by Paul Scully | Jun 12, 2013 | News |
The London Borough of Sutton comes out as ‘better than average’ in a league table of premature deaths compiled in a new report by Public Health England this week. Measuring the number of deaths under the age of 75, the report shows there were 234.4 deaths per 100,000 population, in the borough caused by cancer, heart disease, lung disease, stroke or liver disease.
The report by Public Health England shows Sutton as being smack bang in the middle of the league table when comparing similar areas. This suggests that we are healthy enough when compared to the country as a whole but public health officers at the council need to look at neighbours like Bexley, Barnet and Harrow to see how they fare significantly better than Sutton.
The boroughs quoted above have been taken from the league table of the 15 local authorities with a similar level of deprivation. Overall Sutton was behind Richmond, Harrow, Bromley, Kingston, Barnet and Bexley in London and narrowly ahead of Merton.
It’s worth having a look at the Longer Lives report . Rather than being a nanny state report that we have seen from previous governments, this snapshot offers useful information and advice for people to make their own choices to lead healthier lives.
by Paul Scully | May 23, 2013 | News |
London was rocked yesterday by the act of sheer barbarism that took place on a street in Woolwich yesterday in broad daylight. The brutal murder of an innocent man and the calm way that everything was filmed have achieved the murderers’ aim of getting the nation’s attention. The Prime Minister is flying back to the UK. A meeting of COBRA has been held and the Mayor of London’s diary has been cleared for the day, all ready for action.
The most evocative image was that of a man ranting into a camera, his blood-soaked hands still carrying the weapons that he had used in his savage act. But I don’t want that image anywhere near my blog. I don’t want the eyes of a man whose views and actions are so far removed from the people he purports to speak for and speaks to looking out onto readers, so a picture of the police presence will suffice.
I hope and suspect that this is a ‘lone wolf incident’ but we will see. It is important to remain calm and not rush to too many assumptions until the facts are clear. How the government responds and how society responds is key. Already a man is under arrest in Essex after reportedly walking into a mosque in Braintree with a knife and incendiary device. Members of the English Defence League (EDL) have thrown missiles at police in Woolwich. Comments on social media are flying around without thought.
There are around 3 million Muslims in the UK. the vast majority of whom would condemn this killing without reservation. It is un-Islamic, as unthinkable to mainstream Muslims as it is to people from other faiths. Islamism is not the same as Islam. The -ism is significant, politicising an old religion, distorting its teaching beyond recognition. People will be fearful around London and the country as is to be expected after any terrorist act but let us remember that many Muslims will also feel under siege this morning. What had a mosque in Braintree into which a flare was thrown got to do with these men? How does the EDL throwing missiles on the very people whose colleagues shot the murderers earlier that night keep us safe from extremism?
In amongst the horror, there have been some truly breathtaking acts of bravery. Read the Telegraph’s account of how Cub scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett got off a passing bus to help the victim and ended up talking down the murderers so that they did not attack anyone else and how others shielded the body to prevent further abuse. Mother of two, Ingrid’s story absolutely floored me when I read it, walking directly into harm’s way and remaining there when it became clear that anything could happen is remarkable. That response leads the way for all. Extremism has no place in society, foreign extremists have no place in this country but let us look at this for what it is, a mindless, savage act that represents a small number of evil men.
by Paul Scully | May 16, 2013 | News |
Last night, Sutton councillors voted in favour of the incinerator planned for Beddington Lane. The vote split down party lines with the five LibDem councillors voting in favour (Mary Burstow, Cheam; Stephen Fenwick, Worcester Park; John Leach, Beddington North; Monica Coleman, Wallington South; Margaret Court, Wandle Valley) and the two Conservative councillors voting against (Graham Whitham, Cheam; Eric Allen, Nonsuch). This was after the decision was deferred at a previous meeting when the vote was tied.
I dropped in between meetings to see the mood of the meeting. A good 200 people turned up from Sutton and Croydon and were listening intently to the arguments, though I understand that John Leach, the committee chairman who also represents the ward where the incinerator is to be sited, had already threatened to clear the public gallery.
My main concern about the incinerator has always been about the possibility of increased lorry movements in bringing rubbish in from four boroughs. This, despite there being a cheaper alternative option to take the rubbish down to Kent.
Inside Croydon has an account of the meeting which describes a worrying but not altogether surprising approach by the Liberal Democrat councillors:
“Even as he voted in favour of the Viridor scheme, John Leach, the chairman of the meeting, made some extraordinary and contradictory comments. Leach urged the opponents of the incinerator – Tories from Sutton, Labour councillors from Croydon, Green activists from across south London – to put together as big a campaign as possible to get Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to use his powers to block the proposal, which could otherwise see Viridor burning waste at Beddington until the year 2040, in return for £1billion in public contracts.”
You will see from the picture accompanying this post that the Liberal Democrats are not averse to saying one thing in one place and taking a different approach in another but I hope that they are not trying to use Boris Johnson as a human shield for their decision which has been some four years in the making. If they want to replace their stalling recycling programme with incineration, if they want to get free heat for local homes and if they want to make their four borough waste solution a reality then stand up for themselves and let residents judge them on that decision. People will see through cheap politics.
One particular highlight of the evening was when the Greens and Labour party members united in giving a Margaret Thatcher quote a standing ovation. Graham Whitham elicited this unique historic achievement when signing off his comments with the pithy line, “This councillor is not for burning.”
by Paul Scully | May 10, 2013 | News |
Yesterday I joined more than 100 concerned residents at St Bede’s Conference Centre in North Cheam for a crucial board meeting of the Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). They debated whether to allow the Better Services, Better Value (BSBV) consultation to go ahead.
As I have posted before, the BSBV recommendation is to downgrade St Helier hospital to a local hospital, stripping it of its A&E and Maternity services and directing many planned operations elsewhere.
Residents at the meeting were fiercely protective of their local healthcare services and made their feelings clearly known. Despite this, the board approved the consultation with one abstention from a representative of Sutton Council and one lay member voting against.
Prior to this at a meeting of all of the GPs in Sutton a vote was taken with the results weighted by numbers of patients per practice. 95 votes were cast in favour of allowing the consultation, 59 votes against and 22 GPs abstained. We were told by members of the board that some GPs voted to allow the consultation but still had severe concerns about the proposals and may well vote against when the consultation responses are considered. This is an olive branch that we must take, though allowing the consultation only to stop the process later does waste a further £6m of taxpayers’ money.
This is a clinician-led move so the people presenting were not politicians. However using phrases like ‘ambulatory care pathways’ didn’t really win over the people in the public gallery. If they want to push such a controversial recommendation, they need to explain their evidence in clear, concise language and persuade people that they are aiming to save lives rather than save money. Some hecklers were complaining of privatisation, others of government interference. BSBV is neither of those things. I don’t doubt the clinicians motivations behind this move. I just think they’re wrong.
This is not the end for St Helier but we do need to act now if we want to protect services at our local hospital. If you agree with me, please do sign the petition on this website and write to your GP to make your feelings known.
by Paul Scully | May 3, 2013 | News |
In the latest chapter of the fight to save services at St Helier hospital, clinicians have pushed our local hospital to the bottom of the pile in their recommendation. They had been promising an elective care centre on the site to soften the blow of losing A&E and Maternity. Now their preference is to put that elective care centre in Epsom leaving St Helier as a small local hospital.
Local hospitals don’t have a good track record in Sutton with Carshalton War Memorial, Queen Mary’s and Sutton Hospital itself all closing down over the last couple of decades.
You can read the detail of the recommendation on the BSBV website.
There is a crucial meeting next week where local Sutton GPs meet to decide whether to support the next move to consult residents on these proposals. That meeting is open to the public and I would strongly urge you to go if possible. It’s being held at St Bede’s Conference Centre at St Raphael’s Hospice next to St Anthony’s Hospital on London Road in North Cheam on Thursday 9th May at 1pm.
The campaign by local politicians has resulted in a worsening of the situation. It’s up to the community. It’s up to you to make your view heard.
Please sign the petition by clicking on the button on the right hand side of this page to let them know that you care about local healthcare in Sutton.
by Paul Scully | Apr 24, 2013 | News |
My team and I have been busy this week delivering 40,000 copies of the Chronicle across the constituency. If you didn’t get a copy have a look below. Articles include an update on St Helier, our local economy, immigration, EU, policing in Sutton, the ongoing financial problems of Sutton Life Centre and a bit about me. Let me know what you think.
(Click on Fullscreen to read it in detail)
