Can your kids sing?

Haddo Voices youth choirs are looking for local children who enjoy singing to join up over the next two weeks. To help in the recruitment drive, Musical Director Alice Dennis has been singing Disney songs with children in the primary schools in the area and has been delighted with the response from them.

‘It’s been wonderful to see the kids throwing themselves into the likes of  ‘the Bear Necessities’ and ‘Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo’. It makes you realize just how much fun the kids have singing, but its also very good for them. I notice kids at the Voices choirs have improving concentration levels and also their reading comes on leaps and bounds, as they read the lyrics along with singing. Also singing is extremely important for developing the musical ear – all kids who have musical aspirations should really sing in a choir’.

Haddo Boy’s Voices has a few keen members, all of whom are lively and enthusiastic but they would love some more members to join up to help them out. They cater for boys in P6 – S6 with voices broken and unbroken.

The Haddo Children’s Voices cater for kids in P1 – P5 and the Haddo Girls Voices are for girls P6 –S6.

The three choirs are starting rehearsals next week (17th September) in Ellon at different venues on different nights. It costs £30 for the whole year with discounts for families and those on benefits.

More details can be found on their website: www.hhcos.org.uk/voices or by calling Alice Dennis on 01358 722977.

Keeping the door open on the Tarves GP Surgery

A delegation from the local communities affected by the closure of Tarves GP Surgery discussed the way forward with NHS Grampian today at a meeting hosted by Alex Salmond MSP. The urgent meeting came after the Branch Surgery run by Haddo Medical Group was closed last Friday (7th September 2012) following a long battle over medical dispensing rights.

The meeting thrashed out a series of issues that were raised by the community representatives and Alex Salmond himself. Richard Carey, NHS Grampian Chief Executive, took a positive and constructive view of the plight of local residents and has agreed to take the case back to the Health Board before the end of the year. He also agreed to allow the community to present their case directly to the board.

Paul Johnston, who led the delegation, said after the meeting, “This is not yet a done deal and a lot of work is required by all concerned to review the dispensing. As a community we will continue to pressure NHS Grampian to review the decisions that led us to this point and will ask all politicians to support us in this process.”

Chris York, a Tarves resident who also attended the meeting, commented “We were pleased to see the positive approach of NHS Grampian.  We hope that through the long term campaign by the community we have kept a door open on the process, if not on the surgery itself. We now need to build a strong case to convince the Health Board that the regulations allow the dispensing rights to be reinstated. This won’t automatically reopen our surgery, but it will make it a viable proposition for Haddo Medical Group to provide a service within Tarves.”

Tarves surgery closed on Friday 7th September at midday.  Haddo Medical Group confirmed that the closure was a direct result of losing dispensing rights in both Tarves and Pitmedden to TLC Pharmacy (owned by Invercoast Ltd of Gourock, superintendent pharmacist James Semple), a private sector company, who recently opened a pharmacy in Tarves.  The opening of the pharmacy was resisted by the local community and initially refused by NHS Grampian, but that decision was subsequently rejected by the National Appeal Panel.

Background articles

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1477835

http://www.pharmacy.biz/national-appeal-panel-overrule-nhs-for-pharmacy-licence-166.aspx

http://www.shsc.scot.nhs.uk/upload/file/national_committee_services/nap/decisions_2010/nap_261_appeal_decision.pdf

Tarves and Udny Delegation meet NHS Chiefs – Monday 10th September

Following protests last Friday at a ceremony of ‘closure’ for Tarves Surgery, a delegation from Tarves and Udny went to meet NHS Grampian CEO, Richard Carey and other officials facilitated by Alex Salmond MSP. Richard Reville from Tarves Community Council along with local residents and campaigners, Chris York, Tamsin Morris and David Hekelaar with Councillor Paul Johnston and Udny Community Council member Brian Macdougall met with Richard Carey CEO, David Pfleger and Pam Gowans of NHS Grampian along with Dr Fiona Munro and Viv Tanner from the Haddo medical practice.

“The meeting was positive” said Paul Johnston. ” We made a very powerful case to Mr Carey that NHS Grampian had to review the decision made by The Doctors review Group and endorsed by the NHS Board as it was faulted. Not only did it fail to take into account the severe local difficulties, it self evidently placed too little weight on the representations such as the warning that the practice would be forced to close a surgery. This happened and so the NHS Board have to return to the issue and reverse the dispensing decision as a matter of first order.”

The delegation welcomed suggestions that,as a separate issue, if the Haddo Medical Practice were financially unable to keep a surgery in Tarves, that the NHS Grampian Board would consider funding the practice to maintain a presence in the village. “This was helpful as an interim solution” said Tamsin Morris.

Following the meeting, the Tarves and Udny delegation received support from Mr Salmond MSP and Richard Carey said publicly, that the decision is open to go back to the NHSG Board for re-consideration and he agreed with the suggestion from Councillor Johnston that the local Community should be allowed the opportunity of making a direct presentation of their case the the board.

“There is now a clear light ahead for the communities of both Tarves and Pitmedden” said Chris York.

The local Community has vowed to keep up the pressure on NHS Grampian to review favourably the decision on dispensing and the delegation thanked all the local MSPs and MPs who, latterly, have acknowledged the problem and have helped to try and resolve it.

Ceremony as Tarves Surgery closes – but fight goes on.

Tarves surgery operated by Haddo Medical Practice closed its doors today (7th September 2012). As the crowd gathered for a short ‘closing’ ceremony, the message was that this was the outcome of a bad decision by NHS Grampian and the Scottish Government.
Suzanna Bichard gave a short address to the crowd which called for the decision to be reversed and told the crowd that a meeting on Monday (10th) was a first step to getting the dispensing decision reversed which forced the practice to close the surgery.
Mary Bowen also spoke of the late intervention by Local MSP Alex Salmond and said that action was expected and that local people would continue to try to have a GP service for Tarves.
Local residents, Chris York, Tamsin Morris and David Hekeklaar will be joining Community Council member Dick Reville, Local Aberdeenshire Councillor Paul Johnston and representatives from Udny Community Council at a meeting with Grampian Health Board Chief Richard Carey on Monday in Inverurie in a bid to have NHS Grampian place the issue on the agenda and then reverse the faulty decision to remove dispensing from the Surgery. Haddo medical group have indicated that should they have continued dispensing from Pitmedden and Methlick for all their patients except the neighbourhood of Tarves, then a GP presence can be re-established in Tarves.