Here’s the report on the event held on May 25th in Holt:

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BRADFORD ON AVON AREA SENIORS FORUM

HOLT “AGE MATTERS” EVENT

Holt Village Hall, 2.30pm Thursday 25th May 2017

REPORT

 

Like previous Seniors Forum “Age Matters” events held in Bradford On Avon, Winsley and Westwood in the last eighteen months, the event in Holt was a public event not restricted to members of the Seniors Forum. The aim of the Forum’s “Age Matters” events is to provide people living in each of the main population centres in the Bradford On Avon Community Area, especially those who are over 60 or who are carers, with an opportunity to meet their Wiltshire Council Community Engagement Manager, Area Board Chairman, Wiltshire Councillor, other elected representatives and, in the Seniors Forum’s role as the Community Area’s Older People’s & Carers’ Champion, members of the Forum’s Committee. to discuss what life is like for people living in the area. The aim is to give people a chance to have a greater say in the decisions which affect their lives, to tell their elected representatives about what works in the place where they live and what doesn’t, to explain what they find good about life where they live and also discuss possible changes and improvements.

Twenty to thirty people attended the event, most of them of retirement age or over. They were invited to sit around tables, at each of which was a Forum Committee Member to act as facilitator, take notes and ensure that everyone got to have their say. After a brief introduction by the Seniors Forum Chairman, Michael Darlow, Wiltshire Council’s Community Engagement Manager for the Bradford On Avon Community Area, Peter Dunford, introduced himself and briefly explained his role and responsibilities. He was followed by Trevor Carbin, the Wiltshire Councillor for Holt and Staverton, Jim Lynch, the newly elected Chairman of the Area Board, and John Kidney, who is a member of the Area Board and Wiltshire Council’s portfolio holder for Adult Social Care Transformation. Each spoke briefly about their aims and responsibilities in their respective roles. This introductory section of the event lasted about fifteen minutes and the remaining hour and a quarter was devoted to people attending the event sitting together at their tables and discussing their experience of life in Holt and local services with the local representatives and members of the Forum’s committee.

On the whole people seemed very happy to be living in Holt and there are clearly a lot of positives to life there. Forum members were impressed by the evidence of there being a vibrant, mutually supportive community spirit in the village. There seem to be plenty of things for people to do and opportunities for getting involved in activities. There are bowls, tennis and net ball clubs in the village. The local church is active in the community and well supported although it was said by some people to be “A bit too happy-clappy” to suit everyone’s tastes. The two public houses are active in promoting village events and activities and there is a well-supported lunch club in the Village Hall every Wednesday run by volunteers. The fact that the village has a community bus is clearly a great bonus and is seen by people as a real benefit.  However, it was not clear from the discussions how much it is actually used.  Forum members wondered if it could be used more and not necessarily be restricted to use only by Holt residents.  The Forum, of course, recognises that any increased usage of the community bus would be subject to the availability of appropriately-trained volunteers.  Nevertheless we hope that this is something which the Area Board will look into and, perhaps, encourage.

 

Overwhelmingly the main issues of concern related to traffic, pedestrian access and safety. Almost everyone present drew attention to the dangerous, poorly maintained state of pavements in the village, which over long stretches are dangerously uneven, with many broken paving stones, potholes and other trip hazards. This problem is exacerbated by poorly maintained and over-hanging hedges, wheelie bins put outside houses in positions which block the pavement, and by people parking cars on pavements, especially along the main road through the village. The result is that the pavements are often dangerous or impassable, particularly for people with impaired mobility, balance or eyesight problems, who use wheelchairs or push prams. These problems are still further exacerbated by the number of unrepaired potholes in roads throughout the village. Wiltshire Council’s continued failure to properly maintain pavements and other areas used by pedestrians all across The Bradford On Avon Community Area shows a disregard for people’s safety and ought to be a cause of shame to the relevant Council officers and all Wiltshire Councillors, particularly in light of official statistics which show that people aged over 65 living in the Bradford On Avon Community Area suffer a higher rate of falls requiring hospitalisation than anywhere else in Wiltshire. One suggested way forward for tackling the poorly maintained and dangerous pavements was for Wiltshire Council to conduct an area-wide survey of pavements followed by a rolling four year programme to improve their condition. The problem of inconsiderate parking, which is also an issue across the whole of the Community Area, needs tackling through effective policing.

 

The difficulties for pedestrians in Holt are increased even further, especially at peak times, by the volume and speed of traffic on the B3107 Melksham-Bradford road through the village and the fact that there is only one pedestrian crossing in village. Some people felt there was need for at least another two crossings and especially for one somewhere near the village shop. This area can become particularly busy due to the proximity to the Courts Garden which attracts many visitors.

 

Another frequently raised problem was the very narrow section of the B3107 before you enter Bradford On Avon. The fact that it is so narrow (and badly lit) makes it particularly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. People suggested that an alternative cycle path is needed. One possibility suggested was to create a designated cycle path from Holt to Bradford beside the River Avon.

 

The other major traffic and transport related problem cited by people is the poor bus service, especially as Holt has no railway station. There are only one or two services each morning to Trowbridge, Melksham and Bradford On Avon and a similar number in the afternoon. If a person misses a bus they have to wait two or more hours until the next one. A further problem is that the “Zig-Zag” service is not scheduled so as to facilitate connections with the 265 First Bus services to Bath and Warminster. Some people suggested that one of the reasons why cafés in Bradford on Avon seem so well patronised is because lots of their customers are Holt residents who come into Bradford for a doctor’s appointment or to collect a prescription who are filling the hours that they have to wait for a bus back to Holt by drinking tea and coffee.

 

The problem of collecting doctors’ prescriptions was the most frequently raised health care issue. Collecting prescriptions is especially problematic for those without access to a car or who work during the day. To judge from those who attended the event, people living in Holt seem to be split roughly 50/50 between those who use pharmacies in Bradford On Avon and in Melksham. Many people did not seem to know that some pharmacies will arrange for people who are house-bound to have their prescription delivered direct to their homes. (The patient or their carer has to arrange for this service direct with the pharmacy concerned. Nevertheless we suggest that it would helpful for an effort to be made to raise awareness of this service). People suggested a number of possible solutions to the prescription collection problem, the most popular of which was for a small pharmacy to be opened in Holt. Another possible solution suggested was to arrange for a weekly delivery of prescriptions to the Holt Village Shop so that patients and carers could pick them up from there. (There used to be this kind of arrangement between the pharmacy in Winsley and the Village Shop in Westwood. A possible problem with this kind of arrangement is security – prescription medicines need to be stored securely pending collection and have to be signed for by the patient. There is also the potential added problem of payment for prescriptions by patients not entitled to free prescriptions). Many people said that St Margaret’s Pharmacy next to the Health Centre in Bradford On Avon ought not to close at lunchtime and also ought to stay be open later in the afternoon so as to enable people who have a late GP appointment to collect their prescriptions on the same day. It also ought to be open on at least one evening per week so as to make it easier for people who go out to work to collect their prescriptions.

 

A number of people called for a small branch GP’s surgery in Holt similar to The Bradford On Avon Health Centre’s surgery in Winsley. People also raised the problem of getting a timely GP appointment at the Bradford On Avon GP practice. One lady said that it recently took her two to three weeks to even get a GP to phone her.

 

People mentioned problems over parking at the RUH and said that they have found the notice boards explaining the new parking system at the hospital confusing. People also talked of experiencing problems with the new car park keyboards, some said that they had found the keyboards difficult to use as the keys are too small.

 

From some people’s comments it appears that there is a potential market in Holt for developers to build small scale retirement complexes. Although there is quite a large ageing population in Holt and there is the Firlawn nursing home, it seems there are no actual retirement or assisted living complexes in in the village. As one lady explained she is now approaching the age where she would welcome moving into such a complex but also wishes to continue to live in Holt.

 

Among issues raised that are not specific to Holt were concerns about potential cuts to pensions and pensioner benefits and, as the Forum has heard elsewhere in Wiltshire, more horror stories about the appallingly unreliable non-emergency ambulance service provided by Arriva Transport Solutions Ltd (the operator contracted by Wiltshire NHS CCG to provide this service for patients living in Wiltshire).

 

One lady told of being picked up from home in Holt at 7.00am to be taken for a 2pm appointment at the BRI in Bristol and also of the Arriva ambulance which was meant to take her home after the appointment never turning up at all. Another lady talked about an Arriva ambulance picking her up from home where the driver had been given the wrong hospital name to take her to. Another story involved an Arriva ambulance which never got to Warminster Hospital to take a patient home as it had broken down. (Surely after all this time and so many accounts from both patients and hospital staff about the continued serious unreliability of the service provided by Arriva it is high time that Wilshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group was taken seriously to task for not taking effective action over Arriva and for not by now having revoked Arriva’s contract on account of Arriva’s continued, multiple failures to provide an adequate and reliable service. Arriva’s persistent failures and unreliability not only causes distress and huge inconvenience to patients, their families and carers, it wastes huge amounts of NHS staff time and adds very considerably to the stress staff are under in the various hospitals, out-patients and other care and treatment facilities. The Forum believes we have heard more than enough excuses from both Arriva and the CCG and that it is now time for these to stop and for effective action to be taken. Arriva should be fired and a replacement service found. Arriva’s persistent and repeated failures must be costing local NHS services many hundreds of thousands of pounds in missed appointments, staff time, replacement patient transport, etc.)

 

Michael Darlow

Chairman, Bradford On Avon Area Seniors Forum

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