New Dulwich Hospital Plans

Today Dulwich councillors were sent confirmation that new health facilities will be constructed on the Dulwich Hospital Site. The new health centre will be a new build and initially house the existing facilities provided at the Dulwich Hospital with the capacity to deliver more.

After 22 years I’m chuffed that a coalition government involving Lib Dems finally have decided what to do with this site and the re-provision of more health services. Hooray. Just the boring details of making it happen!

Dulwich HospitalWhen Cllr Rosie Shimell, Jonathan Mitchell and I were elected in 2010 we made it one of our priorities to get things moving on the Dulwich Hospital. We ran a survey of over 25,000 local residents, street stalls, knocking on local residents door to find out what people think and wanted. This built on the sterling work Jonathan had done in helping to stop the things just being closed and sold.

15-01-16 Brand new health centre to be built in Dulwich FINAL

The full details will be released 22 January to the CCG Governing Body. The announcement I’ve received makes it clear NHS Property are now looking to sell the surplus land i will do everything in my power to ensure all the spare land is used for educational purposes.

What is troubling is that any money from the sale of land will be used nationally and not ring fenced to Dulwich. The Dulwich Hospital was paid for by public subscription by former Dulwich residents. It speaks volumes that such monies donated to health causes and charities could be ultimately used outside the area the donors could reasonably ever have expected.

 

 

North Dulwich Tennis Club – boost needed

The club has been raising funds for some time – they need £65,000 – to resurface two shale courts. The shale courts effectively can;t be used in winter. Resurfacing them will give lots more options for after school clubs and generally keeping tennis year round.

To help this along they will be taking place in a 24 hours tennis marathon on 22 February 8am-12 noon.

If you can please do sponsor them to help boost this locally under utilised facility –

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/sharenhenrygoodlad

(I hasten to add I don’t play tennis or have any personal links with the club or its supporters.)

Crucial Baby Talk – “language nutrition”

As a society we appear to be talking to babies less. Cliche of the parent pushing a pushchair with one hand and using a smartphone with the other. The baby loses valuable talk time or “language nutrition”.

But the first 1,000 days of life are crucial for brain development. A poor, in terms of intellectual stimuli, environment can make a lasting negative impact.

In the US a new public health scheme started this month – Talk With Baby. Nurses, teachers, etc have been taught how to speak with babies. Babies respond better to sing song talk. The idea is they then pass this training on during any interactions with parents and encourage those parents to talk with their babies. By 2018 Georgia state in the US hopes all parents of children born will be involved.

Past research has shown infants from wealthier families had heard 30 million more words by age 3 than infants from other less wealthy families. This appears to result in kids better able to stay on tasks, higher cognitive skills.

This is why Georgia has this new programme – they have a large gap in attainment to close.

It will be interesting to see if the high expectations of this scheme are materialised…

If it is then we should consider starting a scheme in SE London.

Keeping Warm This winter

If you are or know an older resident and help is needed to keep warm this winter please direct them to the Warm & Well In Winter project.

Six key things AgeConcern told me:

1. Stay Warm In Your Home. Keep your home 18-21 degrees C. Wear plenty of thin layers so you can easilly adjust your termperature.  If you need to wear bed socks, thermal underwaear and a nightcap at night.

2. Get Financial Support. There are grants, bemefits and avice avaialb to improve your homes energy efficiency, heting system and controls.

3. Eat Well And Drink Regularlry. Food is the bodies fuel giving us energy. So make sure you eat well and keep hydrated. Nothing quite like a hot meal or drink to warm you up. great idea is a flask of hot drink or soup to wake up to in the morning.

4. Get A Flu Jab. They’re free for everyone over 65 and those with long-term medical conditions and for others only cost around £9. Flu nasal sprays are free for infants 2-4 years old. If you get a cold or flue do rest and potentially stay in bed. Get well and make sure you keep hydrated.

5. Look After Yourself And Others. On cold days wrap up well and keep warm. Keep an eye out for others and make sure they’re alert and have everything they need to follow these 6 key things.

6. Have Heating And Cooking Appliances Checked. Carbon monoxide is a killer.

Lambeth residents can call 020 7346 6800 for further advice.

Southwark residents can call 020 7358 4077.

Bogus NHS Threat

Liberal Democrat peer Sal Brinton recently used a Parliamentary question to raise one of the most popular and emotive arguments used against the propposed TTIP trade deal (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership):

Baroness Brinton (LD): My Lords, there has been a great deal of scaremongering about the National Health Service and TTIP. Might it be helpful for BIS to highlight the EU directive on NHS procurement which makes it absolutely clear that the NHS will not be caught by TTIP contracts?

Lord Livingston of Parkhead: That is absolutely correct. In fact, Commissioner de Gucht has been very clear:

“Public services are always exempted … The argument is abused in your country for political reasons”.

That is pretty clear!

The US have also made it entirely clear. Its chief negotiator said that it was not seeking for public services to be incorporated. No one on either side is seeking to have the NHS treated in a different way. The EU is very clear on that and trade agreements to date have always protected public services. That will absolutely continue within TTIP.

So why are so many people linking the TTIP and suggesting the NHS will be privatised? My guess incredibly cynical electioneering.

No wonder so many believe Politicians lie and will do anything when this is clearly a case where some politicians and their supporters have been flagantry lieing.

Medicalise Drug Users

Britain has a long history of criminalising drug use. The war on drugs is a well documented failure. It has created a huge criminal community where the profits are so huge that violence to maintain them takes place.

A new Home Office report comparing the UK’s approach to drug misuse with that of 13 other countries concluded that drug use was influenced by factors “more complex and nuanced than legislation and enforcement alone”. It then explains that Portugal where drug users are treated as a health problem has seen a considerable improvement in drug user health. Portugal has taken this approach since 2001. So it’s well established. For Portugal decriminalistion has clearly worked saving many many lives.

The report also believes there is “no obvious” link between tough laws and levels of illegal drug use. That’s a pretty damning indictment of a huge anti drug user industry we have in Britain. This means we have a huge misallocation of precious national resources. Wasting billions of £’s each year which means we don’t have nearly enough cash to help drug users get better and kick addictions. The only people to benefit from the war on drugs are drug barons making huge illegal profits. We need to concentrate on those Mr.Bigs.

I’m proud that Lib Dem Home Office minister Norman Baker said the report, comparing the UK with other countries, should end “mindless rhetoric” on drugs policy. He made it clear the Tories have been suppressing this report for months.

We need a grown up policy about drug taking. One that is based on real evidence rather than hysteria. One that will help our country be better.

 

Early Health Warnings

Children are great incubators and spreaders of bugs. Hence why flu vaccine is being rolled out to UK children. Nurseries try really hard to install good hygiene but it isn’t easy – they still lapse.

New Scientist has reported a study of 4 Michigan nurseries caring for 600 under-fives where each nursery reported illnesses online.

The study team spotted a 2 day spike in nursery stomach bugs and a gastroenteritis outbreak amongst school aged children 3 weeks later.

They’re suggesting that nurseries could be used in a similar way to canaries down mines. When nurseries spot illnesses, schools, and even nursing homes could take precautions such as greater hygiene to reduce risk for people attending and living respectively with them. If flu people could be alerted to take vaccines – they have potentially a 3 week warning.

Clearly more work needs to be done on this but potentially this could really improve public health and reduce spikes in health service demand.

How to get this explored in London?

European Code Against Cancer

Earlier this week the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, launched a new code against cancer focused on what people in Europe can do to halve our chances of cancer.

Currently each year in the European Union 2.66 million new cancer cases and 1.28 million people die from cancer every year. Imagine halving this.

The code is about highlighting what we can all do to prevent cancer. Things like avoiding tabacco, excessive alcohol, excessive sunlight and taking part in organised programmes cancel screening programmes.

  1. Do not smoke. Do not use any form of tobacco.
  2. Make your home smoke-free. Support smoke-free policies in your workplace.
  3. Take action to be a healthy body weight.
  4. Be physically active in everyday life. Limit the time you spend sitting.
  5. Have a healthy diet – Eat plenty of whole grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits. Limit high-calorie foods (foods high in sugar or fat) and avoid sugary drinks. Avoid processed meat; limit red meat and foods high in salt.
  6. If you drink alcohol of any type, limit your intake. Not drinking alcohol is better for cancer prevention.
  7. Avoid too much sun, especially for children. Use sun protection. Do not use sunbeds.
  8. In the workplace, protect yourself against cancer-causing substances by following health and safety instructions
  9. Find out if you are exposed to radiation from naturally high radon levels in your home. Take action to reduce high radon levels.
  10. For women – Breastfeeding reduces the mother’s cancer risk. If you can, breastfeed your baby. Limit the use of Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) it increases the chance of cancer.
  11. Ensure your children take part in vaccination programmes for – Hepatitis B (for newborns), Human papillomavirus (HPV) (for girls).
  12. Take part in organised cancer screening programmes for – Bowel cancer (men and women), Breast cancer (women), Cervical cancer (women).

These 12 points don’t guarantee anything except that you and I would be doing the most we possibly can to avoid cancer. But that has to be a great idea.

 

 

David Laws Letter

Last year we formally launched our campaign for a new local secondary school. We’ve been so successful that over 750 families have signed up to give there support and two school providers have applied to open it – Haberdashers’ and Charter.

But the same thorny issue could potentially scupper the brilliant school we all want – a site.

The obvious site is the Dulwich Hospital site where more extensive replacement health facilities only need around a third of the site. The remaining two-thirds would be ideal for our secondary school.

But we’ve hit two snags. By far the largest is Southwark Council are refusing to re zone the site and no longer insist on lots of housing. The second snag is Southwark Council won’t zone a site for one of the two Harris primary schools for the area – we’ve even suggested sites to them.

Bizarrely Southwark Council are refusing to help. It means the land for the secondary school would cost far more than £64M. NO government is going to spend so much on land for a single school however much it is required and desired.

To try and break this deadlock Cllr Rosie Shimell and I have written to Minister of State David Laws. We’re asking for his help and advice to get Southwark Council to actually do something to make our secondary school financially viable to be built on the amount of space we all desire.

Letter to David Laws 17 October 2014

Paedophilia Iceberg

Reflecting on the appalling Rotherham long-term child abuse, Jimmy Saville decades of abuse, many other public figures accused of casual child and other abuse, child abuse rings uncovered in Derby, Oxford, Rochdale, Telford and this week a paediatric haematologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital convicted of child abuse. Other systemic appearing abuse from religious leaders. The scale of child and adult abuse is colossal but increasingly what we’ve become aware of appears just the tip of the iceberg.

It is clear that for decades child abuse was ignored and covered up country wide. That suspicions were ignored. Victims ignored and worse – often the victims punished.

A number of separate enquiries have taken place essentially showing at best complacency on epic scales.

I’ve had a casework involving historic abuse and the police dealt with it sensitively and promptly.

We need every local authority and public body needs to assume that such abuse has occurred until they prove differently. We need to assume every public body is guilty of harbouring this historically. That every such body needs a systemic review of all the people ever in their charge confirming they didn’t receive abuse. That all Police reports need to be trawled to assess which ones abuse was not recorded but lesser crimes if any recorded and wrong police reports corrected and investigated where the victims wish this.

When we’ve purged our society of historic abuse and ensured all new allegations are properly investigated will we be truly fair and just society.

If you believe abuse is or has taken place whether you’re an adult or child get advice from the NSPCC   0808 800 5000, help@nspcc.org.uk or text 88858.