PPlog

The following is the transcript of the talk I gave to the Socialist Workers Association last Thursday. I’ll preface this talk by a quote which is around 160 years old - demonstrating that the opinion is both long standing and has some eminence: a bloke called Charlie Dickens, then a young reporter covering an election in Chelmsford got right to the root of all problems - he wrote home to his girlfriend Catherine: (The Tories are) “A ruthless set of bloody minded villains...perfect savages...superlative blackguards.” (with thanks to Claire Tomalin). I am a member of DPAC Norfolk - a recently formed member group of the Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People - specially formed to campaign against the cuts in Norfolk. DPAC (TRANSLATE) is a midlands based national organisation that has grown to include 21 local groups around the country - from Southampton to the north east of England. A move towards a concerted voice for disabled people. I won’t be throwing numbers or statistics at yo...

Letters: People's Assembly Against Austerity | Business | The Guardian : 'via Blog this'

Under the aegis of 38 Degrees we now have a local user group to locally prompt the text of the 38 degrees petition ( http://action.38degrees.org.uk/ccg_found_o?postcode=NR14+6AJ&submit=Find+your+local+petition ): “Our NHS is precious, and we're relying on you to protect it. Please do all you can to stop local health services being broken up or taken over by irresponsible private companies. Protect local NHS services and consult patients properly before making changes Spend money wisely and don’t do deals with irresponsible private companies Adopt policies and a constitution which reflect these values” The petition, which only covers South Norfolk, has 985 signatures to date. If you live here, please add to it. Importantly, on Wednesday 30th January we delivered the petition to South Norfolk and afterwards met with the Chief Executive, Ann Donkin and a GP representative, Dr Jonathan Bryson. To me, and I think most of us (about 20 people), the meeting was positive...

From Andrew Roberts Secretary Survivors History Group http://studymore.org.uk/ studymore@studymore.org.uk telephone: 020 8 986 5251 home address: 177 Glenarm Road, London, E5 ONB The dates of the Survivors History Group meetings in London the rest of this year have now been fixed as Wednesday 10.4.2013 Survivors History Group 1pm Together Wednesday 29.5.2013 Survivors History Group 1pm Together Wednesday 31.7.2013 Survivors History Group 1pm Together Wednesday 25.9.2013 Survivors History Group 1pm Together Wednesday 27.11.2013 Survivors History Group 1pm Together Everyone is welcome at the meetings. Refreshments are provided. We are usually there from 1pm to 5pm and it is fine to come for just part of the meeting if you wish. We will be pleased to see you. If you forget the date of a meeting, just google Survivors History Group and, on our website, you will find a link that says "Click for next London meeting - Everyone welcome" The Together Office is ...

Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Trust. Yes indeed, this is a two county trust - each one a huge county in its own right. Before Christmas the trust announced it intends to cut 502 of its 2,128 posts “in order to balance its books” (Eastern Daily Press 24/01/13). Of these posts, quite a few are ‘senior clinicians.’Hospital beds (psychiatric) have already been drastically cut and, for several months now the loss of beds has meant quite a few people admitted against their will under the Mental Health Act (’sectioned’) have had to have been sent to other hospitals outside the counties. This had long been criticised as bad practice by the now defunct Mental Health Commission (MHC) but the Care Quality Commission which took over the MHC’s responsibilities seems not to have the heart to hurt the feelings of today’s mental health trusts. But who fancies being pounced on, needled in the bum and dragged into hospital - another grouch of mi...

In recent months I’ve had four letters from Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk. One about the mental health strategy implementation; one about the proposals for a lobbyist register enclosing the Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, Chloe Smith’s response. Both of these use language carefully contrived to say nothing; and two about the Independent Living Fund. The first letter below (in blue) is the fourth of recent responses from my constituency MP for South Norfolk, Richard Bacon (www.richardbacon.org.uk) Dear Mr Cox House of Commons London SW1A 0AA 18 December 2012 I realise that you are concerned about the measures announced by the Government to close down the lndependent Living Fund. I want to assure you that the government is committed to the concept of independent living, and ensuring that disabled people have maximum choice and control over the services they depend on. However, having reviewed the role of the lndependent Living Fund and consulted infor...

The following is the copy of my e mail to the NCODP Independent Living Group who are currently investigating instances of Adult Social Care failure: My main concern is that Norfolk 'social workers' are not working as social workers and this is not because of inadequate training - social work training is thorough and rigourous. Let me explain further: there are standards that social workers have to work to. These are set out now in the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) developed by the Social Work Reform Board and which replaces the National Occupational Standards issued by ToPPs in 2004. This is just one section of the PCF:                       Intervention & Skills - Social Worker Social workers engage with individuals, families, groups and communities, working alongside people to assess and intervene. They enable effective relationships and are effective communicators, using appropriate skills. U...