Eric Leach's Ealing Covid-19 Latest Update | ||||
Covid-19 Closes Hillingdon Hospital A&E
The Covid-19 outbreak was declared by the hospital on 3 July 2020. As of 7 July 70 staff were self-isolating and a number of them had tested positive. Ealing Hospital A&E (and Northwick Park Hospital A&E) just got a lot busier. Press reports on 9 July 2020 quote Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive Sarah Tedford blaming the Covid-19 outbreak in the hospital on irresponsible staff. She accuses staff of wearing inappropriate masks and not adhering to social distancing. From a distance this looks like incompetent management. A worrying Ealing dimension is that the Hillingdon Hospital Trust Chair is Sir Amyas Morse. Mr Morse is also Chair of LNWH, the NHS Trust which runs Ealing Hospital. Government Figures Reveal 1,550 Covid-19 Deaths in Ealing As at 4 July 2020 these deaths in Ealing are at a rate of 453.2/100,000 people. This death rate is higher than that in neighbouring boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham (404.5), Hounslow (391.1) and Hillingdon (355.6). However death rates were higher in Brent (523.0) and Harrow (507.7). The alarming death rate in Leicester was 1,068.1. For numbers of deaths and death rates for all English towns see here. Ealing Covid-19 Care Home Deaths On 7 July 2020, Ealing Council said that the number of Covid-19 deaths in Ealing Care homes up to 1 July 2020 was 158. Do You Want a Covid-19 Test? Call 119 or go to: www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test You can either attend a test site or have a test kit delivered to your home. Ealing Council on 7 July 2020 said that so far 3,386 Covid-19 tests had been carried out in Ealing. First Time Buyers Need an Annual Income of £117,750 to Buy a Two Bed Flat in Ealing On 5 July 2020 ‘My London’ quoted recent Zoopla research which pegged the average purchase price for a two bed flat in Ealing at £529,950. Mind you there is plenty of choice at the moment with Zoopla listing 231 two bed flats in Ealing for sale. Crude Details Emerge on Some of Ealing Council’s Covid-19 Response Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) We are all being discouraged from using public transport and are encouraged to walk and cycle more. The Council also feels we are all driving our cars too much, too fast and along too many roads. Widening pavements and segregated cycle lanes will reduce the space for all motorised vehicles. LTNs are all about preventing motorised vehicles from entering and exiting certain roads. This is enforced by the installation of bollards or planters on the road. Inadequately annotated maps of five ‘planned’ Ealing LTNs are circulating. They are entitled Bramley Road/Airedale Road, Mattock Lane, Loveday Road, Broadway South and Broadway North. Many roads will be affected especially in West Ealing and Northfields. Papers, maps and explanations are not available on the Council’s web site. It’s unclear if local residents will be consulted about these proposals or when these changes might be implemented. At 75 years of age I do not cycle. Neither I suspect do most of the other 36,226 over 65 year olds in Ealing. Some of them might still drive a car but many of them will use the buses and will not be able to afford taxis/Ubers. Others need to be driven to healthcare appointments, to visit friends and family and to perform personal shopping. Post Covid-19 Lockdown Ealing Crossrail Station Building Finally Storms Ahead Initially promised for completion in 2016, the new Ealing Crossrail Stations are being rapidly built at Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, Southall and West Ealing. More details and pictures here. Local Democracy Damaged by Incompetent Use of Remote Meeting Technology During Covid-19 Pandemic Residents groups in Ealing seem able to run meetings (using Zoom) during which all attendees appear on the computer screen at the same time. However Ealing Council run remote ‘public’, statutory meetings using Microsoft MS Teams often fail in this regard. Examples include the Council Planning Committee meetings held on 20 May 2020 and 17 June 2020 and the recent Health & Wellbeing Board meeting held on 7 July 2020. In all cases the viewing technology failed many times. I am no great fan of Microsoft but surely there is split-screen technology that can be used in MS Teams which clearly shows who is present at all times during the meeting. Eric Leach eric.alan.leach@gmail.com
July 9, 2020
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