Why worry about flu!
If it was 1918 instead of 2009 you would have every reason to worry because up to forty million people died of flu between March 1918 and June 1920. Then it was called Spanish Flu. Today it’s Swine flu the authorities are worried about because it so infectious it could spread like wild fire.
The flu virus is a master of disguise constantly changing its protein coat challenging the human immune system.
The 1918 epidemic mainly affected healthy young adults whereas in recent times it has affected the elderly. Most surgeries are now announcing dates for flu vaccine injections so check now with your local doctor if you are eligible.
Directly appointed Mayor for Bexley
In last month’s Chronicle we asked readers whether they would like to elect a Mayor to run the Council rather than a Leader. In Doncaster the residents elected Peter Davies executive Mayor for the city. He’s slashed public spending (including his own salary), axed pointless council non-jobs and banned the word ‘diversity’. He has written to the Electoral Commission asking them to scrap two thirds of Doncaster’s council seats in order to save the town £800,000 - he wants to boost trade in the town and has ordered more parking spaces for cars. He thinks his Chief Executives salary of £175,000 is a joke and any successor can expect only half this amount. He has scrapped funding for Doncaster’s annual Gay Pride event.”Why should council tax payers pay to celebrate anyone’s sexuality. Every department in the council has been told to save 10/15% and the aim is to cut council tax by at least 3% this year.
Davies has invited independent accountants to look over the books. Bexley council was invited to ‘consult’ with its residents to see if they wanted someone like Davies to run Bexley. He would still have to select councillors from the ruling party in to his cabinet, but Bexley prefer the Leader system denying the public a choice which the Chronicle feels was undemocratic. Their response to our campaign was as follows;
“This is the response to your recent enquiries about the Council’s ongoing consultation on executive governance arrangements.
In relation to the method of consultation, the Council gave careful consideration to the approach to ensure that an efficient and effective process was followed that achieved value for money. Consideration was given to a wide-ranging consultation but, given the additional cost implications and that there has been no appetite from the public for a significant change to our current arrangements, it was agreed that the consultation would take the form of an advert in the local press and an online survey.
You have expressed a wish to pass on comments that you have received as a result of the article that you have published. We would not be able to accept these comments as responses to our consultation. We are committed to consulting via the methods outlined above and the article that you have published soliciting views contains false information. The information suggests one option is a”directly elected independent Mayor and Cabinet”. This is not a legitimate option or one that could legally be taken forward as the Mayor could come from a political party and could not be restricted to independent candidates. It is for these reasons that the only responses that will be considered are those that have been submitted via the Council’s agreed procedure.”
Very few people read or responded to the councils tiny advertisement in the Public Notices section of the News Shopper.
Just think though we could have had a Mayor of our own running Bexley and he or she could have been just like straight talking Peter Davies in Doncaster.
Close encounter in Room 12 ‘O’ Clock!
There is a room in Ruxley ward at Queen Mary’s hospital in Sidcup where the clock stands still. It always shows a few minutes to twelve and it’s where you sit and await your turn to go down to the operating theatre.
My wife recently fell and fractured her lower wrist and the ‘consultants’, there are no longer doctors, in Yeovil hospital, Somerset wrongly told her that her arm would knit together, put her out and tugged her arm straight holding it in place with a heavy plaster cast. When she visited the ‘consultants’ in Queen Mary’s they told her it really needed a plate, hence our arrival in the 12 ‘o’ clock room at 7 am only to wait there until 3 pm when she was called to the operating theatre finally ending up in a ward bed at 5 pm.
It is in Room 12 ‘0’ clock you discover why visitors are called patients, ( it’s an adjective showing patience, a person receiving medical treatment). One young lady from Bexleyheath called Susanne has a fear of needles and was told she would be put out and given an injection into her tennis elbow to relieve the pain. After waiting an endless eight hours she was taken away and put out with ...a needle injection!!
It was not all gloom and doom in the 12 ‘o’clock room. An elderly lady had been admitted for urgent treatment for her thirtieth operation. Her husband started a firm called Bejam some years ago (now Iceland) but aged 38 he had a massive heart attack and had to retire. She kept us all in fits with her stories and everyone in the room shared their woes.
Walking back from Newlands ward where I expected my wife to be released a nurse of ten years experience at Queen Mary’s told me A & E and maternity were definitely going and that more emphasis would be put on bones where I must say the ‘consultants’ do seem to have this part of our anatomy well covered.
At one stage I ventured to the restaurant on the ground floor of the hospital and paid £3-50p for the worst toad-in-the-hole I have ever tasted. The food in Yeovil hospital was just as bad.
Looking in from the outside as it were apart from all the waiting about I did find the staff on Ruxley ward efficient and helpful. If you are delivering a patient to Queen Mary’s and have to be there all day do ask the main reception desk for a pass to put in your car. Provided you have paid for an hour they will not charge again which might save you a good few pounds.