Andrea Leadsom on pension reform

11:21 Wednesday 25th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Earlier this month Chancellor George Osbourn revealed new plans to give pensioners greater control of their own finances. Much heralded of course, for everybody stuck in those pensions that you can never get your teeth into, and you never get your hands on your cash. Well the Government’s new pension reforms will come into force on 6th April. They’ve been billed as the most radical changes to the way people take their pensions for at least a century. From April around 320,000 people retiring each year who have defined contribution pension savings will now be able to access them as they see fit. Joining us now is Treasury Minister Andrea Leadsom. She can explain a bit more. Andrea morning.
ANDREA LEADSOM: Morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Just briefly, I think we sort of know what we can and can’t do, but just briefly recap what the changes are for us.
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Peterborough students left in limbo after college opening is cancelled

07:08 Tuesday 24th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Twelve million pounds has been invested. Students have applied for the courses. But now with six months to go, the opening of Peterborough’s University Technical College is being delayed by twelve months. The UTC Trust Board says it’s to” give more certainty to prospective students”, but with only forty applications in the first place, questions are being raised about how well it’s been publicised, and how effective consultation has been. Let’s talk now to Dr Alan McMurdo, who is the Principal Designate of the Greater Peterborough University Technical College. Explain first of all Dr McMurdo just what a university technical college is. It’s not a description that everyone will be familiar with.
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Healthcare assistants employed while nursing posts remain unfilled

08:09 Monday 23rd March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Would you be happy for a healthcare assistant rather than a fully trained nurse to take your blood, to dress your wounds, or to give you injections while you’re in hospital? Well healthcare assistants from Cambridgeshire have told the BBC that is exactly what they are being asked to do in some cases. An investigation for Inside Out spoke to staff from ten hospitals across the Eastern region. Let’s find out more about exactly what a healthcare assistant is. Joanne Bennis is the Chief Nurse at Peterborough City Hospital. Joanne, roughly how many healthcare assistants do you have at PCH?
JOANNE BENNIS: Good morning Dotty. We have on average on clinical area about 65% of the nurses that we have on the ward are registered nurses, and 35% of those are unregistered, or healthcare assistants.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And let’s talk about the training. What is the difference between the training that a nurse has and the training that an HCA has?
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Peter Breach – North Westgate in a nutshell

09:26 Thursday 19th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PETER BREACH:

“Well Peterborough’s a special place. It’s a major city, and North Westgate has been as you’ve indicated in serious need of regeneration for quite a long time. Now’s the time to get on with it.

“The concept is a new regional leisure centre caught in the heart of Peterborough city, driven by a multiplex cinema, eight screens or more, a large piazza around the church, restaurants, shops, bars, a food hall, and a large number of apartments. And indeed some offices and possibly even a health hub.

“The aim is to make it somewhere that not only Peterborians but others living within a twenty or thirty mile radius will see as an attractive place to visit and spend time, popping into a coffee shop or a restaurant as they stroll through the piazza.

“A lot of effort has gone into this. There’s support from all parts of the city. Marco Cereste the Leader, Stewart Jackson the MP, and all the councillors we’ve met have been extremely supportive, and indeed everyone we’ve met. So I have every hope this is going to be delivered now.

“At this stage we are starting discussions with major funders for this sort of scheme. It may even be overseas funding. We’ll have to see. But it’s too early to strike a deal until the outline consent is secured, which we hope will be before the end of this year.”

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Outsourcing of Cambridgeshire elder care – transfer is just a fortnight away

07:07 Friday 20th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Here’s our lead story this morning. Concerns raised about a ground-breaking Cambridgeshire NHS health contract. It’s due to take effect in two weeks time. It’s worth £800 million, and is the biggest single outsourcing of an NHS service in its history. On 1st April the contract to look after older people across the county will be managed and maintained by a brand new company called UnitingCare. It’s made up of a consortium between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the CPFT. In a moment we’ll be talking to two people who’ve raised concerns about the changes, but first here’s part of a video, produced by United Care that’s been posted on their website, which explains what they do.
(AUDIO)
(MALE VOICE 1) We’re looking after an increasingly aging population with more complex diseases, more co-morbities. Now what we want to do is provide really joined up care for them.
(MALE VOICE 2) Care of older people is often badly affected by the fact that several organisations are trying to be involved, and that people fall between the cracks in the service, and often end up with care of the last resort in hospital.
(FEMALE VOICE 1) Working within an integrated partnership will allow us to provide consistency across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and that service will be available to everybody across that area, which is important.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: So glossy video, very slick website, but is it all really as good as that, and how is the changeover going to happen? Concerns raised first of all by Steve Sweeney, who’s Regional Officer of the GMB Union. Hello Steve.
STEVE SWEENEY: Good morning.
CHRIS MANN: And thousands of your members will be involved in this.
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The perils of data sharing within the NHS

07:47 Thursday 19th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Cambridge Science Festival is continuing this week, closing on Sunday. Today we’re looking at the security of our health records ahead of an event on that final day. And I’m joined by Dr Lydia Drumright who is from the University. Hello there.
LYDIA DRUMRIGHT: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: A hugely successful Science Festival, lots of variety in it. And indeed this is quite a different subject from the rest. What are your concerns about health data?
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Easy sale for lucky locals as North Westgate plans are resurrected

11:37 Thursday 19th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: We’ve also been talking this morning about this what could be a fantastic proposal for North Westgate in Peterborough. It’s been on the cards developing that area of the city centre for years and years and years and years. And some of the proposals, well there’s going to be a new cinema in the complex, £100 million leisure-led development, which would be bounded by Queensgate on one side Bourges Boulevard on the other Lincoln Road and Westgate. Expected once planning goes in in the summer work will start on it early next year, and it should be completed by 2017/2018. You also get a new public square. There will be some housing there. There’ll be a hotel and loads of eateries as well. But it also involves knocking down around ten or fifteen houses on Cromwell Road. Well Johnny D. has been to visit Cromwell Road this morning to see what it’s like and to see what one resident thinks of having to lose her house.
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Hinchingbrooke Hospital franchise experiment – apportioning the blame

08:18 Wednesday 18th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The taxpayers have been left exposed by the failure of the Hinchingbrooke Hospital franchise. That is the very damning conclusion of the group of MPs who sit on the Public Accounts Committee. Private company Circle handed back the franchise to run the hospital just three years into a ten year contract. Well the Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson is a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He joins us now from our studio there. Good morning Stewart.
STEWART JACKSON: Good morning Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Who’s fault is all this?
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