FORMBY
CELEBRATING
25 YEARS
2019 Open Events Thursday 26th September, 4pm - 7pm Saturday 28th September, 10am - 12pm 25 September 2019
Vol 26 Issue 39
INSIDE THIS WEEK:
www.champnews.com
Register now for September 2020 admissions
Travel firm boss steps in to help holidaymakers
WIN tickets to see Marvel Universe Live!
RECORD NUMBER OF PATIENTS TREATED AT A&E OVER SUMMER ‘Staff have my utmost admiration for rising to challenge’ says hospital boss A ‘RECORD -BREAKING’ 10,377 patients were treated in A&E at Southport hospital over the summer. Staff saw seven patients each hour of every day in July and August on average, which is a 4% increase on the year before. The children’s A&E team at Ormskirk hospital are also treating record numbers of under 16s with an 8% yearon-year rise already clocked up for September. Despite the pressure, the teams at both hospitals combined to treat, transfer or admit to hospital 87.9% of all patients within the four-hour NHS national standard, claim hospital bosses. That maintained the trust’s continuing “impressive” performance, ranking it eighth out of 21 acute hospitals in the North West.
Report by Henry James Steve Christian, chief operating officer at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, said: “Like hospitals across the country, we see no sign of the situation easing. So, staff have my utmost admiration for rising to the challenge, continuing to give timely, quality care, and making our hospitals among the best in the region. “We’ve achieved these results by improving our own systems and working with local partners in the NHS and social care to ensure patients are discharged as soon as they ’re well enough. Continued on page 5
Steve Christian, chief operating officer at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust
Voting for the Neighbourhood Plan to take place on October 10 VOTING will take place on the Formby and Little Altcar Neighbourhood Plan Referendum next month. Residents had until Tuesday, (September 24) to register to vote on Thursday, October 10. Voters will receive a polling card which will tell them which polling station to attend, which may not be their usual polling station. They will receive a ballot paper with the following question written on it: ‘Do you want Sefton Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Formby and Little Altcar to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’ Earlier this month, the Champion revealed that Formby and Little Altcar’s controversial Neighbourhood Plan had been passed by the planning examiner. The plan - put together by the FRAG Formby Parish controlled Parish Councils of Formby and Little Altcar - has been mired in controversy with claims from Labour opponents that it was ‘not fit for purpose’. FRAG was also accused by Labour activists in the town of spending more than £30,000 on producing the plan, including £22,000 on planning consultants. But FRAG dispute the figures, claiming they spent £4,013 in total. Formby Parish Council Chair Bob McCann confirmed the plan had been approved by the independent planning examiner and, with agreed modifications, was passed as ready to go to the local community for the referendum. Continued inside
THE UK’S LARGEST LETTERBOX CIRCULATION BY AN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER! 164,579
CHAMPION SERIES
JAN-DEC 2018 100% FREE