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Editorial EDITORIALIn view of the postponement of this month's JCSC meeting some time may elapse before the elections of the new staff side. As many hospital employees as possible should take an interest in this election, as the JCSC provides direct access to Management where 'normal' channels are non-existent or ineffective. Use the time before the elections to question your representative, or go through the minutes which he or she can provide.---------------NHS REORGANISATION NEWSNews Sheet No. 5Among Government amendments to the Bill, following the debate stage, are:-
Once the Bill is law a complex series of events must follow so that arrangements are legally in order before the Appointed Day, which is 1st April 1974. The method of keeping this programme under review will be explained in a future issue.The Secretaries for the National Staff Cttees, for Admin. and Clerical Staff and for Nurses and Midwives should now be in Post, and will be visiting various authorities in different parts of the NHS to get first-hand information in their respective fields. The Management Study Report HRC (72)3 contains decisions reached by the Sec. of State in the light of comments from the 'Grey Book' (Management Arrangements for the Reorganised NHS).McKinsey and Co. have put forward proposals for an interim stage of development which might be achieved within two or three years of reorganisation which the Dept. will subject to field trials shortly and publish guidance on in late 73 or early 74. The reorganisation will result in responsibility for Ambulance Services being transferred to the NHS and preparatory planning has already commenced. A review-of joint liaison cttees. progress will appear in a future issue of the News Sheet.PC-----------Study CourseAlthough I had been insistent on attending the course to be held at Crossley Hospital (I was so sure that ALL was to be revealed) it was very off-putting as I set out at 7.5O a.m. to be informed that I looked like Judge Heilbron setting out for the Law Courts - the frost was quite thickish and without the protection of my cycling gear I wasn't exactly "hoop-la" at the nip in the air. Howsoever, off I banged to get the bus to the station. The station ... my heart really sank into my well-polished shoes ... seedy, draughty and moribund. Yet, when Mr. Bell, another student, arrived and we boarded the train, the diddledum of the wheels lifted my spirits. Upon arrival at Frodsham the ticket collector directed us to the hospital bus which Mr. Lewis, the Hospital Secretary, had so kindly delayed for ten minutes in order to carry us to Crossley West. My spirits winged higher and higher - along with the bus - the patients and staff aboard were friendly and helpful and the countryside extremely pretty. The hospital chapel had been converted into a very attractive lecture room. Mr, Jones (equally attractive) the Course Tutor, was there to greet us and seat us, we each stated our name and employer, and the proceedings began. Throughout the week we had a series of erudite, interesting lectures delivered to us by almost all sections of the NHS (I could have wished for a Mental Hospital representative) and Local Authority services - doctors, administrators, full-time lecturers, the Principal of William Rathbone Staff College and the Training Officer for the L.R.H.B. We were given historical information, factual information and "I think" information; we were invited to interrupt and ask questions - which quite a few of us did - but apart from the intelligence given in the grey book and the News Bulletins, the message that came across wasA POSSIBLE, PROBABLE, PERHAPSOh.,.we were told that progress through the Lords had been so slow and amendments being made, it was running behind time. But... a host of other facts came through. How ignorant we really were of the others' work and problems, how strange it was (or was it political) that the Social Service were not brought into the fold, how interesting to note that the lately introduced system of staff reporting had been practiced in the Colonial Service where one amongst us had started upon her medical administrative career, and how true it was that we must do what our first lecturer, Dr. Dolton, had exhorted us (not just the class but everyone concerned) to do "Love one another". We were divided into four syndicates, each consisting of five members, to consider two different problems, with a Chairman and Secretary to each project, the secretary having to prepare a report on the consensus opinion of the syndicate, which was to be read to the assembled class by the Chairman. Dr. Wallace (I mention him in particular because I know HE reads The Standard) will be glad to learn that I was a member of the syndicate which had to consider how the re-organised NHS would affect the Medical discipline! But dinna fash yoursel' the Chairman was a Deputy M.O.H. On the last day we were able to question a panel of the (possibly) new district (present) hierarchy. Mr. Rossington, a Health Education .Officer, who had asked questions all the way through, asked some more, one of which was "Why are staffs not better informed?". The reply to this was:Everything possible is being done to circulate information as it arrives. The Cheshire Joint Liaison Committee intends to hold a meeting of representative members of all the staff organisations. Probably in April/May the Cheshire County Council intend to hold possibly three meetings for staff. The Joint Liaison Committee are now gathering information on present staffs, present accommodation, etc. That apart from the few top positions, most staffs would be working as they are now. That - as we are all aware - N.H.S. Reorganisation is not yet on the Statute Book, and when it is it is reasonable to assume that staffs and the public in general will be acquainted with the Government's intentions. This aside, no-one KNOWS exactly anything else. Mr. Rossington thought, and I agreed, that this lack of knowledge should be communicated - so here am I trying to communicate it to you. Now, may I round off by saving how I enjoyed myself? I met a lot of interesting, articulate people. I thought one member of the panel a little bit scathing in his replies to questions - as though he had forgotten that we were not as learned as he. One of the lecturers appeared to me to be a real 'pro' another a born teacher, one particularly charming and one or two of them thoroughly sincere and human. Everyone employed at the hospital was pleasant and helpful. The catering staff - like ours - took the extra work in their stride and served to us excellent attractively laid luncheons, especially on the last day when there was a most delicious buffet. When the time came to say "Farewell" I shook hands with the men, he who I thought was a lay preacher his voice was so plummy and churchlike, and who turned out to be an organist and choir master, the nice young man in the smashing pale pink silk tie who put me in the way of two good books about cats, the handsome Unit Officer who seemed too tall to be Welsh, the bearded Unit Officer, who was a Geordie, the Admin. Officer who's face I knew and used to live in Winwick, Mr. Lewis whose lugubrious expression belied his pleasant nature, Mr. Rossington the burley questionnaire par excellence who ensured we were kept awake, the ambulance officers, the Executive Council administrator. The ladies, the Social Worker who hailed from Sheffield, the District Nursing Officer who was so keen to do her job well, the Admin Assistants, and Miss Perkins and Dr. Asfour who had been in my syndicate and whose company I particularly enjoyed. Miss Perkins, quiet, knowledgeable, pretty like china and Dr. Asfour who I should like to think I shall perhaps meet again one day. On the back porch I patted for the last time Lassie the border collie and her chum the golden labrador, remembered that each discipline in answer to "How do you think the service to the patient will be maintained in the interim period" had ended by saying "(Medical) Officers will still continue to provide a service to the best of their ability." Now ... you all know that if my carcass were for sale in a supermarket butchery the ticket clapped on to me would read "Boiling Recommended" nevertheless T still want to do my duties conscientiously, efficiently, methodically and with order - just like most of us. So ... we must continue conscientiously, we hope efficiently, and we trust that in the fullness of time method and order will prevail.Cordelia NaisbyLOCAL MENTAL HEALTH ASSOC.Among those present at the first meeting of the above were Miss N. Coppack, Mr. P.R. Ditchburn, Dr. B. Ward and Rev. P. Nunn. The group is to be a local association rather than a branch of the National Assoc. and the Steering Group, to prepare the ground for an inaugural public meeting, has as its Hospital representatives Mr. Ditchburn, Mr. H. Boston, Dr. Ward, Dr. A.S.Carey, Mr. J.T.Docherty and Miss Coppack.The objectives of the M.H.A. are:
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| Welcome to: | Mr. M Lintorn | N/A Pre Pupil |
| Miss C. Maund | N/A Pre Pupil | |
| Miss S. Noon | N/A | |
| Miss D. Braid | ||
| Mrs M. Beck | N/A | |
| Miss S. Fisher | N/A | |
| Miss P. Turner | T/NA N.D. |
| Farewell to: | Mrs. P. Faulkner | N/A |
| Miss C.E. Carey | Student | |
| Mrs. A.B. Mellor | N/A | |
| Mrs. M Heaton | Pupil Nurse |