Cornish hospital chief unfairly dismissed but cancer services not to change, madness!

Heard the news on the radio yesterday that the old CEO of NHS Cornwall has successfully sued the NHS for unfair dismissal, John Watkinson was awarded £1.2 million as a result. He opposed the move of upper gastro-intestinal cancer services outside of Cornwall in principle and believed that legally there needed to be a public consultation. So the point has been conceded and he was right, they sacked him because he didn't agree with their centralising agenda. I waited to hear if there was more to the story, specifically if the move of cancer services would be reversed, but no. So in effect John Watkinson has received £1.2 million, the trust has spent nearly £400,000 and the people of Cornwall are left in the same position as before. The original argument was that survival rates would be better if the service moved, a point heavily contested.

I believe considering the geography of Cornwall and the amount of people here, the move of any hospital services out of Cornwall is to the detriment of Cornish people. People like me who live in Penzance face a hard enough journey getting to Truro to go to Treliske hospital (24.9 miles, 37 minute bar journey according to google maps it can take longer and believe me feels like an age when your wife is in labour). Penzance isn't the furthest west in Cornwall, or the most inaccessible place. Below are some of the distance travelled to hospital in south and west Cornwall.

Travel times by car to Treliske hospital (according to google maps):

Zennor: 27.3 miles, 42 minutes

St Just in Penwith/ Pendeen: 32.4 miles, 49 minutes

Sennen Cove: 33.9 miles, 53 minutes

St Buryan: 30.7 miles, 48 minutes

Penzance: 24.9 miles, 37 minutes 

Rosudgeon: 24.3 miles, 37 minutes

Porthleven: 23.6 miles, 40 minutes

Lizard: 28.8 miles, 49 minutes

Coverack: 26.1 miles, 50 minutes

St Keverne 26.2 miles, 51 minutes

Helston: 18.1 miles, 36 minutes

So at a guess we have about an average of 45 minutes-in good traffic-for the people of west Cornwall to make it to Cornwall's only major hospital at Treliske Truro. Is this too far for people to travel for cancer treatment? after all once we add on the parking and getting to a department it's going to probably be over an hour. I think it is it's already an unnecessary strain on people who are already suffering. So anyway this was the previous system for upper GI care (also this is the distance to the only major casualty department, fully staffed maternity service amongst other things.) But the powers that be decided to move it to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, so in effect all of Cornwall's near 600,000 residents now have to travel outside Cornwall for this type of care. So let's have a look at the distances and times with the new service:

Travel times by car to Derriford hospital (according to google maps):

Zennor: 79.8 miles, 1 hour 48 minutes. (to Treliske 27.3 miles, 42 minutes)

St Just in Penwith/ Pendeen: 84.9 miles, 1 hour 55 minutes (32.4 miles, 49 minutes)

Sennen Cove: 86.3 miles 1 hour 59 minutes (33.9 miles, 53 minutes)

St Buryan: 83.1 miles, 1 hour 54 minutes (30.7 miles, 48 minutes)

Penzance: 77.4 miles, 1 hour 44 minutes (24.9 miles, 37 minutes )

Rosudgeon: 76.7 miles, 1 hour 43 minutes (24.3 miles, 37 minutes)

Porthleven: 76 miles, 1 hour 47 minutes (3.6 miles, 40 minutes)

Lizard: 82.3 miles, 1 hour 58 minutes (28.8 miles, 49 minutes)

Coverack: 79.5 miles, 2 hours 1 minute (26.1 miles, 50 minutes)

St Keverne 79.7 miles, 2 hours 2 minutes (26.2 miles, 51 minutes)

Helston: 71.1 miles, 1 hour 42 minutes (18.1 miles, 36 minutes)

I despair at the state of society and healthcare in Cornwall, when we are asking really sick people to travel for over another hour each way, to get the care treatment they need and indeed pay taxes for. So a tribunal has decided that Watkinson was unfairly dismissed for acting as a whistleblower for the move of cancer services, they agree this that much they have awarded him a large slice of cash (unfortunately coming out of the already stretched budget). So distance is factor not in the best interests of the patient, widespread public opposition, no public consultation, the tribunal seems to agree moving the services was wrong. So we might conclude the government would see sense and reverse the decision, maybe at last we might see some substance to this localism spiel? alas no. An 'independent' panel (independent of public consultation and decmocratic accountability apparently) agreed with the move and Andrew Lansley rubber stamped it. Yet another example of Devonwall and the centralisation of services and jobs east of the Tamar, undermining the Cornish economy and reducing services for the Cornish people. When will see any benefit to localism? When will the need of Cornish cancer patients become a priority?

For more on the subject read the BBC Cornwall's report on the outcome of the tribunal here.

To read my blog on the chronic underfunding of the Cornish NHS here.

If you want to e mail your MP about this click here http://www.writetothem.com/

Happy St Piran's day

Firstly, Happy St Piran's Day or in Kernewek Dy'Gool Sen Piran Lowen.



Picture taken from the I'm having a St Pirans Day Celebration Facebook page.



I know on my blog that I often am very negative, like many people I have grave concerns about some of the things that politicians are doing to Cornwall like not respecting our border. More generally the cuts and how they will affect the NHS, the Fire Brigade, the Coastguard, Libraries etc etc etc

But this time I though I would be a bit more positive, the true nature of celebrating days like St Piran's is to have fun, to drink and be merry, see friends and family and above all celebrate. Cornwall has many fine festivals such as Penzance's Golowan- Mazey Day, Montol, Murdoch Day, Trevithick Day, Padstow Obby Oss, Helston Flora Day, Bodmin Riding and so the list so goes on. I always look forward to these events, it is nice to see the community coming together, having fun and letting their hair down. In this vein it is great to see the Pirantide festivities are growing both in number and the scale of existing events.

It is interesting to note a couple of items in the news recently, the continued calls for St Piran's Day to be makred as a bank holiday (e petition for Cornwall Council to mark St Piran's day as a holiday) (article from the West Briton) and today news that the May Day bank holiday may be swapped for another date. The two I think could be linked, the latter is important in as much as that it indicates that bank holidays do not have to be static and the government is open to change in this regard. So why not St Piran's day? we have bank holidays for so many days that I do not know the significance of, why not have one for a discernible reason?

I quite like the idea of Cornwall swapping one bank holiday for the 5th of March, we could all get together, have street parties, go to rugby games, listen to live music, or simply go to church to remember one of the Christain pioneers in Kernow. We shouldn't think of this in terms of money, people couch these things in terms of the benefit for tourism etc, but I really feel this misses the point by a long way. The real benefit of festivals, fairs and holidays can't be deduced from a calculator they are not about money. They're about community, celebration and taking a day out to have fun.

The future aside, this weekend go out and celebrate St Piran, concentrate on having fun, forget about money and smile.

Here's a link to some St Piran's events: http://www.cornwallinformation.co.uk/news/

If you can't make any of these events why not enjoy some traditional Cornish produce, perhaps a pasty followed by a saffron bun or hevva cake with some obligatory clotted cream, and washed down with a nice Cornish ale. yum!