Eric Leach's Ealing Covid-19 Latest Update
Local police district has London's worst record for lockdown violations
No Mask – No Travel on Ealing’s Buses, Tubes and Railways
£100 fine or prevention of travel is promised as from today. Police to enforce this are promised at our five major Mainline Railway Stations and TfL staff at Ealing’s 14 tube stations. Will it be the bus drivers who enforce this on the 21 bus routes which flow through Ealing?
Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow Have the Worst Record in London for Covid-19 Lockdown Violations
New Scotland Yard has revealed that Police Officers in its West Area Command Unit (Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow) have issued more Covid-19 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) than any of the other 11 Area Command Units across the whole of London. The unit issued 165 FPNs between 27 March and 14 May 2020. This represented 17% of all the 973 Covid-19 FPNs issued during this period. Just to the north, the North West Command Unit (Barnet, Brent and Harrow) issued only 29 Covid-19 FPNs.
Council Pressing Ahead with Covid-19 Response Driven Cycle Lanes, Pavement Widening and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
Some of these temporary changes have already taken place. They include a northbound segregated cycle lane on Greenford Road outside the entrance of the AEC Fishing Club and in The Vale Acton. Pavement widening has already been implemented east bound on Hanwell Broadway, south bound on the northern end of Boston Road Hanwell, outside Lidl in West Ealing Broadway and between Halfords and M&S on Ealing Broadway.
68 New Segregated Cycle Lanes
The Council is pulling together grants from here and there to spend £1.8 million on 68 new segregated cycle lanes, 33 ‘Footway Extensions’ and 20 Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs). Cycling lobbyists will be delighted that dedicated cycle lanes will finally take over large parts of the Uxbridge Road. What’s more ‘cycling schemes on the Uxbridge Road are the first priority’. One does wonder if these new cycling lanes will attract motorised cycles, scooters and motorised scooters.
20 LTNs
LTNs are those neighbourhoods where through traffic is restricted by barriers like bollards or planters. LTNs are planned for 12 (out of 23) of the borough’s Wards. The West Ealing LTN covers ‘Uxbridge/Northfields/Boston/Windmill (boundaries)’. How LTNs directly contribute to our collective response to Covid-19 is somewhat unclear to me.
There will also be Bus Lane hours’ extensions to help the segregation of cycling from general traffic.
What is clearly missing from these plans are more benches for pedestrians. Pavement widening and cycle lanes will ‘drive’ away vehicle movements. Passenger ‘distancing’ on the buses is reducing bus capacity. More people will be walking – some elderly and some with heavy shopping. So on our High streets we need more benches.
One can only speculate as to whether these changes, like Covid-19 itself, will be temporary or permanent.
Ealing Together Achievements 23 March to 23 May 2020
These include:
+ Over 350 Rough Sleepers Given Safe Places to Sleep
+ 7,717 food parcels to vulnerable people
+ £1.2 million of Covid-19 hardship funds provide to residents
+ 51 emergency grants to the voluntary sector
+ Co-ordinating 78 groups, charities and organisations.
NHS Covid-19 Response Changes at Ealing Hospital Might be Permanent
Ealing Hospital’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic is finally coming to light. All serious Covid-19 patients were/are transferred to Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow. All Emergency, Orthopaedic and Trauma surgery facilities have been closed down. Most of the Intensive Care Unit beds and a wide range of critical care equipment were transferred to Northwick Park. The Breast Clinic was transferred. Ealing’s primary Covid-19 role has been and still is to treat the less seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
Rumours are rife that these temporary changes - which seriously downgrade the hospital - may become permanent. 441,683 patients are currently registered at 75 GP surgeries in Ealing. The Council planning pipeline is to build 40,000 new housing units cross the borough over the next 10/15 years. Even the possibility that Ealing would not have a Major Hospital within its borders is a peculiar form of madness.
No Up to Date News on Covid-19 Infections or Deaths at Ealing’s 49 Care Homes
Let’s hope that the infection rate and death toll at Ealing’s care homes have subsided. But, how would we know? Should the private owners of the homes release this information? Should the Care Quality Commission, which regulates care homes, publish this information? Perhaps Ealing Council could tell us. After all, under the 2014 Care Act Local Authorities must carry out assessments of anyone who appears to require care and support, regardless of their likely eligibility for state funded care. Also many Ealing residents in care homes are funded by Ealing Council.
How Many Covid-19 Patients Were Discharged from NHS Hospitals to Ealing Care Homes?
On 19 March 2020 NHS guidance stated that ‘unless required to be in hospital, patients must not remain in an NHS bed’. On 2 April 2020 NHS added ‘negative tests (for Covid-19) are not required prior to transfers/admissions into care homes’.
There were 92 Covid-19 deaths in Ealing care homes up to 23 May 2019. Over the last three weeks there could have been more.
We now know that Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group (ECCG) staff along with staff from the West London Health Trust (WLHT) worked together/are still working together handling patient discharge from Ealing Hospital. As for Covid-19 discharges to Ealing care homes from Northwick Park Hospital, no doubt the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH), the Collaboration of NHS NWL CCGs and possibly Harrow CCG all have this data.
Why have ECCG, WLHT, NHS NWL CCG Collaboration, LNWH, and Harrow CCG seemingly not revealed this discharge information?
Eric Leach
eric.alan.leach@gmail.com
June 16, 2020