Minutes:
Question: Councillor Barnbrook said that Metropolitan Police statistics show that racist crimes have fallen in our Borough by over 15% during the period from March 2006 to March 2007 and asked if Labour Councillors would care to join him publicly in accepting that the presence of the British National Party in the borough has contributed to the drop in race hate crimes in our Borough.”
Response: Councillor Mrs Rush said that she was pleased to be asked about the crime figures, as Members know a continuing reduction in crime across the board is the result of the effective work undertaken in the borough by the Council, Police and our wider partnership. Last year saw a reduction in key crimes of some 6%. To date this year, for these particular crimes, we are seeing a reduction of some 14%.
The increased presence of Police Officers, PCSO’s and Street Wardens out and about in the borough, and the installation of CCTV, will of course contribute to a reduction in race hate crimes. These increased resources are a direct result of this Labour Government, the Mayor of London and this Council working closely with the Police to reduce crime across the GLA area.
Whilst race crime too has fallen, it is important to recognise that sometimes those who feel most vulnerable in communities are reluctant to come forward to authorities such as the Council and Police to report it.
Race hate crime is a particularly pernicious crime and we must all work to build confidence within our diverse community to report it and indeed to proactively encourage such reporting. It is hoped that by this proactive stance we will get a true picture of the level of race crime occurring in our borough and then, with our partners, we will continue to ensure that we have the resources to both address offenders and to support victims.
Question: Councillor Bailey asked, now our Minister of Parliament for Barking Margaret Hodge has agreed with the British National Party’s policy on putting indigenous people first in regard to housing, could Councillor Smith please tell him why he thinks Margaret Hodge is wrong?
Response: Councillor Liam Smith said that Margaret Hodge has got the facts wrong. The debate is about building Council housing. It is not about where people live and most of the people from overseas are in private rented housing. He said the borough needs to have a stable community. Council housing is needed and Members of this Council have been supporting this from day one. Councillor Smith went on to say that he is quite proud that this Council is associated with Council housing, and has been from the beginning with the Becontree estate. He is now hoping that, with support from the new Prime Minister as this is a key political issue, the Council will deliver Council housing in this borough.
Question: Councillor Sandra Doncaster said that recent research has shown that patients have to wait almost six months (170) days for life saving diagnostic tests such as MRI scans at five NHS trusts, including Barking and Havering Redbridge. By contrast, patients had to wait less than 10 days in other trusts. These findings were published in the Daily Telegraph. She asked if the Council is aware of this problem and what they are doing to bring about the resolution of this problem?
Response: Councillor Little said that currently the target from the Department of Health is that nobody waits in excess of 13 weeks for a diagnostic test, with that target reducing to a maximum wait of 6 weeks by March 2008. The PCT has commissioned activity from BHRT and the independent sector to meet the March 2008 target.
The main provider for diagnostic tests for Barking and Dagenham residents is BHRT, and currently there are some tests where waits are in excess of 13 weeks. Long-waiters are for planned/routine care rather than urgent care, so people with suspected cancers do not wait long for tests.
People with suspected cancer receive their diagnostic tests and results as an urgent referral to ensure that the national 62-day target from GP referral to treatment is maintained.
In 2007/8 the PCT has invested £1.8m to provide access to diagnostic tests in community settings, to augment existing capacity at BHRT and reduce overall waiting times. These services will be provided by Inhealth-Netcare.
From June 2007 new MRI capacity has come on line at Barking Hospital. All Barking and Dagenham GPs can refer directly into this service.
From August 2006 the following tests will be provided from the PCT LIFT development at Broad Street
- X-Rays
- Ultrasound
- Echo-cardiograms
Again, GPs will be able to refer directly to these services.
Performance indicators built into the contract with Inhealth-Netcare show a maximum waits of 10 days from GP referral to the test being carried out, and a maximum wait of 48 hours from the test being carried out to the GP receiving the results to share with the patient.
Barking and Dagenham residents will be able to choose to have their test at any service location run by Inhealth-Netcare across London, as the contract to provide community based diagnostic tests has been awarded London-wide to this company for 5 years.
In recognition of the current long-waits for some tests at BHRT the PCT has written to the hospital indicating an expectation that all patients should have their tests within 6 weeks at the Trust by October 2007. The PCT will help facilitate this by offering capacity in the new services at Barking Hospital and Broad Street to people waiting at BHRT in excess of 6 weeks. BHRT are also looking at internal process to reduce waits from existing capacity with some success already in audiology and MRI.
New capacity for diagnostic tests coming on-line currently will ensure a maximum wait of 6 weeks for all diagnostic tests locally, and achieve this target set by the Department of Health for March 2008.