Thankful for Govt's pension munificence

I was told when I reached eighty in May, I would get a pension increase!

I received my letter on Easter Saturday. I was all excited.

On opening the letter I had received the sum of 25p a week!

I must save this for Christmas. I shall have £8, not enough to buy a turkey.

I had this amount for my pocket-money as a child.

Janet Woodham.

Old Town

Clapping not enough for NHS workers

News of a 16 per cent rise in the number of patients ready to be discharged, but who are stuck in hospitals, is a shocking comment on both the state of the NHS and social care.

We have become all too familiar with ambulances, particularly in our area, taking far too long to reach those that need urgent help, only then to be stuck in seemingly endless queues waiting to unload their patients at either the RUH or the GWH.

The lack of nurses and doctors due to their salaries being far too low is part of that problem. But so is the drastic decline in places in care homes and home support for those leaving hospital who need extra support.

Readers may remember my work a few years ago to see the Shared Lives Programme scaled up in Wiltshire.

There is some good news that Share Lives is now to be involved with the new ‘Home from Hospital Service’, and Wiltshire Council is offering Shared Lives Carers £850 per week if they would like to be involved in this service.

This scheme which is a bit like a short term ‘adoption for adults’ is open for new volunteers, so if you feel you fit the bill go to www.wiltshire.gov.uk/home-from-hospital and you could become part of the solution.

Under the Liberal Democrat national plans, social care workers would be paid at least £2 an hour more than the current minimum wage, bringing their hourly pay up to at least £12.42.

The NHS and care systems have to work effectively together. Both need proper programmes of investment and support.

They also need to have the caring individuals valued and paid properly who dedicate their lives to looking after some of our most vulnerable citizens. Clapping on the doorstep of No 10 Downing Street is not enough.

Dr Brian Mathew

Lib Dem Prospective MP for North Wiltshire

Trolley duty of care

What a conundrum, a lady pays for her rubbish to be taken away; it is illegally flytipped, she is accused of 'failing in her duty of care in respect of the disposal' and she is fined over £200.

Not for the first time, a Morrison Supermarket trolley is discovered in the Dorcan Stream. Coun Mike Davies tried to recover it but sadly failed to do so.

Surely Morrisons is guilty of failing in their 'duty of care' as well as allowing a valuable piece of equipment to be removed from their premises.

Des Morgan

Caraway Drive

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