Karen Lee: Underfunding and understaffing of our NHS is a national disgrace
I was particularly concerned by the news that ULHT have now been put into financial special measures, as well as general special measures. As Lincoln’s MP and someone who has worked for the trust for a very long time, I know how this will impact on the hardworking staff, right across the organisation, from porters…
Labour MP Karen Lee. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
I was particularly concerned by the news that ULHT have now been put into financial special measures, as well as general special measures.
As Lincoln’s MP and someone who has worked for the trust for a very long time, I know how this will impact on the hardworking staff, right across the organisation, from porters and housekeepers to nurses and doctors, and of course the vital staff who perform the admin role.
The people of Lincoln, who, in my experience as MP and as a nurse, value and appreciate the care they receive from our NHS, know how hard everyone within it works to deliver a good service in difficult times.
The fact that our NHS is severely underfunded and understaffed is a national disgrace.
The current government claim to have invested in the NHS but this is smoke and mirrors, they give with one hand and take with the other.
The net result is that the NHS is underfunded, continues to be underfunded whilst they promise cuts to taxes for those on high incomes and give over £1 billion to the DUP to prop up their failing government. Their priorities are clear and the NHS does not appear to be one of them.
This is not simply a political statement from myself as a Labour MP, it is repeated by other organisations with no political axe to grind. These days it is not uncommon for a hospital trust to be placed in special measures and has happened in other areas of the country.
It is however worrying that ULHT are now in both general and financial special measures. I shall be meeting the Chief Executive of the trust, Jan Sobieraj this coming Monday to find out more and ask if there is anything that I can do as Lincoln’s MP to help.
To put what is happening into context, a recent article in the Guardian (3rd September 2017) said that NHS Providers, an organisation which represents hospital trusts in England, fears that lives could be lost because patients are being forced to spend long periods waiting in ambulances outside A&E departments or on trollies.
Chief Executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, was reported as stating that “they will struggle even more than last winter” and then went on to remind us of last winter when the Red Cross described the situation in our NHS as a Humanitarian Crisis.
The report also said that that delayed transfers of care, that is when hospitals are unable to discharge patients who are medically fit for discharge because there are problems with provision of social care, are a large factor in the shortage of hospital beds.
The report closed with a statement saying that “NHS trusts are worried that they do not have enough staff, beds and other services to manage the risk to patient safety this winter”. As a nurse at Lincoln Hospital I am aware that this is what is happening on the ground and have witnessed during my time on the wards.
Last week I spoke to the BBC’s Peter Levy about our local ambulance service, following reports stating that dangerous incidents are on the increase. I made it clear then that rather than trying to shift the blame onto hard-working staff who are under immense pressure, we laying the blame on the real cause of these issues which is the underfunding of the NHS by this government.
Having ambulances held up outside of A&E departments, with patients who are getting sicker whilst they wait to be admitted to hospital, is simply not acceptable. I recently worked a bank shift at our hospital as a nurse and I know that the wait for an ambulance for a hospital to hospital transfer has got longer, which means that by the time your patient finally gets the ambulance they have been waiting for they are sicker than they needed to be.
Hospitals, including those within ULHT, have no choice other than to employ costly agency staff.
The fact that public sector workers have had their pay capped with nurses, as one example, being 14% worse off than they were in 2010 has had a huge impact on morale and on staffing levels.
Numbers of people applying to train as nurses has fallen because of the withdrawal of nursing bursaries and this will hit the service even harder in a couple of years’ time when the shortfall now will come into effect. I attended the rally outside Westminster yesterday, where huge numbers of women and men from the public sector made it clear that it is time for the government to scrap the cap of public sector wages.
The answer to all of this is not a simple or fast solution. If we start to properly and adequately fund our NHS, end creeping privatisation and pay all public service workers what they are worth, a fair wage for a fair days work we shall start to address some of these issues. Some are historical and more deep-seated and will take time to unravel and address, but carrying on with the austerity measures which have brought our NHS to its knees cannot continue.
I care passionately about our NHS, and I care passionately about getting the very best for the city I represent. It is high time this government realised we will not tolerate the destruction of our NHS and we will put the blame firmly where it belongs.
The NHS must be properly funded and our hard-working public sector workers should be properly paid the work they do. We must halt the destruction of our NHS before it is too late.
Karen Lee was elected as the Labour MP for Lincoln in 2017.
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 woman at the centre of a £1 million cannabis growing operation had her assets confiscated after a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court.
Thuy Phan, 30, had £34,640 confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The amount includes a car and money held in bank accounts which are currently the subject of a restraining order.
Judge John Pini QC ruled that her benefit from crime was £1,362,747 with her available assets ordered to be confiscated.
She was given three months to hand over the amount or face a further six months in prison.
Phan, of Lime Crescent, Lincoln, appeared at today’s hearing via video link from Peterborough Prison where she is serving a sentence of six years and nine months imposed in November 2020 for offences of conspiracy to produce cannabis, possession of criminal property, conversion of criminal property and transferring criminal property.
Hearings to consider the confiscation of assets of three men were adjourned to next month.
Zaiur Rahman, 33, Moinul Islam, 42, and Thai Han, 28, were also involved in the national cannabis growing operation. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
Ziaur Rahman, 33, of Hillingdon, West London; Moinul Islam, 42, of Hillingdon, West London; and Thai Han ,28, of Lime Crescent, Lincoln; all admitted conspiracy to produce cannabis and were sentenced in November.
Thuy Phan and Thai Han were arrested in January 2019 whilst driving back to Lincoln. A bag containing £14,625 cash was found in the back of their vehicle.
The subsequent police investigation revealed that between November 2017 and November 2019, four properties in Lincoln and a further property in Middlesbrough had been rented to grow cannabis.
The Lincoln properties were in Euston Close, Grafton Street, Drake Street and Monks Road.
The street value of the cannabis recovered from these addresses was up to £988,680.
Officers also discovered that the grow in Monks Road was being run by a victim of modern slavery.
During the investigation officers discovered that Thuy Phan was in control of over 30 bank accounts.
A large number of these belonged to Vietnamese students living in the UK, who she paid in order to use their bank accounts.
It was identified that these accounts had a turnover of over £2.3m which Phan had laundered back to Vietnam. Han had played a key role in renting the properties for the cannabis grows.
Further inquiries identified that both Islam and Rahman had been working with Thuy Phan and Thai Han resulting in the two men being arrested in July 2019.
Fantasy Island amusement park opened its doors in Ingoldmells on Monday, and visitors were welcomed with a brand new high speed ride to try out.
The coastal resort opened again at 11am on Monday, April 12 as part of the government’s roadmap out of coronavirus lockdown, which allowed for outdoor venues such as theme parks to return to business.
A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes at the theme park to ensure that visitors would enjoy their return, and it saw the first official try of the new The Spinning Racer ride.
Wind the community Imp and reporter Ellis Karran decided to check out the new ride. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
It is an adrenaline-filled ride which reaches speeds of 70kmh and heights of over 50ft, combining rapid acceleration with stomach turning spins.
The Spinning Racer is one of three new attractions at Fantasy Island, though it is the only one that opened on April 12.
What can we say? Wind is a thrill seeker! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Another of the new attractions, The Guardian, is an indoor ride that will not be able to open until the next stage of the roadmap on May 17.
The third attraction is yet to be announced, but we have been assured that it is one to look forward to.
Claire Draper, director of finance at Fantasy Island. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Claire Draper, director of finance at Fantasy Island, told The Lincolnite that the team were “excited to be back”.
She said: “We’re all looking forward to being back, obviously we’ve had to bring in a lot of measures but the mood is positive.
Let the fun commence! | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
“It’s still the early parts of the season so we aren’t expecting numbers to be crazy, but it’s great to see people back here enjoying the rides.”
Despite his best efforts, Wind was not allowed on too many rides (because of his height, I promise). | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Wind on his holidays. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Multiple COVID-19 prevention measures have been introduced at Fantasy Island, including social distancing markers on the floor and signage across the resort.
People will also be socially distanced on the rides themselves, with spaces left for each turn, and the seats being cleaned every time someone uses them, as well as having hand wash stations throughout the park.
Wind was allowed on the teacups though! | Photo: The Lincolnite
He even had a go inside the beach buggy. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
All indoor attractions, including teacup rides and pirate ships, have been brought outside at the resort, and everyone who comes to Fantasy Island is being asked to scan a barcode for NHS Track & Trace.
As well as this, there are capacity limits at both the market area and in the theme park area itself, though the number of people allowed at one time wasn’t disclosed.
Healthy numbers flocked to Fantasy Island on its first day of reopening. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Most of the main attractions were open and in use, such as The Odyssey, the log flumes and The Volcano, but a breeze in the air meant The Millennium could not run on the opening day.
No time to waste for these eager visitors, enjoying the loops on The Odyssey. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The return of the theme park also meant the return of Fantasy Island market, the largest seven day market in Europe, with over 320 stores trading there.
The market was also attracting attention. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
A Lincoln family will open the next business in its Greek2Me brand this summer with a traditional Greek bakery in the city.
Greek2Me Bakery will open in a unit formerly occupied by now-liquidated sandwich bar Fodders Fine Foods on Newland in Lincoln. Planning permission had previously been given to a kebab shop, but it failed to come to fruition, and the unit has since been taken on by Greek2Me.
The family from Rhodes in Greece are really excited about the new bakery, which is expected to be open by early June. They are also putting the finishing touches to the new Greek2Me takeaway at the Birchwood Shopping Centre, which opens on April 20.
Greek2Me Bakery will serve traditional Greek pastries, cheese and spinach pies, fresh cream type cakes, a mix of English style and Mediterranean sandwiches, Greek salads and coffees, as well as vegetarian and vegan options. Other dishes such as Moussaka will hopefully be added in the future.
For those with a sweet tooth, there will also be traditional Greek desserts, including Baklava, Kadaiifi and Galaktoboureko.
The bakery is hoping to open Monday to Saturday between 8am and 6pm, although this is still being finalised.
There will also be seating outside and a breakfast bar inside for people to use depending on the government restrictions when the bakery opens.
Joanne Macphee-Papadopoulou will run the bakery, which will create around seven new jobs.
She told The Lincolnite: “I think there is such a lot of diversity in Lincoln now, it is getting bigger and there are people from all walks of life.
“People appreciate good food and good coffees and we are hoping to offer an experience to help make you feel like you are there in Greece. When we go back to Greece this is what we eat and there is a market for something different in Lincoln.
“Greek2Me is growing very rapidly and it has been exciting times in our house, and this will offer something different and more of a daytime thing for the people of Lincoln.”
Inside Greek2Me’s new takeaway at the Birchwood Shopping Centre, which opens on April 20.
Joanne was the manager of the coffee shop bakery at Cooplands in the Bailgate when the family first moved from Greece to Lincoln in 2012.
She then worked as a server at Carluccio’s with her partner Christos Papadopoulos, and they wanted to bring their own authentic Greek food to the city.
They purchased The Plough pub in Nettleham in 2015, from where they serve food including Greek cuisine. This is run by Christos and their son George, who is the General Manager. The pub is reopening again on Monday, April 12 in line with the latest government guidelines.
Joanne and Christos’ other son Spryos manages the Greek2Me takeaway next door to the pub in Nettleham and will also run the new Birchwood business.
The new bakery will be the latest business in the Greek2Me brand.
Louise Brown, who owns the building located at 27 Newland, told The Lincolnite: “We are very happy that it will be Greek2Me as they offer quality and a track record that will be a great improvement to the area.”