Browse content similar to 15/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the south-east, are you ready for a virtual hospital ward in your | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
home? We look at radical plans to change their face of health care in | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:36. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1797 seconds | :01:36. | :31:33. | |
I'm Natalie Graham and this is the Sunday Politics in the south-east. | :31:33. | :31:39. | |
Coming up in the next 20 minutes: Degree or no degree? That's the | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
question facing thousands of south- east students as figures suggest | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
higher tuition fees have led to a drop in university applications. | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
Joining me in the studio today is Conservative MP for South Thanet, | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
Laura Sandys, and south-east MEP and UKIP Leader, Nigel Farage. | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
We'll start with a subject close to Laura's heart - the future of food | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
production. The Government's Green Food Project was being promoted in | :32:04. | :32:11. | |
Kent this week by the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman. For the | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
project has been looking at different ways of producing more | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
food but you are not 100% happy with the way the initiative has | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
been carried out. I am pleased that there is a new emphasis on food and | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
food production but what is interesting is how the Department | :32:24. | :32:29. | |
looks, they never really talked to the consumer. It is crucial when I | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
have got family it in Thanet in particular, we are talking about | :32:34. | :32:40. | |
five, six, 7% food price increases year-on-year, and we must but the | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
consumer at the heart of the food policy and really ensure that we | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
are giving them the support to make less go further. This was all about | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
increasing food production and improving the environment. One of | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
the suggestions, Nigel, is that we should grow different crops like | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
spices and chick peas. Would you like that in the Garden of England? | :33:00. | :33:06. | |
Anything with the word "Green" in it, be suspicious, because it | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
usually means it will be a waste of time and cost a fortune and be | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
subsidised by the taxpayer, but what and -- what I can make out | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
from this particular idea, unlike wind turbines, which cost a fortune, | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
the idea is to encourage farmers to grow different crops but not give a | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
subsidy to do it, that the farmers decide. The Government do not | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
interfere. We need to produce more in the UK, we are the biggest | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
importer of food in the developed world. I actually think that is | :33:36. | :33:41. | |
quite a precarious place to be. So go out, grow more and eat good, | :33:41. | :33:49. | |
English food. Thank you both very much for now. | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
Patients in Kent and East Sussex could soon receive hospital | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
treatment in their own homes, when new health care plans take effect. | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
It's part of a drive to move services out of wards and into the | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
community. But critics say the new system is too ambitious and could | :34:01. | :34:11. | |
:34:11. | :34:19. | ||
put undue pressure on GPs. Helen Nurse's care and finesse that are | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
in a team in East Kent called hospital at home. -- Clare and the | :34:24. | :34:29. | |
Benesova. It is part of what is called a virtual war, travelling to | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
patients houses, rather than going to hospital. Today they are | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
checking on Pat, who need help after a shoulder operation. It is | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
brilliant, I would much rather do this than go into hospital. I mean, | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
it is good being there, because you have it there, but this service, | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
you couldn't faltered. There are plans to do much more of this in | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
Kent, with the focus on keeping people out of hospital and looking | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
after them at home or in their communities where possible. These | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
plans were lodged in Dover with the help of the Health Secretary Andrew | :35:01. | :35:09. | |
Lansley. It doesn't make the actual decisions on health care at Kent | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
Health Commission, but it helps our the allocation will be divided. | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
Instead of being spent in hospital, many will be spent on trying to | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
keep people out of hospitals. But there are concerns. I think the | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
aspiration to have people treated more in the community than in a | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
hospital is a good concept and should be pursued, but they think | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
it is a very over ambitious exercise which has not been costed | :35:35. | :35:41. | |
or planned. They tell us there is �59 million to be taken out of the | :35:41. | :35:46. | |
hospital service. That is a lot of money and that means some things | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
are not going to be done that are currently being done, but they have | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
not identified those. I don't think it has been thought all the way | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
through and it certainly hasn't been consulted on. What sets Kent's | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
plans aside from everywhere else in the country is it is bringing local | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
councils into the decision process. The charity the King's Fund, which | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
improves -- worked on improving the health system in England, says no | :36:10. | :36:17. | |
other Trust has taken this approach, but support is also needed from GPs. | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
It increases the pressure on GPs not to refer. It increases the | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
anxiety of those GPs who struggle with that sort of thing. There are | :36:29. | :36:31. | |
certainly worries that it is correct -- placing a greater | :36:31. | :36:35. | |
responsibility on our shoulders and if things go wrong, we will be held | :36:35. | :36:45. | |
:36:45. | :36:46. | ||
accountable. One can take a very safe course and throw a lot of | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
permissions, and share responsibility, so that does | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
increase anxiety. Over in East Sussex, they are planning a similar | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
sheet to community health care, led by a new body called Sussex | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
Together. It is creating a health care strategy for the county. But | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
will another layer between the patient and actual doctors and | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
nurses make it hard to understand what is going on? Incredibly hard. | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
Sussex Together almost appeared out of nowhere. I am not sure when, I | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
think under a year ago. I am not entirely sure who is held | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
accountable there. Like a lot of changes that have been going on in | :37:26. | :37:32. | |
the NHS for many years, it appears that every 10 months or so, a brand | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
new organisation suddenly materialises. Does this remove the | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
patient even further from decisions? It does, in my view. | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
Patients across the south-east. To see new ways of working soon. Here | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
in Kent, changes are being made to move towards hat -- community | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
health care and over in Sussex, a similar move is planned. But | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
critics say it will need more resources, so is a widespread move | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
to a community health care realistic? Or will it create more | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
pressure on GPs and distant patients from having a say on how | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
they are looked after? Helen Drew reporting. Joining me | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
from our Dover studio is Conservative MP for Dover and Deal, | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
Charlie Elphicke - one of the key members of the Kent Health | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
Commission. Let's address the concerns raised by Dr Meech first | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
of all. GPs will feel under pressure not to refer patients - | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
that's not in their interests or patients' interests. Actually, I | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
think that is complete nonsense. What we are looking at at Kent | :38:31. | :38:37. | |
Health Commission is making it easier to get health care treatment | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
for patients. It is nice and easy if you are in a GP, just referring | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
off to hospital at a whim, which happens so often at the moment... | :38:47. | :38:54. | |
Hang on, at a whim? For us in Dover, that means a 40 minute trip down | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
the motorway... But if you are a general practitioner, you are not | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
an expert in all illnesses. If you have a patient you're not sure | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
about and you want a second opinion, surely it is in their best | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
interests to send them to hospital. What we want to see is the new | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
health facility in Dover which will make it so much more accessible for | :39:13. | :39:19. | |
people to get the health care treatment they need to have, and | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
you can talk to a consultant on the telephone or indeed have an | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
Internet connection and discuss with them in your own home, that is | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
increasing accessibility and saving people long journeys to hospital. | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
So we need to look at how we can use technology best to make it | :39:34. | :39:40. | |
easier for the patients. Under lot of people will be agreeing that it | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
is better to have an patients treated at home rather than in | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
hospital. Are you suggesting that Dr Beeching is in the minority? He | :39:49. | :39:59. | |
:39:59. | :40:03. | ||
does represent 1,500 GPs -- Dr Meech. I had a meeting with GPs | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
recently and we sat about talking how we could use technology, | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
getting ahead of people being ill, because you know who is most likely | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
to have an illness and you can treat them preventative live. I | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
think that is really positive and the way we should be managing NHS | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
resources. Can I just ask about the other question Leslie Christie | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
raised, that �59 million is being taken away from hospitals had been | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
put into this community models. What impact will that have on | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
hospitals? I think it will be a positive impact. We are talking | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
about 2% of the entire span. We are not talking in health service terms | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
about the large proportion of money. If that keep people out of hospital, | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
if it means that people are treated before they get ill, it will have | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
more prevention and we will know people will be better off. This is | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
a pioneering system and one of only two places and the country where it | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
is being introduced at the moment. -- in the country. What would | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
happen if doctors Don't do as they expect you to -- you expect them to | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
do, and they don't refer people to hospitals and the money is not | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
there to treat them? What I can say is that after meeting with the GPs | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
yesterday in this area, many are excited about the potential... | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
Those of the GPs you have spoken to in that area. There are other GPs | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
who are concerned about what would happen if they refer patients to | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
hospital. If GPs choose to refer patients to hospital, they have the | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
absolute right to, GPs are in charge of how to treat those | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
patients and the treatment they should have, to a much greater | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
extent than they previously did. This system is set up so they don't | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
refer patients, that is my point. The point I'm trying to make his it | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
is better if you can get in ahead of a patient being ill and saving | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
them having to go for an acute operation procedure, and it is much | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
more cost-effective and efficient to treat people first if you can. | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
That is a really positive way forward. Thank you, stay there for | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
now, and I would like to introduce it My guests. Laura, prevention is | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
better than cure? I think we are trying to put the patient at the | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
heart of this and I haven't met that many people, particularly the | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
elderly, who are excited about going into hospital. What they want | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
as much as possible is to be treated at home, or at their GP's | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
surgery. They want to be cared for in their own environment. A | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
hospital does not equate for patient choice, 90% of the time. | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
But if doctors are not convinced this is the right way forward, | :42:39. | :42:45. | |
Niger, are you concerned? It must be worth trying. Over the last 15 | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
years, we have poured more money into the NHS and not necessarily | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
got a better result, and frankly, to hear a GP, after the massive pay | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
rises they got under the last government, say that he doesn't | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
like this because it will give him increased responsibility, well, I | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
am very sorry. They have stopped coming out at night, stopped coming | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
out at weekends, they have one of the most incredible salary and | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
pension deals anywhere in the public sector. Take some | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
responsibility. Laura, you are agreeing, but as I mentioned to | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
Charlie Elphicke, it is the responsibility that GPs has to | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
assess a patient properly. I don't think any GP will not possess a | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
patient properly and when it is right for a patient to go to | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
hospital, they will not refer them. It is just that we have more | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
options and more ability to treat people at home where they want to | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
be treated and I think that is rarely good news. Thank you both | :43:37. | :43:43. | |
and then queue Charlie Delphic in As anxious students await their A- | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
level results, new figures out this week show that university | :43:46. | :43:48. | |
applications from the south-east have dropped by around 10% compared | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
to this time last year. The number of people hoping to go on to higher | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
education in the region has also fallen, with Surrey and Brighton | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
suffering the heaviest drops. Brighton is blaming rising tuition | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
fees. But is this reduction in applications necessarily a bad | :44:02. | :44:12. | |
:44:12. | :44:16. | ||
thing? Nigel for Reg? -- Nigel for . Brighton has had drop out rate of | :44:16. | :44:19. | |
10%, so fewer people are applying and drop out rates fall, it is not | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
necessarily a bad thing. I have strongly felt and UKIP have felt | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
that this target that we ought to send 50% of all by youngsters the | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
university, that all of the parties have supported, frankly has been | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
nonsense. I blame that BT advert with Maureen Lipman, that we have | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
to go to university and get something it used first! You where | :44:44. | :44:51. | |
gays tuition fees. Is this a consequence you foresaw -- you were | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
against tuition fees. We had the highest number of applications for | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
universities, so it may have dropped from last year but last | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
year was very high, so it is not as dramatic as it is maybe being | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
portrayed, but secondly, we have got things like high-end | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
apprenticeships, when people are doing a year in an engineering | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
company and being sent by that company to university, where there | :45:12. | :45:17. | |
is a career path already there. people can decide they are better | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
off not going to university? Some of these universities might be | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
charging too much for what they are offering. They have all gone to | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
9,000. They should be offering students a wider choice, that is | :45:28. | :45:31. | |
why there should be a lot more availability, a lot more choice for | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
the student, not just at the University... As institutions, they | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
are valuable for the economy, let alone to the students. In Sussex, | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
that there has been a huge rise of international students. If people | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
outside of Europe are coming to study, is it something that would | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
concern you? If it is being run as a business and that the country, we | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
are making money, that is fantastic. What worries me, though, is this | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
very week the Government has said it wants student numbers coming in | :46:02. | :46:04. | |
and out of the country to be excluded from the immigration | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
figures. One of the big problems we have got is we just don't know how | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
many foreign students to come to this country stay or leave. So I am | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
all for foreign students coming, provided that it is not being used | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
for a backdoor immigration rid. certainly isn't. A but we don't | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
know. For example, in Thanet, we have a lot of the English language | :46:26. | :46:31. | |
schools, a lot of coastal towns. We have been quite clear with | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
government that actually we need to ensure that those numbers to come | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
out of the overall government numbers, because it is actually | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
affecting local businesses quite dramatically. But the Government | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
said the opposite. But we must count them out as well as Kent then | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
in. There government says it does not intend to do that anymore. | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
of the things that has come out of the figures that is quite | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
interesting is disadvantaged students, poorer students, haven't | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
been affected by the rising tuition fees. Absurdity. We put in a huge | :47:03. | :47:08. | |
amount of provision to support students from lower incomes -- | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
absolutely. And it is something that the schools are putting in a | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
lot of support for, encouraging those young people to get | :47:17. | :47:24. | |
university. They will not have to pay a penny back. Until they get to | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
�21,000 in their salary. So we have got much better scheme that | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
delivers... I think if you are right at the bottom of the social | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
economic income scale, that is true, but as ever, it is people in the | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
middle who get caught. I would send fewer students than I wouldn't | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
charge them. But poorer students are still three times less likely | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
to go to university than their richer counterparts. In Kent, we | :47:54. | :47:57. | |
have through the grammar school system where we are getting more | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
social mobility, that is encouraging. People from all sorts | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
of backgrounds. I think it is absolutely essential that we look | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
at those family is coming from lower income families who are not | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
used to go to university within their family, we have to encourage | :48:11. | :48:17. | |
them to go. All right. Now it is time for a round-up of the events | :48:17. | :48:27. | |
:48:27. | :48:28. | ||
The Government announced yet another delay to public | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
consultation on the future of airport capacity. Bit frustrated | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
supporters and opponents of the plans, which go to the world's | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
largest airport built and the Thames Estuary or a second runway | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
at Gatwick. One of 200 dairy farmers and the | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
south-east are to the streets of London to call on the Government to | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
stop supermarkets hold and then to ransom by cutting the price of milk. | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
Several Kent MPs were among the 91 Tories who rebelled over Lords | :48:54. | :49:00. | |
reform. I filled his -- bitterly disappointed that I am voting | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
against my party, sick to the pit of my stomach. | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
The MPs voted for family-friendly hours, ending all but one of | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
Westminster's late-night sessions. Caroline Lucas call for a better | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
work-like balance. I think people are entitled for that -- to that, | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
even MPs. At least they have the next seven weeks off to concentrate | :49:22. | :49:32. | |
on getting the balance right. Now, he would like to have seven | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
weeks of? Laura, what are you going to do with your time? I get | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
irritated when people say we are on holiday. We do a huge amount of | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
work in the constituency and I am not taking any time off between now | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
and September, so you will see me on the streets of Thanet without a | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
problem. Nigel? I shall be all over the UK and all over Europe as well! | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
Continuing my Billy Graham like crusade against the European Union, | :49:57. | :50:05. | |
so no rest. Caroline Lucas was talking about work life balance. Do | :50:05. | :50:06. | |
you think the things that Westminster need correcting? | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
voted for the change in hours because I prefer to go home on a | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
Tuesday evening and work from home. I don't think we are going to find | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
that... On the whole we need to work around 90 hours a week, so why | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
won't be reducing my hours, just doing them in different places. | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
have taken all of the drama and the fun out of Westminster, the late- | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
night votes and the late-night sitting and the things that the | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
public and the voters actually found interesting. The voters | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
actually found it interesting and we have turned it into a family | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
friendly, nine-to-five job and given that it is going to be closed | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
for three months over the summer, I don't know... How has of Lords | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
reform, do you think we will see it again? I think it is the proverbial | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
Monty Python dead parrot. It is not going to come back in this | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
Parliament. I disagree, I have been an advocate for 20 years that we | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
could actually have a democracy where we could vote for people in a | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
our legislature. It seems like a wacky idea. They cannot agree the | :51:06. | :51:13. | |
terms, it is not going to happen. It is a huge majority in parliament. | :51:13. | :51:17. |