Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

As per my post on the 26th & 30th January on the Whittlesey Town Councillors who will NOT be standing for re-election in this coming May’s local elections.

I could say ‘another’ long time serving Whittlesey/Fenland District Councillor has decided to retire, however there are ‘some’ reports he may not…..He is NOT been selected to run for the conservative group either in Whittlesey or FDC, and rumour/reports are he may run as an Independent candidate and I don’t like rumours…..
When I asked him some months ago of his plans – his answer was ‘He wanted his life back, and had done enough years as a councillor’
So for the time being I’ll say he is retiring.
Cllr Steve Garratt’s attendances at Council meetings has been somewhat dismal to say the least, hardly ever turning up at Full Council meetings over the past 18 months.

Photo WTC/RWT Photo

I’ve heard his fellow councillors are none too pleased about it – but what did they do about it….!!!!! Farewell Steve – enjoy your retirement?

More to come…..

Martin Curtis                     Ralph Butcher

Every year GP surgeries carry out a Patient Satisfaction Survey(s), one question being ‘Experience in making an appointment’ The Peterborough Telegraph has published the league table – but the two Whittlesey Surgeries did not do well at all.
In the case of New Queen Street Surgery – they came 32nd out of 40
Jenner Health Centre – they came 24th out of 40
There are many factors, a few which I’ll mention, some surgeries are much bigger than others and from the results it can be seen that the smaller ‘village’ surgeries come out much better in the rankings.

I have been a member of the New Queen Street Surgery – PPG – Patients Participation Group since its inception. I believe the PPG is a very good group at being able to engage with the surgery and its management. That said it can only do so much and has no remit to be able to officially change the surgery policy – it can apply pressure and lobby in certain instances.

Feedback from the Surgery Management (NQS) is that ‘They are happy with the new arrangement’ which was originally trialled and then put into full time placement.
The doctors like the new system and they say they actually ‘get to see’ more patients.

This doesn’t come out well in the above league ‘satisfaction’ table.
New Queen Street Surgery 57.1% satisfaction rating
Jenner Health Centre 62% satisfaction rating

What do the ratings mean?

A total of 40 practices in the Peterborough area have been rated after patients were asked about their experience on behalf of the NHS in March 2018, including how they rated the surgery where they are registered.

According to the NHS, a practice that scores below a 70 per cent average rating is considered to be ‘among the worst’, while a practice which scores 90 per cent or above is ‘among the best’. Those rated between 70 per cent to 80 per cent are classed as ‘OK’.

Read more at: PT-Patients Satisfaction Survey

As per my story last week,  RG Article Mud Walls Going to March

A good article in The Cambs Times© Click Here – CT Mud Walls
A special exhibition has launched in March on how unusual structures in Whittlesey have been preserved.
The Mud Walls Group show how their walls have been surveyed and restored at the exhibition at March Museum.

Organiser Robert Boddington explained how some people felt the walls were a “liability”, but others recognised that the individual nature of the structures enhanced the value of the properties they were built on.
Picture Cambs Times©

David Hancock, who initially identified the remaining mud walls in the town, said that he was not aware of any such constructions in March.

Les Heaton, a March resident and museum member, believed that there had been a couple of mud walls but these had been levelled in the 1940s.

If anyone has further information, David Edwards, the museum archivist would be interested to hear on 01354655300.

The Mud Walls exhibition is free to view and open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10.30 to 3.30pm throughout February.

In general with the help of ‘volunteers’ our town can be regarded as a ‘fairly’ clean and safe place to live, work and play. Yes we are not without incidents, and the amount of rubbish left by some is a disgrace…’we’ clear most of it up, with our two excellent street cleaners.
Graffiti and Fly-Tipping is similarly dealt with by Fenland District Council.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom calls on fellow MPs to back The Mail’s Great British Spring Clean campaign.

Andrea Leadsom said litter is a ‘huge concern’ following launch of campaign In Commons she urged politicians to don high-vis jackets and take part

• Nearly 25,000 people have signed up to clear-up waste in just six days 
• Visit http://gbspringclean.org to sign up to the Daily Mail’s Great British Spring Clean campaign today.

  So why not have a one off/time go and surprise yourself …….get a bit of fresh air and meet/network with other passionate people who care about out town and villages…..or contact :
  Rebecca Robinett
  Street Pride Co-ordinator
  Fenland District Council
  01354 602134
  rrobinett@fenland.gov.uk

15 days of celebrations, eating and family gatherings – The year of the Pig.

Some of us during our career’s or community work have had to have CRB checks – Criminal Records Bureau, as they were known, I have had several enhanced CRB checks done.
It is now called DBS – Disclosure and Barring Service.

What is the Difference Between a CRB and a DBS Check?
There is no difference between a CRB and DBS check. … One of which was the coming together and merge of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), under the new title of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

I have no issues with this being done to ‘safeguard’ the public/children or vulnerable people I engage with – but it is only as good as the day the checks are done.
I have no issues with the frequency these checks are done – there is a cost of course.

So we learn this week that Cambs Police come pretty low on the league table of checking up on their own officers.

BBC 5 Live Investigates found that there were thousands of officers and staff who had not undergone the stricter checks.

Freedom of Information replies from 36 of 43 police forces in England and Wales revealed that 16 of them had not performed retrospective background checks on those people.

West Midlands Police had the largest number of officers and staff who had not been checked or vetted within the last 10 years, with 3,283.

Hertfordshire Constabulary had 831 and Cambridgeshire Constabulary had 637.

West Midlands Police said it had “backlogs in our routine reviews of vetting” but it was confident only “a minority” were not covered by other government or security checks.

So Cambs Police it is time to get your own house in order – otherwise the ‘public’ may well loose confidence in the service.
If I a member of the public need vetting regularly – surely the Police should come under the same rules.