WORK started on Monday 30 January to improve the parking adjacent to The Essex Cardiothoracic Centre (CTC) building. The improvements mean there will be more parking for patients and visitors using buildings at the rear of the hospital such as the CTC, Day Surgery Unit and Jubilee Wing.
Thurrock LINK has been lauded over the last few years for its work in defending the rights of the vulnerable in the borough. But according to reports, they were frog-marched out of their offices in the Queensgate centre, Grays on friday afternoon.
CIVIC AND FAITH leaders gathered together at the Holocaust memorial gardens on Orsett Road, Grays to pay tribute to the millions that perished under the hands of the Nazi regime in europe.
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of only two organisations in the past year and the first hospital in Essex to be awarded a prestigious gold award for green travel. Essex County Council hand out bronze, silver and gold awards to organisations with detailed travel plans who actively promote schemes to their staff, especially when it comes to green travel.
Mr Whittle, paid more than £150,000 a year, himself made national newspaper headlines when he admitted an affair with a member of the hospital’s board of governors. The relationship and split from his wife, publicly revealed in 2009 – two years after it happened – prompted questions over whether his relationship with Mrs Karen Bates, for whom he left his wife, meant that the board of governors, properly held him to account.
Delegates heard how the planned health reforms are likely to impact on Thurrock and they had a chance to take part in workshops linked to developing Thurrock’s refreshed Joint Strategic Needs Assessment which shapes the priorities for spending on health and well-being in Thurrock.
The appeal was launched in autumn 2010, when building work was underway on the new £17m project to transform A&E and Fracture Clinic. Within the new building, is the first stand alone Children’s A&E environment in Essex, for children and young adults. The environment will focus on health education and feature multi-sensory and distraction equipment, which will be particularly therapeutic for all children especially those with special needs. It is hoped Children’s A&E will open its doors to the public in March.
The campaign is also designed to highlight the positive impact community resuscitation can have. The ambulance service develops and supports community resuscitation through training, and also runs the community first responder scheme.
After the guided tour of the House, some of the group decided that they would like to walk to Downing Street, and although the gates across the entrance to Downing Street were closed, one of the BATIAS co-ordinators asked the police officer on duty if it would be possible grant the group special permission to have photographs taken outside the door of No. 10, and to everyone’s delight, the BATIAS ID badge worked like a charm, and the gate was opened to allow the group exclusive access to the world-famous backdrop, and the photo says it all!
CHADWELL ST MARY teenager, Bridie Philpott passed away at the weekend after losing her long fight against degenerative disorder, Battens disease. The tragic story of how first her brother John contracted the disease which strikes at the immune system followed by his sister struck the heart of many in the borough.
Members of the public are warmly invited to attend. Car parking is available on the fifth and sixth floors of the multi storey car park at the back of Phoenix Place and visitors should then report to reception.
Shadow portfolio holder, cllr Amanda Arnold said: “The Dilnot review has provided a number of opportunities for improvement, not least eradicating the problem of those with lower incomes and cheaper homes spending everything to pay for their care, which has always been seen as the most unfair element of the current system.
“Our PDU journey has generated a lot of interest from other Trusts and organisations and we have been invited to share our work both locally and nationally. We became a PDU in 2000 and are very proud to have kept this status for so many years particularly, in the current economic climate. We are particularly grateful to Macmillan Cancer Support for providing us with a team grant to help fund the process.
NHS South Essex Cluster (a cluster arrangement between NHS South East and NHS South West Essex primary care trusts) is pleased to announce the official appointment of seven Non-Executive Directors to their new joint Board.
People who needed assistance in eating or drinking did not always have a care management plan in place to inform staff of how much help they needed. Some people had not been weighed for lengthy periods and records relating to people’s weight were sometimes inconsistent. This meant that people could not always be assured that their nutritional needs were being met.
Hospitals were cutting services because they are under great and growing financial pressure from a £20bn savings drive (dubbed “the Nicholson challenge” after NHS chief executive David Nicholson), primary care trusts (PCTs) holding back money to pay for the NHS restructuring ordered by health secretary Andrew Lansley, and a reduction in the PCTs’ “tariff” payments to hospitals for treating patients, he added.
The festive treat features around 25 members of staff from across Basildon and Orsett Hospitals, who have or are in the midst of completing a 20-week basic Level One Signing Course, under the tutorage of one of our porters, Steve Hartman.
Health Village from Lloydspharmacy is the UK’s first retail health centre that offers a wide range of healthcare products and services under one roof. As well as traditional pharmacy services and health and beauty products, Health Village from Lloydspharmacy includes independent living aids from Betterlife, physiotherapy and sports injury clinics from Connect Physical Health, chiropody services from Shuropody, opticians Vision Express, audiology services from Hidden Hearing and clinical skincare treatments from Sk:N. The Thurrock store also includes a private dentist – DentistryForYou, and an exclusive day spa which stocks the Organic Pharmacy range.
Remember that Thurrock Health Centre and St Luke’s Health Centre in Southend are open 8am to 8pm 365 days a year for walk-in appointments and you do not have to be registered. You can see a GP or nurse if you have a minor injury or illness. Thurrock Health Centre, 55 – 57 High Street, Grays, RM17 6NP, 01375 898700. St Luke’s Health Centre, located behind Cumberlege Intermediate Care Centre, Pantile Avenue, Southend on Sea, SS2 4BD, 01702 611505.
A WEST THURROCK mum is asking Thurrock residents to dig deep as she tries to raise £45,000 for a key operation for her son George. Vikki Balding’s aim is to raise the money which will enable her to take George to St Louis’ childrens hospital in Missouri for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy Surgery.
The Birth Afterthoughts Service was launched for any woman who has given birth at Basildon or Orsett Hospital, to receive a postnatal ‘debriefing’. This is to help them discuss and understand their experience of childbirth and resolve any potential questions they may have in the days, months or years after giving birth.
A SENIOR Thurrock councillor has warned Thurrock Council that they are “deeply concerned” at the standards in a number of Thurrock care homes. Cllr Ben Maney had asked him for an update on the latest Care Quality Commission inspection findings on Bluebell Court Care Home in Grays.
This is where the service becomes involved at the point where young people first commit an offence and there is an opportunity to divert them away from court and the criminal justice system. The Triage scheme has been fundamental in reducing the number of young people who go on to commit further offences and the numbers speak for themselves – out of 105 young people to have committed a first offence since January, only 9 committed a further offence.
Hospital officials are now putting together legal submissions on the outcome of the inquest to the coroner, who will then make recommendations on the further action the hospital needs to take to ensure patients never again suffer a similar fate.
