News Join sunset
river cruise A RIVER cruise will take place on board the Kentish Lady along the River Medway in aid of the Kent MS therapy centre on June 24. The six-mile trip will be taking
place at sunset, from 5:30pm- 8:30pm and will include a finger buffet and a charity raffle. Early bird tickets are available online until April 27 for £20, but will go up to £25 after that date. To book, go to the website
www.tinyurl.com/KentishLadyMS or formore information email head of fundraising Moira Mitchell at
mmitchell@kentmstc.org. Disabled access is possible but
also limited, contact the centre on 01227 470876.
Quiz night AQUIZ eveningwill be held in the Brassey Centre, Station Road, Aylesford at 7.30pm on Saturday April 21. The cost will be £5 per person
but guests should bring their own drinks and snacks. Tables of six or individual tickets can be booked with Anita Keays on 01622 719589 or the church office on 01622 719366.
downsmail.co.uk
U-turn over proposed ‘cuts’ to 74bus services
NEWS that a number of bus serv- ices have been “saved” has been played down by one of the compa- nies responsible for operating themin and aroundMaidstone. Kent County Council had an-
nounced inNovember that 74 serv- ices around the county could be axed as part of a cost-cutting pro- gramme. Since then,CllrMikeWhiting has
replaced Cllr Matthew Balfour as KCC’s lead for transport, and theU- turn on the planswas announced in March. But Norman Kemp, of Nu-Ven-
ture, insists there was never as much doomand gloomaswas orig- inallymade out. He said: “To an extent, we are
spectators in all of this. But the council only funds 3% of the bus services around the county. “Some of the services that were
listed as being at risk were there only down to the fact thatKCCpro- vides, maybe, one or two of the buses on that route. “To a large extent,we keep out of
the politics, but we, of course, sup- port themin their consultation and I would hope that they will have a chat with us and the other bus op- erators during it.” Among the services listed as
being at risk was the 150, which runs between Maidstone and Walderslade, serving Blue Bell Hill village and other surrounding areas. As an area served by Maidstone Borough Council but geographi-
cally closer to the Medway Towns, bus services in that area are vital. Cllr Wendy Hinder, who repre-
sents Boxley ward and sits on Box- ley Parish Council, welcomed the news that the servicewas safe. She said: “It’s a relief to hear that
our bus service is not going to be af- fected. “It’s a crucial service, especially
for people who need to get into Maidstone – childrenwho head into the town to go to the grammar schools certainly rely on it.” Antony Hook, Liberal Democrat
spokesman for economic develop- ment at KCC, said: "We welcome this U-turn…these are buses that people need to access education, work, health services and shops. “Cutting themwould have been a
real blowtomanyKent families, in- cluding the elderly, disabled and many poorer people who do not have access to cars. “Small businesses would have
suffered too, as customers relying on these services would no longer have been able to reach them.”
downsmail.co.uk
Health | News Local GPs ‘to retain power’
FURTHER planned changes in strategic control of the localNHS has raised concerns regarding pa- tient services in theGP-led budget-holdingNHSWestKentClinicalCommissioningGroup (CCG).
These local commissioning
groups took over nationwide al- most five years ago, in April 2013, fromprimary care trusts and eight now serve Kent (West Kent, Dart- ford, Gravesham& Swanley,Med- way, Swale, Canterbury&Coastal, Ashford, Thanet and South Kent Coast). The appointed commissioners
are allGPs practising in their areas, supported by teams of officers. In west Kent, there have been 12
GP commissioners on the group’s governing body, but these have re- cently been reduced to seven to match the number of newGP clus- ters now formed in this area. Those elected are: Dr Garry Singh (Maidstone Central), Dr Tony Jones (Malling), Dr Andrew Rox- burgh (Sevenoaks), Dr Nick Cheales (Tonbridge), Dr Bob Bowes (Tunbridge Wells), Dr An- drewCameron (Weald),Dr Stefano Santini (Maidstone Wide). Dr David Chesover will hold his seat ex-officio and continue as clinical lead formental health. Now, a newrole of area strategic
commissioner forKent andMedway isbeingestablishedwiththe full sup- port ofNHSWestKentCCG. It will start working in shadow
form from April 1, for 12 months, during which time decisions will be taken about what will be commis- sioned locally bywestKent commis- sioners and what will be done at scale across the county. Dr Bob Bowes, chairman of NHS
West Kent CCG since its inception, has assured the group that it will
retain “its statutory accountability and the proposed arrangementwas only for a transitional phase”. He reiterated the importance of
Kent and Medway groups work- ing together. He also gave assurances that pa-
tient and local care would not be compromised and remained a key focus forWest Kent CCG. Maidstone area GPDr Singh has
expressed concerns that local key voices could potentially be un- heard beyond April, 2019. The current proposals have
not yet addressed this issue and Dr Bowes explained it was pos- sible for the CCG to influence this process.
the group that it would still be re- sponsible for “total control”.
An assurance has been given to A lile more
The emergence of an area strate- gic commissioner comes at the same time as all clinical commis- sioning groups in Kent are work- ing closely on a sustainability and transformation plan for the future of health and social care in the county. A key thrust is more care in or
closer to home with less depend- ence on hospitals.
The CCG is encouraging local GPs to make robust use of an in- vigorated “quality inbox” to raise any concerns.
150 foreign GPs destined for Kent
THE serious shortage of local NHS staff, including GPs, is in- creasingly evident in reports to the GP-led West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). Kent has been approved to re-
cruit 150 international GPs for the area. Interviews have started and west Kent will receive an agreed percentage. A bid has also been made to set
up a medical school and the group has been informed this “would have a significant im- pact” for the new GP clusters with regards student placements. Some see west Kent as having a
geographical advantage for re- cruitment because of its proxim- ity to Europe and London
26 Malling April 2018
(“currently saturated”). The GP shortage is causing
concerns about the impact on the existing workforce trying to cover the shortfalls and the pro- posed local care plan requiring seven-day working by practices. There have been previous re-
ports about the extent of vacan- cies in local hospitals and in the ambulance service. Shortages are increasingly evi-
dent elsewhere, including in mental health. Kent and Medway Partnership Trust in-patient units have a vacancy rate of 35%. Both Maidstone Community Mental Health and West Kent Crisis Res- olution Home Treatment Service have a rate of 17%. Many patients
complain of lack of a care plan and do not know what their treat- ment and options are.
New staff can add to problems while they are in training. This is a major reason for an increase in serious incidents (including pa- tient trips and falls) within the hospital trust, where the quar- terly figures have jumped from 27 in Q1 of 2016-17 to 54 in Q3 of 2017-18.
The local ambulance service (SECAmb), still in special meas- ures, is not helped by a report which says only 32% of staff rec- ommend it as a place to work and only 75% recommend care pro- vided by the trust.
cash to spend GOVERNMENT funds for CCGs (including West Kent) are to in- crease by £1.4bn in 2018/19 aimed at “realistic levels of emergency ac- tivity”; additional elective activity to tackle waiting lists; adherence to mental health standards; transfor- mation commitments for cancer services and primary care. West Kent expects to have almost
£8m extra to deploy on top of the current year’s budget of £627.14m.
Need to improve
ALBION Place Medical Practice, Maidstone, remains in special measures and the CCG works closely with it to improve.
Cancer care trend
AN improvement of 7.22% to al- most 81% of patients starting can- cer treatment within 62 days of urgent GP referral has been achieved by increasing capacity – a trend expected to be sustained.
Care home liaison
ALMOST 50 of 71 care homes in west Kent are now covered by a new strategy of liaison and care by local GP practices. The CCG expresses concern for
seven homes where nearby prac- tices are unwilling to sign up at this stage and suggests “positive expe- rience by other practices may help in this process of persuasion”.
Malling April 2018 27
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