Cares Public Meeting with Jonathan Parry, Chief Executive of Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust at KGV College
19th Oct 2005
For a full report please surf this SGB link below
http://www.southportforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48967
The Southport Party have also done an excellent report on this meeting
http://www.thesouthportparty.co.uk/
-----------------------------
A meeting held at KGV College (in Fearn Building) on Wednesday 19th October 2005 at 8pm.
Explanation of abbreviations used in tonight's meeting.
MLU is Maternity Led Unit.
NHS is National Health Service
PCT is Primary Care Trust
NCT is National Childbirth Trust
PPI is Patient and Public Involvement
AGENDA
1 Meeting to be opened by Angela Weatherby
2 Apologies for absence; PCT have been invited to tonight’s event unfortunately they are unable to send representative
3 Presentation by Cath Regan of CARES; activities since last Public Meeting
4 Invitation for presentations by invited guests
5 A presentation by Richard Hallett, NCT, regarding MLU.
6 Matters arising from this evening’s topics
Pictures of the event by courtesy of Phil Rodwell of SGB.
Angela Weatherby CARES Co-chair asking for a peaceful event
Cath Regan CARES Co-chair addressed the audience
The top table
Guest speaker Richard Hallett of the National Childbirth Trust who gave many compelling reasons why Southport should continue to have maternity led services
Jeanette Brookes, Executive Director for specialist and emergency services accompanying Jonathan Parry
Mr Hallett talking about his involvement in a successful campaign against the closure of a Maternity Led Unit in Sussex in 1997.
Mr Mohsen N Iskander, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Southport & Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust
Mr & Mrs Naylor ever eager to support the noble cause
Jonathan Parry, NHS Chief Executive comes under fire from an angry audience
Terry Durance
Joanne Williams (centre) of the NCT with members of the audience
CARES member Mark Bigley
Ainsdale's Cllr. Brenda Porter expressing her utter revulsion at Mr Parry's answers
Questions from the audience
Mr & Mrs Cobham
CARES member John Price who informed the meeting that five births have been carried out in the back of ambulances
------------------------
Why CARES did not formally invite Southport’s MP John Pugh to the KGV meeting
CARES was created by bringing together parents and politicians from different parties with the prime aim of reinstating our lost children’s and maternity services. This coalition appeared to work well at first but alongside our movement for full restoration we had the local Champion newspaper, which was campaigning hard for a Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) in the town.
By day, CARES members were reading how our MP John Pugh “fully” supported the Champion’s MIU campaign and by evening we were meeting with him and he was supposedly backing our aims for full restoration of services. This totally conflicted with what he was reported to have said in the Champion. CARES members could not understand Mr Pugh’s motives and when we asked him to clarify; he largely avoided the issue without properly explaining his motives or loyalties.
After the fantastic protest march of August 03, which saw the town united for one aim, the disintegration started to creep in. Meetings were held with TV crews by some CARES members without telling the others. Some members even held hospital interviews with TV crews present ‘without’ consulting the whole group. Some of the group were supportive of a Minor Injuries Unit and others were not. A divide had occurred and the members who were simply being ‘true’ to the original objective of the campaign, i.e. full restoration of services, were sadly forced to take action as the other members of the group were blatantly diluting the main aims that CARES was created to follow.
Subsequent to this unfortunate turn of events, CARES democratically voted to expel those members (and stand-in members) who were 'not' acting in the best interests of the CARES originally-decided mandate, which was agreed by the residents of Southport.
During the CARES meeting of September 2003 we received a great deal of support from the audience, a visit to parliament (with nearly 20.000 signatures on petitions) was discussed and other campaign tactics were put on the table.
Members from the breakaway group SOS (made up of various Lib/Dem activists & some previously expelled members of CARES) were also in attendance handing out their leaflets. They created some unnecessary disorder along with one or two Lib/Dem activists who sadly failed to behave in an orderly fashion. Most notably was Libdem activist Simon Shaw who constantly shouted at the audience and committee, failed to let anyone else speak and generally acted in a most disrespectable and unprofessional manner which resulted in his later 'expulsion' from the meeting. He continued shouting at others whilst in the foyer outside the main hall. Click this link to see Shaw's fiasco.
Political activist, Simon Shaw, in pink, was asked to behave properly during a previous public meeting - he refused to do so and was later ejected.
Shaw is now a local councillor.
--------------
Following his expulsion Mr Pugh quickly made local front page news by attacking a CARES member and bringing her private religious beliefs into the scenario. Personal beliefs had no place whatsoever in the campaign and it was extremely wrong of this MP to resort to such tactics in public. Ordinary residents including ones that vote Libdem have expressed grave concern over this unwarranted and seemingly discriminatory action by John Pugh.
Around this time, Mr Pugh’s assistant and then Vice Chair of the local Liberal Democrats, Tony Dawson, mounted what was to become a lengthy one-man crusade of appalling abuse under the pseudonym of ‘Tonio’ on SGB website forums. Mr Dawson was later exposed by the Oldham press for writing most 'bizarre' and offensive things on the SGB website against CARES members. Dawson was a stand in member for Mr Pugh at the time on the massive CARES-arranged protest march. John Pugh was on holiday at the time of this critical march.
CARES brought all of these matters to the attention of both Mr Pugh and Libdem leader Charles Kennedy yet nothing was apparently done to halt the abuse.
The press in Southport have largely avoided reporting this despicable situation to the public at large.
These are 'some' of the reasons why CARES have NOT asked John Pugh to this particular health concern meeting!