“GPs under pressure”

Posted on February 21, 2016 by john graham

The BMA is the professional body that represents the 40,000 GPs in the UK. However it is increasingly acting like a militant trade union.

Their latest proposition to their members is a handbook of advice with a list of 17 services that GPs should not do. These are services like:- wound care management, nursing leg ulcers, following up hospital discharges, minor injury surgery services, etc. All services that are critical to enabling older people to remain living in the community and to return home again after a stay in hospital. They claim they are ‘inappropriate’ and should be done by someone else.

What this is really about is the growing pressure on the NHS from the rapidly increasing number of older people. The failure of any recent Government to face up to this, just leads to endless cost shunting around the NHS, between hospitals, GPs and Social Services. In the meantime expensive hospital beds are occupied by older people, who would much rather return home and be looked after in the community at less expense.

The British Medical Association which represents all doctors should be more concerned about the interests of their patients.

Instead of looking at things through the eyes of the doctors’ trade union, maybe we make a radical shift to put the power in the hands of the customer. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, always argues that the money should follow the patient and this way you would get a service which more reflects individual patients’ needs. So what if we were to give an allocation of funds to older people to spend as they wished on their health. This would enable them to select a doctor of their choice and to decide what and how the health services they need should be provided.

This would probably shift the priorities of health care in the direction of preventative health and support in the community rather than concentrating more and more on health services in a few large teaching hospitals. It would also play to GP’s more customer focused skills.

We are all supposed to be grateful for what we receive from the health service, but it is often forgotten that we are all paying for it through our taxes. So the health service is not there for the benefit of doctors, it should always be there for the benefit of patients.

The key word, which is not often used in relation to the health service, is customer.

Posted in HEALTH, N.H.S. | Tagged GPs | 4 Comments

“Age UK – A Caution Unheeded”

Posted on February 16, 2016 by john graham

My previous blog focused on the difficulties that Age UK had got itself into by promoting commercial products and receiving commissions for their introduction. Essentially, I think this is a good thing to do because it, not only brings income into the charity, but should also facilitate elderly people making good choices in an environment when often they need advice. Age UK has a very good and trusted reputation and therefore their recommendation is very valuable to suppliers, which is why Age UK are able to secure commissions for the introductions they make. There is however a danger in this process if the financial arrangements are not entirely transparent. It’s also important that the trust placed in Age UK is mirrored by the terms and conditions of the suppliers’ offer. Where this doesn’t happen, trust can easily be lost.

Below I have reprinted a blog I wrote in September 2010 which is entitled “Signs of the Times”. Although this blog was about mobility scooters, my penultimate paragraph underlines the importance of transparency in contract arrangements. It’s a sad fact that many suppliers of services and products to older people often wrap their product offer in a welter of small print and caveats. Elderly people need to trust Age UK to look after the customer’s interest in making such transactions and to do it for a modest and transparent price.

I have highlighted the danger signs in the penultimate paragraph in bold type!

“Signs of the Times” – reprinted from 30th September 2010.

Two full page advertisements in The Times today aimed at older people can’t be cheap. The fact that they are there at all is an indication of the growing importance of the elderly market. Less surprisingly they are promoting three products which seem to define the stereotypical view of the elderly market – mobility scooters, stairlifts and walk-in showers. This imagery all reinforces the view that as you get old you’re going to end up frail and immobile unless you purchase these essential but very expensive pieces of equipment.

The first advert is for Quingo Mobility Scooters; a very comprehensive illustration of the chair and all its features and variations. Just two slight worry areas. Firstly, there is no mention of the cost of the scooter, but it is obviously not cheap, since they are offering “free gifts” worth around £600 when you purchase one during October – no pressure? Secondly, there is a small print footnote to say you cannot buy these scooters in mobility showrooms or on-line, which probably means you’re going to get a home visit from a company sales person. No pressure?? These may well be great products but if they are, why the reticent sales information?

The second advertisement is prominently branded “Age UK”, “Age Concern” and “Help the Aged” which I am sure gives great credibility to the products for anyone considering a purchase. Again there is no indication of the cost involved. Understandably a survey will need to be carried out – which will guarantee you a home visit – but not from the charities whose name is plastered all over the advertisement. Again, in the small print you find the products are provided by the Minivator Group. Also in the small print, there is carefully worded reference to the profits being shared with Age UK. That’s “up to” 50% of the “NETT” profits generated by “THIS ADD”. Full details of the profit sharing arrangement can be obtained by making a written application. I doubt many people do that – but I will and I will let you know what it says.

Given the excellent reputations of the Charity Organisations involved, I am sure this is a sincere promotion. It would be good therefore to see a clearer view of the costs and the actual profits shared. Surely if it’s a good fundraiser for Age UK, they would be proud to talk about it?

I am going to follow up both these advertisements and will report back on the responses I get.

Posted in Grey Products | Tagged Age UK | 1 Comment

“Brand Age UK”

Posted on February 14, 2016 by john graham

Not too many years ago the two leading brands related to age in the UK were all about old age, frailty and people “in need”. Help The Aged was the main campaigning voice for the sector and Age Concern provided support and advice in local branches all over the UK. Both organisations did sterling work, but we’re held back by limited resources and terrible brand names. The emphasis on ‘help’ and ‘concern’ portrayed older people as old, past-it and helpfulness.

Then in 2009 in a long overdue move, the two charity’s merged into a new organisation called “Age UK” . Their new chief executive – Tom Wright – was recruited from outside the charity/voluntary sector and came with stronger commercial experience having previously run the tourist organisation “Visit Britain” . He set about building a much more positive image of ageing and a much sounder financial base for the new brand.

Age UK annual income is around £90 million and has a broad financial base of charitable donations, grants, retail income from shops and commercial activity. It is this latter source of funds that has brought them to the attention of the national press and other news media in the last two weeks.

At the beginning of February Age UK found itself in the shining headlines of The Sun newspaper, as a result of an investigation carried out into a commission deal with EON to promote ‘low energy costs’. The accusation was that Age UK were making £6million by promoting a far from good value energy supply to older people. OOPS !

Shortly to be followed by the host of catch-up copy cat media, publicity seeking politicians and ever belatedly but always wise after the event regulators. In no time at all Age UK got more publicity than they could ever wish for ! They immediately went on the defensive and denied any wrong doing, but that just provoked more investigation. Examples of poor value for money were quoted, which within days lead to the deal being withdrawn. Now other services recommended by Age UK including car, travel and home contents insurance are being questioned. Wait until they look at equity release, mobility scooters and burial insurance. The subsequent evaluations will check the value for money and the commission Age UK receives, which run into millions of pounds.

There is no question that Age UK went into these arrangements with the best of intentions, nor can one doubt the need for a trusted referral service in an area where there can be a minefield of small print for elderly people to comprehend. Sadly all the publicity will have done considerable damage to Age UK’s reputation. To recover from it all they will need to be much more transparent about their commission arrangements in future and much more vigilant in ensuring that their services remain competitive.

Brand Age UK needs a bandage !

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | Tagged Age UK | 4 Comments

“Bloggers Cramp”

Posted on February 7, 2016 by john graham

There must be something called “Blogger’s Cramp” and I must have had it for a while. Ideas pop in and out of my mind, but nothing provokes me into writing anything.

I must go to the doctor and see if he has a pill for it. Then again perhaps not, after all, GP’s are so busy at the moment complaining about how busy they are. They won’t have time for rare uncommunicable diseases.

Perhaps I could go to the local hospital, but I think the junior doctors are on strike about having to work weekends, so I would have to go as an emergency. I don’t think “Blogger’s Cramp” quite qualifies as an emergency.

Maybe I will call in at the local chemist and see what they have on their copious shelves of cures for absolutely everything. Although I read recently that many of the small chemists are having to close down, due to all the cuts in Government subsidies.

There seems to be no refuge for someone with ” Blogger’s Cramp”. I will just have to soldier on.

Posted in SMILES | 9 Comments

Pension Follies

Posted on January 30, 2016 by john graham

The Conservative Party has never been the greatest of friends with the BBC and has long held the view that it is over paid, over staffed and all together to big for it’s boots. In among his budget cuts last year was a not too subtle shift of responsibility for paying for free TV licences from the Government to the BBC. Although it is phased across several years, in the long run it amounts to a cut to the BBC of £700 million a year, equal to ten percent of it total butget. Ouch !

In response the Beeb has come up with a great idea for a new comedy series. Modelled on the very successful charity fund-raiser “Children in need” . Each week an audience of wealthy pensioners who are over 75 years old will be asked, begged, shamed or cajoled into paying their £145.50 annual licence fee instead of getting it for free.

Sir Michael Parkinson, a former Older People’s Tsar, has been asked to headline the first show because of his recent expertise at selling funeral plans to pensioners.

It is hoped that Episode two may feature Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Cliff Richard and Dame Shirley Bassey, providing the BBC can persuade them to come back to this country from their tax havens. Of course they don’t have to pay the licence fee themselves as they are tax exiles. They have been asked to sing a spirited rendition of “Money, money, money” .

Negotiations are rumoured to be taking place with the ever popular Ken Dodd, because of his extensive experience of the British tax system, but the stumbling block may be he reluctance to give up his own free TV licence.

The whole series is still in the planning stage at present, but a BBC spokesman said they are hoping to raise many millions of pounds this way, otherwise they have to reduce some of the huge fees they pay to their star acts .

Post Script :-

Inspired by the BBCs response the Chancellor is now thinking of passing responsibility for the Winter Fuel Allowance to the energy companies.

2 Comments

Pensioners votes taken forgranted.

Posted on January 25, 2016 by john graham

The Conservative Party has long seen itself as a champion of older people. It prides and preens itself as a supporter of British values. This has kept it in power through the last two general elections, propped up by the votes of the majority of elderly people, who tend to vote and vote conservatively.

One of the central policies related to older people, has been the ” triple lock” on the state pension and the enticing pot of gold elusively placed at the end of the rainbow — The new £155 pension.

So far we have only seen the rain !

The storey of this unbelievably big rise in pensions has carried the Conservatives through two General Elections on a wave of hope and anticipation. I first started blogging about it in 2010. ( see all my earlier posts by clicking on pensions in the Topics list )

I always knew it was too good to be true and through the rainstorm of austerity in the last five years, the rainbow has started to disappear. It is vanishing with each step into every puddle of bad news :-

First of all, although announced in 2010, the commencement date of this wonderful bounty was put back to 2015, then 2016 .
As the detail became clearer, it was obvious that it would only apply to NEW pensioners, leaving those who were already retired and those who would be before April 2016, to be left out in the rain.
Next came an even deeper puddle. You needed an extended 36 years of contributions to qualify for the full pension. This short-changes many people approaching retirement – especially women who have had career breaks to bring up families.
The unrelenting rain got heavier still as savings rates plunged almost to nothing.
To make matters worse, by the time you finally got your pension pot of gold, annuity rates have reduced by almost 50 percent since the recession started.

When the new pension begins in April this year relatively few pensioners will benefit from it and a two tier system will have been set up which will enshrine inequality for years to come. Many grey voters may no longer feel Conservatives can be trusted, but do they have an alternative.

I venture we will hear a lot more about pensions in the year ahead.

Posted in Pensions | Tagged " £140 Pension Illusion", "Pension Crystal Ball" | 5 Comments

Molly’s Story – Family Life

Posted on December 28, 2015 by john graham

After her early career in the forces, Molly moved to Coventry to start her family life with Bill

MOLLY’S LIFE AFTER THE SERVICES

Whilst in the army Molly, a PT instructor, was asked to take a group of girls to a dance. She didn’t know any of the girls nor anyone at the dance. So when they arrived she asked if there were any other PT instructors there. She was directed to a group of men standing in the corner and she waited until there was a Lady’s Excuse Me dance and then asked one of the instructors to dance. Initially he refused saying he had “two left feet”. But when his colleagues offered to dance with Molly, he quickly changed his mind. When they got on the dance floor, a spotlight followed them all around the floor and Molly only found out afterwards that it was his 21st birthday. That’s how she first met her husband – Bill.

In 1956, Molly married Bill Shortland. The wedding was held at Thomas Cooper Baptist Church in Lincoln. The Church was subsequently demolished when an unexploded war time bomb was found beneath it. The wedding cost £60, which included the cost of a honeymoon in a caravan at Yarmouth / Lowestoft. While in the caravan, Molly and Bill both bent down at the same time and Molly ended up with a black eye which she had to explain to her mother when she got home.

After they were married, they moved to Coventry where Bill lived. Molly got a job as a dictaphone typist at Armstrong Siddeley and later she moved to BRS but had to leave after six months to have her first child. They now have three children – Janet, Peter and Kenneth and one grandchild, Charlotte.

To start with, they rented a house opposite the Butts Technical College in Coventry. It was 14 shillings a week. They later saved up a £100 deposit to buy a house at 3 John Gray Road in Cheylesmore. It cost around £1300. At the time, Bill was very ill and Molly was given special permission to buy the house because at that time, women were not able to buy houses. In order to pay the mortgage, they took in three lodgers to pay their way.

Holidays were expensive but with the Co-op you could get a chalet at Rhyl for £10 a week. You had to be a member and you had to queue up to book as the holidays were very popular. They travelled from Coventry on a motorbike and sidecar – Bill and Molly on the bike and two children in the sidecar. On holiday they had games like sack races and wheelbarrow races and they also played bingo and went dancing during the week away.

When the children were more grown up, Molly went back to work as a Lollypop Lady. She worked at Manor Park School. One day, while working on Davenport Road, Molly was standing in the middle of the road with her lollypop stick when she saw a wheel rolling down the road with a man chasing behind it. She managed to stop it by swiping it with her lollypop stick.

On the 12th June 2009, Molly was invited to tea in the Coventry Lord Mayor’s Parlour and the Lord Mayor, Jack Harrison, presented Veteran Badges to all the guests who had spent time in the services.

Bill and Molly are now approaching the

60^th wedding anniversary in 2016.

Posted in Cheylesmore Good Neighbours | Tagged Molly's Story | 1 Comment

Molly’s Story – Life in the Army

Posted on December 27, 2015 by john graham

Now Molly heads for a very active life in the Army!

MOLLY’S LIFE IN THE ARMY

After leaving the air force she joined the army and did basic training at Aldershot. She then did another course of training to become a PT Instructor. She was an acting sergeant in the WAAF, which later became the WRAC’s.
Following her initial training as a Physical Training Instructor, Molly was stationed at Queen Victoria Hospital in Nettley in Southampton. It was a rehabilitation hospital. These are some of things she remembered about her experience: They were given a skeleton to study anatomy, but she couldn’t remember the Latin words for all the bones; Each night, the other soldiers put the skeleton on Molly’s chair with a red heart attached to it. Molly also attended a post-mortem for the first time while she was there; the Coroner told all the students that if they couldn’t cope they should go out and when he had finished, Molly was the only one left standing.

While she was there she went to sea for the first time.

The Netball Team

The Cricket Team

The Table Tennis Team with Molly, as the Coach, standing in the middle

Molly with her Corporal stripes and the crossed swords insignia of the Physical Training Instructors

Molly had always been a good swimmer. She was taught by her Mum and Dad, who were themselves good at swimming. They promised her, if she learned to swim and tell the time, they would buy her a new swimming costume and that’s what got her started. Whilst serving as a WRAC, she went swimming in the North Sea and swam one mile every day. She swam for Western Command and won a cup for breaststroke and also for the relay race and the medley race. Her mother kept them in the front room of her house.

Molly posing on a boat on a beach somewhere in the Baltic. Now you can see why she was called “Legs 11”!

She went on a course in Holland and had to sleep on pallias’s which were bags of straw. The girls were all expected to “rough it and not to complain”. But when she found the men had beds she kicked up a fuss.

In 1955 she was in the Royal Tournament, dancing with hoops in a routine called “Step in Music”.

Molly is in the second row from the front, third along from the right

Whilst at the Royal Tournament, she was part of the Guard of Honour for the Queen. When they marched out of the arena, they had to remain in full formation backstage until they were dismissed and at that point, all the waiting soldiers had water pistols and soaked them all with water. The video is of the tournament a year later http://youtu.be/1TT-H2_PXrs.
On another occasion she was an invited guest at the Duke of Connaught’s home which was used as an army training centre in Virginia Water. She and her colleagues were very well looked after when they stayed there and everyone had their own butler to look after them.

Later she moved to Scotland and was the only PT Instructor in Scotland when she moved to Edinburgh Castle. She remembers having to exercise all the army cooks because they had bad feet from standing up all day. They also had some prisoners to train.

This is a group photograph at the Territorial Army Training Centre at Rhyl, North Wales. Molly is on the back row in the dark training suit and she was responsible for physical training of around 100 girls

She left the army in 1956 and the final episode tomorrow is all about her family life!

Posted in Cheylesmore Good Neighbours | Tagged Molly's Story | 1 Comment

Molly’s Story – Life in the RAF

Posted on December 26, 2015 by john graham

This is the second chapter of Molly’s life story.

MOLLY’S LIFE IN THE RAF

At 16 and a half, she joined the RAF – she should have been 17 and a half but her mother helped her fiddle the forms to get in a year early.

This is June with Molly on her right

She joined Flight Command Squadron 11 and she was called “Legs 11”, perhaps because she always liked to be around the boys.

This is Molly enjoying a “pint” with some friends”

This is Molly playing Monopoly with some Norwegian boys

Good times in the RAF with lots of different challenges and many new friends

In the early 1950’s she was stationed in Germany. It was the time of the Berlin Airlift when there was significant tension between the Soviet Union and the rest of the Western World. The RAF played a major role in providing supplies to Berlin and Molly was stationed in Germany at the time.
Travelling back home to Lincoln took two days on the train from Germany. Then on to a ferry from the Hook of Holland to Harwich. Then another train from London to Lincoln.
There were lots of flights from RAF Scampton to Germany. On one occasion to get back to Germany, she charmed her way on to a “A World War 2 Lincoln Cargo Plane” which was a modified Lancaster Bomber, that gave her two extra days leave at home.

The plane flew from RAF Scampton to Wunstorf Military Airport. Molly had to fly in the cargo hold wearing an oxygen mask and an all in one suit, because there was no heating. There were also no toilets on the plane and on one occasion, when she got to Wunstorf and got off the plane, she was desperate to go to the toilet. She ran into the toilet in the control tower and caused a major ruckus because they thought she might be carrying contraband.
As a present from one of the air crew, she was given some Chanel No 5 perfume, which she didn’t open until she returned home. She had to get her father to help her open the bottle as it had a seal on it. In doing so, he broke the bottle and spilt the perfume all over himself.
While in the RAF in 1950/51, Molly went skiing in Winterberg, Germany. She stayed in a hotel which cost 6 pence a day. She was taught by a Swedish army ski instructor to ski without sticks.

Other memories of her RAF days:

One of the many cleaning jobs while in the RAF. Molly is on the back row far left

Party girls – Molly is sitting on the floor in the middle

Molly sitting on a rock in the summer in Germany where they do wild boar hunting

Larking about

Molly cutting a cake with a friend. ? 18th Birthday

Molly is in the back row, second from the right with an RAF Hockey Team. In those days only public schools played hockey. Later when she moved to Coventry to work for the NHS, Molly went on to play until she was 40 on the pitches on Humber Road

She finished life in the RAF when she was posted back to Plymouth. After three months she couldn’t settle in civvy street and decided to join the army.

Molly makes a career change in her next role – see tomorrow’s chapter!

Posted in Cheylesmore Good Neighbours | Tagged Molly's Story | 2 Comments

Molly’s Story – Childhood

Posted on December 25, 2015 by john graham

Molly regularly attends the Cheylesmore Good Neighbours Group in Coventry and has agreed to tell us some of her life story as a means of developing a model for a “Book of Life”.

The photographs and stories below are her recollections of life over 84 years.

The full story will be published on GrumbleSmiles over the Christmas period.

It makes wonderful reading and any errors in recording it are entirely mine.

MOLLY’S CHILDHOOD

Molly was born in Manchester on the 22nd December 1931, the daughter of a bricklayer.
She was adopted and moved to her new family in Lincoln. They lived at 12 Walcot Close, Hartsholme Estate, Lincoln where she was brought up.

As a girl, she was a Brownie and then a Girl Guide – her auntie was a guide leader.
She went on to become a Sea Ranger when she was 14 or 15 years old in Lincoln. They learned all about knots and flags and they went on boats on the river in Lincoln. They also used to go to Lincoln Cathedral on Remembrance Day and she said “they prayed they could do the collection so that they could get near to the scouts”.

This is Molly on the left with her friend Beryl in their Sea Ranger uniforms.

Molly says “she was always in uniform”

Molly goes from one uniform to another in tomorrow’s episode!

Posted in Cheylesmore Good Neighbours | Tagged Molly's Story | Leave a comment