! PRESS RELEASE 5th May 2009

Enfield Over 50s Forum Opens Campaign To Cut Falls In The Street!
 

• Forum opens campaign to cut falls in the street
   
• Over 6,000 complaints to council in two years
   
• More money needed for pavement repairs
   
• Street and home falls cost NHS Enfield £2.5m & led to 850 hospital admissions last year                             

Enfield Over 50s Forum is launching a petition to the council urging more priority for pavement repairs with more money being allocated for the work.
The Forum has established that complaints to the council about defective paving topped 3,040 last year, while in 2007 there were 3,691 reported incidents. ' This excludes the many people who had a fall without
registering their complaint'.

Yet Enfield Council is spending less than £150,000 a year on maintaining its pavements in a fit and proper condition, which could help to reduce the number of accidents due to people falling over.

'Having a fall ­ and the fear of falling ­ are major and growing concerns for all older people. Falls are the most frequent and serious type of accident in people aged 65 and over. They can have a devastating effect on their
confidence, and in many cases leave older people fearful of leaving home. Poorly repaired pavements present an everyday danger to older people and we have seen the effect on our members with bruised faces and painful bodies' says the Forum.

Nationally, it is estimated that there are some 2,300 falls reported every day due to faulty pavements. Here in Enfield, people have complained to the council that the condition of pavements in North Enfield have deteriorated
in recent years. Others mentioned poor pavements in the Edmonton area around Monmouth Road, Plevna Road,, St Martins Road and Church Street.

While council expenditure on paving reconstruction works ­ that is laying large sections of footway - has been between £3.5million and £4.6million in the last two years, spending on pavement repairs has been between £125,000 and £135,000 over the same period.

The council says it successfully defends 76% of insurance claims made against it for faulty pavements, but this does not, in the Forum's opinion, take into account the personal injuries often suffered by people not seeking
compensation whose injuries were caused by uneven surfaces and faulty pavements. Nevertheless, the council still had to pay out more than £380,000 on some 380 claims in the three years 2005/8.

Enfield council says it abides by the highway maintenance plan code of practice that there should be a maximum difference in paving slab height of 2.5cm (1inch) and that regular inspections take place twice a year. Defects
are categorised into those that require attention within 24 hours or 28 days.

Falls in the home are another serious matter and together with falls in the street account for some 850 Enfield residents aged 50 and over being admitted to hospital during 2007/8. Of these hospital cases, 155 were hip or
neck fractures.

NHS Enfield told the Forum that the total cost of admissions due to accidental falls last year by the over 50s was around £2,461,000 ­ and this excludes those treated for falls by A&E departments at Chase Farm, Barnet
and North Middlesex hospitals.

It is clear from NHS figures that not surprisingly the number of falls rises with age. From the age of 70 women are more likely to fall than men. At age 80 and over, the chance of a fall is 1:25, rising to I:10 for a resident in their 90s.

In endeavouring to reduce the number of falls, the Forum together with NHS Enfield have listed 50 check points in a home safety audit booklet and it is holding a Falls Awareness Day:
Don't Trip - Get Fit - A day of professional advice & healthy activities
Tuesday 23 June 9.30am ­ 3pm,Southbury Leisure Centre, Southbury Road.

FOR COPIES OF THE FORUM PETITION CALL 020 8807 2076 9.30 -12.30

Media enquiries: Monty Meth 020 8882 1303 

! PRESS RELEASE 24th April 2009

NHS London has no mandate to implement its plan for eight new model
hyper-acute stroke units (HASUs) across London, because its tick-box
questionnaire gives no opportunity for any face-to-face dialogue with
organisations representing older people who are the most vulnerable to a
stroke.

The 3,000-strong Enfield Over 50s Forum has written to Ruth Carnall, chief
executive of NHS London, requesting a personal meeting with her and those
responsible for the consultation document called: the shape of things to
come.

"It is just not good enough, on such an important matter, to place an advert
in a local newspaper and hire IPSOS-MORI, a faceless research agency, to
analyse tick box responses and pass that off as consultation. This is no way
to convey our fears and concerns to the people who will take major decisions
in July on which so many lives depend", said Forum chairman Monty Meth.

"On previous NHS plans we at least had more than one opportunity to question
Professor Sir George Alberti and have a face-to-face dialogue with him. In
our view, the consultation system put in place regarding stroke services for
London gives you no mandate for your preferred options", says the Forum
letter to Ms Carnall.

While being supportive of the hyper-acute stroke unit concept, open 24
hours a day, seven days a week, so that anyone having a stroke will be taken
to one of eight units to have a brain scan and, if appropriate, receive
clot-busting drugs within 30 minutes of arriving at the hospital, the Forum
feels the consultation document is inconsistent and contradictory - hence
its request for a meeting.

It is all very well claiming that the new arrangement will improve survival
rates and reduce disability, but this is dependent according to the NHS own
criteria "on all Londoners being within a 30 minute ambulance drive of a
hyper-acute unit", says the Forum.

"For Enfield residents, the nearest HASU proposed will mean an ambulance
drive to Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, or the UCH at Euston, and we
question whether a stroke patient can reach either within the 30-minute
target time!"

Under the NHS plan, both Barnet and North Middlesex hospitals will provide
mini-stroke services, which it claims will reduce the chances of someone
going on to have a full stroke by 80% - but they will not have the fast
access to brain scanning facilities in the important 72-hour period
following a stroke and needed for the best chance of recovery.

"The NHS plan accepts that people in outer London have the most limited
access to high quality stroke services. It says the UK has the highest
proportion of deaths due to stroke compared with Germany, Sweden, the US and
Australia - and double the deaths from stroke as France, admits that less
than 10% of suitable patients are now offered clot-busting drugs, yet access
by Enfield people to the new system for treating stroke is virtually
impossible. We need fast access to scanning facilities nearer home", says
the Forum.

! PRESS RELEASE 16th February 2009

GP and dental surgeries urged to find missing millions

Enfield Primary Care Trust has joined the Over 50s Forum in launching an
appeal to the borough¹s 62 GP practices and 47 NHS dental practices asking
them to help find 60+ patients who are missing out on money they could be
entitled to from the Government.

It is estimated that some £5 billion went unclaimed by the over 60s last
year. Nearly £3 billion in pension credit, more than £1.5 billion in council
tax rebates and some £770 million in housing benefit.

It is also estimated that in total, about 1.8 million pensioners failed to
apply for this money and the Forum and PCT letter - jointly signed by Pam
Wiggett, the PCT associate director for primary care and Forum chairman
Monty Meth - says it can safely be assumed that many of the missing people
live in Enfield, and may, indeed, be their patients.

As many as one in three Londoners are not claiming money to which they are
entitled, possibly due to the stigma of claiming, lack of awareness or
knowledge or confusion about how to claim.

The letter concludes: 'We are sure you appreciate that if we can help to put
more money into the hands of your more vulnerable patients, it could help
them to eat the right food, keep warm and improve their health.'
With the PCT-Forum letter went mini-posters and display leaflets, drawing
attention to the free and confidential financial advice service being
operated jointly by Enfield Council and the Pensions Service, The number to
call is 020 8899 3212

It is now blatantly obvious that the original basis for financing adult learning was flawed since it took no account whatever of the much larger pensioner and total population in Enfield. So while Enfield claimed £129,181 for adult and community learning in 2001/2, which has since increased by 243%, the same if not higher proportionate increases has been given to the other boroughs thus perpetuating the funding differentials.