Only one Covid-19 death in Ealing in most recent week
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In the Week of Monday 13 July 2020 There Was Only One Covid-19 Death in Ealing
Data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed just the one Covid-19 death in Ealing. It was a hospital death. In surrounding Boroughs the death count was Hounslow (3), Brent (1), Harrow (1), Hillingdon (1) and Hammersmith & Fulham (0). All the death were hospital deaths.
Covid-19 Deaths in Ealing Care Homes
Probably unsurprisingly with 48 care homes in Ealing, the number of Covid-19 deaths in Ealing care homes (158 as at 1 July 2020) is high. (However, Hammersmith & Fulham with just four care homes recorded 57 Covid-19 care homes deaths as at 15 May 2020). But the real issue here is why there were any Covid-19 care homes deaths at all in Ealing and how such pandemic deaths can be eliminated for Covid-19 and any subsequent virus outbreak.
Healthcare, social care and senior citizens activist groups in Ealing have been bombarding Ealing Council with questions about these care home deaths. The clarity of the questions has so far been far superior to the clarity of the answers. Ealing Council had been paying for much of the care for those deceased Covid-19 care home residents. The Council, under the 2014 Care Act, must carry out assessments of anyone who appears to require care and support.
In reality the trigger for these deaths were two instructions by NHS England on 19 March 2020 and 2 April 2020 which clearly forced NHS acute hospitals to eject non-critically ill patients into care homes, irrespective of their Covid-19 infection status.
The whole governance arrangements for care homes in Ealing (and throughout England) is a complicated shambles. All of the Ealing care homes are privately owned. The Care Quality Commission is the regulator. Each care home will have a contract with a local GP practice for Primary Care services. Ealing Council as well as its social care responsibilities also has Public Health responsibilities.
New NHS Mary Robinson Unit Opened in Southall For Discharged Covid-19 Hospital Patients
This 24-bedroom facility has been introduced with the aim of protecting care homes from receiving residents who are potentially infected with Covid-19. This transitional care facility is being run by Ealing Community Partners (ECP), set up in July 2019 by the West London NHS Trust (WLNT). ECP worked with other NHS bodies and The Argyle Surgery to develop this unit. It’s located at Beech House, Manor Court Care Home, Britten Drive, North Road, Southall UB1 2SH.
(Mary Robinson was the UK’s first District Nurse who worked in Liverpool in the 1860s).
Mental Health in Ealing
On 8 July 2020 our local mental health NHS Trust (WLNT) stated it was expecting a Covid-19 driven 20% to 30% increase in demand for mental health services in Ealing, Hounslow, Hammersmith & Fulham. On 21 July 2020 local GP and London Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon Dr Onkar Sahota said that Covid-19 was causing a 48% increase in mental health problems.
The World Health Organisation states that there are more people suffering from mental ill-health than from any physical illness in all advanced countries. It’s 13% of the population and breaks down to 19% of adults and 10% of children. (This far exceeds the incidence of Covid-19). Applying these percentages to Ealing’s population of 417,000 patients registered at our 75 GP Surgeries we come up with some alarming numbers. 81% of our population are adults and 19% are children. We have 64,176 adults and 7,923 children in Ealing currently suffering from mental ill-health. Not all of these people will be within the NHS mental health system. Either they have not presented themselves or have presented themselves and have for one reason or another abandoned the chronically under resourced NHS mental health service.
The combination of mental ill-health and Covid-19 is a nightmare for these patients, their loved ones and any healthcare and social care professional or volunteer employed to treat them.
The Mayor of London Has No Confidence the Summer 2021 Opening Date for Crossrail Will Be Met
With ballooning project costs of £18.25 billion the 11 year Crossrail project is still far from completion. The Government’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority recently branded the Crossrail scheme as ‘unachievable’. On 16 July 2020 London Mayor Khan expressed doubts about Crossrail’s meeting its Summer 2021 opening date. He cited the Covid-19 halt in construction work as his major reason.
The cruel reality is that Ealing residents no longer believe anyone when it comes to facts or predictions about Crossrail. And to compound this complete lack of confidence in the project’s plans and budgets, Crossrail has just asked again for more money! It wants £140 million for ‘the surface works package’.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs)
Ealing residents are becoming concerned about the Covid-19 response in Ealing that is LTNs. LTNs feature roads blocked for vehicles using bollards or planters. They are all about enabling cycling, more walking and reducing car usage (and presumably car ownership). A petition has been started objecting to the principles, design and implementation plans being proposed by Ealing Council for LTNs.
Following through with Ealing Council’s anti-car agenda, it now wants to demolish public car parks and build blocks of flats on the sites. Two I have recently spotted are Dean Gardens car park and Arden Road car park – both in West Ealing. (West Ealing’s public, multi-storey car park in Singapore Road was demolished in 2011 and the site handed over to the residential developer/manager A2Dominion).
TfL’s Covid-19 Response Will Soon allow Major Road Bus Lanes (With Cyclists) Operate 24 Hours Each Day
No doubt this will apply to the Uxbridge Road. These permanently active lanes will allegedly allow buses, cyclists, taxis, and motorbikes exclusive use. There’s no mention in press articles about the lanes being ‘legal’ for motorised scooters. Cars, vans and lorries will be excluded. A trial period of this will apparently begin in Summer 2020.
Ealing’s Public Re-Cycling and Waste Depots Can’t Cope
I arrived at 7:15am and actually got into the Greenford Depot at 8:10am. There are only two small re-cycling/waste depots across Ealing (Greenford and Acton). At the Greenford facility the slow almost Draconian regimentation of customers makes taking stuff to the tip a hugely time consuming operation. Surely this will be encouraging fly tipping and there’s plenty of that to see around Ealing.
Eric Leach
eric.alan.leach@gmail.com
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July 23, 2020
