downsmail.co.uk DEEP local concerns growabout the
Risks frommental hospital MailMarks
serious problems of and potential public dangers fromthe new65-bed Cygnet Hospital formentally-ill adults at Kent Medical Campus off Bearsted Road, Weavering. The time could be approaching for
major political intervention relating to admission of known highly-dangerous patients. Criminal psychiatric patients are
among those accepted by the hospital. One of fourwards is a 15-bedmale service providing psychiatric intensive care. It accepts emergency and crisis admissions,with referrals coming from all areas, including fromacute and prison
services.Many patientswill be detained under theMentalHealthAct. Localworries started growing as
residentswatched the style of hospital being built, especially as two new schoolswere planned as very close next- door neighbours – one a local primary and the other for special needs children. Urgent buildingwork on these is now underway. Fears really escalatedwhen theDowns
Mail revealed that inApril, local police were called to the hospitalmore than 20 times to patient-on-patient and patient- on-staff
assaults.Moreworrying still was that fact that one patient escaped fromthe hospital. TheNHS budget-holdingWest Kent
Clinical Commissioning Group became involved and a CareQuality Commission inspector visited and issued a report saying safety “requires
Proroguing appalling
IN COMMONwithmany other people, I amappalled that the Government has decided to suspend Parliament. With the Brexit deadline imminent, it
meansMPswill not have time to pass laws to stop the disaster of a no-deal Brexit or scrutinise the Government at one of themost critical times in our country’s history. The PrimeMinister’s actions are
outrageous, and clearly undermine the very idea of democracy. With just a fewweeks before Brexit,we
need politicians in Parliament, doing their jobs tomake surewe leave the European Union in the best possibleway for the sake of future generations. Boris Johnsonmust be stopped from suspending Parliament to ramthrough an undemocratic Brexit,whichwill do nothing to provide closure and bring the country back together. This is the time forMPs to display bold
and decisive leadership and stand up to the unconstitutionalmanoeuvrings of our capricious government. Bill Stoneham,Maidstone
46 Maidstone East October 2019
DENNISFOWLE President
dennisfowle28@gmail.com
improvement”while rating the hospital overall as “good”. TheDownsMail has been responding
to localworries, but our enquiries to the hospitalmanagement have been very disappointing,with a refusal to reply to Freedomof Information requests and to allowa journalist to visit the hospital to discuss the problems and inspect current safetymeasures. Nowwe learn of human noises from
the hospitalwhich can be heard from outside and are certain soon to concern nearby schoolchildren, parents and teachers. Cygnet says the hospital’s services
have been requested and agreed by local and regionalNHS bodies tomeet urgent demands for specialistmental health services in Kent. It says an aimis to ensure local people can be treated close to home and as near as possible to family and friends. Therewill be public sympathy for
Cygnet’s aims – but not if lack of watertight securitymeans patients are endangering the local community or causingworrying nuisances. I note BroadmoorHospitalwebsite
says it is a high-security psychiatric hospital and lists Rampton and
Still reason in Tory party
AT LEAST one of the points raised againstme in his le�er byMikeWardle (“Complaints don’t stack up” –August 2019) has nowhappily been overtaken by eventswith the election of Jo Swinson as the newLiberal Democrat leader. It remains true that nowoman has yet
led Labour, but the party has donemore than the others to encouragewomen to pursue political careers and, proving the right candidate emerges, a newShirley Williams, say, or a Barbara Castle, it can only be ama�er of time before awomen takes full control. Boris Johnson, ifmemory serves,
seemed poised for victory three years ago untilMichael Gove’s timely, if Machiavellian intervention,which in the end did himno good at all. Combined with some ill-chosenwords to The Times byAndrea Leadsom, this leftMrsMay as the last candidate standing. Curiously, at July’s good-humoured
anti-Brexit rally in London, the first two banners I sawleaving Green Park tube station read: “Tories against Brexit”, a point Imentioned a li�le later to aman
Lovely Leeds IT IS a fewyears sincewemade a
family visit to Leeds Castle and on a gorgeous summer’s day I found out whatwe had beenmissing. I have always gone alongwith the
claimwe have themost beautiful castle in theworld – and nowit is even be�er. The improved floral gardens are
magnificent and everything seems so well cared for. The activities offer seems stronger than ever. Howluckywe are to have bothMote Park and Leeds Castle.
Brexit footnote IAM amazed by hypocritical
remainerswho accuse the Prime Minister of being undemocratic. Their intention still is to overturn the
nation’s democratic decision to leave the EU, then approvedmore than once by Parliament. Do they knowwhat theword
“democracy”means? It looks as though the PrimeMinisterwill ensure they do.
who had come all theway from Shropshire for the day. He replied that he, too,was a Tory, that
therewere still plenty in the party of this persuasion, that hewould have rather voted for Stewart not Hunt, a reminder that there is still thoughtful, pragmatic thinking in the Conservatives. With no newdeal or extension of
membership likely, there needs to be a vote of no confidence in the government and a general election. Former US Trade Secretary Larry Summers said Brexitwas “theworst self-inflicted policywound that a country has done since the Second WorldWar.” K G Banks,Maidstone
Put tip somewhere else
I HAD always regarded theAllington area ofMaidstone as the “be�er” end of the county town. It is a calmresidential environment
inhabitedmainly by persons of senior rank, who wish to live their lives in peace and quiet. But, no, perhaps I was wrong inmy assessment, for this is the place where
Ashworth as the other two. Should Cygnet join that high-security list? Of necessity, patients cannot be treated
in an open environment,whichmeans the buildingmust be a balance between a hospital and a prison. Failure to provide highest security has to be a natural concern for this very residential area ofMaidstone, soon to be too an educational centre for young children.
Comment
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