The Maudsley / NHS Finances / South London Paper

[Alan Dale]

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[Maurice]

Yes this has been in the pipeline for some time now. These matters just take time. Glad to see it progressing.

[Alan Dale]

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[Maurice]

I can assure you pressure groups, in particular this and the SE5 Forum, have had little if anything to do with it. This has been on the cards for some time. You can't really expect a few emails in the last six months prompted such a quick turnaround? Deluded.

[Alan Dale]

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[Maurice]

For the trust to put those properties up for auction took quite a lot of effort. I couldn't sell my home in six months - surely you can appreciate this was something on the table for years. I do appreciate you think sending a few emails is 'lobbying', but it is naive. Lobbying takes years, and many have 'lobbied' on this before. But it makes sense, and the trust knows that, and they've been working on trying to do it for a very long time. To applaud yourself and any lose confederation of people who sent the odd email is a bit over the top.

[Alan Dale]

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[*Bob*]

Hee Hee.. I think I know which house is yours now, Moz

[Maurice]

No Alan. You seem to love causing online mischief but aren't so good at taking your own medicine. You are gloating about your efforts to 'lobby' on something when all you really did was send a few emails and post on a few sites. Something you excel at. Now you are taking credit having gleaned it's up for auction thanks to someone who does know what is going on. Hardly a victory for some well oiled community lobby. It is actually a victory for the trust who has been working on this for ages.

[Alan Dale]

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[Nero]

Any intelligent guess as to how much one will cost? I've got some TSB school savings to cash in.....Nero

[Alan Dale]

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[Maurice]

Yes a well oiled community group in Camberwell indeed Alan. Now that would be progress. Ha!

Still, I'm glad the Trust has had great success with seeing their long-term plans to sell off the site come to fruition. Well done Maudsley.

[Alan Dale]

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[Maurice]

I hear some medical consortium is looking at using it as a 100 hour a week pharmacy with needle exchange...

[Alan Dale]

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[cdonline]

I'm not sure I understand the arguments relating to property.

I hope that the old days of selling everything off for short term gain are over. Selling off the Windsor Walk property were never going to be a long term solution of not having enough funding to keep the Maudsley's acute services open.

Sadly, we are talking about some of the most vulnerable members in our community. They may be small in numbers being admitted, but I find it distressing that these people will have to join the queues at the A & E of King's.

You don't see these people able to challenge these clinical decisions at the high court.

[Maurice]

I think 'these people' have had the full force of community spirit behind them. The SLP hasn't covered much else. With such sun shining on the decision, I have to believe it is justifiable.

The truth, as I understand it, is mentally ill individuals will have 24/7 access to emergency care. It may not be the same as before, but I don't think it means we'll see distressed individuals having to wait in long queues in a Victorian styled hospital with damp walls and flickering lights. I think the decision is defencable and sound.

[Frisco]

"I can assure you pressure groups, in particular this and the SE5 Forum, have had little if anything to do with it. This has been on the cards for some time. You can't really expect a few emails in the last six months prompted such a quick turnaround? Deluded."

What's the source of your knowledge on the issue, and what's worked and hasn't worked in terms of influence, Mo? You give the impression of being very informed. Are you connected to the Maudsley, in some way?

[Maurice]

No but I know someone who is. This has been on the cards for some time. A trust owning old properties takes a hell of a lot of time to sort out and get to market. As for pressure groups, that's not brain science. There are no effectual pressure groups in Camberwell, save the Society and the ad hoc Baths Group. The SE5 Forum has accomplished zilch and is on life support. They certainly didn't do anything re: this project. Alan may have posted something there and a few folks emailed, but I know the Trust was grateful for the support of something long in the pipeline.

[Frisco]

"No but I know someone who is."

Ah, really just hearsay then; particularly about who and what did or didn't influence decisions regarding Windsor Walk, either directly or indirectly, through the lobbying of officials, politicians or others.

I'm not sure it's wise to make claims that people or groups have accomplished 'zilch' or have no influence, as mere mortals such as you, and probably most of the rest of us posting on this forum, can never really be in possession of all of the facts regarding that, unless you yourself are an insider and at the very top, which, of course, you've confirmed you are not.

[Maurice]

I'm simply applauding the Maudsley, which has been working on this for quite some time. Surely anyone agrees such a sell by a Trust takes time. As for my assertions re: community groups, I stand by them. If you think they are poor assertions, then you'll agree Alan's leap that a handfull of folks sending random emails over the last months - then after a lull they see the place up for sale on a website (noted by someone else on another website apparently) - somehow means they won a long fought battle through massive lobbying. Perhaps we are both making shots in the dark.

[Frisco]

"I'm simply applauding the Maudsley, which has been working on this for quite some time."

And I'm simply suggesting that you should do so without appearing to put down the efforts of others.

"Surely anyone agrees such a sell by a Trust takes time."

It also took time for the properties to reach their current state of neglect and disrepair, under the stewardship of...?

"As for my assertions re: community groups, I stand by them."

Good for you Mo, the band on the Titanic played on regardless, as well.

"Perhaps we are both making shots in the dark."

I think I suggested that. However, that doesn't mean that lobbying those people who are responsible for decision making is necessarily futile, by whatever means or by whom it is undertaken.

[Maurice]

Poor soul. You win dear.

[Alan Dale]

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