Hospital complaints rise Teachers’ fears
THE number of hospital com- plaints to Maidstone and Tun- bridge Wells NHS Trust has increased since the new hospi- tal opened at Pembury. The board heard management
was focusing on the backlog and quality of responses. Chairman Tony Jones told the board itwas a long-standing issue requiring resolution. Chief executive Glenn Dou-
glas told the board meeting that the hospitalmove represented a huge effort by staff with training and orientation for all. He felt,
in hindsight, the trust could have done more. The new Pembury A&E was
much bigger than at the old Kent & Sussex Hospital. The first month went well, but is- sues arose as attendances in- creased. He felt the trust was late recognising the signs and should have acted earlier. It was these issues that led to an offi- cial warning by the Care Qual- ity Commission. Mr Douglas also reported
there was no pressure from management to take patients off
STAFF at the Downs Mail, previous colleagues and friends and family members, rallied round to raise an amazing £1,400 in the Race for Life. With just aweek to go before the 5k event at Mote
Park, Maidstone, the warm-hearted ladies launched a fundraising appeal to show their support for close friend DebbieNeave,whois currently battling cancer. Cash soon rolled in forCancerResearchUKand the
team, known as the “Darling Buds of May-dstone”, quickly passed their target of £350. The ladies, who said they alsowanted to showsup-
port for the many other people they know who had been affected by cancer, thanked Heart presenter Claire Lawson, for mentioning their cause on air. The team, consisting of Helene Poursain, Janet
Kemp, Jess Hayes-Watkins, Natasha Bastone, Cathy McClymont, FionaMarriner, Tanith Brown and Moira Mitchell, pictured with Claire Lawson, lined up with thousands of other runnersandwalkers, afterawarm- up session led by Jane Salida of Heavenly Fitness.
The “Darling Buds” all completed the course at
walking speed, except for Fiona,whoran it in27min- utes.
Madginford resident Debbie, who is finance direc-
tor ofDowns Mail said: “Thegirls didbrilliantly raising somuch money for CancerResearch UK. It’swonder- ful to have such great support. It really helps to know I have such a great team.”
waiting lists for operations. The trust’s primary interest was the safety andwellbeing of patients. The trust was paid for work it
did and had no incentive to take patients off lists. The primary care trusts did
have to allocate finite resources and patients were removed from lists where there was no clinical necessity for opera- tions. Comments are welcome on the MASH (Maidstone Action for Services in Hospital) website at
www.mashmaidstone.co.uk
Friends make strides to support Debbie
for curriculum TEACHERS from Cornwallis Academy fear some subjectswill disappear from the curriculum as new ones are introduced. Design technology and reli-
gious studies are under threat, according to student magazine The Vibe, as ICT and modern languages are seen as increas- ingly important. Head of RE at Cornwallis,
Paul Sheehan, said: “Learning to be accepting of people’s di- versity is really important.” The magazine also said the importance of gaining ICT qual- ificationswas growing, pushing out design technology (DT). Cornwallis DT teacher Miss
Wood said the subject “gives students the chance to put cre- ative thoughts into a 3D object and it allows them to think out- side the box.”
Jubilee concert MOTE Hall was alive with Union Jacks when Maidstone ChoralUnion and their Concert Orchestra celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. The audience joined the choir
in popular favourites such as Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Britannia and Jerusalem. The choir sang Coronation
Odes such as Handel’s Zadok the Priest and the orchestra played music from coronations past and present.
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