News in Thurrock

CONCERNS about the future of a unit at Thurrock's community hospital and the conditions patients are enduring at its replacement in Brentwood have only been partially answered by the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership which runs hospital services in the area.

Thurrock Nub News was contacted by concerned residents and staff who fear Covid-19 is being used as a 'smokescreen' by the Trust to bring in cutbacks to care, impacting on the range of service available to patients from Thurrock.

MANAGERS at Basildon and Thurrock Hospital have played down the impact of a damning report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which has downgraded its maternity services to 'inadequate' after a snap inspection in June after staff within the unit raised the alarm.

The report highlights a culture within the hospital that means staff did not always feel able to raise issues or report incidents direct with the management.

POLICE have released pictures of men they wish to speak to following a stabbing in Grays.

CUSTOMERS of Barclays Bank, which has just three branches left in Thurrock after a series of closures, have spoken of their annoyance after the company announced it is to cut counter opening times.

From 7 September Barclays has announced that its counters will only be open from 10am to 3pm, cutting an hour off opening times in the mornings.

TRAFFIC congestion is expected which may impact on local bus services, especially route 44, following an accident on the M25 on the anti-clockwise carriageway.

It happened just after 11am.

PALMERS College's CEO has joined critics of government and welcomed yesterday's (Monday, 17 August) U-turn on A-level result gradings.

The government responded to huge concerns about its A-level grading policy by backtracking, abandoning its controversial exam algorithm and saying teachers' estimates will be awarded to students unless the computer algorithm gave a higher grade.

THURROCK Neighbourhood watch have organised a vehicle crime prevention event this weekend.

It will happen on Saturday, 22 August, at the junction of Belhouse Aveneue and Meadow Drive in Aveley between 10.30am and 12.30pm.

AN anomaly in the law means a man whose dangerous dog is reported to have killed at least two family pet cats will go unpunished.

Residents in Stifford Clays and North Stifford have taken to social media to tell of the problems associated with a large dog which is regularly walked in the area off its lease – and its owner has admitted to the death of one family pet cat but shrugged off the incident, saying: "He (the dog) clearly sees cats no different to squirrels or rabbits."

POLICE have confirmed there are no suspicious circumstances relating to the death of a man in Grays last week.

A body was discovered at an address in Seabrooke Rise last Thursday (13 August) and police launched an enquiry.

WAITING times for hospital treatment in mid and south Essex are among the worst in the country, according to new data.

Just 42.1 per cent of patients – equivalent to 38,250 people – were seen within 18 weeks in June, leaving the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust in the bottom seven per cent of trusts.