Here is why our NHS and Local Government is utterly shafted

I thought that was what happened anyway, been a while since it was necessary but the farmers aways get out there, with their tractors to keep the lanes open.

I got a mate who's brother is in quite a high position on the KCC, he tells me their biggest drain is always care for the elderly, and you cant get a bus pass down here until you are 66 at the moment.
Its about having more places to put old folk, so they are not bed blocking.
Rules on nursing homes have been tightened up recently, rightly too, but how many have been shut down?

 

Half the problem stems from social mobility. In many cases, these elderly people no longer have any family around to pop in and many of their friends are either deceased, in a nursing home or equally stagnant in their own homes/world.

You now have the "sandwich" generation (not a term I coined, I hasten to add). People who start out on the career ladder, marry later, have children later and then find they are trying to juggle their full time work, adolescent children and aging parents. I've lost count of the occasions where I have heard people complain that they simply have no "time" (and that is for social activities, let alone in a "caring" capacity).

So, then we have charitable organisations who try to fill the gap. But, when pennies get tight on the home front, less goes into the donations box and less help is available from that direction too.

It's a vicious circle which desperately needs addressing.

 

Council run homes having been closing down for decades in favour of privately run homes. In recent years there have been a good number of privately run homes which have been closed down for not coming up to standard.

 

Sad fact is, we all might end up in that position

If we are lucky, or perhaps not so lucky.

 

Well - the Council I work for has had it's budget reduced by 40% so far - only another 2 years of budget cuts and we'll be home and dry.

NHS England developing 'Sustainability Transformation Plans' - the purpose of which is to reduce NHS spend by cutting local NHS services - hospitals are constantly overspending due to the demands placed on them.
If another politician tells me they are 'protecting' the NHS budget - I'll go loopy .

A couple of real stories from my career in local government - to lighten the tone a little:

- member of the public 'phones up the refuse collection department - complaining that a bag has been left on the pavement outside their house. A bin lorry is diverted from it's round to collect said bag. They arrive to find out that it is indeed a bag, a tea bag. The member of the public queries why a lorry has turned up to remove a tea bag - what a numpty.

- guy has been placed in band D - for his council tax. He complains as on the other side of his garden hedge is a massive power pylon - he should not have to pay the same as the other bungalows in his street who are not directly behind the tower and enjoy uninterrupted views of the countryside. Council arrive and agree - he can see the tower - but also has a good view of the countryside - his bungalow increases to band E along with all the other bungalows on that side of the road. I suspect he was not 'popular' when his neighbours found out why their council tax had increased - I believe he was also asked if he had any other issues he would like investigating - he didn't.

 

That used to be the case - nowadays the cost of electricty for street lights is calculated by using the wattage of the lamp (many councils are moving to led) and the hours of daylight as measured by an array of solar panels at a suitable location.

We know how long the lights are on and with the wattage can calculate how much energy has been used. The idea being that the lights turn on and off at the same time as the solar array - not perfect by any means.

Council's purchase energy as a collective - and we buy 'blocks' of energy when they are considered to be 'cheap' to use later - we ask all the major suppliers to tender to provide our energy needs - the price we pay for energy is as low as it going to get. Council's aren't as 'wasteful' as the media would lead the public to believe.

I remember when Eric Pickles was the head honcho looking after Local Government - Council's took the majority of the departmental austerity cuts - he also suggested that Council's stop serving mineral water at Council meetings and purchase collectively - to help with the savage budget cuts. I have nothing to say about this

 

That may be the case now. I don't know. But I know this. A few years ago our local council pleaded skint and announced cuts to services (way before the current cuts). Then the Icelandic banks failed. Suddenly our local council screamed about the many millions of quid it had lost as a result. Which begs the question. If they were really that skint back then, how come they didn't draw on their Icelandic investment before the banks failed?

 

That's right, a farmer can't clear snow because the road tax is for agri use only (£0 and red diesel) but he can clear snow and be payed if the goverment issue an exemption and then they have to have the right snow plough, using a tractor and loader with a big grain/muck bucket can damage the road surface

 

Yes, there's lots of rules and lots of rules are overlooked untill there's a prolem and who's going to pay,

We've had the same, there's a weight limit in a village(7.5 tonne) and some farmers would drive through it, they got warned about it and they carryed on, then some more farmers started going through and building started to get damage, so now council, highways and police have stoped them