covers Foster Care fortnight, apprenticeships, the NHS and more...........
Tony Colman's diary
covers
Foster Care fortnight, apprenticeships, the NHS and more...........
Foster Care Fortnight:
We are coming to the end of Foster Care Fortnight (10 � 23 May) and I would like to draw attention to the crucial care given by foster parents.
Currently there is an estimated shortage of 8,000 foster carers in the UK . On a practical level this means that in England more than one in four children are having to live outside of their local authority's borders, and one in seven children have to live in three or more homes during the course of a year. This means disruption and instability for too many children living in foster care, often having to move schools and living miles away from siblings, family and friends.
This could be alleviated by more foster carers and I welcome the initiatives of the fostering network in raising the profile of fostering and highlighting the need for carers to receive proper financial support as currently many people simply cannot afford to foster.
For more information contact: The Fostering Network, 87 Blackfriars Road , London SE1 8HA .
Modern Apprenticeships:
I strongly welcome the reforms announced on 10 May to the Government's apprenticeship scheme.
Ten years after the introduction of Modern Apprenticeships a record 255,000 young people are participating in the programme this year. High Quality apprenticeships are very important for the future of our young people and the success of the economy. They help to close skill gaps in sectors of the economy where we currently lack qualified workers and reduce the number of 17year olds not in any form of education or training. The Government is re-developing apprenticeships in the context of its reform of 14-19 education and is facing up to the challenge of ending generations of ambivalence towards vocational education.
The initial focus is appealing to employers to increase the amount of high quality training opportunities available. I encourage all Wandsworth employers to look into the apprenticeship scheme to see if it could be of benefit to their organisation.
My brother, a plumber, and my sister, a hairdresser, both did apprenticeships and those skills have lasted with them all their lives.
Progress in the NHS:
While we all urge on the NHS redevelopment at the Putney Hospital site � and the new Queen Mary's Hospital, I think we are all pleased at the overall progress locally. I have just had an update on the NHS from John Reid, Health Secretary:
In the past year nationally there were:
- 59,000 more NHS staff � doctors, nurses and other staff
- 167,000 more elective operations in hospital that last year
- faster treatment in A&E with 94% of patients now seen and treated within four hours
- 197,000 more procedures carried out in primary care and outpatients
- 94% of patients seen by a GP within 48 hours of booking an appointment
Locally in Wandsworth Primary Care Trust:
- Wandsworth PCT's budget will rise by £56.4m in the two years from 2004/5 to 2005/6, an increase of 20.46% in the current spending round.
- As at the end of March 2004, the number of people waiting over 9 months for a hospital operation at Wandsworth PCT had fallen to 0, from 174 in March 2003.
- As at
October � December 2003, the number of people waiting over 21 weeks
for an outpatient appointment had fallen to 0 at Wandsworth PCT, from
106 in October � December 2002.
- As at
March 2004, 98.5% of patients in Wandsworth PCT were able to be offered
a first available appointment to see their GP within 2 working days,
compared to 85.0% in March 2003.
- Between September 2001 and September 2003 the number of doctors working in the NHS in Wandsworth PCT had risen from 204 to 232 or by 14.0%. Meanwhile, the number of nurses in Wandsworth had risen from 90 to 573, or by 536.7%
- The uptake of the flu jab this winter for over 65-year-olds in Wandsworth PCT has risen to 70% from 63% in Winter 2002/3.
- Cancer mortality rates in Wandsworth for under -75 year olds in 2001/2 (per 100,000) has dropped to 133.89 from 148.34 in 1995-7. The mortality rate for heart and circulatory disease (per 100,000) in 2001/2 has dropped to 122.44 from 160.47 in 1995-7.
35
th Anniversary of the Sikh Gurdwara for South London :
I was very privileged to be invited to this event last Sunday. One of the joys of the Putney constituency is that it not only has the Sikh Gurdwara but also the Synagogue at Wimbledon Parkside and in Gressenhall Road the Ahmadi Mosque. Just on the border is the main Buddhist Temple in the UK . And of course we have Christians together in Putney, Roehampton and Southfields with many new Christian Churches starting up.
The message coming from the Sikh Gurdwara was that while we have different �pathways to God� (the meaning of Gurdwara), we all worship one God who wants peace among all nations.
For
more information about what I've been up to and how to contact me go to
my web site www.tonycolman.org.uk
.
Tony Colman
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First Putneysw15.com Diary Entry 8.11.2001