Somerset this week: 19 April 2024
This week look at GP provision in Wincanton, more on our investigation into Chard Town Council, we meet a Labour candidate for Glastonbury & Somerton and get a station progress (or lack of) update.
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Somerset this week: 19 April 2024
Getting better all the time?
A number of people contacted Somerset Confidential® complaining about the doctor’s surgery service in Wincanton. In autumn last year the lead GP, Martha Manning, departed to Langport. The two other full-time GPs departed shortly thereafter.
The Wincanton Health Centre is part of the Symphony Group that we have reported on several times in the past.
One resident told us that in the absence of full-time GPs the Health Centre relies increasingly on the “Ask My GP” online facility. Great for some, but not something elderly patients feel comfortable using. Meanwhile cover has been provided by locums, a GP covering one day a week from Crewkerne and a new doctor available three days a week.
cover has been provided by locums
All this for a town whose population is burgeoning as more and more housing estates go up. At the 2021 census the population was 6,740, up some 50% since 2001.
One resident who contacted us but asked not to be named told us: “with the rapidly increasing population the absence of full time GPs in the town is an accident waiting to happen.”
Meanwhile local MP Sarah Dyke visited Symphony (which is actually headquartered in Wincanton) in February. She reported that: “Symphony and the surgery’s strong multidisciplinary team are already bringing about improvements & are committed to providing continuity of care. Of Symphony’s 17 surgeries across 22 locations, Wincanton HC continues to be one of the highest rated by patients.”
In response to questions from Somerset Confidential®, Amanda Curl, practice manager at Wincanton Health Centre, explained: “Last autumn, a number of GPs at Wincanton Health Centre resigned from their position to pursue other opportunities closer to their homes. Following an active recruitment campaign, we are pleased to confirm that we have recruited three highly experienced GPs who have accepted a permanent, salaried position within the health centre with one already in post, one starting next month and one in the summer. We are also in discussions with a further GP to fill the final position.
“While we understand that this change may be unsettling for people within Wincanton and surrounding areas, during this interim period we have worked hard to ensure consistency for our patients by booking the same locum GP for longer periods of time where possible. Many of our patients will also be familiar with our experienced clinical lead, Andy Palmer, paramedic practitioner, who has worked at Wincanton Health Centre for over seven years and continues to provide clinical and professional leadership to the practice team.
“In addition, the health centre is supported by another Symphony Healthcare GP where needed and we also have a strong multidisciplinary team that includes other experienced healthcare professionals, who provide a wide range of clinical services to ensure that patients get the right care from the right individual.
“We’ll continue to share workforce updates with our patients through our monthly practice newsletter.”
We’ll continue to keep our ears to the ground. Meantime we’d be really interested to hear from readers who use the Wincanton Health Centre. Write to us at: somersetconfidential@gmail.com and tell us your experience of the service.
Council cover-up continues to unravel
Attempts by LibDem councillors on Chard Town Council to cover up a “toxic” culture and bullying of council staff continued to unravel this week.
First a bit of a recap.
As regular readers may recall, there have been three separate independent reports conducted into the bullying culture at Chard Town Council. The last one, prepared by consultant Chris Rolley, identified but did not name, three town councillors as primarily responsible for the bullying culture. As it happens, all three councillors came from the LibDem group on the council.
Attempts by members of the public and victims of the bullying to get the LibDem leadership, both nationally and locally, to intervene and take action fell on deaf ears.
Now there are elections looming. Immediately in May for the Police & Crime Commissioner and later this year a General Election too. The LibDems stand to do very well in those elections, both locally and nationally. So any whiff of scandal will be, let’s say, unhelpful.
You might wonder how you cover up a toxic culture with councillors bullying staff? One way is to either not carry out exit interviews with staff, or ensure that if they are carried out, they don’t get filed and retained. Another is to allow the individual accused of bullying to carry out the exit interview of the employee who felt bullied.
Inconveniently, these facts were included in the report carried out by Chris Rolley.
On 6 February a Chard Town Councillor asked Chard Town Council officers to investigate the independent report published by Chris Rolley. He was effectively asking Chard Town Council to clear itself of bullying.
By 18 March this one-sided investigation concluded that Chris Rolley’s report was biased. This was all without the inconvenience of talking to Chris Rolley (let alone putting the allegations of bias to him to hear what he had to say). It is hard to imagine anything that could be more the antithesis of an independent report.
At the Full Council meeting on 18 March town councillors decided to accept the conclusions of the investigation, and agreed to disregard the Rolley Report. A report, incidentally, which the town council had commissioned and paid over £5,000 for.
Of course, the report prepared by Chard Town Council officers summarising their investigation is being kept from the public gaze (unlike Mr Rolley’s report which was made publicly available).
We need hardly add that nearly all of the proceedings of Chard Town Council covering the process have taken place in confidential sessions away from the public gaze. The degree of secrecy and cover-up in a modern town council is astonishing. As is the lack of concern expressed by those in a position to do something about it.
As Private Eye would say: “trebles all round”.
The cover-up has been aided and abetted by a wall of silence. We have asked questions of the town clerk, the Mayor of Chard and through the council’s contact form. Nearly all of those questions remain unanswered.
There are however some things that Chard Town Council cannot hide away from the public gaze.
In the past two months:
A Chard Town Councillor made a series of allegations against a staff member
The town clerk has resigned
The town clerk’s agreed replacement decided not to take up the post
A consultant, Peter Finnis, initially agreed to join the council as proper officer, but then rescinded his offer
This week another member of Chard Town Council staff handed in their resignation
So pretty much business as usual for a town council which is in denial that it has a bullying problem, and presumably sees the exceptionally large staff turnover as “just one of those things.”
We thought it would be interesting this week to hear an independent view. That of Peter Finnis whom Chard Town Councillors had asked to become their proper officer.
He politely declined their offer once he realised the council had rejected Mr Rolley’s report. He issued a statement to councillors to explain why he had decided not to work for Chard Town Council. He sets out his stall, saying he would only have worked for the council if he had had the backing of councillors and there was an acknowledgement that the “excessive staff turnover and widespread allegations of bullying” needed to be sorted.
He also points out: “the extraordinary degree of infamy that Chard currently has in the wider local government network”. Which may explain why it is so hard to get people to come and work for the town council.
the extraordinary degree of infamy that Chard currently has
Mr Finnis has worked with the town council before; last year he conducted a code of conduct training session. Even then there were warning signs as he notes: “there were certain absentees from that session” presumably referring to the three councillors identified with the bullying culture.
However it was the publication of the minutes of the 18 March meeting, where the council agreed to bin the report by Chris Rolley, that proved to be the final straw (as we suspected all along and hinted at in our article last week).
Mr Finnis says that barely a year since he ran the training course: “the new town clerk has become the latest in a long line to have resigned and an independently commissioned report has been treated by the council with contempt, not to mention potentially libellous comments directed at the integrity of the report author and set out graphically in public Council minutes. These actions show me that the Council is unwilling to work collectively and tackle the very serious issues it has. Whether this is due to placing personal relationships or political loyalties above the well-being of your staff, or the interests of the community you purport to serve, I can only speculate.”
Mr Finnis who has himself been a Monitoring Officer and Chief Officer for a District Council knows what he is talking about. These are just the sort of issues that would come before a council Monitoring Officer.
He expressed his disappointment as he felt he could have made a difference and reset the clock for the town council. However he adds: “that will not happen all the while the Council is made up of, not just the perpetrators of unacceptable behaviour, but apologists who enable it to continue. In closing, I can only urge the members of Chard Town Council to understand and accept the degree of toxic dysfunctionality that currently exists and realise the seriousness of the situation you are in.”
Yet another person, totally independent of Chard Town Council, is telling them an unpleasant truth. No doubt the council’s LibDems will soon be telling anyone who will listen (a diminishing number of people) that he too, despite the fact they invited him to be their proper officer, is biased.
There comes a point when the volume of evidence mounting up and the number of people willing to point it out, becomes overwhelming.
It would be nice to see the LibDem leadership come out and condemn the bullying culture and support a proper independent investigation into the council. For now at least, it appears that political expediency trumps staff well-being.
Maybe after the elections they’ll take a look? But if things continue the way they are going, there won’t be any staff left to have their well-being worried about.
Who is Hal Hooberman?
Last week Labour finally got round to announcing some of the candidates who would stand in Somerset constituencies at the next general election. For the constituency of Somerton & Frome the candidate will be Hal Hooberman. This week Somerset Confidential® caught up with him to find out more about him and his hopes for the constituency.
Somerset Confidential : Firstly, where are you from and what are your connections to the constituency?
Hal Hooberman: This is home! I am from Bruton, in the east of the new constituency. I was born at Yeovil Hospital and I went to the local state schools, Bruton Primary and then Sexey’s, as did my brother. My three sisters went to King Arthur’s in Wincanton and Strode College in Street. My family is all between Bruton and Wincanton with my nephews and nieces now going to the same schools that I went to.
I have been involved with Labour locally for 8 years, since I was 16. I am now the Secretary of the newly-formed Glastonbury & Somerton Labour Party – which stretches from beyond Langport in the west, up to Glastonbury and Street in the north, over to Bruton and Wincanton in the east, and down to Mudford in the south – a big old patch!
It is beyond a privilege to be Labour’s candidate right here at home, though campaigning in Somerton will bring up old childhood traumas of losing cup final after cup final with Bruton United at Somerton Recreation Ground!
SC: Apart from the Labour manifesto, which we can read in due course, what do you personally bring to the campaign and what would you bring if elected?
HH: I think that I combine being locally rooted with a real sense of passion and energy, both for our beautiful part of Somerset and Labour’s plan for a fairer, greener future.
I love campaigning, priding myself on listening to local people’s concerns and championing Labour’s positive plan to get Britain’s future back. I am really looking forward to taking this to the streets, pubs, and town and village centres of Glastonbury and Somerton.
I believe in the good that a Labour Government can do and I want to share that with the people of Glastonbury and Somerton. Having also worked for a Labour Member of Parliament, I know the power of having a good, visibly local Labour MP – standing up for and supporting local people.
If elected, I will stay locally rooted, I will stand up for integrity and ethics in our politics, and I will be a strong, passionate voice for Glastonbury and Somerton in Westminster.
SC: If you had to pick one issue which dwarfs the others, what is the big ticket item for you?
HH: After 14 years of this Conservative Government, the extent of the decay in our part of Somerset and across the country makes this a nigh on impossible question to answer! The NHS, the cost of living crisis, education, or the neglect of our rural economy and farming – any new Government’s to-do list will be a long and urgent one.
But, I have to pick, so it has to be getting Britain building again. That means our plans for a green industrial revolution, building social and affordable homes, and all of this alongside decent infrastructure. This will bring green, fair growth to our economy both locally and nationally, as well as drastically increasing housing stock meaning local people can afford to live where they have grown up, and rebuilding our roads, rural public transport, and local amenities to build real communities.
This is what I hear from voters when knocking on doors, and this is what I will champion.
SC: What do you think of the candidates you are up against?
HH: Each of Sarah Dyke, Faye Purbrick, and Jon Cousins have proved themselves to be dedicated public servants to their respective local communities in Somerset – and that is admirable. I may disagree with each of them politically, but I do not doubt their commitment to our beautiful part of Somerset – and I commend them for that. It is a strong local field. We are lucky in Glastonbury and Somerton.
I look forward to a clean, robust campaign in which we can focus on what matters to local people.
SC: It is bound to be noted that Labour have been very slow choosing candidates in Somerset. How do you respond to the charge that Labour don’t see this part of the world as a priority?
HH: All parties have priorities and target areas. Labour is getting round to all the regions in time.
Selecting candidates is no small job for Labour and it is right that the party makes sure that every candidate is fit to be a Member of Parliament, something that those in the former Somerton and Frome constituency will, I’m sure, appreciate.
Labour is a national party that cares and works for all parts of our country. We have proved that there are no no-go areas for us – with unprecedented wins in Tory strongholds such as Selby & Ainsty, Mid Bedfordshire, and in Kingswood – just up the road! Labour has a real chance in Somerset at the upcoming General Election and we are fighting for every vote.
SC: Will we in Somerset get a good deal from a Labour Government?
HH: Should Labour be given the opportunity to serve as the people’s government, I am genuinely excited about what this will mean for us.
I think of my family, my neighbours, and those I've grown up with here – Labour in Government will transform our lives for the better.
Getting Britain’s economy growing in a fair and green manner, turning on Great British Energy to drive our green energy transition, drastically improving access to healthcare by cutting NHS waiting lists and tackling the dentistry crisis, breaking down the barriers to opportunity by making sure that every child has access to high-quality education, and taking back our streets with 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs.
Unlike the shoddy self-interest we have seen under the Conservatives and their ‘levelling up’ sham, Labour will deliver for the entire country – including for the people of Glastonbury and Somerton.”
The latest poll for the Glastonbury & Somerton constituency shows that Mr Hooberman has a lot of hard work to do. But he has experience of that having supported Sean Dromgoole in his campaign for Labour in the old Somerton & Frome constituency at the 2017 General Election.
Current polling from Electoral Calculus puts this as very much a two-horse race between LibDems and Conservatives with the LibDems given an 87% chance of winning. Predicted vote percentages (with candidates in brackets) are:
45% LibDem (Sarah Dyke)
27.8% Conservative (Faye Purbrick)
11.5% Labour (Hal Hooberman)
9.5% Reform UK (Tom Carter)
5.1% Green (Jon Cousins)
Can’t hear my train a comin’
It was 1967 when Jimi Hendrix first recorded “Hear my train a comin’”. Langport and Somerton residents have been waiting even longer than that to get their station back.
Somerton Station and Langport East Station closed to passengers in the Beeching cuts programme in 1962. The Langport Transport Group (LTG) has been actively campaigning to get a station reinstated to serve the two towns. To do that, there is a process laid out under the Restoring Your Railway scheme run by the Department for Transport (DfT).
LTG completed the feasibility study technically known as a Strategic Outline Business Case and submitted this to the DfT in March 2022. Since when the silence has been deafening.
Compare and contrast the fate of the station here in a constituency with a LibDem MP, with that of Wellington whose MP is a Conservative Government Minister. Wellington has heard back much more quickly and is well on the way to getting its station.
Which, to be clear, is of course very good news.
But it also looks a lot like favouritism? When Sarah Dyke, the LibDem MP for Somerton & Frome raised the issue last month at Prime Minister’s questions, Mr Sunak more or less rubbed Somerton & Frome voters’ noses in it responding: “Conservatives in the south-west are rightly championing the reopening of local stations. Cullompton and Wellington will be among the places that receive funding as a result of our decision on HS2.”
What the MP really wanted to know was why, when LibDems in the south-west did exactly the same thing, the government and DfT simply closed their ears.
Meanwhile the non-political LTG has been quietly getting on with other things that may support the business case for a station. The group bid in March for Great Western Railway (GWR) Customer and Community Improvement Funding (CCIF) to support two pieces of research to further strengthen the case for a reopened railway station. Phil Edge, Chair of LTG said: “We believe it will now help deliver the station if we can show a train service concept that works. With rail industry input the business case showed sufficient pathways exist on the line for a new service. Specialist consultants now need to develop more detail about how an operator could serve the station with a particular service.”
The second part of the study hopefully also to be funded by GWR’s CCIF will identify innovative and practical ways to partly offset the £15m cost of the new station for Somerton and Langport.
For information about the project follow this link
We asked LTG if they had still had no response from the DfT some two years after they submitted the original business case. Simon Taylor, secretary to the LTG told us: “We are trying to work out what might be hindering the outline business case’s smooth passage. The absence of an identified train service may be a reason but you wouldn’t expect such detail to be in an outline business case given that the business case modelling showed it was viable to run a service with the existing signalling pathways. We are just keen to remove any possible outstanding obstacles if indeed that is one hence our bid to the GWR fund.”
We are just keen to remove any possible outstanding obstacles
Quite why it takes two years to fail to get a response from the DfT is something of a mystery. It is certainly something the DfT have been unable to either justify or explain.
We contacted them on Monday and asked when LTG might get a response. The helpful response received was: “The Department is currently considering applications for Restoring Your Railway schemes, including the Langport/Somerton bid. We will provide more details in due course.”
When we pushed a little harder, that didn’t yield results either. We we told: “as the department is still currently considering applications, I am not able to provide any further information around dates and bids for now.”
Given that some bids have been approved and are already going ahead, that statement doesn’t really add up. But we are where we are.
Frankly after two years of silence we’re not sure that “in due course” is good enough.
Kingsbury May Festival
A cheery note to finish on and a date for your diaries. If you haven’t been before, this is a must. The Kingsbury May Festival attracts literally thousands of people to the village each year. By far the biggest and arguably the best May Day celebration in Somerset if not the west country, this year the Kingsbury May Festival will be taking place on Monday 6 May.
This year’s theme is ‘Year of the Insect’ with the creation of a new ‘Theme Zone’ based in the Church Car Park in Church Street, which will be dedicated to all things bugs and insects!
Entry to the festival is from 11am and the traditional festival programme kicks off at 12pm with the Green Man Procession followed by the opening speech and Kingsbury Song and some fantastic Maypole dancers.
There will be live music throughout the day, arts and crafts galore, classic cars, a dog show for your four-legged friends, a fantastic raffle with some amazing prizes (more details to come!), loads of activities for children (and adults!) of all ages, the cider bus is back, and as always there’ll be a wide variety of fantastic food stalls.
This being an environmentally conscious event, entry is FREE by foot and bike (donations at the bike park are appreciated). If as many will have to, you are coming by car, don’t worry. The parking is usually managed with military precision with access and egress carefully planned out in advance. There is a £10 per vehicle charge.
Keep an eye out on the Kingsbury May Festival website, where you will find all the details you need regarding road closures, parking and timings as well as all the details about the festival activities.
To find out more follow this link
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Very disappointing that there is no news on the Langport or Somerton station .