Some thoughts
To try and answer some of questions raised so far or just reflect on the issues, here are a few thoughts:
On the subject of what can we do?
One thing we can do is make sure that the consultants read all of the material from this site, so encourage others to come on and post their support. We realise not everyone has access to the internet but the more who do join in here the bigger the impression we can make.
All of these consultants Accountants?
Well just to prove it is a small world we discovered that one of the team ,who lives in the Manchester area is married to a girl from Blackhill who trained at Shotley Bridge to gain her SRN in the eighties! We also found out from the manager of this project, that her father was born in the maternity unit, so I think they understand how strongly everyone feels about the hospital.
convenient health care'
Owen Temple raises an issue here and we need more people to explain that for them convenient does not mean 'easy' but ease of access and its also about choice and quality of care. There are posts already that talk about how difficult travel is for some people but we need to really get this message across.
To take up Keith Little 's point
We should try and raise a list of what is available at Shotley Bridge and encourage people to use the hospital as their first choice if it has been suggested by their GP.
On the subject of history of the hospital ,here is a great piece of work by John Cavanagh
posted by derwentside district council @ 3:23 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
i am an insulin diabetic who lives in Shotley Bridge. All my treatment and monitoring is achieved by the supportive and accessible staff at Shotley Bridge Hospital. I have regular checks on my eyes resulting in the pupils being dilated which prevents mer from driving.I can walk to my clinic which allows me to remain independent from others for transport. To remove services to a larger more distant hospital would cause myself and others like me considerable haerdship. The councils commitment to a greener enviroment should take into account the impact on the enviroment of many fleets of cars making long and damaging journies to Hospitals who do not have tha facilities for parking or the volume of patients.
hope the powers-that-be will listen to all the comments and count them as a powerful "no" . I cannot believe that this community is expanding so quickly and yet the facilities are not...in fact I wonder how many people will stay over the next 5 years if they realise there are no hospital faciltiies here. Is it only the affluent who are content to let them make us pay for car parks and petrol and time when we have known such excellent facilities in the past?
Even though I am on another continent for the next few months, I love my home town and I want to be proud that our council will see to it that the county does not destroy or ignore our needs. I was in Shotley Bridge Hospital for my last major surgeries, just before they moved the operating facilities to Durham and I know how great were the nursing and surgical skills there. How can we have a caring community when there isn't any care there? ( Joyce Shaw. Citizen of Consett on Voluntary Service in America with The African Children's Choir.)
There's no denying its a small world out there. However, I fail to see how these consultants can gauge how strongly the community feels by knowing one person who trained there in the 80's and her father who was born there. That seems a very weak argument and does nothing to suggest that these consultants are not here with a very strong accountancy bias. Surely, before any judgement is made, they will be going out into the community? If they are truly consultants and completing a comprehensive evaluation (not just figures) then surely some field research must be involved? Otherwise, what will their decisions be based upon?
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