Trust CEO Gets an OBE

steveL · December 29, 2012, 12: PM

How the system really works........

Alan Foster the £240,000 CE of the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospital Trust has been awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours . . . for services to . . . the NHS

fred c · December 29, 2012, 01: PM

An unelected QuangoTwat

Honours List............. My Ars*

SRMoore · December 29, 2012, 02: PM

Nominated by someone from Stockton I'd imagine.

marky · December 29, 2012, 06: PM

this just shows the honours system up for what it is....a club for quangoites and mutual back slappers

Stig of the Seaton Dump · December 29, 2012, 07: PM

As my Cockney friend says ...the Jeremy Hunt

fred c · December 30, 2012, 10: AM

Its just a matter of time before some unfortunate person doesn`t make it to hospital alive..........

Has anyone else noticed the increase in Ambulances & Parmedic vehicles hurtling around the town with Blues Lights flashing

?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254760/Huge-rise-ambulance-journey-times-revealed.html

tankerville · December 30, 2012, 12: PM

Since local election's are over and done with everything in the garden is smelling of roses again. The Hospital Issue seems to have been put on hold.

Ardent campaigners have put away the placards and given up still it's to be expected, you get elected and sit back and say, we're still fighting ' well sort of '.

Come 2014 we will get the same old spiel from leaflet's containing how as your elected representative I/We have done ALL you asked please vote Independent.

It would seem that voting in an Independent Councillor is just another way of a vote for a Labour Councillor.

SRMoore · December 30, 2012, 01: PM

Quote from: tankerville on December 30, 2012, 12: PM
Ardent campaigners have put away the placards and given up still it's to be expected, you get elected and sit back and say, we're still fighting ' well sort of '.

Come 2014 we will get the same old spiel from leaflet's containing how as your elected representative I/We have done ALL you asked please vote Independent.

It would seem that voting in an Independent Councillor is just another way of a vote for a Labour Councillor.

And this is certainly the case of Cllr Fisher. As much as I like Keith on a personal level, he has failed to do what he was elected to do. Much of his campaign centred around his effort to save our hospital and its services yet when it comes to the most important health scrutiny meeting since he was elected (deciding whether the council would object to further transfer of services from Holdforth Road to OLC) he didn't attend. In fact, he didn't even ask another councillor to sit on his behalf and vote against it.

So the Hart ward now has the silent and ineffective Jean Robinson, the missing Cllr Fisher and surprisingly the only cllr who seems to be active is a Labour councillor and ardent supporter of the mob, Paul Beck. (Nice bloke btw)

steveL · December 30, 2012, 02: PM

Silly post, Shane, sounding a lot like sour grapes. How effective or ineffective the winning ward candidates are, they couldn't possibly be as ineffective as someone whose committment to the ward lasted only as long as the election campaign and was soon off telling the residents of Seaton that he had always really been committed to them all along.

...and I'm not sure Paul Beck shares your views on the mob after two-faced, Rob Cook firmly shafted him over the Hartfields issue. Rob's politics are fairly simple....if there's votes in it for him then he's for it.....unless his ward changes ......... in which case he can change your mind any time that it suits.

SRMoore · December 30, 2012, 04: PM

It isn't sour grapes at all Steve. I said before, during and after the election that if I were to lose out to him then I'd still be happy as there would at least be another genuine hospital campaigner on the council. I'm very disapointed in Keith over this issue and many others are too.

Regarding your snipe about me standing in the Seaton by-election, I have explained why I stood during that time. I never once said that my commitment had always been with Seaton all along as you stated. I had continued to be active in the Hart ward prior to May elections and I still am now because unlike many, I actually do campaign all year around and not just at election time.
So please drop the attitude because I dared to criticise someone other than a Labour councillor.

SRMoore · December 30, 2012, 04: PM

QuoteWhich at least puts him in a position to continue to try to do something from the inside.

which is all I wanted him to do. I had faith that he would do this and I am therefore justified in having a whinge when that doesn't seem to be the case. If he had prior arrangements then that's fair enough but to not ask someone like minded to sit in his place at the meeting certainly is not.

mk1 · December 30, 2012, 07: PM

Seems he got it just in time!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-20871426

A&E delays at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough
Health bosses on Teesside have asked people to try and avoid going to an accident and emergency department because of delays.

The ward at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough was experiencing "unprecedented numbers" of patients on Sunday, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said.

Patients with minor injuries are facing long waits.

The trust advised people to contact the out-of-hours GP service.

norfolkngoode · December 31, 2012, 10: AM

Quote from: fred c on December 30, 2012, 10: AM
Its just a matter of time before some unfortunate person doesn`t make it to hospital alive..........

Has anyone else noticed the increase in Ambulances & Parmedic vehicles hurtling around the town with Blues Lights flashing ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254760/Huge-rise-ambulance-journey-times-revealed.html

We certainly have. They pass our house 24 hours a day, sirens blaring regardless of traffic levels or time of day.......

Must be worth a reduction in council tax....... OR something.

steveL · December 31, 2012, 01: PM

Attending two meetings within Hartlepool is not quite the same as attempting to attend one in Hartlepool and one in London at the same time and I'm sure Fisher was pretty pis*ed that he couldn't be at the former. The committee nevertheless voted to oppose the further transfer of services from the Hospital to One <ife so Fisher wouldn't have been alone in his opposition even if he had managed to be there. It's worth mentioning that it was SAB's casting vote that made the difference - although the phrase 'closing the barn door after the horse has bolted' does immediately come to mind.

I've noticed before the tendency you have to pick on someone's absence and then exaggerating it's impact. You should focus more on the voting record of your own councillors and perhaps make reference to the trade descriptions act while you do so.

Fisher was effectively thrown out of the Labour Party for daring to shake the hand of a Tory during the hospital campaign. In the circumstances, I'm disappointed that you can't bring yourself to be more supportive.

SRMoore · December 31, 2012, 01: PM

Steve, I know exactly why Keith was thrown out of the Labour party and to suggest I have not shown him support is quite frankly offensive.

I busted a gut trying to make a difference with the Save Our Hospital campaign and wrote/spoke to numerous government officials and MPs to try and make headway. I put myself out on a limb because it was and is the right thing to do. I continue to try and make headway, rather than just being reactionary, despite the fact that I have seemingly been cut out of all communications from the SoH group since May.

So please don't tell me I have not supported Keith. I have and will continue to support the cause but I also reserve my right to offer criticism when I believe it is justified. Yes the move may have been blocked but my point still stands that even if he know he had a genuine reason not to attend he could have asked a like minded councillor to sit on his behalf to ensure the his vote was counted.