Misery for millions as leaked Network Rail report predicts more train cancellations and delays | The Independent

Exclusive: Internal report seen by The Independent reveals pitiful state of our national train service

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Where will all this end, for again lack of investment, which the UK has been suffering from for hundreds of years, not just now, but, now maybe more than ever.

Many will say nationalise the railways, but for all intents and purposes Network Rail is nationalised the problem is the lack of investment.

This lack of investment has been around for years, we had the industrial Revolution of the 1800s and the investment was from private enterprise. Then came to the era of nationalisation from 1945 to enable industries to be in the hands of the people but was it?

it was in effect in the hands of the government who were in control of the investment, but they didn’t invest when required, only when they believed the cost could be made, which made many of our industries virtually lacking of much-needed investment and our industries were left behind those of other countries.

Today we have the example of the NHS, which has been suffering from too many government interventions and insufficient investment. Many of the interventions worked against efficiencies and the lack of required investment increased the inefficiencies.

That could be shown in many areas of industries in the UK for governments don’t know the best and only fund when they wish to and not when they need to.

The state of the UK is not down to workers, but so much ineffectual government from all Political Parties.

Yes, privatisation also has its faults, so perhaps the best is a mixture of the two where there needs to be a full understanding of what is required and then the required actions are taken, but in that, there does need more worker participation and everyone as equal participation rights and in doing so stop the abuse of power of the rich and powerful. The rich being mainly from some in industry and powerful from the government.

We all need to work together.

 

Source: Misery for millions as leaked Network Rail report predicts more train cancellations and delays | The Independent

Tories fear blue wall will crumble at local elections over NHS crisis | Politics | The Guardian

Pressure mounts over health and economic pledges as Sunak campaigns to shore-up Conservative heartlands in poll test

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This is all down to a lack of desire to support the NHS by this government and previous Tory governments and perhaps some Labour for both have interfered with the NHS and certainly not provided all the funding required.

Also, all governments have failed to understand the importance of social care and the need of it to support the continued good health of the UK. The lack of social care has seen the severely diminishing health of persons in need of social care and this has a very high impact on the NHS in many ways.

Due to, a severe lack of financing similar to the NHS, but even more so leading to diminishing social care services and a great insufficiency of care workers, even more so than in the NHS.

Yes, all NHS workers should be paid much more but so much more for care workers, because the pay of care workers is so derisory and causing so many staff shortages, and many people, are unwilling to work for such derisory remunerations. The lack of social care provision is creating more requirements for NHS care due to reducing poor health, and the lack of social care provision is creating bed blocking in hospitals. This then restricts the provision to move patients from A&E and then ambulances can’t transfer their patients into A&E, causing a shortage of ambulances to respond to more 999 calls.

Increasing funding for social care would enable care workers to be paid more thereby creating more availability in care homes and more staff for home care. In no circumstances should care workers be paid less than supermarket workers, especially for the skills which care workers need to have, for care work is skilled and not unskilled as is believed. For it is not just washing and dressing, toileting, and preparing meals, which is a good part of the work required, but it is respecting the choices of the person needing care, supporting in managing the person’s finances, providing emotional support, and changing how and what care is providing by changes in the persons needs, their choices and much more. Care has to be centered on the person receiving care and not on the time available to the care worker. Also, note social care is not just for the elderly but for children and adults of all ages.

I say the starting pay rate for care workers should be £14 per hour for if not the social care workforce will continue to be depleted.

Some government Ministers are saying families should do more, but families are already doing more than ever before. These families are saving the UK, from Carers Trust research in 2021, £193 billion, an increase of £132 in 2015. How much more do these Ministers feel families should do, when the government is doing virtually nothing, the promised £500,000 was a mere drop in the ocean, and then they had the audacity to reduce that to around £375,000.

Local Authorities are saying they need £13 billion and I don’t disagree with this, but they need it now and then sustained funding for all years to come.

You could say that family cares are entitled to Carers Allowance, but that is also derisory and it is taxable as well. It needs to be increased to the National Living Wage and for that to be a real living wage the tax-free allowance before tax is paid needs to be increased to the National Living Wage.

The situations in both the NHS and social care are dire, to say the least, and this is even more so with the current strikes in the NHS.  While I feel care workers should have their pay rates considerably increased I also say this for all NHS workers, not just Junior doctors and nurses for the NHS is a team of workers, and every one of them is as essential as the other.

What is required is a listening government, but will we ever have one, well not as far as I can see even a Labour Government will not be sufficient, especially maybe the next one.

What is required is a government of the people for the people and we have not had one of these in the last 70 years and as I see not one coming.

 

 

Source: Tories fear blue wall will crumble at local elections over NHS crisis | Politics | The Guardian

The poor giving to charity is not the answer to society’s ills

To some extent you may be correct and many charities have been created over the last few years, but are they all because of austerity.

Maybe or maybe not for why are charities created?

Yes, many are created due to an apparent divide in systems creating a service which is not fulfilling the needs of some vulnerable persons. But is it purely down to lack of finance or is it that the current organisations, charities or not, are covering a vast area of vulnerability relating to a large expanse of conditions. Take for example Learning Disability and Autism, for both, in their own right are vast areas and can just one organisation cater for all, or is some specialism required. Then to what degree is the specialism required, for is it that each area of defined specialism requires their own organisation and therefore the finance which is available can be more directly focused.

If, we are saying that austerity has caused to increase in voluntary organisation, then what caused the need for charities to be formed, before austerity, could it be what I outlined above.

Here I come to day care provision, it could be said that all this should be provided by the Local Authorities, but, in my own view on this, local authority provision tends to be less cost effective then smaller organisations. For with local authorities it tends to be ‘one size fits all’, whereas it should be possible for smaller organisations to provide a service which is more ‘person-centred’and will provide more choice for those who are in need of care.

This all assumes that all organisations, even local authorities provide a service to all, which is of consistent good quality.

But after seeing the provision of care for my own daughter for the last 40 years, I have found good quality sadly lacking in many instances, many from the local authority.

This should be down to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), but again from my own observations the CQC concentrates far too much on bureaucratic process, in other words if the records state there is good quality, then there is good quality. However, while good records is one area, service is, in the main, down to human intervention, So, who is checking that the human intervention is acting in accordance the written words, not the CQC.

For if it was then Winterbourne View and Woolaton Hall and others would not have occurred.

In any Society there should be good and efficient organisations in the public, private and voluntary/Charity sectors and all should be working together to ensure good quality is at the centre of all provision.

Bad Workmen Always Blame ”The Tools”

There are many comments blaming one thing and another, when this is a problem of many areas.

Lack of funding is certainly one, but not the only one, neither is immigration, work opportunities on a non-livable wage, political interference from all quarters the left, the right and even the centre.

Cuts to any area will create even further problems as the resources will be diminishing and still need to cover the same total area. Problems will occur, which should need more resources, but from where, so the scant resources are then spread even more thinly.

The time as come, many times, when we should all be working together to solve what is before us and party political squabbles with not only all parties, but even within the same parties is not the answer.

We need to be working for the good for the whole instead of the few, as this only creates even more problems and differences.

Being any colour, religion, status, gender, etc should not be a problem as the state of the country should be a matter to us all and we all need to be working together to solve the problem for each and everyone of us.

ukgovernmentwatch

The Downing Street Tools

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/940897/London-murders-Sadiq-Khan-budget-cuts-theresa-may-knife-crime

Lancastrian
If the Police desert areas, low life, violence and extortion move in. That was the reason for Peel’s Peelers – the forerunners to the Police – and it is still valid now.

Sadiq’s been in office for nearly two years – about time he started exercising his powers on the street rather than pontificating politically.

pfbulmer
First London has to be made safe, then the social problems that are causing this have to be solved. At the moment what is the Mayor of London doing about this? Absolutely nothing but blaming every-one else !!

timjones
just goes to show ‘mayors’ are and always have been a pathetic concept.

Mr.Always-Right – > timjones
Like Boris Johnson wasting 40 million on the failed garden bridge.

MaBaker
Khan can stop Twittering to Trump and get on with his job.
He can start by NOT closing down police…

View original post 312 more words

Carers Voice ‘Working Together’ : LD Carers Butty Group — WordPress.com

For the last 18 months 3 Family Carers of relatives with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism (Chris Sterry, Judith Gwynn and Kate Chapman) have been working together with a PHd student (Rachael A Black) at the University of Sheffield (Department of Human Communication Sciences) using the framework of Co-production. This was initially to provide research for Rachael’s thesis required for her PHd, but also to have a meaningful outcome for LD Carers within Sheffield, UK

At the start of this co-production Rachael enquired through Sheffield Mencap & Gateway for carers of persons with Learning Disabilities to work with her on her PHd project.

During the last 18 months we have had regular meetings at the University of Sheffield on how we would proceed with this project and what our initial outcomes would be. Initially through general discussions, which Rachael was recording, it became clear that the recurring situations was around carers communications with the range of Service Providers. Within the context of Service Providers it included Sheffield Adult Social Care

 

Source: Carers Voice ‘Working Together’ :  LD Carers Butty Group — WordPress.com

In first NFL game since Trump remarks, Jaguars owner links arms with players taking knee during anthem – The Washington Post

Many Baltimore and Jacksonville players in London demonstrated together before kickoff. Shahid Khan, who joined his players in the demonstration on a world stage, is believed to be the first NFL team owner to participate in an anthem protest. All the players appeared to have remained standing for the British anthem. This is a developing […]

Source: In first NFL game since Trump remarks, Jaguars owner links arms with players taking knee during anthem – The Washington Post

Juncker calls for combining two EU presidencies into one – POLITICO

Commission president makes surprise proposal for single powerful post.

Source: Juncker calls for combining two EU presidencies into one – POLITICO

I know the ‘great repeal bill’ has its flaws. But we need cooperation to improve it | Caroline Flint | Opinion | The Guardian

It seems I have adopted a rather controversial view about Brexit: that, perhaps, all the partisans – leavers and remainers – should bury our differences and work together. That’s proving more difficult than it should be. No one in politics likes to concede defeat, particularly if they secretly dislike some of their opponents.

Brexit bill: senior Conservatives warn May after vote for second reading

Read more

The EU referendum opened a chasm in our nation. Two different views: Britain versus Europe, migration versus integration; internationalism versus national identity, metropolitan versus small town, management versus the factory floor. The outcome was not just a shock, and for many it was hard to accept. The European Union, if not loved by many, was taken for granted as part of our political architecture. The “great repeal bill” is the latest staging ground of this fight. Really an adoption bill, it aims to transfer lots of EU legislation into UK law. Businesses, citizens and government agencies need a legal basis to conduct their activities – and this adoption process is essential to a smooth Brexit. But weak governments with complex bills are easy prey. When Theresa May went to the country in April, she claimed she needed a larger majority lest the opposition parties derail the process. Now it is her own benches to which she is casting worried glances.

I campaigned for remain. And I want the UK to retain close ties to Europe and keep many of the benefits of easy trade, workers’ rights and co-operation. But I also recognise that managing migration – understanding public concerns beyond the big cities – will have to be part of any deal. This will require a tailor-made solution for the UK. But to start with businesses, citizens and government agencies need a legal basis to conduct their activities. This great adoption of EU law is essential to a smooth Brexit.

Source: I know the ‘great repeal bill’ has its flaws. But we need cooperation to improve it | Caroline Flint | Opinion | The Guardian

The NHS and social care must stop bickering over funding | Niall Dickson | Social Care Network | The Guardian

With both parts of the system under pressure, blaming each other will do nothing to help those who rely on services

Source: The NHS and social care must stop bickering over funding | Niall Dickson | Social Care Network | The Guardian

Funding alone won’t fix the social care system | Colin Capper | Social Care Network | The Guardian

Alzheimer’s Society is investing in three new research centres of excellence that aim to find ways to improve quality of life and care

Source: Funding alone won’t fix the social care system | Colin Capper | Social Care Network | The Guardian