Bring out your unwanted medical equipment!

A antidiluvian crutch

Many years ago my husband, Nick, had a nasty accident while on a business trip in San Francisco.  The driver of the taxi that he took from the airport to the city drove much too fast during a rain storm and skidded and crashed into the barriers at the side of the freeway.  As a result he broke his ankle and, having been patched up by San Francisco Hospital, he returned home for further treatment at the West Suffolk Hospital with crutches provided by the US medical services.

These crutches were immediately condemned as antediluvian in design by the orthopaedic department at West Suffolk.  However I have no recollection of ever returning their replacements to the hospital

Well, it seems I was not alone in hanging on to medical bits and pieces that are given out by hospitals in times of need.

Last year in Suffolk local health services issued over 100,000 NHS community equipment items to patients in need at a cost of more than £8.5m. By the end of the year nearly 40,000 items, costing £3.4m, had not been returned to the contractor Medequip. While some patients need equipment for long periods of time, NHS services lose thousands of pounds each year due to missing equipment.

In a bid to save some money the NHS, working with Suffolk County Council, has announced an amnesty during the month of March, hoping that people will return some of the items that they no longer need.  Three collection points have been set up at Medequip depots in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Ellough (near Beccles), which will be open to collect goods from 8.30 to 5 p.m. on Monday to Friday and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.  Mediquip will also pick up items if you call them on 01473 351805. The locations of the sites can be found by clicking Here. . The collection service will continue after the March amnesty is over.

Nasty scam reported in Essex!

 A nasty scam has been reported by Trading Standards in Essex, which, for many of us in South Suffolk is just down the road!  Please see the message and advice from Suffolk Trading Standards below.

We have been advised by Essex Trading Standards that they have received three reports of roofers calling at homes, claiming to be from Trading Standards.

The callers are claiming that a roofer who recently carried out work is being investigated. The caller claims that they can carry out a survey of the resident’s roof and that they will be able to claim compensation as part of the investigation. They are then asking the resident for sums of around £2,000.

Trading Standards Officers are highly unlikely to visit a consumer’s home unless they have already been asked to by the consumer or a trusted friend or relative.

Trading Standards Officers will NEVER ask a resident for money.

There are certain precautions that can be taken to guard against doorstep callers:

·         Fit and use a door security chain when you open the door.

·         Check the identification of a caller by ringing their employer. Use the telephone number from your telephone book and not one they might supply.

·         Do not let anyone to carry out work on your house until you get a second opinion and never agree to callers who say “we are only in the area today”.

·         Never keep large sums of money in the house and keep purses out of sight, not near the door.

For further information or advice on consumer issues or rogue traders please use the following contacts:

Phone: 0345 4040 506

Email: trading.standards@suffolk.gov.uk

Website: https://www.suffolk.gov.uk/community-and-safety/trading-standards-for-consumers/

Christmas Waste and how to avoid it.

I have just received my latest copy of Waste and Recycling News which has two important messages for residents during the Christmas period.

Firstly, collections of rubbish and recycling from your home will, due to various public holidays etc., be on different days from usual.   Full information, and a downloadable leaflet for Babergh,  is available HERE.

Secondly, as usual, once the festivities are over it is possible to recycle your Christmas Tree by taking it to a collection point near you.  Information about this scheme is available on the Babergh website HERE.

This scheme is now 9 years old and almost 12,800 trees have been turned into useful compost over that time.

Finally, I have had a telephone call from a resident who wanted to know if any growers are currently operating a 'rent a living Christmas Tree' scheme.  I seem to remember that the BATS group did run a scheme of this type a year or so ago, but I am not sure if that is continuing?  If anyone knows perhaps you could get in touch with me? 

Train your own traffic managers

If you run an event that needs traffic management you can avoid the expense of paying a traffic management company by sending local volunteers on a training course.

In the past the police used to take responsibility for managing traffic at events such as street fairs, sporting events etc. , but it seems that is another service that is no longer on offer.  Now the police will only turn up if an event is of 'national importance or are a potential risk to public safety'.

The course is run by a private training company (details below) and is aimed at event organisers or individuals that have responsibility for traffic management or organised events working in conjunction with the Highways Authority or others.  It is aimed at event stewards whose duties might include guiding vehicles, maintaining emergency routes, erecting signs and notices and dealing with pedestrian control.  It is not aimed at traffic marshals, who are appointed and accredited by the Police to deal with more complex traffic management at major events.

The course is classroom based, and participants have to pass a test at the end.  This does not seem too tough however since the pass rate is 70 percent.

Further details are available from  Palmer Training of Bramford, Ipswich. Telephone 01473 834969. e mail: info@palmertrainingacademy.co.uk

A good start for revamped community transport system

Different areas of coverage for Suffolk Community Transport

It is now four months since Suffolk Community Transport was reorganised and relaunched.  My colleague, Jessica Fleming, who has special responsibility for the initiative, tells me that all is going well.  The service, which is supported by the County Council, seeks to help people without access to regular public transport.

It is hoped to continually improve what is offered, and the next step is to use funds released by vehicle sales to improve connectivity with bus and train services.

To find out what is available in our area you should take a look at the website HERE.

If you have ever been attracted to the idea of driving a bus you could become a volunteer driver.
These are always in demand and there is now a webpage giving full information on what is required HERE .

If you have any problems or issues connected with the Community Transport service, please get in touch with me and I will pass your concerns and comments on to Jessica.

Sudbury CAB on the move

Belle Vue House

After over 30 years in Belle Vue House in Sudbury, Citizens' Advice, where I was involved for some years, is on the move.

The anticipated redevelopment of the Belle Vue site is probably to blame, and it seems that the Bureau has not been able to find a permanent home as yet.

With help from Babergh District Council (which always guaranteed to accommodate the Bureau in the event of changes at Belle Vue) the organisation is to move into temporary offices from 18th July.

The bureau advises clients as follows:

'During this interim period, our Chief Officer Colleen Sweeney, her staff and team of volunteers will all be working to achieve as full a service as possible, though inevitably there will be disruptions and a regrettable cessation of the drop-in service that we currently offer.  To reduce the impact of this, greater use will be made of our telephone support service.

We are asking people to telephone for advice or to arrange appointments on 01787 374671 between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm Monday to Friday

The temporary arrangements for appointments are as follows:

Monday and Friday each week from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm at the Job Centre Plus in Borehamgate. 

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10.00 am to 2.00pm at South Suffolk Business Centre, Alexandra Road, Sudbury, CO10 2ZX. This will also be our temporary venue for Money Advice appointments on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Administration will be from offices in Sandringham Court, Sudbury.

Our telephone number 01787 374671 will remain the same, and details of our services will be regularly updated on our website www.sudburycab.org.uk.  The outreach service to Hadleigh will be unaffected'.

For emergency advice, the national AdviceLine should be called on 0300 330 1151.

 

An unkind cut? When should road verges be mown?

It’s the time of year that I start to receive calls from residents who are concerned that the verges have not been cut.

Full information about the Grass Cutting Programme across the county can be found on Suffolk County Council website HERE   I can divulge however  that on smaller roads the verge is only cut once a year .  The C road programme this year commenced on June 6^th.  The whole process will take around 6 weeks, so should be completed by the week beginning 18^th July.

It is very important that verges are not cut too early for reasons connected with biodiversity.  The charity Plantlife  has recently launched a campaign to encourage better management of verges.Information on this is available HERE.  If these are routinely cut too early some 700 species of plants are put at risk.  The practice is also bad for insect and birds that rely on plants for food. 

Suffolk’s policy, while better than cutting earlier, does not it seems represent absolutely the best practice.  Plantlife suggest that to achieve the best outcome for nature verges should not be cut until mid July to September.  However, the damage in Suffolk is somewhat mitigated by the fact that only a strip a little over a meter is cut, and a number of areas have been designated as wildlife sites, and are left uncut.  This is OK, but ideally some maintenance should be carried out on these sites from time to time.   I am not sure to what extent this happens, but at the end of the day as always limited resources have to be taken into account.

I spend a lot of time driving on C roads around the Division, and I am aware that one has to take a little more care at this time of year due to the occasional lower level of visibility caused by higher vegetation levels. Of course if a junction or corner becomes dangerous, the team will go out to remedy this as soon as possible.  Problems of this type should be reported on the County Council website.

I actually think that people drive much too fast on country roads, and believe that it is no bad thing if people find they need to slow down and enjoy the countryside at this beautiful time of the year.  In any event, we owe it to wildlife and the planet to go easy with the mowing machines.