Wednesday August 30 | 2017
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New GCSE grading fails to dim bright futures Page 10
GOOD CHARACTER The independent bookshops that are thriving Page 12
L-R: Maria Barnes from Beyond The Grounds, performers Lizzie Arkell and Kiah Spurle, Poppy Appeal organisers Pam Mills and Carl Lewis and singer Laura Lamn
Busking for the brave An eclectic mix of Tonbridge’s musical talent will be on show in the town centre this Saturday [September 2] in aid of the Poppy Appeal. Full story page 2
GRAB A PADDLE
Your chance to compete in the Dragon Boat Race Page 15
Health chief backs G4S in terminal patient row By Adam Hignett newsdesk@timesoftonbridge.co.uk REPORTS that G4S are to blame for not transporting the terminally ill to hospice care have been branded ‘misleading’ by a local NHS chief, as the row over the contractor’s performance intensifies. The intervention in defence of G4S by Ian Ayres, Accountable Officer at West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), follows a report by his own organisation lambasting the conduct of the transport service last month. It also comes as the Chief Executive of Hospice in the Weald, Rob Woolley, states he has ‘no confidence’ in either G4S or the CCG itself. Disclosure of the CCG’s highly negative report by the
Times, alongside first-hand accounts of people let down by the service, led to both MP Greg Clark and Mr Woolley raising their own concerns regarding G4S. Among them was a perceived failure to transport those with terminal illnesses to hospice appointments, which provide services such as physiotherapy and art therapy, because they do not count as ‘medical appointments’.
‘The Hospice has no confidence in the CCG and no confidence in G4S’ This led the Tunbridge Wells MP, who is also the Cabinet Minister for Business, to state: “I think most people would consider this to be an interpretation that combines a lack of compassion with bureaucratic pedantry.”
But Mr Woolley went further by extending the criticism to the CCG itself, stating the treatment provided by the Pembury-based hospice is rated ‘outstanding’ by health regulators but adding: “Part of that challenge is that G4S and the CCG do not view our Hospice Day Service (HDS) as ‘medical treatment’. “We have asked the CCG End of Life Care Strategic Implementation Group (SIG) to have patient transport on their agenda but they have failed to do this. “The NHS and its private sector contractors seem to have less and less understanding of what we do and less relevance to us. We have no confidence in the CCG and no confidence in G4S.” However, according to Mr Ayers the comments in last week’s Times ‘give readers a misleading impression’
Continued on page 2
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Angels ‘must learn’ from mistakes after consecutive losses Page 78