Nic Dakin: Government needs to take responsibility for NHS crisis, not blame others
If it’s not too far into 2017 to say it, Happy New Year to everyone! Everything seems back in full swing now with politics on both sides of the Atlantic continuing to read more interestingly than fiction! The thing I am most concerned about at the moment is the continued pressure on local health services.…
If it’s not too far into 2017 to say it, Happy New Year to everyone! Everything seems back in full swing now with politics on both sides of the Atlantic continuing to read more interestingly than fiction!
The thing I am most concerned about at the moment is the continued pressure on local health services.
With the British Red Cross saying there’s a ‘humanitarian crisis’ in UK hospitals it needs to be taken seriously.
It’s clear that we are not the only area struggling with pressure on our system.
In meetings with North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group it’s clear everyone is trying their very best to make a system under real pressure work. But with an ever ageing population and insufficient resources our national and local health systems are creaking.
As a local GP said to me there really just needs to be more money put into health if it is to do everything we want it to.
Only last week Scunthorpe General Hospital had to cancel a number of appointments as it ran out of beds to put people in who were turning up needing treatment.
Thankfully within a day – thanks to the incredible work of staff – they were able to get back to something resembling normal service.
Nationally A&E departments have turned patients away more than 140 times between December 1, 2016 and January 1, 2017. And one day last month 15 hospitals ran out of beds with elderly patients languishing on trolleys in corridors, sometimes for over 24 hours.
We will have all seen the picture of a child being treated on two plastic chairs pushed together in a corridor. The problems in the NHS need urgent action.
Rather than stepping up to the plate and taking action ministers have blamed patients for the troubles.
Then the Prime Minister blamed the NHS England boss Simon Stevens and now, astonishingly, she is blames family doctors.
Frankly, rather that pointing the finger at others, the Conservative government needs to take responsibility for this crisis.
After all they inherited an NHS with the patient highest satisfaction rates ever and it is their cuts to adult social care that has put the very real pressure onto hospital discharges that is a large part of the cause of the current crisis.
And it doesn’t make any sense to me for the government to be cutting community pharmacy budgets.
This is the part of the health service closest to patients that investment in is likely to be well rewarded.
One of the reasons people voted to leave the EU was because of the promise to give £350 million a week to the NHS. This does not seem to be forthcoming!
So I am pleased that Labour is calling on the government to bring forward the £700 million of social care funding planned for 2019-20 now and to pledge a new funding settlement for health and social care in the Budget in March.
It’s time to listen to the public and take action.
Nic Dakin is the Labour Member of Parliament for Scunthorpe
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
A 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of 46-year-old Darren Munnelly in Lincoln on Saturday night.
The victim was found fatally injured outside a flat on Carr Street in Lincoln at 12.18am on Sunday, July 26.
Darren Munnelly, 46, suffered a head injury and could not be saved by emergency services after being taken to hospital.
Declan Grant, 22, of St Mary’s Street, Lincoln, was arrested shortly after the incident and has now been charged with murder.
He has been remanded in custody and will appear at Lincoln Magistrates Court on Tuesday, July 27.
A host of floral tributes have been placed outside the flats where Darren was found, a man who was described as a “legend” of Lincoln.
Tributes for Darren on Carr Street in Lincoln. | Photo: The Lincolnite
DCI Richard Myszczyszyn, of EMSOU Major Crime, said: “Our work is ongoing to ensure we get justice for Mr Munnelly and our investigation does not end here.
“His life was ended in a devastating act of violence and the effect that has had on his loved ones will change the courses of their lives forever.
“We work hard to try and make sure we’re doing all we can to do right by his family and friends, and to do right by him.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the public for their help. A huge part of police work relies on the information and intelligence our communities give us and our Lincoln communities have really come through for us as we launched this investigation. It really is appreciated.”
There have been 379 new cases of coronavirus confirmed on Monday in Lincolnshire, as government ministers stopped short of ruling out COVID vaccine requirements for students attending university.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard on Monday reported 235 new cases in Lincolnshire, 88 in North East Lincolnshire and 56 in North Lincolnshire. The figure is 41% lower than last Monday’s 652 cases.
NHS figures have reported one further hospital death in Lincolnshire’s hospitals. Government figures, meanwhile, showed no further updates to their deaths data.
Number 10 has confirmed it is still looking at the scope for vaccination certifications, including the potential for compulsory vaccinations for students.
It could mean young people would need to be double-jabbed to attend lectures and stay in halls this coming academic year.
Lincolnshire’s coronavirus cases up to July 26.
A spokesman from the Prime Minister’s office, however, said more and more young people were coming forward to receive the vaccine.
“We would like to see everybody who is invited to come forward and receive the vaccination to do so. That’s the message we continue to try and give to young people.”
The plans, however, have been criticised by groups including Labour and the University and College Union.
Labour has also said it would oppose limiting access to Premier League games to double-jabbed fans.
University students could soon need to be double-jabbed.
The Prime Minister’s office said that despite the number of cases falling nationally, the country was “not out of the woods”.
The spokesman said people should “expect to see a rise in case numbers given the move to step four” of the roadmap.
There are a number of reasons put forward for the fall in case numbers, including a bounce caused by people gathering to watch the Euros, fewer people taking COVID tests and the hot temperatures.
Meanwhile, a survey of 5,000 by Public Health England revealed that more than 40% of adults in England could have gained weight during the pandemic, around half a stone.
Also, a YouGov survey has also revealed that mask wearing among younger people has decreased since Freedom Day.
The results found that 46% of 18-24-year-olds said they wore a face mask in public spaces in the week to July 19, compared to 57% on July 16 and 64% on June 2.
In general, 69% of people said they wore face masks in the last two weeks, down from 71% on July 16 and 73% on June 2.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, July 26
78,586 cases (up 379)
51,252 in Lincolnshire (up 235)
12,141 in North Lincolnshire (up 56)
15,193 in North East Lincolnshire (up 88)
2,206 deaths (no change)
1,628 from Lincolnshire (no change)
303 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
275 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,321 hospital deaths (up one)
820 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up one)
43 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
457 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)
5,722,298 UK cases, 129,172 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.
A man has been found guilty of murdering his stepdaughter after she made sexual abuse allegations against him, despite her body never being found after extensive searches, including in Lincolnshire.
Scott Walker was found guilty of killing 17-year-old Bernadette Walker after a six-week trial at Cambridge Crown Court, and Bernadette’s mother Sarah was found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice.
It is still not known where Bernadette, or Bea as she was known, was killed, but her last confirmed sighting was when Scott picked her up from his parents’ home in Werrington, Peterborough on Saturday, July 18, 2020.
She was at Scott’s parents after allegations she had made the previous day against him, in which she accused the man she called “dad” of sexual abuse, though he wasn’t her biological father.
Scott and his former partner Sarah, Bernadette’s mother, deceived friends, family and the police force by laying false trails to suggest that Bea was actually still alive and had run away from home.
The jury was told that Bea’s mother had not reported her missing to police until July 21, three days after her last confirmed sighting.
Scott claimed he stopped the car on their way back from his parents’ home to speak about the allegations made by Bernadette, but she got out the car and ran away down Skaters Way, leaving her rucksack behind.
Despite this claim, police discovered that Scott had not been to collect Bernadette from his parents house straight away the morning after the allegations.
He had instead gone to a lock-up garage owned by his parents in Walton, and it was not the only time he visited this location in the days after Bea was reported missing.
The lock-up garage in Walton was owned by Scott’s parents, but he regularly went there after Bernadette was reported missing. | Photo: Cambridgeshire Police
Scott’s mobile phone activated cell sites in the Dogsthorpe and Gunthorpe areas, both in the opposite direction, and at just before 11.30am it disconnected from the network and didn’t reconnect for an hour-and-a-half.
After reconnecting his phone, Scott’s first call was to Bea’s mother Sarah, whom he called for nine minutes.
In the 48 hours following this phone call, both Scott and Sarah made multiple trips to the lock-up in Walton, as well as in a rural area of Cowbit, Lincolnshire, in the night.
Bea’s social media accounts had their passwords changed and messages were sent to friends and family to make it look as though she’d run away from home.
Sarah Walker had previously admitted to perverting the course of justice by sending messages from Bea’s phone and providing false information to police, but claimed to not know that Bea was dead.
Now she has been found guilty of the same charge, only this time admitted the knowledge of Bernadette being dead with the intention to cover up sexual allegations against Scott.
The sexual abuse allegations were passed on to police by a social worker on July 22.
Then on September 10, Scott was arrested for the sexual abuse allegation and reports of coercively controlling Sarah, before a murder enquiry was launched the day after.
Bernadette’s rucksack was found inside the lock-up garage that Scott and Sarah regularly visited after Bea’s ‘disappearance’. | Photo: Cambridgeshire Police
Police investigated the lock-up and found Bea’s rucksack in it, which had a diary inside with harrowing extracts discussing her treatment after telling her parents about the abuse.
It read: “Told my mum and dad about the abuse. She called me a liar and threatened to kill me if I told the police. What kind of parent wouldn’t believe their daughter?”
An extract from Bernadette’s diary, where she talks about telling her parents about the abuse. | Photo: Cambridgeshire Police
Despite extensive searches across the country from specially trained officers, Bea’s whereabouts remain a mystery to this day.
Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit, said: “I am pleased we have been able to get justice for Bea after what has been such tragic circumstances.
“I just hope now we may get the answers we need to be able to find her and lay her to rest. If anyone has any information about this investigation which may help us find Bea, please get in touch.
“We may never know the truth about what Scott did and why, but we do know Bea had made allegations of abuse against him.
“My plea to anyone who may have been subjected to abuse is to speak to us. Bea thought she could confide in her own mother, who should have been able to protect her, but instead she met a tragic end.”
Both Scott and Sarah Walker will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on September 10.
Anyone with information that may help uncover Bernadette Walker’s whereabouts should be reported to Cambridgeshire Police either online or by calling 101.
Whatsapp
