(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
Richard A. Roane Elected President of Michigan Chapter of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers - PR Inside
Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 15, 2012 –
Roane will serve a one-year term as president of the group that works to promote the highest degree of professionalism and excellence in the practice of family law. Today, the organization has more than 1,500 fellows in 50 states. Academy fellows represent individuals in divorce, annulment, marital settlement agreements, child custody and visitation, business valuations, property valuations and division, alimony, child support and other family law issues.
Roane has practiced family law and domestic relations litigation for 25 years. He specializes in divorce, non-marital domestic relationships, domestic relations mediation and arbitration, spousal support, child custody and support, complex business valuation distribution and pre- and post-nuptial agreements.
Active professionally and in the community, he is
a member of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education Family Law Advisory Board, Collaborative Divorce Professionals of Michigan and is on the board of directors for the Legal Assistance Center.Roane is a member of the American Bar Association, State Bar of Michigan and the Grand Rapids Bar Association. He has been named to the Michigan Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America, which has recognized him as the Grand Rapids Lawyer of the Year for family law in 2012.
Roane earned his bachelor of business administration from the University of Hawaii and his doctor of jurisprudence from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif.
About Warner Norcross & Judd
Warner Norcross & Judd is a corporate law firm with 220 attorneys practicing in six offices throughout Michigan: Grand Rapids, Holland, Lansing, Muskegon, Southfield and Sterling Heights. By providing discerning and proactive legal advice, Warner Norcross & Judd forges a better partnership with its clients. To learn more, visit www.wnj.com.
# # #
Source: www.pr-inside.com
Former council boss who left half-way through her four year contract receives £420,000 in one of the biggest local authority payoffs - Daily Mail
- Former chief exec had led major shake-up of the way the county council was run
- Council has now dished out more than 600,000 to pay off last two chief execs
- Authority has paid out 10.08m in 'exit packages' to staff made between 2011-2012
By Phil Vinter
|
Big pay out: Former Kent County Council chief executive Katherine Kerswell who has received a 420,000 pay off from Kent County Council
The former boss of Kent County Council was handed 420,000 of tax payers’ money as a payoff just over two years after the man she replaced was given a 200,000 golden goodbye.
It has emerged that Katherine Kerswell received the 420,000 sum, one of the biggest ever payouts to a senior council manger, when she left her post as chief executive in controversial circumstances in December last year.
When combined with the 139,806 in wages she had earned as well as other contributions in total she was paid 589,806 over the course of her final 12 months with the local authority.
Ms Kerswell finished her post when councillors decided to scrap the post of chief executive to 'save money'.
News of the pay-off, revealed in the county council’s statement of accounts for 2011-2012, follow the council’s decision to award Peter Gilroy, the man Ms Kerswell replaced in 2010 a 200,000 pay off.
The council’s former environment and regeneration officer Adam Wilkinson also received a huge 365,000 payment when he quit in 2008, a year after he had taken up his post.
Mr Wilkinson's figure amounted to a 1,000 ‘bonus’ for each of the 365 days he had worked for Kent County Council.
In total the council paid out 10.08m in so-called 'exit packages' to staff made redundant or who left by agreement in 2011-2012.
The amount 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.
It also covered the redundancy costs of 779 staff and a further 226 departures that were mutually agreed and commitments made to cover costs of staff due to leave this year.
Expensive business: Kent County Council headquarters. A total of 10.08million has been paid in 'exit packages' to staff between 2011 and 2012
Robert Oxley, Campaign Manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: 'Kent County council has a history of handing our extraordinary pay-outs for its senior staff with scant regard to value for taxpayers’ money.
‘Councils may have a legal requirement to make a redundancy pay-out but this latest sum is staggeringly excessive.
‘Councillors need to scrap the overly generous contracts that make these deals possible before any more money is blown on gargantuan redundancy payoffs.'
According to the Tax Payers’ Alliance the council employee with the largest remuneration package in the UK in 2009-2010 was Peter Dolan, chief executive for South Somerset Council who received a 569,000 pay off package.
In 2010-11 was Ian Drummond, the Executive Director of Special Projects at Glasgow City Council, received 450,628.
At the time of Ms Kerswell’s departure the county council’s Conservative administration insisted at her departure was related to a re-organisation of the authority and that the chief executive role had been discontinued in order to make savings.
However, there was speculation that Mrs Kerswell, who joined the council in March 2010, had fallen out with the Conservative leaders.
She had led 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.
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.
History: The council gave the chief executive who Ms Kerswell replaced a 200,000 pay off
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.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Margate divided over its role in Mary Portas reality show - The Guardian
Precisely what's going on with Mary Portas and Margate? It began with £100,000 from Grant Shapps, part of a regeneration pot worth £1.2m, to be shared with 11 other ''Portas pilots'' high streets. It doesn't sound like very much. "I'd call that a lick of paint, more than a regeneration," said Mathew Holter, who works in the Turner gallery.
But parking that for a second ... Portas comes with the money, along with a TV crew, to make a heartwarming rags-to-riches show in which her expertise, combined with the pluck of the townspeople, turn a depressed town back into a vibrant marketplace. So that's problem one: Colin Mitchell, who works at a florist's in the high street, remarks. "They're bound to show all the bad bits and make them look really bad, and even if nothing gets better, they'll have to make it look as if it has."
If there was ever a time when people believed in the reality of this type of telly, that time has passed. At a town meeting on Wednesday night, objections were raised about the cameras being in the room. A local told me that Portas seemed to convey that if the cameras went, she went; and if she went, the money would be withdrawn as well.
That struck people as odd – it was almost as if government money were being used to bankroll a fairly pedestrian entertainment idea. Why stop there? Why not make a show about workfare, like The Apprentice, except the winner gets a job in a supermarket that is actually paid?
This impression was corrected on Thursday by the Conservative MP for Thanet, Roger Gale: they would get the money with or without Portas. And yet, despite almost unanimous agreement that Portas "did herself no favours on Wednesday, with all the swanning about" (shopkeeper Gail Colyer remarked forgivingly), it looks as though the show will go on.
There is no doubt that Margate High Street is depressed. Gary Derriman remembers when the shops started leaving, six years ago. "Suddenly, the high street was empty. There was no reason to go down there. I was running a pub, we still had regulars, but you can't survive on regulars in a seaside town. You need passing trade." There's a drug problem, there's a crisis of policing, there is petty criminality (that florist, Di's Petals, had the same shoplifter three days in a row – trying to steal flowers!). There are a lot of charity shops, a Subway, and not much else. At the public meeting, someone had written on a noticeboard: "Bring Poundland here". Colyer made a face: "I thought it was a bit of an odd thing to say. But it is a good shop." People are asking what regeneration is actually going to mean. More Poundlands? Are we supposed to be grateful to Poundland now? (I am quite grateful to Poundland, for its unbelievable value, but not to the extent that I want to lure it with government money.) At the other end of the spectrum, Holter points out, there's "Whitstable … It's far too twee. I don't want it to end up like that. But I don't want it to end up full of phone unblocking shops, either."
Margate's Old Town is another story – not overwhelmingly twee (except in parts), it looks like a cross between Shoreditch and Burnham Market. It's been regenerated up to its eyeballs, a classic tale of crash-creativity, where rents plummet and independent retailers spring up. German furniture, children's knitwear in scary colours, art… there is nothing you can't buy here, except normal food for cooking with and things that cost a pound.
Anthony works in a cider bar right in the middle of it. "It's the best bar in Margate," he says, matter-of-factly. Talking of the Margate split, the locals versus the weekend crowd who come for the Turner gallery, he says: "On the side that I'd be included in, ultimate gentrification is the goal. But I hesitate over it. Obviously it becomes safer and more relaxed, but I don't think material aims should be our priority. I don't know that turning everything into a coffee shop is a good thing."
On TV generally, and Mary Portas specifically, he says: "I had a tutor who said the new currency of our century isn't money, it's attention. Attention is what will change people's lives." He doesn't say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, which I suppose is because it's obviously neither. But there are plenty of people for whom all the obvious upshots of attention – the visitors, the atmosphere, the straight cash – are brilliant. Derriman points out: "Local people don't eat out as much as visitors. Just the TV presence will bring people to have a look. I think this is the best thing to happen to Margate in years."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Payout of £420k to ex-KCC managing director Katherine Kerswell - Kent Online
Comments |
Read all comments on this story.
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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Comments (4)
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herne bay wrote:
So she was basically paid for the whole of her contract anyway! So why not keep her there for the whole of her contract? And then not renew?! Who's runs the council?? What a bunch of bafoons clearly! Very unbusiness minded to waste such a ridiculous amount of money!
15 Jun 2012 5:33 PM
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dave wrote:
Can somebody tell me what the payment of £172,000 to the authority's former finance director Lynda McMullan was for since her post still exists? I know she was put on gardening leave in November 2010 and still seems to have been paid for doing nothing since an acting director was put in place.
15 Jun 2012 4:17 PM
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bojimbo26 wrote:
Council tax goes up a whopping 500% next year .
15 Jun 2012 2:15 PM
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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
Chicago Matrimonial Attorney Jeffery Leving Praises Michigan Governor for Signing Law Increasing Fathers' Legal Rights - Yahoo Finance
CHICAGO, June 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Matrimonial Attorney Jeffery Leving (http://dadsrights.com) announced his support for a new Michigan law that expands legal rights for biological fathers.
This week, Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation into law giving biological fathers the right to parent their children, even if the mothers were married to other men at the time of birth.
"Governor Snyder is to be commended for recognizing the moral right of biological fathers to be parents to their own children," said Attorney Leving.
The new law makes it easier for biological fathers to challenge Michigan's legal rebuttable presumption that a mother's husband at the time of a child's birth is the child's father.
"Biological fathers will now have the right to file suit and seek a court order determining who the actual father is," said Attorney Leving. "Even more importantly, they will have the opportunity to secure a court-ordered DNA test validating their biological relationship to the child."
The law also modifies the Estates and Protected Individuals Code and allows for children to inherit the estate of their biological fathers.
The legislation will weaken the rebuttable presumption under a 1956 Michigan law that a woman's husband at the time she gives birth is the father of the newly born child. The presumption not only places the responsibilities and obligations of fatherhood on men who are not biologically connected to the child—it is also archaic and unconstitutional.
For more information contact Jennifer Whiteside at (312) 296-3666.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
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