We’ve got stories backing up like a blocked up bog during the plague – and believe us they all stink to high heaven.
However let’s get on with this week’s Wirral snippets :
Rock the Boat
There has been an interesting development with regards to New Brighton Lifeboat story which we have reported on from time to time. Apparently Wallasey MP Angela Eagle has belatedly intervened to rock the boat and ask some pertinent questions as to what exactly is going on in this long running saga . The Royal National Lifeboat Institution ( RNLI) has rejected Eagle’s claim that a ‘restricted service’ at New Brighton Lifeboat station has had an impact on its life-saving work and patronisingly invited her over for a cup of tea and a chat. Read here : New Brighton Lifeboat
As ever there is much more to this than meets the eye and one of our long standing sources on the story has written to us to say :
Someone makes a fairly astute ‘comment’ after the end of the (Wirral Globe) article ….yes, why doesn’t Angela Eagle have a word with the Chairman of New Brighton Lifeboat, LABOUR Councillor Tony Jones. As we all know he is the bloke who fucked over the sacked crew in the first place. And while she is at it maybe she could get Phil Davies to take a bit of interest…..
Toxic Twins
We’ve long bemoaned that Wirral’s pre-eminent institutions are virtually indivisible in terms of their toxic cultures. Further confirmation arrived this week :
You may want to ask some questions of senior management at Wirral University Teaching Hospital where I understand that there is an systemic culture of bullying and arse covering at the expense of both patient and staff welfare.(This week) – management refused …..to classify a matter as a serious incident, preferring instead to downgrade the matter and protect their reputations………the coroner’s findings will be very interesting to all who of us who are obliged to use this failing establishment for their medical needs.Wirral Leaks asked : But is this a failing establishment or is it being deliberately run down? Your thoughts please.
My belief is that it’s a failing institution. I don’t believe there is any intention or ulterior motive – certainly not on a regional or national level, it is simply managed by an incompetent team of senior managers, deeply worried by their failings, and consequently under-reporting, buck-passing, and blaming others in a desperate attempt to protect their own positions.
Your old mate who I think last featured in your organ in 2012 has rocked up here in deepest darkest Wales as CEO of Cardiff and Vale UHB.
He’s already embarked on a fact finding trip to Canterbury with a small team. (No not Chaucer’s Canterbury, the other one in New Zealand) on behalf of his cash-strapped employer.Thought you might like to be kept informed of how one of your old boys is progressing
WIRRAL ‘SET FOR £1BN INVESTMENT BOOST’
That was the headline in this PR job published this week on the Insider Media Ltd blog – which was no doubt set up by Wirral Council leader Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies right hand/left wing man Martin Liptrot. The plans were apparently detailed at Insider‘s ‘Invest in Wirral’ breakfast event held on Tuesday, 6 February 2018. No doubt this was followed by a ‘powerlunch’. Unfortunately the headline was far removed from the reality of the situation as what Pip actually said was :
“We are looking at £1bn development opportunities across five areas in Wirral from Birkenhead town centre right through to Bromborough. We’ve never done anything of this scale and it’s a new way of working.The attraction of this model is that we share in profits going forward. It’s important, not only for new jobs and investment, but in bringing in an ongoing revenue scheme for the council….” Full story here : £Billion Investment Boost
Meanwhile under yet another misleading headline:
Staffing issues force temporary closure of Wirral care home
We have the news that NHS respite service for people with learning disabilities at Thorn Heys in Oxton is to close temporarily because of difficulties over staffing levels. Yeah right – as Wirral Leaks readers will know this has been on the cards for some time.
The decision was made by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group so this is something more than just a ‘Wirral care home’. In fact it is another slap in the face to Wirral Council’s pledge to protect vulnerable people following on the closure of respite services at Girtrell Court.
As we reported in our Good Health In Bad Hands post from September 2017 :
However more concerning for us was an issue that received zero press coverage and caused considerably less outrage among councillors and that was the closure of Thorn Heys, an NHS respite service for people with learning disabilities and mental health needs. Somebody remind us what was that Wirral Plan ‘pledge’ about ‘protecting the most vulnerable’ again?
Wirralleaks 
Nre Brighton lifeboat Ah yes, remember this at the time. Perhaps Ms Eagle should have a word with the Chairman of the New Brighton Lifeboats, COUNCILLOR Tony Jones!
What’s your view of this 1bn investment into an organisation that couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery? Seems to me that the assets will be stripped; profits made by the joint venture company and the council left high and dry with debts that will cripple the economy?
Answers in a postcard.
I think you know our views on the matter. And if you don’t – you’re late to the party.
They couldn’t organise a bunfight in a bakery but they can organise a cover up at our expense because seemingly nobody can be arsed to hold them to account.
Arrowe Park A&E is not included in the current Wirral review of urgent care. The question is asked above “is this a failing establishment or is it being deliberately run down? “. The national policy direction is clear (and one not producing militant opposition from any official body in Wirral) – to close hospitals and open ‘urgent care centres’ which are cheap (and dangerous). Viz. the current scandalous plan to open a ‘pop-up birthing centre’ in Seacombe (no, not Caldy) to the detriment of Arrowe Park. We don’t have enough hospitals, enough beds, enough midwives, nurses, paramedics and doctors. And not enough money spent trying to rectify the crisis. ”
“That’s the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” (Noam Chomsky) In Wirral we call it the STP. Wirral Council and the local Clinical Commissioning Group are signed up to it. It stands for ‘slash, trash and privatise’.
Yes we know all that.
The real problem is that we have a glut of NHS management graduates who have no understanding of what we hold dear and are quite happy to sacrifice everything we have fought for for short term financial gain. And what’s more they’re like Japanese knotweed, they can’t be eradicated.The problem goes way beyond party politics – it’s about what our society really values.
You miss the point. WHY have they these unnecessary layers of management been introduced? Precisely to run and police the madness of the health service internal market and the regulation and inspection regime – and soften up what was once a unique community resource for fragmentation and privatisation.
There’s no argument from us on that issue.
Our specific point is that are plenty of takers of public money to undertake such roles.
And don’t get us started on the Care Quality Commission.
Right on! Friends again!
Hmm I wonder who they thnk is daft enough to go into business with them? All they have to offer is land and property belonging to the people of Wirral. They want us to go into business to share the profits.
So I use all my know how and put all the hours in so you can have half the profit? And then you will want to put your mates on the board and for them to be paid. So …no profit.
They have a history of business failings and promote unethical practices. They have no idea how to manage a budget nor how to manage staff.
I doubt there will be queues outside the Town Hall. All you will get is speculators hoping to “flip” the land.