• Save the Michael Sobell Hospice.
    Forty one years ago Michael Sobell had a vision. A vision of a hospice where people would be able to spend the last few days of their life with all the staff and facilities that were needed to hand, in an environment that was as pleasant as possible. An environment with beautiful plants growing indoors as well as in the peaceful, tranquil gardens, a calming aquarium, and an aviary where colourful, birds flit from branch to branch and sing. An environment far removed from the usual, purely functional, antiseptic hospital ward, and a level of 24 hour care far more effective than that which could ever be provided at home. In 1977 Michael Sobell was moved enough to donate £1 million of his own money so that his vision could be achieved. A building was erected which provided an environment that was as homely as possible, friendly, and even inspirational, but a building with an expected life span of only 20 years. It has been tended and cared for by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers for 41 years. But now here we are and the inevitable day has finally arrived and the building needs to be demolished, and yet there is no plan in place to allow this much appreciated facility to continue. “Care in the community” undoubtedly has its benefits, but the phrase often seems to be used in a cynical way to slash costs and justify closing facilities. But it is totally inappropriate and unacceptable for end-of-life care. We are in danger of letting down not only Michael Sobell, the inpatients, and their families, but also the trustees, staff, and volunteers who have tended and cared for the hospice all these years - not to mention all those who have sacrificed their time, and risen to many a challenge, to raise funds in support. We must not lose sight of Michael Sobell's vision; the NHS needs to demonstrate that it still has a heart and soul. Otherwise we will just end up where we started 41 years ago. We cannot allow hospices to be closed up and down the country. We must not short-change all those people for whom the cards of life played out badly. This issue should be of NATIONWIDE CONCEN, we cannot stand by and allow the humanity to be taken out of decisions that effect us all, no matter what the financial pressures might be. Now is the time to mobilise public opinion while the powers that control the NHS contemplate how best to use their £20bn “birthday present.” We need to petition East and North Herts NHS Trust and make our feelings known before a decision is made that wipes the Michael Sobell Hospice off the face of the earth for ever. The NHS would then lose the ability to provide the sort of care for end-of-life patients that the community works so hard to support. It stands to lose the services of the dedicated people that tend the gardens, and look after the aviary and aquarium, and all the people that strive to raise funds to provide all manner of small comforts for the inpatients. The NHS stands on the brink of losing the additional funding generated by the Charity that supports the hospice which allows its limited resources to go that little bit further. But most importantly we need to show the NHS the strength of public opinion before it makes an irreversible decision that will deny many of our loved-ones access to the final demonstration of our community’s love and compassion that is offered by our hospices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxoOXs6i9gI ANY VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN AND OTHER PARTIES MAY WISH TO EXPRESS DIFFERENT VIEWS! The Board of Trustees of the Michael Sobell Hospice Charity have announced that they have set up an Advisory working group as part of their “listening and engagement” exercise. In order to help them in their desire to “spread a wide net to capture not only local views but also consider the national picture for palliative and end of life care’”, we have compiled a short survey. To complete it copy and paste the following link into your browser. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2VX8ZMJ You are also able to find the SURVEY on the newly created Save My Safe Haven website: www.savemsh.co.uk where we will be posting the results. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE try and complete the SURVEY in time for the meeting the Michael Sobell House Charity has planned for later on in August. Any questions please email us at [email protected]
    10,178 of 15,000 Signatures
    Created by Terry Dean
  • Mahsa Azad to remain in the UK
    Mahsa is seeking asylum after fleeing Iran because she was persecuted for being in a same sex relationship. She has been in Newcastle Upon Tyne for 6 months, she has made Newcastle her home and has people here she considers to be her new family. The Home office want to send her to Austria as that was her first point of entry in Europe. She is now in the UK and is part of our LGBT Community, she has been active as a volunteer for The LGBT Federation and despite all of her troubles she shows concern for others and wants to help. She has made great progress in learning English, she has made every effort to join groups and has struggled to get her spirits up after the trauma of leaving Iran, she will not survive a deportation as she is already feeling crushed by the Immigration System. She was removed from her home in Newcastle without warning and taken to Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre, this is bad for her already fragile mental health and it will set back the progress she has made. It's possible she will be leaving Yarl's Wood on the 25th June, If she is sent out of the UK it will destroy her, she has already been removed from her place of relative safety and it is inhumane to be sent out of the UK to somewhere she is not familiar with. She should not be persecuted further because of who she loves. We are asking for the Home Office to have her asylum case heard in the UK and for her to be allowed to claim asylum in the UK.
    233 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Andrea Strachan
  • Get speed cameras outside Field End School
    This petition is very important as driver's that speed down Field End Road are putting our children in serious danger, as well as us parents. A few serious accidents have happened within the last 6 months, could've been avoided had the driver's stuck to the speed limit.
    203 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Emma Wood
  • Allow Mrs Caldwell to access medicinal cannabis oil for her son with severe epilepsy
    There is undue suffering and disability caused by preventing patients to medicinal cannabis. In light of accumulating scientific evidence that medicinal cannabis is not only alleviating pain and suffering but can also treat severe medical conditions, like severe epilepsy, it amounts to medical negligence to forbid access to treatment. Furthermore, it violates one's human rights to accessing life saving medication. The UK is a progressive country and needs to change the law to account for the scientific evidence available.
    241 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Natalie Bristoleza
  • Give adopted children an equal chance at school
    Adoption UK's members have contacted us in their thousands to tell us about their children's struggles at school. Almost 70% of adoptive parents say their child's progress is hindered by their poor emotional state at school. Nearly 80% of adopted children say they are routinely confused and worried at school, and two thirds of secondary aged children say they are being bullied at school because they are adopted. And it's not just adopted children who face these challenges - we know that this is the daily reality for up to half the children in every classroom who have had traumatic experiences - from living in care to family breakdown to bereavement. This is bad news for children, for their families, for teachers and for school results. If we re-think the way we’re educating adopted children, we can vastly improve their life chances. And even better: the changes we make can benefit every child in school. We want an equal chance for adopted children at school - and for all children who have suffered traumatic experiences in their early years. Add your name to support the call for an #equal chance. The louder we are, the more likely we will be heard.
    7,594 of 8,000 Signatures
    Created by Adoption UK
  • Come on Salfordians. A last attempt to tempt investors to revamp the Gas works
    There is growing Concern by a lot of Salfordians that this iconic cast-iron structures that many generations have grown up with will no longer be there!. There are many great examples around the UK of how they have been redeveloped into housing, public and community usage. In a sympathetic and artistic eye pleasing manner. Like the one in the photograph. In alot of Salfordians eyes they should be saved and redeveloped instead of just being demolished so the land can be built on for another high rised apartment block, in Salford So come on SALFORD, too many of our historic landmarks have been demolished to build high rise unaffordable apartment blocks , we need to join together and hopefully stop this from happening before its too late as this is a historic sites. This great historic landmark need to be saved for all of Salford to admire for generations to come.
    263 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Katrina Bell
  • Save after school clubs for children with disabilities in East Sussex
    East Sussex County Council currently runs some high quality after school and holiday play schemes for 5-19 year old children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). The clubs are due to have their funding reduced and then completely removed over the next 2 years, leaving these children without the support they need. I am working with Jane, a mum of three autistic children, that has Cancer. She has had a breakdown and also lost the use of her left arm. She needs this support to continue caring for her children. She has tried to request foster care for her children out of desperation, but there are no foster carers available. Like many of the children who use the after school clubs service, her children have been refused a social care assessment by the Local Authority - and have been offered these clubs as an alternative. If Jane loses this respite she does not know how she will cope. These cuts will put these families in crisis. The schools are unable to finance these clubs, so it is likely the services will be restricted and many will be closed. There is no "wider market to be explored", there is no other place these children will be safe, or that has space to take them. We believe that in making this cut the Local Authority is breaching its duty of care to vulnerable families. We want to ensure these clubs continue to support these vulnerable families and the local authority upholds its duty of care to disabled children under The Children’s Act 1989 and S2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.
    4,018 of 5,000 Signatures
    Created by Rebecca Whippy
  • Save our Northamptonshire buses
    The cancellation of bus routes will leave many without any public transport to do the very basics like visiting a doctor, getting to school, or picking up groceries. Without this bus service the most vulnerable in our society will face social isolation, difficulty accessing work, and expensive taxi fares. I have spoken to a woman who uses a bus to visit her 90 year old father. She doesn't know how he'll manage if she can't visit him to help with his meals and cleaning. Another woman in Wilbarston relies upon the 67 bus to see her grandchildren and attend regular GP appointments in Corby - without the bus, she'll be left isolated or face paying £17 for a taxi each way. Northamptonshire County Council have a duty to protect the young, the elderly and other vulnerable groups - cutting these services and leaving these groups isolated, without public access to the most essential services is not right or fair.
    1,921 of 2,000 Signatures
    Created by Beth Miller
  • Boots to pay staff in London the London Living Wage
    I have spoken to many Boots UK staff, who are all struggling to pay their bills from month to month. I think it is awful that members of staff who work 37.5 hours a week, are in a position where they are struggling to pay basic bills. Some even have to go to food banks to support their families. This needs to change. Staff members who currently work in London get approximately £3000 less than the London living wage a year. Based on the 2016-2017 Government figures for social housing in London, this equals to around 26 weeks rent. This is half a year's rent that staff are having to find by making cuts to their already tight budgets.
    6,188 of 7,000 Signatures
    Created by Jenny Foster
  • SOSPPAN - Save our Services at Prince Philip Hospital
    If the NHS A&E moves to a new Hospital at least 50 minutes away by car or ambulance from Llanelli and if Prince Philip Hospital is down graded to a Community Hospital 100,000 people will be severely disadvantaged and some people will not be able to access the NHS services because according to Hywel Dda, they will not have enough money or a car. Losing immediate access to our Health services could cost the lives of people that you know.......or your father or mother or daughter or brother or son or sister or Mrs or Mr......this is key .....for you and for me........please sign to help prevent this.
    635 of 800 Signatures
    Created by Deryk Cundy
  • Paediatric Services at Royal Glamorgan Hospital
    From a local resident and campaigner Sam Trask: "Last month, our 5 year old little girl Lucie was admitted to the children’s ward in the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, suffering with a nasty kidney infection. She was treated for the following 6 days, and between us, my wife and I spent the entire time in hospital with her, whilst the other managed to take and collect our other daughter from school, do a couple of shifts at work, and try and keep home life going. Were it not for the ward being local, maintaining school and family life would have been virtually impossible. During the time we spent there, Lucie received excellent care (and has since made a full recovery), and we noted that even though the ward is due to be closed this summer, it was busy the entire time and even overflowing into the ward next door some nights." Closing this ward would mean there would be no children’s in-patient care anywhere in Rhondda Cynon Taff. We are very concerned that losing this ward would mean that a great number of families will face long travel times to either the Prince Charles hospital in Merthyr Tydfil or the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, and huge disruption to their lives because of it - especially if they have to use public transport. The same applies to obstetric services: if the maternity ward is closed women in the area, particularly from the tops of the two Rhondda valleys, will face an arduous and unnecessarily long journey either to Cardiff or Merthyr. I believe these proposed closures will put more strain on the already overstretched ambulance service and I believe that lives could be put in danger because of the extra travelling time involved. We the undersigned call on Cwm Taf University health board to maintain obstetric and paediatric in-patient services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, as it is a well used and valuable local service to the people of Rhondda Cynon Taff.
    125 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Frances Coombs
  • Build a decent playground in the centre of Ashington, Northumberland
    It's sad to see the playground and bowling green have been knocked down recently at the demolished Institute and Leisure Centre, as well as the beautiful park that was demolished on the Peoples Park field many years ago. The children are in desperate need for a free place to play with swings and a slide. Not every family can afford to pay for the new Leisure Centre facilities that are currently surrounded by a derelict building site and is a danger to children on the busy roundabout.
    244 of 300 Signatures
    Created by Myrle Howard