Monday, October 19, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Public Health Wales Versus Office For National Statistics - Disparity With Death Figures.
The three images below are screenshots taken from the Public Health Wales tableau on the 17th October, 2020.
The first is #PHW figures which show nearly one million tests for #Covid19 have been carried out on 641,367 people in Wales and reports 1,708 deaths due to suspected Covid19.
The second is a graph showing the 'Cumulative deaths by Health Board of residence' -
The
third screenshot has been taken from a page which can be found when
pressing on the ONS deaths tab (Office for National Statistics) and
shows that there have been 900 more deaths than reported by Public
Health Wales.
The Public Health Wales tableau can be found here -
https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary
More - https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
Friday, October 09, 2020
Thursday, October 08, 2020
The Ongoing Saga With Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle.
n 2018, the BBC reported that staff at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes, had contacted their Trade Unions - NASUWT, NEU and UCAC with concerns about how the school was being run. The statement from Gwynedd council insisting good progress was being made held no water with the
staff who wanted to discuss their concerns with an 'independent' party.
The joint letter from the unions repeated previous concerns teaching staff had with the school's management. Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle was placed in special measures in 2015 which lasted until 2017 after 'robust' improvements had been made.
The BBC article from the 18th May, 2018 with the headline 'staff issue strike ballot threat' can be found
here -https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-44165753
Sadly,issues with the school continue. A recent article published on the 7th October, 2020, by the Local Democracy reporter, Gareth Wyn-Williams, reports on an internal review commissioned by Cyngor Gwynedd council and compiled in February.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/staff-morale-extremely-low-north-19061041
From the Daily Post article headlined - Staff morale 'extremely low' at North Wales secondary school, damning report finds -
Despite an acceptance that general pupil behaviour had improved, the report revealed that some staff remained negative about "concerning" aspects relating to a "small core."
With staff confidence in the leadership of the headteacher "needing to be restored," it reported
staff openly admitting they were "afraid of some pupils" with some feeling that Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle was "sometimes used as a dumping ground for troublesome pupils from other schools".
Among findings was that governors "did not have a firm grasp" of how the school was operating, with a danger of the body becoming "factionalised"into those who supported the headteacher and those who didn't, while also being "slow to act" on performance issues.
Many staff including the Head have been off sick for long absences which has simplyadded to the many problems the school has faced.
Whilst the school, the governors, the council, the GwE, tom cobley and all scrambleto protect their own reputations, the well being of the children and their education for their futures appear to be last on the list of priorities.
Caernarfon has been an area of deprivation since forever. Millions of pounds has been thrown at the area by UK government(s), the Welsh Assembly and the European Union over the years but the people remain poor. Poor quality housing and high rents exacerbate the issues. In the 80's, heroin, poor wages and unemployment were the problem. Now it is cocaine, poor wages and unemployment..
The local children in the area suffer the consequences that such deprivation has on the mental health of their parents and the local communities yet the council pull youth clubs and support services and local businesses either close or reallocate. A vicious cycle over and over...
A 2018 FOI request revealed that 21% of the pupils at the school were recognised as having Additional
Learning Needs. If the Head and staff are off sick what happens then ? How are these children being supported ?
Pupil Referral Units (PRU's) were until 2013 held in separate buildings away from school premises, now they are run on site within the schools. The PRU's in Gwynedd were highly regarded but closed due to the cuts imposed by the council. Have the closures lead to the dumping of these children back
into schools who can not cope to the detriment of all ?
The figures for those recognised with ALN are even higher in other schools in Gwynedd.
ADYaCH Behaviour Support link for those who have an interest -
https://adyach.cymru/en/Parents/Services/Inclusion/Behaviour-Support/Behaviour-Support.aspx
The Behaviour Support Service seeks a positive change in the behaviour of young people who experience behavioural, emotional and social development difficulties. The aim is to improve behaviour and reduce the risk of exclusion from school.
Tuesday, October 06, 2020
Sunday, October 04, 2020
Friday, October 02, 2020
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: One Year Of Non-Compliance - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.
"71. The Council should (within three months) seek specialist input to
develop a plan for dealing with future assessment and support requests
from/for those suffering with Autism."
Nick Bennett has given the
council chance after chance and even expressed to the family, his
frustrations over the situation with the council - all to no avail it
seems.
The council's CEO, Dilwyn Williams, appears to blame the SS
departments for the 'slippage' whilst doing nothing to take control of
the situation, himself. Whilst the Director of SS, who has no social
work background blames the recent pandemic (that doesn't explain what
happened to compliance before that time)
What to do now ?
Putting in yet another complaint to the council means placing
'independent investigators' in the firing line to be bullied amd
overwhelmed by senior officers and I am not prepared to do that.
Raise
yet another complaint with the Ombudsman ? What is the point ? Mr
Bennett is not respected by anyone in this corner of North Wales and
appears powerless to hold councils to account and so it would be a waste
of public resources to do so.
The complaints system in Wales is
not fit for purpose and Judicial Review appears to be the only way to
hold any public organisation to account. But there is no legal aid and
what family can afford the £25K+ - minimum - that is required to bring
such a case ? Local authorities as we know have an unlimited amount of
money at their disposal from public funds.
The Ombudsman wrote to
say that the autism specialist commissioned by the council promised to
present their draft report to the council by the end of September 2020.
Not
quite what the the recommendation called for, but, as Mr Bennett says,
it is up to him to accept any variation on recommendations - as he sees
fit.
No mention is made of the Ombudsman even receiving a copy
of the draft report himself and even so draft reports can be
changed.......
What next ? An email from the ombudsman later on today ?
Something is very, very wrong within Gwynedd council.
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: One Year Of Non-Compliance - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.:
Thursday, October 01, 2020
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: Autism Pathway ? - Cyngor Gwynedd Director Of SS A...
The Director of Cyngor Gwynedd Social
Services, Morwena Edwards, has published her Annual report to be
presented to the council on the 1st October.
Unlike
the Welsh Government's generic report she presented last year, this
report gives more detail of the performance of both the Adult and
Children departments she is responsible for but like so many reports
emenating from this council it doesn't seem to tell the whole story.
On page 31, under the title of Learning and Development, the Director makes mention that -
"The Department has been in contact with the Ombudsman's Office for some years now regarding one specific case....
The Department has received many recommendations from the Ombudsman, and one remains as outstanding; however, slippage has been seen in the work as a result of the Covid-19 crisis."
The Covid-19 crisis is only the latest 'reason' for 'slippage', so somewhat misleading....
June, 2019, the Chief Executive Officer, Dilwyn O Williams, sent a
letter to the family apologising for all the failings upheld by the
Ombudsman's investigation and informed that the Children's department
had agreed to implement the recomendations by September, 2019.
develop a plan for dealing with future assessment and support requests
from/for those suffering with Autism."
Council's action to meet this recommendation was to provide the
Ombudsman's investigator with a copy of the "Integrated Autism Service
(IAS)
North Wales Update- February 2018" and a copy of the "supporting
guidance" document.
specialist input sought. Just yet another attempt to avoid creating
any 'pathway' for autistic individuals seeking social services care
assessments or support.
October 2019, an officer of the Ombudsman for Wales contacted the council
for an explanation of why the recommendations had not been completed as
agreed and a phone call was arranged with the director Mrs Edwards to
discuss compliance matters. Even though this call was arranged two weeks
previous, - the council cancelled the call an hour before it was due.
IAS do not carry out 'care assessments', that is the domain of health
and social services, although autism advice can be sought from the IAS
during the process.
robust evidence of compliance was yet to be provided to the Ombudsman,
in November 2019, the CEO was summoned to Cardiff to explain the
'slippage' to the Ombudsman, himself, we were also informed that the
Ombudsman had other matters to discuss with the CEO.....
wonder how much this cost Gwynedd taxpayers claimed as expenses but at
least there was an opportunity for the CEO to do some Christmas shopping
in the capital.)
that outraged, as Nick Bennett could have published a 'Special Report'
as he did with the Wrexham council when they failed to comply with
recommendations agreed after an investigation.
this was many months before the #Covid19 crisis and for the Director of
Gwynedd SS to now use the pandemic as an excuse to cover for her
departments failings is disingenuous.
the pandemic took hold, the Ombudsman for Wales did indeed grant Cyngor
Gwynedd extra time to comply with the recommendations for improvement.
On the 11th June 2020, the Ombudsman wrote to the family -
enough - the pandemic has affected everything, though the Gwynedd
council staff outing where one officer contracted the virus on a night
out forcing an entire council group to self isolate for two weeks was
not appreciated by anyone.
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: Autism Pathway ? - Cyngor Gwynedd Director Of SS A...