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News GPs look at health challenges By Dennis Fowle


THE health challenges facing the area have been highlighted by NHSWest Kent Clinical Commis- sioning Group (CCG) in its latest reports. The group, mostly GPs, who con-


trol most of the local NHS budget, has pinpointed:  Increasing needs of an ageing population.  Lack of integrated information systems.  Lack of integrated health and so- cial care teams in the community to


Honour for head of air


ambulance KENT Air Ambulance medical director Dr Malcom Russell has received an MBE from the Queen. The father of two went to


Windsor Castle to receive his award for services to emergency medicine, after being named in the New Year’s Hon- ours List. Dr Russell


served in the Army for 15 years and has been involved in pre- hospital emergency medicine since 1996. He joined the air ambulance,


which has a base in Marden, as clinical lead in 2007 andwas last year appointed as the life-saving charity’s medical director, re- sponsible for assuring the qual- ity of care provided. In 2011, he was part of a UK international search and rescue team who helped victims of the New Zealand earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.


Singing mums’ success


A CHOIR of singing mums from Sutton Valence and Sutton Valence Prep School has won a place in the regional heat of the National Choir of the Year competition. The mums inMummaMia, trained and conducted by choirmaster Sarah Geering, performed Coldplay’s “Fix You” and Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me” in front of judges in Croydon, Surrey. The mums won choir of the day in the adult category, putting them


through for national selection and a possible place in the category finals in October. West End vocal coach and presenter Stuart Barr highlighted how much


money the choir had raised, with the support of the school, for Breast Can- cer Care, while judge Manvinder Rattan said he really enjoyed the choir’s performance and describedMummaMia as: “a community choir singing at its best”.


Solar farm scheme proposed


SOLAR panels may be installed at a farm in Forge Lane, East Far- leigh.


Novus Solar has applied to pro-


vide energy for Court Lodge Farm and businesses within the complex through installing solar panels


with an output of 50kw. The panels would be a maxi-


mum of 3m tall and mounted on fixed frames on land laid to grass east of the farm buildings. Maidstone Council will deter- mine the planning application.


Carnival to celebrate the arts


THERE will be a carnival atmos- phere in Maidstone this summer when the town stages a parade of arts and culture. The town centre will be burst-


ing with colour, music and fun on Saturday, July 5, as more than 40 arts and voluntary organisations parade from County Hall to Ju- bilee Square, viaWeek Street and FremlinWalk. This will be followed by a showcase of Maidstone talent. The event, which is being or-


ganised and partly funded by the Maidstone Town Team and the Maidstone Area Arts Partnership, is the first to receive a grant from the Make Maidstone Smile fund – a borough council scheme to en- courage art and cultural develop- ment. Ken Scott, chair of Maidstone


Town Team’s events group, said: “Maidstone has such a wealth of art and culture. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and showcase the town’s talent.”


Every parade needs good cos-


tumes and 16 textile artists have been trained to help groups de- sign and create theirs. From the fun to the flamboyant, support for costume design and creation will be given at one of five workshops happening be- tween now and July. Schools, arts and voluntary or- ganisations that want to be in- volved can call project manager Richard Gretton on 07802 425022 or email grettonr@gmail.com.


The money gap


THE CCG says if changes are not made in the West Kent health services there will be a widening gap between income (currently about £482m) and a projected spend growing by 2018/19 to £545m.


support vulnerable patients in their usual place of residence.  Inability to move patients on to rehabilitation pathways.  Insufficient capacity outside of


acute hospitals, meaning patients stay in acute beds longer than nec- essary.  Insufficient elderly mental infirm placement beds.  Delivering 18-week referral to treatment commitment.  Delivering timely reports of di- agnostic investigations, though tests are achieved in target time.  Higher than desired number of patients admitted to acute hospi- tals for end-of-life care.  Gaps in expected levels of de- tected disease leading to health in- equalities.


 Opportunity for patients with long-term conditions to be more in- volved in their own condition man- agement and receive more care outside of hospitals.  Timely provision of equipment to keep patients at home.  Delivery of desired ambulance response times.  Recruitment to specific specialist roles.  Timely access to children and adolescent mental health services.  Timely availability to improving access to psychological therapies services.


Tax bills for parishioners


TAXPAYERS in Boughton Malherbe pay less council tax than in any other parished area in Maidstone. The 2014/15 precept for the parish,


which has one of the lowest popula- tions in the borough, is £5,067.76 – an annual charge of £23.56 per band Dproperty. At the other end of the spectrum


is Leeds, where band D residents will pay £84.09 over the year. Other parishes are: Broomfield


and Kingswood £80.10; Teston £67.41;West Farleigh £65.35; Head- corn £64.92; Tovil £57.90; Hunton £57.10; Detling £56.56; Yalding £56.48; Loose £55.02; Staplehurst £54.93; Marden £52.74; Bredhurst £51.83; Harrietsham £51.65; Chart Sutton £50.80; Ulcombe £47.50; East Farleigh £47.45; Sutton Valence £47.45; Nettlestead £45.36; Linton £44.10; East Sutton £43.86; Coxheath £41.08; Lenham £40.89; Boughton Monchelsea £40.74; Otham £39.88; Stockbury £39.50; Collier Street £37.82; Hollingbourne £36.15; Lang- ley £35.08; Barming £32.94; Thurn- ham £30.08; Downswood £30.04; Bearsted £27.12 and Boxley £24.34.


Quality mark


for hospital MAIDSTONE Hospital’s en- doscopy unit has earned national accreditation. The JAG (Joint Advisory Group


on Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) quality mark recognises high stan- dards of patient care, safety and professionalism. Maidstone Hospital redeveloped


the unit after the Mid-Kent treat- ment centre closed two years ago. It is now a major referral centre, of- fering procedures such as camera checks of the lungs, diagnostic and palliative procedures for those with pancreatic cancer. The hospital’s consultant gas- troenterologist Dr Bijay Baburajan said: “Only 10% of units pass their JAG accreditation visits first time.”


Maidstone South April 2014 23


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