Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust is to hold a series of public ‘big conversations’ in which it will invite patients, carers and local communities to share their views on how patients can get a better experience when they receive NHS care.
These ‘big conversations’ will take the form of public meetings at which participants will hear presentations on how the NHS is developing locally and will be invited to take part in small round-table discussions to explore what else the NHS could do to improve patients’ experience.
The meetings will be held over the next three months and will take place in Thame (where the Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust is responsible for services provided at Thame Community Hospital) as well as in Amersham, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Bourne End, Beaconsfield, and Buckingham.
The chief executive of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Anne Eden, said: “People want good clinical outcomes. They want to receive healthcare that ensures they ‘get better’. But patients told us they also want something more. They want safe and compassionate care, they want to be listened to and they want clinicians who can take the time and trouble to explain things to them. They want a good patient experience.
“The NHS has some of the best clinical outcomes in the world and locally, here in Buckinghamshire, we have many services we can be truly proud of. We are now putting an extra special effort into improving the patient experience and we want the help of our local communities to find out what’s most important to them. That’s why we are encouraging people to come along to these “big conversations.”
Members of the public who would like to attend one of the big conversation sessions can receive full details of all the meetings – and can register to attend – by emailing dee.irvin@buckshealthcare.nhs.uk or by calling 01494 734953.
THERE have been recent reports of a carpet company cold calling elderly and vulnerable residents in the Thames Valley area.
Since the beginning of November, Oxford Trading Standards have received six complaints from elderly residents who have been cold called by telephone, by a carpet company who state they are in the area and offering to clean carpets for £19.99. Workers come and clean the carpet, but then issue a bill for anything between £300-700 and insist that this cost is paid.
Please be aware of these cold calls and refuse the ‘service’ which they offer.
If you have received a phone call recently from a carpet company offering to clean your carpet for £19.99, or know of anyone who has (if possible check with any elderly neighbours) then please contact the Doorstep Crime Team at Oxfordshire Trading Standards on 0845 051 0845 (option 2), thank you.
Thames Valley Police is working in partnership with Oxfordshire Trading Standards to ensure that this activity is brought to a stop.
NEW research commissioned by Age UK recently revealed that 450,000 people aged 65 and over are facing Christmas alone this year, but hopefully not in Thame! Once again, The Birdcage pub in Thame is holding a Community Christmas lunch on Christmas Day.
Memories of the Christmas lunch at the Bird Cage, Thame, last year 2012
One of the organisers, Cathy Thomas, said: “Last year was a huge success and we had some fabulous guests and volunteers alike. This year, we are hoping to reach out to even more of the vulnerable elderly folk of our town and ensure they ALL know about this event. Please, if anyone knows of a friend or neighbour, cares for someone, perhaps daughter or son who normally care for them are away for Christmas and which means Mum or Dad are alone on the day, we would love for them to join us for a complementary Christmas Day lunch, sponsored very generously once again by Sainsbury’s, MP Printers and Thame Welfare Trust.
“You can contact us and leave a message on 01844 217413, by emailing kakhome@me.com, Facebook Community Christmas Thame and also through twitter. Volunteers would be most welcome for many different roles: dropping leaflets; picking our guests up from their homes; dropping them back safely; companionship; entertainment (maybe you would like to put on a half hours show!!). Or you can donate a small gift (relative to their age group and non-perishable) into the Birdcage between now and Christmas Eve.
“Any which way, let’s not be a town with statistics – let’s be a community with friends!”
SIR David Jason OBE, best known for his role as Del Boy in the popular sit-com, Only Fools and Horses, has lent his support to the Florence Nightingale Day Hospice ‘makeover’ appeal in its Silver Jubilee year.
David Jason OBE
As part of the Florence Nightingale Hospice 25th Anniversary year, Sir David Jason OBE is making a special appeal to the local community to help raise over £20,000 – vital funds needed to help refurbish its Day Hospice service.
Sir David, who has penned a personal appeal letter to officially launch the campaign on Monday, November, 25, is encouraging supporters of the Hospice to ‘dig deep’ and help fund the Day Hospice ‘makeover’, which will include new furniture, tables, chairs, cushions, fittings, curtains, flooring and general maintenance. Currently, the Day Hospice, which is open from Monday-Friday, 10 am -3 pm, sees around 40-60 patients from across Aylesbury Vale and surrounding areas (including Thame) each week.
In his appeal letter Sir David said: “Florence Nightingale Hospice is a very special place – I think we all know someone who has been touched by the first-class care provided by the wonderful team of staff and volunteers here. With this in mind, I would like to encourage you to spare a few pennies to help raise funds to refurbish Day Hospice and further enhance the lives of patients and their families.”
“Our Day Hospice provides a vital service in which physical, emotional and spiritual symptoms are addressed in a warm, friendly, fun environment by the Day Hospice team,” said Senior Day Hospice nurse, Jenny Spencer-Jones. “A makeover will give the patients a brighter, fresher and more comfortable environment; enhancing and adding to the lovely ambience of the Day Hospice, a home from home, where patients can relax and be comfortable and most of all enjoy coming to.”
If you would like to help support the Day Hospice appeal please visit www.fnhospice.org.uk and click on the ‘Donate’ button or visit the dedicated fundraising page at www.make-a-donation.org. Donations can also be sent in the post addressed to Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity, Unit 4 Aylesbury Business Centre, Chamberlain Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8DY or, simply pop your donation in to the Florence Nightingale Hospice marked ‘Day Hospice Appeal’.
Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity (FNHC) fully funds the Day Hospice service at a cost of over £100,000 each year. Each patient appointment costs £135 per visit. FNHC relies heavily on its volunteer drivers, to bring patients to and from Day Hospice, which runs every week. In fact 29 drivers drove 27,582 miles last year to bring patients to the Hospice: “Having volunteer drivers, means that patients can attend the Day Hospice for the specialist support they need,” added Judy Plater, Volunteer Services Assistant.
THAME Town Cllr, Mary Stiles, officially opened the Charity Card Shop at Christchurch – Upper High Street, Thame, on Tuesday (12/11), which sells Christmas Cards and gifts on behalf of 30 National & 4 local Charities.
Councillor Mary Stiles (far left) Janet West (Shop Manager) (far right) and two of the volunteer helpers
In her opening address Mary said: “ I am a long term resident of Thame and admire all the voluntary work done by members of Christchurch in and for our community.; For the past seven years, like many of the residents of Thame and the surrounding villages, I have been grateful to the volunteers here for the card shop, which provides a one stop shop to buy our Christmas cards in aid of charities and good causes.
“Here we can buy cards for 30 national charities and this year for four local good causes as well – Thame Community Hospital, Florence Nightingale Hospice, Scanappeal and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance.”
As in other temporary shops like this one across the country, charities each receive at least 70p in every £ for all sales.
Mary concluded: “Thanks to Janet West (shop manager) and all the volunteers here. Giving time to staff the shop means it will be open six days a week until December 3, between 10am – 4pm. It gives me great pleasure to declare open this year’s Cards for Good Causes charity card shop! “
FOLLOWING yesterday’s historic planning decision, a ‘first’ for Neighbourhood Planning, the developer of the proposed housing site has welcomed the decision and has vowed to work with the community on the detailed planning of Site D.
The outline proposal includes 175 homes, a community orchard, considerable public open space, including a children’s play area, and allotments on the majority of what is known as Site D: land West of Thame Park Road.
Jon Allen, Development Manager at Commercial Estates Group, said: “We are delighted that members of SODC’s planning committee voted unanimously in favour of granting permission for this application. CEG has been working with the residents and representatives of Thame for over three years and the feedback received has genuinely had a big influence on the application which was submitted.
“CEG has been proud to support Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan from the outset – and throughout – and the decision at planning committee demonstrates that developers and communities can work very effectively together to deliver new homes which meet local aspirations.”
Site D is allocated in the Thame Town Plan for a total of 205 houses, of which CEG’s application included 175 homes. It was the first application on an allocated site to receive a resolution to grant planning consent, following the Thame Town Plan being supported by 76% of voters at a referendum in May and its subsequent adoption by SODC.
Jon Allen continued: “The application was in outline so we will now start to look at the site in further detail. Our aim is to continue the positive working relationship we have built up with the people of Thame and to deliver the high-quality development which local residents are looking for.”
A petition of signatures from people opposed to houses being built on land adjacent to Elms Park in Thame, is growing, and the man leading the opposition has now written to English Heritage, and copied the letter to all Town and District Councillors. He now wants to inform the general public and to invite them to add their names to the petition by emailing their support to: elmspetition@hotmail.co.uk
The Elms field where the proposed housing development will be, as seen from the air
The man behind the campaign is Peter Webb, who lives in Thame. His letter reads:
” ‘Dear Councillor, The Elms Petition Group would like you to be aware of the substantial opposition which exists in regard to housing development in Elms Field, Thame. Please be aware that, during the Thame Plan consultation process, 82% of people who responded on the subject of building in Elms Field were against the idea. Why did the Plan Group ignore this?
“We should make you aware also that the Thame Mayor is being served notice under the Freedom of Information Act, to respond to requests for information relating to un-minuted meetings, agendas and participants etc. relating to the unneeded inclusion of Elms Field as a site for development within the Thame Plan. The following letter, sent to English Heritage yesterday is self explanatory.’
“Dear Mr. Peats,
This letter is from the 500, so far, residents of Thame who have signed a petition against development on Elms Field.
Your email of the 31st July to one of our number, states that you were informed by the developer’s then agent, the Nash partnership, that the land to the East was in different ownership in the early 19th century. This is surely not so and we find it surprising that you have not asked for a copy of the 1826 document which, we have told you, shows the house and all the 13-odd acre field in the ownership of a Paul Blackall.
You have also been advised that we have a complete record of ownership, from then up to the present day, and the only change that occurred was the gifting of some 3 acres, by Leonard Purser, to Thame, to create a Town Park.
And yet you don’t want to review this data? Neither are you willing to insist that the Nash partnership send you a copy of the material they presented to you in the presence of the (then) South Oxfordshire District Council Conservation Officer, Jamie Preston.
It is quite unacceptable that Nash can resist giving you a copy of the material they presented to you, on the basis that they no longer work for the developer who now owns The Elms. You should have obtained a copy for your records at the time you met with Nash but are surely entitled to insist that you be given a copy now. The current lack of a relationship between Nash and the developer is completely immaterial.
The fact is, your letter of the 25th October 2012, to the Thame Town Clerk assessed The Elms and the field as a valuable survivor of the mini estates that were common in small towns like Thame in the 19th century. The field has long been, and still is, a green lung in the centre of Thame. Is it not the job of English Heritage to preserve such green space? your letter is quite specific in emphasising that the field area both to the South and to the East are important to the setting of the Elms and you record that SODC Conservation took action in 2006 to extend the Conservation Area to include the Field and Park. You repeat their statement that the Park and Field together represent an “Important open space” in Thame.
Your letter was quite firm in finding the development proposal “deeply damaging”. So what has changed and why are you unwilling to examine whether there is evidence of manipulation in this whole affair?
It should be pointed out also that the setting of The Poplars, also a listed building and until the Toovey sale in 1928 in the same ownership as The Elms, is adversely affected by the proposed development of the Eastern part of the field. Surely ownership of the field is not relevant to that fact.
You should be made aware also that the meeting you and Jamie Preston attended, where, due to suspect information provided by Nash, you accepted the possibility of building 35 houses, has no minutes to record who said what. The Town Clerk refuses to explain this lack. Who was present? The developer? Who else? Why is this, so far as we know, the only meeting held with a developer?
Then, why did the Town Council later call a second meeting, where they upped the number of house to a maximum of 45? Who arranged that meeting? Why are the minutes so lacking in content? Why was one Councillor who said he was against any development in Elms field told (by whom is not recorded) “That is not a Council matter”. Also why does the Town Clerk now claim that it wasn’t a Council meeting , when the so-called minutes are clearly headed “Meeting of the Thame Town Council”?
Why was the site being considered at all? There was no need for it since the potential housing sites suggested to the Town Council by SODC were more that adequate to accommodate the 775 houses allocated to Thame. Each of those sites had developers associated and awaiting a decision by the Council as to how the houses would be allocated. Did any of those developers attend meetings with the Plan Group to push their sites? We think not.
It doesn’t directly concern your opinion of the importance of retaining Elms field as an open space, either as a pasture, as it has traditionally been or in some other suitable form but, as background, you might be interested to know that the Town Clerk went into print to tell citizens that there would be no point in voting “No” to the town plan because 775 houses were going to be built anyway. So, no point voting at all. Which many didn’t. The point is that the 775 was not the issue. Where to build was the issue and the “Yes for Thame Campaign” leaflet makes no mention at all of where the Councillors had decided buildings would go. So people had no idea what they were voting for. That same leaflet is inaccurate and misleading in several other ways, which are not the subject of this letter.
In conclusion, You are asked, by a rather substantial number of citizens, to re-examine your position. Were you misled and should you reinstate the opinions contained in your letter to the Town Clerk?
A copy of this letter is being sent to all Town and SODC Councillors, SODC Planning, and to the press. Thame Councillors should ask themselves whether they have been unduly influenced by interested parties and also how they have come to accept the idea of 44 houses jockeying to get to and from the Elms Field site via Nelson Street and Southern Road, when they turned down the idea of 7 houses on the Old Dairy site, due to the fact that those same two streets are severely congested.”
Signed, The Elms Petition Group
Anyone who wishees to join the petition against The Elms development, can do so by emailing a list of petitioners (over 18s) together with a house address to elmspetition@hotmail.co.uk. For people who do not have access to the web, they can drop a note of their support, with names and address, in an envelope adressed to Elms Petition, at Petcare in the Cornmarket, Thame.
Addresses outside OX9 will be listed within the petitioner list as “Friends of Thame”
THAME Scouts have proudly announced that they have raised £1284.71 for the British Legion Poppy Appeal this year, with a street collection on Saturday, November 2, and coin collections on meeting nights.
ON Wednesday, November 13, between 12.45 am and 7.10am, a vehicle was stolen from Cuttle Brook Gardens, Thame. The offender(s) stole a grey BMW 325, partial registration PN58 *** from a driveway.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message please call the police on 101.
Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online @ crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
AS well as bringing thousands of visitors to Thame on the day, the Thame Food Festival, as a Not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC), helps raise funds for local good causes and last night (Tuesday), local charities were presented with a total of £2,370 raised through the event’s parking and the tombola stall.
Lotte Duncan (left), Ken Bruce and Harriet Hieat-Smith from Thomley Activity Centre, in Worminghall, nr Thame
The festival parking, including the red, double-decker bus, Park and Ride scheme operating for the first time, was manned by volunteers from Thame Lions, Thame Rotary, Thame Boys Football and the Cornerstones church. The local charitable organisations which accepted cheques last night included Thomley Hall (£500), which BBC radio presenter, Ken Bruce, accepted on its behalf with Harriet Hieat-Smith, from food festival Director, Lotte Duncan. Ken’s son is a regular attendee at Thomley’s activities days.
Roger Blackburn of Thame Lions Club accepted a cheque for £550 from the Deputy Mayor, Jeannette Matelot Green, which Roger explained would go towards a trip to the panto for Thame SAFARI, and some to supporting Thame Young Carers. Jeannette herself, as this year’s President, then accepted a cheque for £550 on behalf of Thame Rotary which will be divided between SAFARI, Sharing Life Trust, the Thame and District Day Centre and Thame players.
Robert Ellis of Thame Lions presented a cheque for £100 to Carlo Abreu and Frank Thompson of the Thame Football Partnership as a donation for Thame Boys who assisted with the parking at Southern Road Rec. during the festival. Robert Ellis of Cornerstones Church presented a cheque of £150 to church members,John Bancroft and Michael Bradley and then John handed the cheque on to Steve Eyre and Phil Stratton as a donation to the Thame Food Bank.
The Thame Food Bank also benefited from the Tombola held during the food festival, when a cheque for £520 was presented by Jeannette Matelot Green (current President of Thame Rotary) and Roger Blackburn, to Steve and Phil.
John Hulett gave an illustrated presentation about the valuable work of the Thame Food Bank, and Phil Stratton and Steve Eyre, explained the work of the Sharing Life Trust, including the newly launched Thame Community Bank.
Lotte Duncan thanked all the volunteers for their vital and stirling work in co-ordinating and managing the festival parking, and emphasised to everyone that the Thame Food Festival is run by volunteers as a CIC, and that none of the Directors take any money out of the festival, the only paid employee being the Administrator, Alison Isherwood.
The Mayor of Thame, Peter Lambert, now a successful publican and brewer in Thame, brought the evening’s presentations to a conclusion with a moving reflection on how a food parcel from his parents had brought much-needed help to him, his wife Trudi and their children, six and a half years previously when he lost his pub business, his lively-hood and the family’s home.
