Fenland Citizen letters October 9, 2019
Illegal parking outside school
I find it disappointing that drivers are still illegally parking outside Glebelands School in Chatteris, during the busy school-run.
On Tuesday, October 1, I witnessed a gentleman park his car to pick up his children.
A grandad with his granddaughter just mentioned that he shouldn’t park there at busy school times.
Then we both had to listen to this man’s foul and abusive language.
This is totally unacceptable, especially in front of children.
I was also picking up my son up from the school and had to listen to this verbal abuse, and there were other children around.
Time and time again this is happening, and the school continues to send out letters to parents, on a regular basis.
It’s a shame that some parents don’t read the letters.
Where are these 20,000 police officers that we’ve been promised?
And it’s not just parking enforcement to deal with here in Chatteris.
I’ve noticed a good number of cars that have not even been taxed!
It would be much appreciated by parents, local residents and especially the school, if the police would pay us a visit now and again.
Historically this parking issue has been going on for years, and it’s all down to common sense and the safety of children.
Is it really a great hardship to park somewhere else?
Coun Daniel Divine
via email
Roles should be renewed
Re: Act to beat a nursing crisis (Readers’ Views, September 25).
As successive governments furtively changed our relationship with Europe from a market to a union the nursing profession was forced to eliminate one of its strengths.
There was once a three-tier nursing structure of State Enrolled Nurses (SEN), State Registered Nurses (SRN) and Nursing Auxiliaries.
The SEN’s were a type of nurse unique to the UK.
These were nurses with minimal formal qualifications who were placed on a two-year course as pupil nurses working primarily on hospital wards where they picked up experience and skills.
Time was also spent in PTS (Pupil Training School) where they learned theory to complement their practice.
At the end of two years they took a rigorous examination and successful candidates were enrolled onto the register and became SEN’s.
All training was free, accommodation was provided in safe nurses’ homes, meals were provided at a small cost and a salary paid.
SRN’s with those formal qualifications took a three-year course with more emphasis on theory and study and became the senior nurses on a ward after successfully completing their exams.
Auxiliaries were a sort of equivalent to Health Care Assistants.
The role of SEN gave a great opportunity for young people to gain a professional qualification and a career.
They also were the mainstay, while in training and after qualification, for the very important job of patient care from bed making to bed pans, making sure patients were fed and hydrated, as well as providing sympathetic human contact.
This role, as well as the Auxiliary Nurse’s role, had to be eliminated because our qualifications had to be in harmony with those of the EU, who did not have SEN’s or Auxiliary Nurses.
Thus we wiped out the opportunity to train as many nurses as we needed.
The recent Conservative governments have done their best to continue to destroy our nursing base by making nurses pay to be trained and pay for their keep and build up debt, but the rot did start with the requirements of the EU for us to be more like them.
Perhaps once we are no longer a part of the EU a decent government would revive the role of SEN and Auxiliary Nurse, but without the financial burdens that put so many off choosing nursing now.
David Silver
via email
Parking enforcement is needed
Recently in one of the local papers they had an article on parking in Wisbech and what a fine job the police did on booking 30-plus drivers.
Could we not have something like this in March as people think they can park anywhere they like?
On paths, disabled bays, zig zag lines with yellow lines included – and the police do nothing.
A C Knaves
March
No place for private firms
Labour has announced they would overturn patents on new drugs, allowing other firms to produce them at cheaper prices.
And Labour would force firms to make their medicines ‘affordable’ in order to gain access to public research funding.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry denounced Labour’s plan as the ‘seizure of new research’.
Vertex, the maker of cystic fibrosis drug Orkambi, said it amounted to ‘providing third parties with access to a company’s intellectual property’.
The idea that private firms can ‘own’ medicines and the research behind them, reflects what’s wrong with capitalism.
It’s good that Labour wants to take these measures – but we need to go further.
It’s not enough to have a state-run firm competing with private companies.
We have to get private firms out of healthcare and medicine altogether.
This means nationalising the big pharmaceutical corporations, with compensation being paid to shareholders on the basis of proven need only.
John Smithee
Wisbech
I won’t give my information
Would you give your NI number or passport details plus private telephone number to complete and utter strangers? No? Neither will I.
So unless I know how many strangers have access to that information without actually meeting me first I won’t give it.
Even if that does mean no chance of a job stacking shelves!! And no, I am not in receipt of any benefits.
Elm reader
Full details supplied.
Just who is responsible for mud on the roads?
As I have been travelling around Fenland in the last week I have been struck by the amount of mud left on our roads.
I can only assume it has come from farm vehicles in the main, but I’m worried that, in certain weather conditions, it could become a danger.
After some rain surely it would be a skid hazard; a likely cause of a road accident.
From my distant memory I seem to recall that it used to be the responsibility of the person who ‘dropped’ the mud to clean it up.
Have things changed? Just who is legally responsible to clean this up?
Is there a responsibility on Highways to clean it up – or at least ensure the person responsible does the right thing?
I know we live in an agricultural area and our towns and villages are surrounded by farmland that has to be worked in all weathers – but surely that’s no excuse for failing to keep our roads clear.
Wet, muddy, roads are a danger – I hope nothing tragic happens as a result of this.
Stewart Brown
March
