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Ambulance chief quits over intentional delays
THE head of the South East’s ambulance service has quit following reve- lations that serviceswere intentionally delayed.
Chairman Tony Thorne’s resig-
Lucy’s still fund-raising at 100
YOU’RE never too old to help a good cause, as centenarian Lucy Brown has shown. Lucy, who started her life in
Chart Sutton but now lives in Maidstone, decided she had everything she needed at the age of 100 – so asked for donations to charity instead of birthday gifts. Friends and family held a birthday party for Lucy, at which they put donations in a box, raising £210 for the local Macmillan volunteering service. Lucy said: “I toldmy family I
didn’t want presents – there’s nothing I wanted, not at this age – but that I would like to give a donation to Macmillan. “We had a donation box atmy
party and donations were made atmy local coffee morning.” Lucy had two son-in-laws who
found themselves facing cancer and when her husband died, she made a donation to Macmillan, instead of buying flowers. Lucy’s granddaughter Cheryl McDowall found out about the Macmillan volunteering service through a friend at Heart of Kent Hospice. Cheryl said: “I spoke to
Grandma who said it would be nicer if we kept the Macmillan donation local so we went to Involve atMarsham Street to present the cheque.” Lucy lived in Chart Sutton and
later Sutton Valence before moving to Maidstone in 1985. She has had two children, three grandchildren, seven great- grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. She still lives in her own home,
where the birthday party was held. She said: “It was lovely having
all the family together and all the neighbours too. You could barely move.”
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32 Maidstone Town April 2016
nation comes shortly after the chief executive Paul Sutton went on “mutually agreed” leave of absence from his post. The South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) NHS Founda- tion Trust was investigated after it admitted delaying sending help for certain 111 calls during a pilot proj- ect, transferring them instead to 999, which gave the ambulances an extra 10 minutes to respond. The health regulator Monitor
said the trust had not fully consid- ered patient safety.
Mr Sutton said the trust had
wanted to make sure the most ill patients were responded to promptly. However, he did acknowledge
that it had not acted in the right way.
Under NHS rules, calls desig-
nated as life-threatening are sup- posed to receive an ambulance response within eight minutes. The calls affectedwere in the sec-
ond most serious category – Cate- gory A Red 2 – which covers conditions such as strokes or fits but which are less critical than
where people are non-responsive. One national newspaper has claimed the practice was responsi- ble for at least 11 deaths – some- thing refuted by SECAmb. An independent review has said
there were fundamental failings in the pilot scheme. Katherine Murphy, chief execu-
tive of the Patient Association, said: “Any decision that downgrades ur- gent category ambulance calls in order to massage performance tar- gets is deplorable and undermines the confidence that the public places in NHS leaders.”
Sexual abuse Roz Yates, Bill Murray, Claire Ryan and oncologist Dr Russell Burcombe
Clinic tribute to cancer patient A NEW clinic providing acupuncture for people with breast cancer
has been officially opened at Kent Oncology Centre. The Susan Murray Ear Acupuncture Clinic has been set up with support from the Murray family from Headcorn. Susan Murray, a former patient at the Kent Oncology Centre, at Maidstone Hospital, died in June 2015, and her husband Bill and children were keen to do something positive in her memory. With the help of Macmillan nurse clinician Claire Ryan and acute oncology nurse Roz Yates, the clinic was set up, primarily for peo- ple living with secondary breast cancer.
The complementary therapy aims to promote relaxation, encour- age a sense of well-being and assist in the management of menopausal symptoms – a common and debilitating symptom of breast cancer treatment. The clinic was opened by Mr Murray and saw its first patients in March.
team’s success A TEAM set up to tackle the sexual exploitation of children in Kent made 19 arrests in three months. The multi-agency team, funded by the Kent Police and Crime Com- missioner, Ann Barnes, brings to- gether the police, Kent County Council, Medway Council and health services to target offenders and help young people at risk. Since forming in December 2015, they have had over 300 calls and 19 offenders have been arrested. Mrs Barnes pledged to give £600,000 during three years to help the force focus on this priority. She urged people to familiarise themselves with the signs to look out for in young people – such as unexplained gifts or cash, drug or alcohol use, missing school and running away.
Anyone concerned that a child might be being sexually exploited can call Kent Police on 101, quoting Operation Willow or text 116000.
County show line-up revealed
STUNT motorcycles, award-win- ning bands and racing pigs are among the acts at the Kent County Showground this summer. As tickets go on sale for the annual three-day extravaganza at Detling, organisers of the County Show have revealed the full line-up for the weekend of July 8, 9 and 10. Show organisers are introducing more displays and entertainment for younger visitors and Joseph’s Amaz- ing Racing Pigs are sure to prove fun for all the family. Six rare breed pigs will be throwing themselves over hurdles in a bid to be first to get their nose in the trough.
Peppa Pig will also be at the show with her brother George and Trac- tor Ted have his own area where younsters can enjoy a bouncy castle, operate Digger Den and take part in welly wanging.
The Country, Game and Canine area of the show will also be bigger this year.
The Coakham Bloodhounds will
give a display on the Friday and there will be a parade of beagles on the Saturday. There will also be gun- dog, falconry and ferret displays. Chef Dan Kennedy of Kent Cook- ery School will give game butchery and cookery demonstrations daily
while the Kent Spitfire will fly over- head.
The Royal British Legion Band & Corps of Drums, Romford, will be entertaining in the main ring on Sat- urday and Sunday while the Bold- dog FMX Stunt Team will see riders jumping gaps of over 75ft. Show manager Lucy Hegarty said: “Many of the demonstrations and displays have been part of the event for a number of years. The sheep show, sheepdog and duck show, birds of prey and ferret racing are in- credibly popular and we are de- lighted to have them back again for 2016.”
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