Trust governance is not child’s play
Yes, children aged 10 can make rational decisions, but based on their personal world view only. Moreover, being a governor of a trust is not merely a matter of making rational decisions. They have fiduciary duties that are difficult for mature adults to comprehend, let alone people under 21. The level of responsibility, judgment and wisdom required to be a governor is lacking in children and teenagers.
Judges have generally done an excellent job making decisions for the welfare of the child in hospital and family disputes where emotions and personal agendas cloud the family’s judgment.
The issue is not about representing children’s views because any decent governor would take account of the children’s views. It is about representing children’s welfare.
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Joyce Glasser,Clearpoint Consulting, London
NHS privatisation is OK
THE nadir of optimism in the NHS reported by MORI in the Health Service Journal (Other Views, Sept 5) closely follows an announcement that Deutsche Post’s DHL Logistics unit has won a ten-year contract with the UK’s National Health Service. And we have had the knee-jerk “stop this privatisation” reaction from the usual parties.
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Actually, a level of privatisation in the NHS is to be welcomed — by all parties. For a start, getting existing NHS organisations to compete with one another for patients is unlikely to be enough to deliver the efficiencies and treatment standards we need if our health service is going to be sustainable into the next decade. Private sector example is needed.
This would be a fantastic showcase for the many instances of superb clinical and administrative standards found in many NHS hospitals and treatment centres. It would also highlight and incentivise the best practice financial management activities, including techniques such as asset finance, where we know that several pioneering NHS organisations are achieving great things.
A certain level of private sector competition is imperative if the NHS is to achieve sustainable reform.
Rod Barthet, director, Siemens Financial Services Pool closures are a worry
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I AM concerned by the present and projected levels of obesity (Over to you, Sept 5). Successive governments have been responsible for the decline in public facilities. The present Government is good at providing a Minister for Fitness, focus groups, feasibility studies, consultation, but useless at delivering facilities. Under this Government the decline of facilities in Calderdale has been depressing. We have seen the closure of three school swimming pools and one adult education pool while one of our five public pools is closed due to poor maintenance. We have also seen the closure of the PE school which provided physical activities for more than 1,000 youngsters after school. The number of new facilities is zero.
School pools are good because children do not waste time travelling and the size of the pools makes them less frightening to children learning to swim. However, it is impossible to maintain and run facilities without providing adequate finance.
Barry Crossland, Elland, Yorkshire
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Police poorly managed
IF the Government is looking for a credible way of defending itself against the allegations of parsimony made against it by Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation (Opinion, Sept 5), it may wish to look at headlines over the past 20 years that comment on an increase in the number of police car accidents and the force’s nonchalance regarding sexism and racism.
Campaigning for remedial action usually comes from outside the service. The officers on the beat perform a thankless task to the best of their ability but they appear to be poorly managed and it is pertinent to state that a significant number of police chiefs have been forced into premature retirement with the likelihood of more to follow.
John Kenny, (Metropolitan Police, 1965-95), Acle, Norfolk