Parliamentary sketch – Deafening sound of pennies dropping

No.  I was not “waiting by my phone” during this week’s Ministerial reshuffle…(I was visiting fishermen, talking to Mullion Health Centre about health reforms, visiting RNAS Culdrose for an update briefing and completing preparatory work to lead a delegation to meet Schools Minister regarding the desperately needed rebuilding of “C” block at Helston Community College…)

I was hardly going to be “rewarded” with a Ministerial position when I’ve apparently been dubbed the “most rebellious” Liberal Democrat MP – a (constructive!) thorn in the Tory-side of the Coalition Government; highlighting the risk of putting profit before patients with Government health reforms; opposing the “bedroom tax”; proposing a cap on tax-payer funded handouts to wealthy farmers/landowners; opposing the bombing of Syria; exposing the risk of putting “greed” before “need” with planning reforms, etc.

I can hear the deafening sound of pennies dropping in our health service:

• Serious problems of patients having operations cancelled because RCHT cannot move patients ready to be discharged.  Meanwhile the company responsible for community hospitals has been reducing beds and closing Poltair hospital!  Time for a rethink?

 

• If vulnerable patients are discharged to their homes how many will be supported by home care workers who are expected to heroically complete an unfeasible list of tasks in absurdly short visits (sometimes as short as 15 minutes) whilst being rewarded with little more than minimum wage?  I’ve been urging the Government to introduce new “benchmark standards” to stop this “race to the bottom” in the way we treat home care workers, the vulnerable and the disabled.

 

• I have queried why the Health Secretary (salary £200,000) is telling hospital nurses (Band 6 registered nurses £21,388) and hospital health care workers (Band 2, £14,294) that they cannot have any appraisal based modest salary increase if they are not already at the top of their pay scale (Band 6 registered nurses £27,901; Band 2 hospital health care workers, £17,425).

 

• I am hosting a major House of Commons event this week for nurse representatives and health chiefs to press for safe registered nurse staffing levels on our hospital wards to combat the problems caused by threadbare staffing.

 

You can contact Andrew George by email: andrew.george.mp@parliament.uk.  His constituency office can be contacted at Trewella, 18 Mennaye Road, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 4NG.  Telephone: 01736 360020.

 

Andrew George MP

Kernow a’n West ha Syllan

West Cornwall and the Scillies

Kwartron Porthia

Constituency of St Ives

Tel:  01736 360020

Fax:  01736 332866

 

8th October 2013