Why The Disparity? Public Health Wales Versus Office for National Statistics.

The three images below are screenshots taken from the Public Health Wales tableau on the 17th October, 2020. 

The first is #PHW figures which show nearly one million tests for #Covid19 have been carried out on 641,367 people in Wales and reports 1,708 deaths due to suspected Covid19.

The second is a graph showing the 'Cumulative deaths by Health Board of residence' - 

The third screenshot has been taken from a page which can be found when pressing on the ONS deaths tab (Office for National Statistics) and shows that there have been 900 more deaths than reported by Public Health Wales.

The Public Health Wales tableau can be found here -
https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary

Copy and paste the address into your browser.

The Ongoing Saga At Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

In 2018, the BBC reported that staff at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes, had contacted their Trade Unions - NASUWT, NEU and UCAC with concerns about how the school was being run. The statement from Gwynedd council insisting good progress was being made held no water with the staff who wanted to discuss their concerns with an 'independent' party.

The joint letter from the unions repeated previous concerns teaching staff had with the school's management. Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle was placed in special measures in 2015 which lasted until 2017 after 'robust' improvements had been made.

The BBC article from the 18th May, 2018 with the headline 'staff issue strike ballot threat' can be found here -https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-44165753

Sadly, issues with the school continue. A recent article published on the 7th October, 2020, by the Local Democracy reporter, Gareth Wyn-Williams, reports on an internal review commissioned by Cyngor Gwynedd council and compiled in February.

 https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/staff-morale-extremely-low-north-19061041?

From the Daily Post article headlined - Staff morale 'extremely low' at North Wales secondary school, damning report finds -

Despite an acceptance that general pupil behaviour had improved, the report revealed that some staff remained negative about "concerning" aspects relating to a "small core."

With staff confidence in the leadership of the headteacher "needing to be restored," it reported staff openly admitting they were "afraid of some pupils" with some feeling that Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle was "sometimes used as a dumping ground for troublesome pupils from other schools".

Among findings was that governors "did not have a firm grasp" of how the school was operating, with a danger of the body becoming "factionalised" into those who supported the headteacher and those who didn't, while also being "slow to act" on performance issues.

Many staff including the Head have been off sick for long absences which has simply added to the many problems the school has faced.

Whilst the school, the governors, the council, the GwE, tom cobley and all scramble to protect their own reputations, the well being of the children and their education for their futures appear to be last on the list of priorities.

 

Caernarfon has been an area of deprivation since forever. Millions of pounds has been thrown at the area by UK government(s), the Welsh Assembly and the European Union over the years but the people remain poor. Poor quality housing and high rents exacerbate the issues. In the 80's, heroin, poor wages and unemployment were the problem. Now it is cocaine, poor wages and unemployment..

The local children in the area suffer the consequences that such deprivation has on the mental health of their parents and the local communities yet the council pull youth clubs and support services and local businesses either close or reallocate. A vicious cycle over and over...

A 2018 FOI request revealed that 21% of the pupils at the school were recognised as having Additional Learning Needs. If the Head and staff are off sick what happens then ? How are these children being supported ?

Pupil Referral Units (PRU's) were until 2013 held in separate buildings away from school premises, now they are run on site within the schools. The PRU's in Gwynedd were highly regarded but closed due to the cuts imposed by the council. Have the closures lead to the dumping of these children back into schools who can not cope to the detriment of all ?

The figures for those recognised with ALN are even higher in other schools in Gwynedd.

ADYaCH Behaviour Support link for those who have an interest -

https://adyach.cymru/en/Parents/Services/Inclusion/Behaviour-Support/Behaviour-Support.aspx

The Behaviour Support Service seeks a positive change in the behaviour of young people who experience behavioural, emotional and social development difficulties. The aim is to improve behaviour and reduce the risk of exclusion from school.

One Year Of Non-Compliance - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

It is now October - one full year of Cyngor Gwynedd council being in non compliance of the Ombudsman for Wales recommendations -

"71. The Council should (within three months) seek specialist input to develop a plan for dealing with future assessment and support requests from/for those suffering with Autism."

Nick Bennett has given the council chance after chance and even expressed to the family, his frustrations over the situation with the council - all to no avail it seems.

The council's CEO, Dilwyn Williams, appears to blame the SS departments for the 'slippage' whilst doing nothing to take control of the situation, himself. Whilst the Director of SS, who has no social work background blames the recent pandemic (that doesn't explain what happened to compliance before that time)

What to do now ? Putting in yet another complaint to the council means placing 'independent investigators' in the firing line to be bullied amd overwhelmed by senior officers and I am not prepared to do that.

Raise yet another complaint with the Ombudsman ? What is the point ? Mr Bennett is not respected by anyone in this corner of North Wales and appears powerless to hold councils to account and so it would be a waste of public resources to do so.

The complaints system in Wales is not fit for purpose and Judicial Review appears to be the only way to hold any public organisation to account. But there is no legal aid and what family can afford the £25K+ - minimum - that is required to bring such a case ? Local authorities as we know have an unlimited amount of money at their disposal from public funds. 

The Ombudsman wrote to say that the autism specialist commissioned by the council promised to present their draft report to the council by the end of September 2020.

Not quite what the the recommendation called for, but, as Mr Bennett says, it is up to him to accept any variation on recommendations - as he sees fit.

No mention is made of the Ombudsman even receiving a copy of the draft report himself and even so draft reports can be changed.......

What next ? An email from the ombudsman later on today ?

Something is very, very wrong within Gwynedd council.

 

 

Autism Pathway ? - Cyngor Gwynedd Director Of SS Annual Report.

The Director of Cyngor Gwynedd Social Services, Morwena Edwards, has published her Annual report to be presented to the council on the 1st October.

Unlike the Welsh Government's generic report she presented last year, this report gives more detail of the performance of both the Adult and Children departments she is responsible for but like so many reports emenating from this council it doesn't seem to tell the whole story.

On page 31, under the title of Learning and Development, the Director makes mention that -

"The Department has been in contact with the Ombudsman's Office for some years now regarding one specific case....
The Department has received many recommendations from the Ombudsman, and one remains as outstanding; however, slippage has been seen in the work as a result of the Covid-19 crisis."

The Covid-19 crisis is only the latest 'reason' for 'slippage', so somewhat misleading....

 (There have been 5 Ombudsman investigation reports into both the Adult and Children departments - in 4 years.)

 

In June, 2019, the Chief Executive Officer, Dilwyn O Williams, sent a letter to the family apologising for all the failings upheld by the Ombudsman's investigation and informed that the Children's department had agreed to implement the recomendations by September, 2019.

 

 The Ombudsman's recommendation regarding autism is as follows -

"71. The Council should (within three months) seek specialist input to develop a plan for dealing with future assessment and support requests from/for those suffering with Autism."

 

The Council's action to meet this recommendation was to provide the Ombudsman's investigator with a copy of the "Integrated Autism Service (IAS) North Wales Update- February 2018" and a copy of the "supporting guidance" document.

No specialist input sought.  Just yet another attempt to avoid creating any 'pathway' for autistic individuals seeking social services care assessments or support. 

 

This 'evidence' was obviously not sufficient to meet the Ombudsman's recommendation and in October 2019, an officer of the Ombudsman for Wales contacted the council for an explanation of why the recommendations had not been completed as agreed and a phone call was arranged with the director Mrs Edwards to discuss compliance matters. Even though this call was arranged two weeks previous, - the council cancelled the call an hour before it was due.

 

The IAS do not carry out 'care assessments', that is the domain of health and social services, although autism advice can be sought from the IAS during the process.

 

As robust evidence of compliance was yet to be provided to the Ombudsman, in November 2019, the CEO was summoned to Cardiff to explain the 'slippage' to the Ombudsman, himself, we were also informed that the Ombudsman had other matters to discuss with the CEO..... 

(I wonder how much this cost Gwynedd taxpayers claimed as expenses but at least there was an opportunity for the CEO to do some Christmas shopping in the capital.)

 

Earlier this year, the CEO admitted that the Ombudsman for Wales is 'outraged' with Gwynedd council.

Not that outraged, as Nick Bennett could have published a 'Special Report' as he did with the Wrexham council when they failed to comply with recommendations agreed after an investigation.

 

All this was many months before the #Covid19 crisis and for the Director of Gwynedd SS to now use the pandemic as an excuse to cover for her departments failings is disingenuous.

 

When the pandemic took hold, the Ombudsman for Wales did indeed grant Cyngor Gwynedd extra time to comply with the recommendations for improvement. On the 11th June 2020, the Ombudsman wrote to the family - 

Fair enough - the pandemic has affected everything, though the Gwynedd council staff outing where one officer contracted the virus on a night out forcing an entire council group to self isolate for two weeks was not appreciated by anyone.

 

The Ombudsman wrote again to the family on the 24th August 2020 - 

 

        

So why is none of this mentioned in the Director's Annual report ? Sshh....Is it a secret ?

 

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silence From Unison And Unite Trade Unions. #BCUHB

With regard to the Robin #Holden report into Institutional Abuse at #BCUHB dated 2013, snippets of the report have appeared in the media informing of staff in tears and at the end of their tether working in the North Wales NHS mental health units. Issues of bullying are also said to be raised within the report.

The Information Commissioner had ordered BCUHB to release the report but the Board have refused and are appealing the ICO's decision. The Tribunal has a date of early 2021...

Local Trade Union branches in North Wales were recently approached for their thoughts and reaction to the report by the North Wales Community Health Council into Vascular services at BCUHB and in particular the worry of increased limb loss amongst patients. The use of antibiotics was also raised as a concern.

That report, dated 8th October, 2019, can be found here - 
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/900/Exec%20Minutes%2008102019%20%28APPROVED%29.pdf
It is a PDF document that will not open a new page but will be downloaded to your pc.

#Unison branches in the area were reluctant to give any response, some did not even acknowledge the question of if they were going to make a public statement on the damning report.

The decision by the local union officers to make no statement regarding the treatment of staff and the patients within the health board has come as a surprise to many members, especially after the shocking revelations now being made in the local press.

Now I may have expected too much from Unison as I am not a member so I approached my own union, Unite.

An acknowledgment was received from the BCU branch secretary and senior workplace rep, with regard to my inquiry, excerpts of which are reproduced below -

  ...concerns come through the recent review of the Board's Vascular Services and in particular claims of those in fear for their careers if they speak out.
Have the Trade Unions had contact with the Board and what has been the response from senior managers within the organisation - if any ?
There is also the issue of the Board discharging 1700 mental health patients from their services and the LA's having to pick up the pieces - during the lockdown.

The senior workplace rep, duly responded and on the 2nd June, said that they would be discussing with the regional officers and get back to me.

By early August, there had been no further response. I then came across a discussion on Twitter involving the Holden report and tagged both local Unison and Unite accounts into the thread hoping one would join in the conversation.

Whilst Unison did not respond - Unite simply blocked me...

The Unite rep did eventually get back to me via Facebook -

"As you are not a member of the BCU branch and you are not an employee of BCUHB I can’t provide you with that information im afraid. If you require information you will need to address your concerns to the Regional Secretary Peter Hughes at the Cardiff Office." 

Any union members that have concerns regarding work practices or whistleblowing in BCUHB may be better informing the regional organisers outside of the BCUHB region. The same goes for any Unison or Unite members within the local government organisations of North Wales.

Something is very wrong within the local government organisations of North Wales.