most of this morning’s sunshine to go on the campaign trail in Berrylands. Led by local MEP Syed Kamall, candidate Mike Head and Council Group Leader Howard Jones the team blitzed the Ewell Road and King Charles Road area. Campaign Manager Kevin Davis was delighted by the strong turnout and said ‘This isn’t the first time we’ve had such an enthusiastic team out on the doorsteps of Berrylands. It was just as good last Saturday and has been very encouraging on weekday evenings too.’
Mike is keenly supported by local members, present and former councillors and candidates and a very strong showing by Conservative Future.
Ready and raring to go!
Bogus callers in Surbiton area
Information from Surbiton Hill SNT via EBRRA:
A person or persons, claiming to be a company called ESKOM Ltd, are offering to change light bulbs for free. We assume they are offering energy efficent for old type.
Another person or persons are claiming to be from the waterboard offering to ” change shower caps ” !!
One bogus caller called on a house saying they were working on their neighbours roof and noticed damp.
Best advice: unless you have arranged a call from anyone refuse to get into conversation, close the door and phone the police.
Surbiton Forum 