(l-r) Dr Chee Mah, chairman of South Kent Coast Clinical Commissioning Group; Dr Joe Chaudhuri; health secretary Andrew Lansley; KCC leader Paul Carter; Dover MP Charlie Elphicke; and leader of Dover District Council Paul Watkins
By Marijke Cox, Reporter
Friday, June 15, 2012
8:00 AM
Kent Health Commission model could become leading example for the rest of the country
A pioneering new health and social care model which promises patient power and bespoke services could become the national beacon for a new type of healthcare.
Health secretary Andrew Lansley paid a special visit to Dover to launch the Kent Health Commission’s first report, a radical document looking to transform the way people are cared for in the county.
It looks to combine health and social care budgets to commission new services based on patients’ needs.
Among the recommendations is a major shift to community healthcare, where people receive support in their own homes or community.
This would be through the development of community hospital facilities and services in local areas meaning patients can avoid unnecessary long journeys to acute centres.
It could also lead to more district nurses, more occupational therapists, physiotherapists and intermediary care beds, and a whole range of services to support patients in their own home.
The document recommends shifting power to patients, enabling them to make informed choices about what is best for them, when and where to be treated and what treatment to receive under the principle “no decision about me without me”.
Self-management, such as telehealth where people can manage long-term illnesses themselves at home while still being monitored by professionals, is also at the heart of the recommendations.
Kent Health Commission said the leading principle should be that services are centred on the needs of patients rather than the organisations that deliver them.
During his visit, Mr Lansley said he welcomed the “bold move”.
“I welcome this report and the work underway to make sure the new health reforms provide the very best health and social care services for the people of Kent.
“I have asked for further updates on how these recommendations will be put into practice and the improved services that will be offered to local people with a view to using the health commission as a model for other areas to follow.”
Leader of Kent County Council Cllr Paul Carter established the commission, bringing together GPs, Dover MP Charlie Elphicke and Dover council leader Paul Watkins.
The report focuses on Dover and Shepway as templates for the proposed shake-up, which could release more than £59m a year in Kent – an average of £5m per district.
Cllr Carter said the commission supported radical and bold changes in the way primary health care is delivered.
The Tory leader, who admitted there were currently massive pressures on the system, said: “We want to cut bureaucracy and combine health and social care budgets to commission new services based around patient needs.
“Working together, we will commission new community health support that will transform the way people are cared for.
“In meeting local need, new local commissioning arrangements will make sure that ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’.
“Using a whole raft of services to support patients in their own homes, we are looking to avoid unnecessary hospitalisation, particularly for patients with long term illnesses.”
This first report looks to support GPs, who have been given power over commissioning under the new national health reforms.
Kent Health Commission says it wants to help give GPs freedom and flexibility in their new role and for an exciting new market in health provision to be developed.
It also wants pooled commissioning between health and social care to speed up.
Chairman of south Kent coast clinical commissioning group Dr Chee Mah said those involved believe the collaboration will have a great impact, providing the best possible health and social care services.
Dr Joe Chaudhuri called it an “ambitious and exciting” initiative.
He added: “Strong, trusting relationships among different agencies are key and the fact that we have a shared vision gives me real confidence that we can achieve our collective ambitions.”
Source: www.kentnews.co.uk
Jude Law and Judi Dench confirmed for season of plays at Noel Coward Theatre - Daily Telegraph
Speaking about the launch of the Michael Grandage Company and its first run of plays, Grandage, along with his business partner, producer James Bierman, said:
"“We are delighted to announce a programme comprised of new writing alongside the classical and twentieth century repertoire.
"This unique West End season brings together writers, actors and other artists in a single venture over fifteen months dedicated to presenting work of the highest quality."
Over 200 tickets per performance will be available at £10. As Grandage and Bierman explained:
"At [the company's] heart is a commitment to reach out to as wide an audience as possible with over 200 tickets for each performance at £10 – over 100,000 across the season and through our schools’ and access work we aim to appeal to new theatregoers and help build audiences for the future."
Grandage, 50, was previously attached to the Donmar Warehouse, where he produced 66 plays during a 10-year stint as artistic director, winning a plethora of awards in the process.
Bierman worked as a producer at the Donmar during Grandage's tenure as artistic director, where he helped orchestrate several multi-award winning productions.
The Michael Grandage Company's season at the Noel Coward Theatre will begin with Privates on Parade on 1 December 2012.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
London 2012: Kent councils budget £500,000 for relay - BBC News
Local councils in Kent will spend nearly £500,000 welcoming the Olympic torch as it passes through the county.
A BBC survey found budgets for the torch relay, which will be in Kent on 18, 19 and 20 July, varied from £750 in Gravesham to £210,000 in Maidstone.
Kent County Council will also spend more than £200,000 but has received grants from Olympics organiser Locog and the government to cover £120,000.
Kent will host two overnight stays, in Dover and Maidstone.
John Burden, leader of Gravesham Borough Council, said it was spending £750 of its taxpayers' money but had also received a grant from the government.
Spending by council
- Ashford - £15,500
- Canterbury - £12,000
- Dover - £90,000
- Gravesham - £750
- Swale - £21,000
- Shepway - not calculated
- Tunbridge Wells -£20,000
- Tonbridge and Malling - £10,000-£15,000
- Thanet - £30,000-£40,000
- Sevenoaks - £20,000
- Medway - £33,000
- Maidstone - up to £210,000
"It think it is excellent value for money. It is a very good event to be supporting," he said.
"We have to the local community doing food and entertainment and we have 50 volunteer marshals. It is a fabulous opportunity and people should go to see the torch."
Sandra Matthews-Marsh from Visit Kent said the Olympic torch was spending more time in Kent than any other county.
The tourism organisation has estimated the publicity and global coverage of the torch relay will be worth £324m over the next four years.
"We actually get the torch before it gets to London so I think the tension is going to mount as we get to that point," she said.
Andrew Bowles, leader of Swale Borough Council, said it estimated up to 20,000 people would visit Faversham to see the torch relay.
"I am absolutely convinced it will bring money into the local economy, if all those spend £10, which isn't very difficult," he said.
"It would be irresponsible for us to expect 20,000 people to turn up and not to spend the necessary money on first aid facilities, emergency car parking and crash barriers.
"We do have a duty of care."
Conservative-run Maidstone Borough Council said it had a budget of up to £210,000 but hoped to spend less.
Councillor Fran Wilson, leader of the Lib Dem opposition, said she believed the council should have been more frugal.
"I think we should have been a little bit more circumspect, but having said that. we are the county town so I would expect us to spend more than most other places," she said.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Payout of £420k to ex-KCC managing director Katherine Kerswell - Kent Online
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by
political editor Paul Francis
Kent County Council's former boss Katherine Kerswell received a £420,000 pay-off after unexpectedly leaving the job after just 16 months in post, it has emerged.
Mrs Kerswell, who left her role as managing director after completing just a part of her contract, departed in controversial circumstances last December.
The county council's Conservative administration insisted at the time her departure was connected to a re-organisation of the authority that involved doing away with a chief executive to save money.
However, there was speculation that she had fallen out with the Conservative-led authority.
Details of the pay-off have been revealed in the county council's statement of accounts for 2011-2012.
They show that she was paid £420,000 in redundancy as well as £139,806 in salary for the year - bringing her overall remuneration for the year to a staggering £589,165.
The sum is thought to be one of the highest ever remuneration packages for a senior council manager.
Mrs Kerswell, who was paid just under £200,000 a year, joined KCC in March 2010 from Northamptonshire county council, following the departure of former chief executive Peter Gilroy.
She oversaw a major shake-up of the way the county council was run under what was known as the "Change To Keep Succeeding" programme. That involved a major cull of senior directors that some opposed.
The county
council has previously refused to disclose details of the pay-off,
saying it was subject to a confidential agreement.
But under new transparency rules on top executive pay, the details have now had to be reported.
In a statement, the council leader Paul Carter said: "Removing chief executive posts is what more and more councils should be doing.
"Employment law and contractual obligations mean we have to pay significant redundancy costs, but it will save a fortune in the long run.
"Our council is now being guided by officers who have worked their way up and know what life is like from a Kent taxpayers' perspective."
He added: "The highest paid staff in local government are valuable, experienced people but when savings need to be made I think taxpayers would rather see cuts to management than to frontline staff.
"Kent is putting its faith more and more in the talented people who actually deliver good, frontline services and streamlining management tiers."
He added that KCC was now spending £40m less on pay for staff and that the re-structuring of senior directors had saved £1m alone.
Kent County Council paid out more than £10m in
so-called "exit packages" to staff made redundant or who left by
agreement in 2011-2012.
This sum included a payment of £172,000 to the authority's former finance director Lynda McMullan who left the authority in September last year and now works for the National Audit Office.
The 10.08m bill included Katherine Kerswell's pay-off but also covered the redundancy costs of 779 staff and a further 226 departures that were mutually agreed.
It also covers commitments made to cover costs of staff due to leave this year.
Thursday, June 14 2012
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micko wrote:
I don't blame her I blame KCC they gave her the job then 16 months later they tell her she is no longer needed, well done to her boo boo to KCC. If KCC say they are now saving millions of pounds it makes me wonder how much the must have wasted before.
15 Jun 2012 1:48 PM
Source: www.kentonline.co.uk
Kris Humphries' 'goldigger' ex wants to help Kim Kardashian with divorce case - New Kerala
London, June 14 : Kris Humphries' rumoured former girlfriend has said that she would like to help Kim Kardashian with her divorce after she accused her of being a 'golddigger'.
The 27-year-old basketball player, who is two weeks away from divorce depositions with ex-wife Kim Kardashian is now in the midst of another legal battle with Fatima 'Myla' Sinanaj.
After the Brooklyn Nets player turned the supposed evidence to the FBI claiming that Sinanaj was trying to extort him - in the form of multiple recorded messages he is now being asked to publicly apologise to the 25-year-old Kardashian-lookalike 'or else.'
'My client isn't going to rule anything out at this point including whether or not she would be willing to assist Kim Kardashian in her divorce case,' the Daily Mail quoted Sinanaj's attorney Joe Tacopina as telling RadarOnline.
'I will say this, Kris Humphries has to be the only 7ft. man in the universe to have two women under 6ft tall bully, defraud and attempt to extort him. It's absolutely ridiculous,' he said.
According to TMZ, Humphries' lawyer originally reached out to Sinanaj's lawyer to negotiate a non-disclosure agreement in order to get a lockdown on any sensitive texts, emails, or other documents she has related to their relationship.
'It would be pretty hard to claim that you are broken-hearted if you are dating my client just two months after the marriage broke up,' Tacopina said.
'My client's relationship with Kris goes to heart of his claim against Kim Kardashian and that could hurt him, certainly.'
The athlete is demanding millions from the 31-year-old socialite, and Humphries doesn't want anything to jeopardize his case that their union should be annulled rather than granted a divorce.
'I defy them to show that she has asked for one red cent,' the former prosecutor said said.
'I challenge them to submit Kris Humphries to a polygraph and if he does I will have my client do the same. She never asked him for a penny.'
Tacopina claims that Humphries was wrong to refer to his client as a 'booty call' when they've been in a 'steady' relationship since January, and he alleged that the NBA player has even tried getting Sinanaj fired from her hotel job.
'I have hundreds of text messages and phone records which show he constantly contacted her on a steady basis. He'd call her 50 times in a day,' said Sinanaj's attorney.
'There will be a retraction and an apology by Humphries and his lawyer, or else.
There will be no cameras in the depositions happening in Minnesota and at Kardashian's attorney Laura Wasser's office, but Humphries' lawyers are still trying to have the actual trial filmed on camera.
RadarOnline first reported that the six-foot-nine-inch athlete had no plans to publicly date anyone until after his divorce was finalized, but TMZ claimed that Kris had been dating Sinanaj since January, even flying her to Miami for a romantic beachy holiday last month.
They have apparently been seeing each other regularly, meeting at various basketball games where Humphries provided her and family members with courtside seats.
'Kris is just going to let the FBI handle this. He is focused on basketball, period,: a source close to the athlete said. (ANI)
Source: www.newkerala.com
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