Routine surgery to resume at North Wales hospitals

Routine surgery is being resumed at hospitals in North Wales after being postponed last week due to "increased pressure".

See the full story on the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25916942

County set to approve cuts of £8.5 million

According to the BBC today (Monday), Denbighshire County Council is set to approve budget cuts of £8.5 million.

For the full story see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-25904612

AM backs call to make fuel poverty key priority

North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood is supporting calls for fuel poverty to be made a central priority of the Welsh Government’s Tackling Poverty Strategy.

 

Raising the matter in the Assembly Chamber with the Finance Minister this week, Mr Isherwood, Chair of the Assembly Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty and Shadow Minister for Communities and Housing, said:  “Given that the Welsh Government has decided to include fuel poverty within its Tackling Poverty Strategy in the Communities and Tackling Poverty portfolio, how do you respond to the statement in Consumer Futures’ draft work plan for 2014-15, that, ‘in Wales, we will seek to make sure fuel poverty is a central priority for the Welsh Government’s Tackling Poverty Strategy and commands sufficient resources to address the scale of the problem’?”

 

The Minister, Jane Hutt, said improving the energy efficiency of homes is the most direct way that Welsh Government can tackle fuel poverty and referred to the Welsh Government’s Arbed and NEST schemes.

 

However Mr Isherwood has stressed that these two schemes do not make a fuel strategy.

 

He said: “Uniquely amongst the UK nations, the Welsh Government  has scrapped its Fuel Poverty Advisory Group and rejected calls in the 2013 UK Fuel Poverty Monitor for its reinstatement.

 

Whereas the NEST and Arbed schemes are welcome, they alone do not make a fuel poverty strategy and I hope that the Welsh Government will heed Consumer Futures’ call.”

 

Pictures of groundworks going ahead at Cilmedw

Local man Simon Colllinge has let llanblogger have these panoramic pictures he has taken which clearly show a fleet of large earth-moving machines preparing the Climedw site off the A5 for the construction of a new factory for the Dobson & Crowther printworks.

Once the company has transferred its operations to the new building, work can begin on the Sainsbury's supermarket planned for Dobson & Crowther's current site adjacent to the river. 

 

 

 

Anti-speeding cop fined for car tax offence

Richard Brunstrom, the former North Wales police chief who led a controversial speeding campaign which saw scores of motorists fined during his term of office, has himself been fined for a car tax offence in New Zealand, according to a story in today's Mail Online.

See the full story at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545958/Traffic-Taliban-police-chief-fined-100-car-tax-date-Scourge-UK-drivers-nabbed-New-Zealand-sails-round-world-wife.html

Town council sheds light on Christmas display

At their meeting on Tuesday members of Llangollen Town Council discussed the hot issue of the town’s Christmas lights.

Last year’s display prompted a number of criticisms and, as a result, a number of people unhappy with the lights recently held discussions with town clerk Gareth Thomas.

Mr Thomas told councillors that it had been something of “a heated debate” with one of the criticisms being that Llangollen’s lights weren’t as good as those in neighbouring Chirk.

At the end of the meeting, two of the people who had been complaining had agreed to look at the possibility of doing their own fundraising for a better display next year, Mr Thomas said.

He suggested that the existing set of lights, which were currently on lease from a private company, could be bought by the council to form the basis of a better display next year paid for by the fundraising.

Councillors agreed to this as the best course of action.  

Skates highlights missed GP appointments

MORE than 300 hours of medical appointments were missed in just three months at GP surgeries across Clwyd South, Assembly Member Ken Skates has revealed.

Labour AM Ken Skates has established there were at least 1,903 ‘DNAs’ – instances where patients did not attend – at the practices in his constituency between October 1 and December 31.

He is now urging patients to either keep their allotted slots or cancel in good time to avoid wasting GPs’ time and costing the NHS money.

Mr Skates said: “Based on an average appointment being 10 minutes, these missed slots amount to more than 317 hours, which would mean that almost 40 eight-hour working days have been lost in just three months by patients not turning up or letting their surgery know that they won’t be coming.

“Those who fail to keep their appointments are simply adding to the strain on staff and NHS resources. They also prevent other people from getting medical attention when they don’t even inform the surgery they can’t make it and doctors’ and nurses’ valuable time goes begging.”

Llangollen Health Centre, which has branch surgeries in Acrefair and Glyn Ceiriog, has about 9,000 patients and recorded 628 DNAs.

Forge Road Surgery in Southsea, which has a branch surgery in Brymbo, has 6,500 patients and recorded 667 DNAs over the same period. Chirk Surgery had 222 missed slots, while Caritas Surgery – which has premises in Cefn Mawr and Coedpoeth – had 173.

The actual number of missed appointments is even higher than 1,903, as three surgeries did not supply their information. Some of those who responded also have appointment slots which are longer than 10 minutes, meaning the number of hours of DNAs will be even greater.

Mr Skates added: “Missed appointments cost the NHS tens of million pounds a year across Britain and its hard-working, dedicated staff are under enough pressure as it is without having their time wasted. I don’t think a simple, 30-second phone call is too much to ask.”