Barbara Dring has been suspended on the same day her whistleblowing about planned NHS closure – denounced as ‘lies’ by local right-wing MPs – was confirmed correct
Barbara Dring, the 89-year-old Birmingham councillor ‘bullied’ and labelled a liar by right-wing Labour MPs for warning that a vital local health centre was about to be closed, has been suspended by the party – for talking to third parties about local issues.
Cllr Dring and a local health campaigner warned in the summer that Warren Farm health centre faced closure, forcing local people to travel miles for treatment – and was dismissed as a liar by MPs Khalid Mahmood and Paulette Hamilton. The situation prompted campaigner Lorraine Donnally to put in a formal complaint to Labour. Cllr Dring was briefly hospitalised with a suspected stroke that her supporters believe was a reaction to the stress of the situation.
Today, local newspapers confirmed that the centre will be closed and its services moved more than two miles away.
On the same day, the party suspended Cllr Dring, apparently for whistleblowing. At the same time, it has also suspended Des Hughes, the only other Labour councillor in Oscott ward – leaving Labour with no representation in an area with two Tory councillors.
One local told Skwawkbox that Labour has ‘shot itself in the foot’:
They’re idiots. There are two Tory councillors there and under the new boundaries the ward will fall into the Erdington constituency that Paulette Hamilton will be trying to win, without local council representation. They’ve really shot themselves in the foot.
Others were even more plainspoken. Ms Donnally, the health campaigner who complained to Labour about the behaviour of the local MPs, wrote on Facebook to link the suspensions to the health centre closure – and her comments about the party’s ‘disgusting’ conduct were echoed by other locals:
Birmingham City Council’s Labour chief whip Ray Goodwin is reportedly under investigation by the party over his conduct in the position but has not been suspended – yet Labour has suspended two councillors fighting to keep open a crucial important health facility.
Khalid Mahmood’s awful record as Birmingham Perry Barr MP includes wrongfully sacking former staffer Elaina Cohen for blowing the whistle on ‘criminal’ and ‘sadistic’ abuse of vulnerable domestic violence victims by another Mahmood staffer who was also his lover. Sworn testimony by one of the victims to an employment tribunal in the wrongful dismissal case was not challenged by either Mahmood or his legal team.
The right-winger has also been accused by Bangladeshi media of accepting a bribe from a convicted Bangladeshi fugitive seeking help with his asylum case – and by Elaina Cohen of accepting cash from the Kuwait embassy. He has denied any wrongdoing.
At no point has Keir Starmer or his sidekick David Evans taken action against Mahmood, even to suspend him to protect alleged victims while Mahmood was on Starmer’s front bench. The whistleblower’s emails to Starmer and Evan, as well as Mahmood’s own sworn testimony, make clear that Starmer and Evans were fully aware of the allegations and covered them up.
Bullying, smears and cover-ups have been exposed as rife on the part of the Labour right.
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Apparently the premises are unsafe.
Uproar as vital walk-in centre set to relocate amid safety fears.
A vital healthcare facility in Birmingham is set to be relocated due to safety fears amid deteriorating RAAC roof panels. NHS bosses have declared that the Warren Farm Urgent Treatment Centre in Kingstanding is currently “substandard” with photos inside the facility showing the roof being propped up and supported by steel beams.
A two-way proposal has now been put forward to relocate the Warren Farm treatment centre two miles away to Stockland Green Primary Care Centre off Reservoir Road in Erdington. The service at Stockland Green would also need to be relocated with NHS chiefs putting forward Bourne Road in Aston as its new destination 2.3 miles away.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/warren-farm-kingstanding-stockland-green-28183845
The impending closure was denounced as lies by two of Starmer’s lickspittle MP’s, contributing to Barbara Dring suffering a stroke.
To compound their bullying, Ms Dring has, now, been suspended for talking to a third party, about local issues.
An elected official, talking to the press!? Shocking!
That’s the story – not the impending closure.
Why deny the facility is closing then?
If the facility is considered ‘unsafe’ why not state that in the first place?
What you fail to highlight in your extremely selective and misleading quote from the article, Billy, is the wider context involving lack of consultations and practical workable options offered to the community which is evident in the rest of the article:
“The proposal has been slammed by Erdington councillor Gareth Moore, who said: “This is massively flawed in so many ways. As ward councillor for Erdington, I have not been consulted on the relocation of our walk-in centre and there’s been no discussion about that whatsoever….
…“I know there’s issues at Warren Farm but you cannot move the Erdington one to make way for that. Erdington’s walk-in centre is over-capacity already.
“We have two walk-in centres in north Birmingham, Warren Farm and Erdington; one over-capacity and one under-capacity. There is no conversation or information about how that capacity will be met because clearly everyone will want to go to the same walk-in centre at the Stockland Green site – so if it’s already over capacity now, how’s that going to meet the increased capacity?
“It’s just going to put pressure on Good Hope Hospital which is my concern and there’s been no discussion with residents at all which is particularly concerning.
Coun Moore also lamented NHS’ decision not to consider the former walk-in service on Erdington High Street which “was well-liked and well-used”.
He added: “I don’t know why we can’t move the Erdington [walk-in centre] back to the High Street where it was originally and operated successfully, and then move Warren Farm to Stockland Green if that’s the option and we don’t have another site available. That will solve the problem.”
Oscott councillor Barbara Dring, meanwhile, believes it’s imperative the Warren Farm health centre is reinstated. “Walk-in centres play a vital role in preventing hospital admissions and, in extreme cases, even death and services such as Warren Farm need to be easily accessible to the communities they profess to serve,” she said.”
“The location also plays a pivotal role in catering for the most vulnerable and disabled in the community who it appears are not always considered when making these decisions. This is why I strongly object to the closure of the Warren Farm Road urgent care centre, which has long been a community lifeline for so many.”
Instead, a high handed attitude has been taken by the self-styled Professional and Managerial Class decision makers who have, like their counterparts in the Labour Party organisation, been dismissive of not only any democratic due process which involves those affected and their elected representatives but also of anyone and everyone who has the temerity to question what they consider to be their infallibility.
Those automatically found ‘guilty’ of this sacrilegious act of disagreeing with the fragile ego’s of these infantile and autocratic parasites are, as we constantly see in example after example, immediately punished.
As with the rest of the entity, the Labour cheek of the arse which is the Uni-party needs no lessons in autocracy and dictatorship from outside ‘Jungle’ Joe Borrell’s Garden. In that regard, those who live in glass houses – including their cheerleaders who seek to deliberately mislead in the way you have here Billy – are well below the bottom of the list of those who should be throwing stones at others about dictatorships and autocracies.
Dave – “If the facility is considered ‘unsafe’ why not state that in the first place?”
Do you know for certain the precise time-line of who knew what and when?
“What you fail to highlight in your extremely selective and misleading quote from the article……………….”
Don’t be ridiculous, I quoted the headline plus the first couple of paragraphs of the article (the second of which makes it clear that there are wider issues at stake) along with a link to the source material so that other readers could see the quote in context. (or as in your case quote from it).
Are you claiming that the premises are not unsafe?
Try reading the information supplied to you rather then expecting a Janet and John to be provided for you on a plate Billy.
The argument, which you are once again deliberately misconstruing and mis-framing, is that the affected community has not only not been consulted but – and I will use capitals here for you Billy so it should be easy for even you to comprehend – THE CLOSURE OF THE FACILITY WAS DENIED AND THE LOCAL ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES WERE DENOUNCED AS LIARS BY SUPPOSED LABOUR MP’S.
Its not quantum mechanics kid. If the building is unsafe why deny claims that it was due to be closed and denounce fellow Labour Councillors as liars? Why not just say the building is unsafe at the outset rather than denying it was being closed?
And lets call a spade a spade here Billy. No one on this site is seriously holding their breath in anticipation of you providing a credible answer to that question.
Moving on;
“I quoted the headline plus the first couple of paragraphs of the article (the second of which makes it clear that there are wider issues at stake)”
You mean this second paragraph:
“A two-way proposal has now been put forward to relocate the Warren Farm treatment centre two miles away to Stockland Green Primary Care Centre off Reservoir Road in Erdington. The service at Stockland Green would also need to be relocated with NHS chiefs putting forward Bourne Road in Aston as its new destination 2.3 miles away.”
Which bit of this paragraph ‘makes it clear there are wider issues at stake” Billy? All it tells us is that at this late stage – and the blatant clue to the veracity of my use of the term “this late stage” is to be found in the word “now” located between the words “has” and “been” – a proposal has been put forward.
If that proposal had been put forward previously via proper consultation with the community and its local representatives instead of attacking those representatives as liars, trashing their reputation, and instigating Kangaroo type discipline charges against them this situation would not exist.
The incompetents who made this decision and clumsily tried to hide it would have been made aware that the alternative they are attempting to impose is impracticable. Firstly for reasons of traveling distance and secondly for reasons of already existing overcapacity usage which will be exacerbated by moving the users of the closing facility to it.
Furthermore, the incompetents would also have been made aware of something else they failed to understand. Which is a more local alternative on the High Street where it used to be located.
And this is where the key problem of the situation lies. Because that sensible proposal in the Birmingham Live article from Councillor Moore, along with the problems with the closure decision which was denied, has come from below in the hierarchy.
As noted here…..
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2006/mar/12/theobserver.observerbusiness5
The management in hierarchies don’t do accepting facts presented to them from the great unwashed/plebeian masses/the deplorables because:
“If only the facts matter, it shouldn’t matter where they come from. That undercuts the traditional justification for hierarchy: that the boss knows best. Facts force the boss to choose between being ‘in control’ and being right.”
And invariably, as we have seen once again with this example, they have not only chosen the wrong option they have doubled down by attacking those who have had the temerity to challenge them with facts and realities they themselves were too gormless to comprehend.
Judging by your 14:39 reply to me, Billy, it seems obvious they are not alone in that regard.
Dave – Oh dear, you really do need to get over yourself.
The fact remains that the Warren Farm Urgent Treatment Centre can’t be used now because a structural survey has found that their premises are unsafe.
Was it known over 3 months ago that these premises were going to be closed because they were unsafe?
Again, Billy, if the facility was unsafe three months ago why deny it was closing and denounce elected councilors of your own party as liars and gossips and suspend them for informing the community it was closing?
Why the Violet Elizabeth Bott impression of “I’ll thcream and thcream ’till I’m thick” to the extent of instructing everyone in the gang – because that’s what it now is rather than a serious political party capable of accountable and democratic representation – not to speak to an 89 year old elected councillor:
https://skwawkbox.org/2023/12/01/labour-tells-councillors-not-to-talk-to-89yo-woman-colleague-who-blew-nhs-whistle/
This is not the behaviour of mature adults.
We are waiting Billy. Come on, get on with it and answer the question rather than trying to defend the indefensible.
Dave – “Was it known over 3 months ago that these premises were going to be closed because they were unsafe?”
Was it known by who Billy?
Certainly not by the community affected. Hence the whistle blowing of local elected representatives.
I’ll ask again. If it was unsafe three months ago why the need to deny it was going to close because it was unsafe? Why trash the reputations of local elected Councillors, suspend them for ‘lying’, and tell everyone in the gang not to to have anything to do with them?
The denial of the closure of the facility is in itself a de facto denial of the reason for that closure – ie the building is unsafe. In that regard you are directing your question to the wrong individual. It seems more than reasonable that it should be directed to those who have denied it was going to close for that reason.
Come on then Billy. Explain why there was a need to deny the closure of the facility and the reason for its closure?
Who are the “third-parties” that Cllr Dring spoke to, the electorate?
When the party being led by a Long-Time Servant of the British Security State accuses one of its councillors of “whistleblowing, maybe bears don’t sh*t in the woods and the Pope isn’t a Catholic.
Either that or Keir Starmer’s an ‘interruption to normal services’.
Meanwhile, from the horse’s mouth; Margaret Hodge does her Mr Ed impression…..
https://twitter.com/jrc1921/status/1730607362577158398?s=20Xx
……and admits without a Tinge of shame to have conspired to prevent the election of a moderate, democratic, socialist Government in favour of the the most right wing proto-fascist, chaotic government elected so far. That in effect the whole antisemitism slur was designed to that end.
These people are more than comfortable with what May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak have done and are openly content to double down on the same failed policies because they share the same fascist values.
Today it is now 89 year old women who are being targeted with the Kangaroo court outlaw treatment. Give this lot the power of Government and tomorrow they will dishing out the same sort of treatment to the civil population as they are to their own members and elected representatives.