Wirral News letters – September 26

Sep 26 2012 Birkenhead News

NHS moves ‘considered’

THE President of the Merseyside TUC is quoted (Wirral News, Sep 19) as comparing the defeated plans to close some Wirral libraries with his determination to defeat the planned concentration and development of specialist vascular surgery to a new regional centre in Chester.

The comparison is invalid. Wirral Council had responsibility for libraries; it does not for health provision.

The council failed to consult on the library plans. There was detailed, professionally advised consultation on the health plans.

Mr McFadden quotes no evidence to support his statement that Arrowe Park is the right place because it has the most people in need of the service.

Health services must be planned on a strategic basis – as they were when services in Wallasey were transferred, against much opposition, to Arrowe Park in 1982. That has proved to be a great success.

Not only does such strategic planning make the best use of scarce resources but if a unit is to have specialist staff available 24 hours a day, it must cover a wide area.

Given the scarcity of top flight vascular surgeons, not to do so is courting disaster. So, much thought went into the alternatives. Skills, traffic routes, time scales, costs and local facilities were all carefully considered and included in the consultation. I for one am entirely happy with the proposals (and I have some experience of access to vascular surgery).

Cases built on little more than local populism, whether it be from individuals, trades unions, local authorities or MPs, none of whom have the actual responsibility for delivering and improving services, are no bases for challenge to well thought out, expert plans which far from being a gamble with people’s lives, are designed to offer the best prospect of clinical success to those in most need.

NHS SUPPORTER

Name & address supplied

Great news

I AGREE that it’s sad that previous housing land is converted to a park and ride (Letters, Wirral News, Sep 19).

Nevertheless, my constituents living about Birkenhead North station are doing cartwheels at the prospect of their homes being rid of the blight of indiscriminately parked commuter vehicles.

I’ve put a lot of time in persuading Merseytravel and Wirral council that the park and ride be built.

And J Clarke need not be too despondent – there’s plenty of land left for the Wirral Waters development and with that will come local employment opportunities.

COUNCILLOR HARRY SMITH

Labour, Bidston and St James ward

Who?

DESPITE massive publicity, I still don’t know what Ricoh does besides sponsoring golf tournaments.

Can anyone enlighten me?

JONATHAN MORRIS

Hoylake

Scaremongering

WHAT really matters?

Wirral Council have started a consultation on what council goods and services they want to see preserved in the face of what the council tell us is a budget cut of one third.

Putting aside my usual cynicism regarding why they asking the public to do this, I am totally baffled by their unique brand of arithmetic.

They tell us that they need to cut £100m over three years, on a current budget requirement of £279.10m per year, and then tell us that this equates to 33.3%.

Now anyone with a pocket calculator can quickly see that 100 is just 12% of 837.30 (i.e. three years’ budget) so on the surface there is no need for the utter panic and scaremongering that seems to be the fashion this week.

I have emailed the council to query their arithmetic and await their reply with bated breath.

JIM

via e-mail

Greedy move

HELPING Bromborough Pool Village by drowning it in 200+ hideous modern houses? (£35m plan for new homes and jobs, Bromborough and Bebington edition, Wirral News, September 19).

What we are about to witness is the destruction of: 1. The third oldest industrial village in Britain (more than 35 years before Port Sunlight); 2. The first garden village; 3. A conservation area.

Now, apart from the original houses, it will cease to exist as an important part of our heritage.

Shame on all the greed.

GLYN D. PARRY

Bromborough