Promoting the Politics of Courage
This week’s column • This week’s announcement of a scaled-down new-build of West Cornwall Hospital’s Outpatient Dept. is of course welcome. Though the building is unlikely to win awards for beauty nor enhancing the aspects of the hospital, it will be welcomed by both staff and patients as a better replacement for a long out-of-date […]
Without a hint of irony Conservative Ministers now declare themselves devotees of mandatory safe staffing levels in our hospitals. But only as a tool to attack staff who are striking largely because of the lack of safe staffing. When I led a parliamentary campaign for safe NHS staffing, Conservative Ministers bluntly rejected it. If we […]
All Parties should come together to secure the long-term future of our NHS and care services. I’m calling on those fellow politicians who truly care about what’s happening to our NHS and care services to join community leaders, health and care professionals to agree a way forward. We cannot carry on like this. Hundreds needlessly […]
Cornwall in the national news again. And not for a good reason. We have amongst the worst ambulance waits in the country. Many patients die unnecessarily. Hundreds more experience life limiting disability because they can’t get the timely treatment which would avoid this. It doesn’t have to be like this. Proper investment in core NHS […]
People whose lives could be saved are still dying. Many more suffer life-limiting disability. Frontline NHS staff are still losing the battle to maintain clinical standards; leading to increased stress, falling morale and poor staff retention; and at a time we most need to keep and recruit experienced doctors and nurses etc. The 20-30 […]
• The dominant issue this week has been the vote of confidence. I refer of course to the resounding vote of confidence in Cornish Rugby. What a fantastic display by all of our Cornish teams. Our women’s team comfortably winning their Championship (tier 3) final in Richmond, the men’s team defeating Cheshire at Twickenham, […]
Learning to live with… Today’s Covid announcement was no more led by science than it was by politics. It was another tactic in “Operation Save Big Dog”. Designed to save the skin of the PM. A man not exactly renowned for his honesty and integrity. Doesn’t matter to him that he’s throwing the vulnerable, […]
We can combat Covid and support our economy if we support each other. Communities across Cornwall and Scilly can demonstrate we’re amongst the most community-spirited places in the country. Conservative Ministers have chosen to ignore almost all authoritative science and have lifted sensible Covid controls. In contrast we can all show that here in […]
Before the Government hits struggling workers a £12bn tax bill, they first need to demonstrate they’ve “fixed social care”. At the very time the Government plans its National Insurance tax hike Cornwall’s Conservative Council has declared the social care is more unfixed than it’s ever been! At the last election the Conservatives promised that […]
At the last election the Conservatives promised that above all they would “fix social care”. This week’s news confirms they’ve achieved the opposite. If they want to slash care provided to the sickest and vulnerable they should go and explain that to the patients and their families themselves, and not expect the heroes working […]