FINN(COM) Daily Record: 04 December 2003

As from 1^st December 2003, Caribbean Alliance will be taking over the insurance business of Royal Insurance (Int.) Ltd in the Falkland Islands.

As announced in May 2003 there will be a seamless transition of policyholders’ interests.

This will include all new business, existing policies and renewals and the administration and settlement of all claims both old and new.

The Falkland Islands Company Ltd Insurance Agency will continue as before with the same staff, offices and contact numbers and we will ensure the change will maintain and increase the levels of service to our clients.

Caribbean Alliance has a long history of dealing with the requirements of Island living and we are confident we with their assistance will be able to continue to provide the excellent policy coverage as we have done for the past century.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact either myself or Tara Heathman.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Spink

Director

PLANNING AND BUILDING COMMITTEE RESULTS:

180/02/PB FIG To site 8 building plots at the old BFFI site

Rejected: Land zoned for Education

NEWS-ROUND HEADS SOUTH:

News-round heads south. The Dash-7 left Stanley Airport yesterday morning bound for Rothera but along with the bas personnel onboard were two members of the BBC News-round team. They are due to arrive back after filming on the 19^th of December. Accompanying them on the trip is BAS Press officer, Athena Dinar, who will also return with them on the 19^th.

TUMBLEDOWN RUN:

Saul Zuvic Bulic and Tiphany May were the first boy and girl to cross the finish line in this year’s Tumbledown Run, which happened this morning. Also in the honours were Stephan Clarke and Matthew Nethercot for the boys and Emily Hancox and Nadia Smith for the girls. The annual run was postponed last week because of bad weather.

CAROL SERVICE:

The Infant/Junior School Carol Service will be held at the Cathedral today. The whole school will be there for the event, which starts at 1700. That comes after the children from the pre-school put on a nativity play yesterday afternoon in front of proud parents and teachers.

COMMITTEE MEETINGS:

The Planning and Building Committee will meet this afternoon to discuss the latest batch of applications. They include more permissions for the siting of the Charles Cooper bow outside Gilbert House and an extension for the Trough. The Stanley Lands Committee also meets today at 1330.

SS GREAT BRITAIN RESTORATION:

The first stage of the restoration of the SS Great Britain has been unveiled in the UK. She was towed back to the UK in 1970 after years in the Falklands being used for coal and wool storage. And, a section of her Misen Mast remains on Victory Green. Built in 1843, experts warned then the Brunell Steamship would rust away to nothing in 20 years but the national lottery has given a £7.7 Million grant to fund a 3-year restoration project. The first class dining saloon has been restored and the ship’s stern was been fitted with gold-leaf. The work was shown off at a Victorian Theme banquet held onboard yesterday. The next rooms in line for refurbishment are the Captain’s Cabin and the Ladies boudoir.

BISHOP OF CHILE VISIT:

The Anglican Bishop of Chile, Bishop Tito, will arrive in the Islands on Saturday for a week-long visit. Bishop Tito’s reason for visiting is to conduct an induction service to officially make the Reverend Paul Sweeting Vicar of the Parish. Paul (PS) told us more about the visit.

PS: When I started this job, I had a service at Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury because he is responsible for this parish. And, we need to have some kind of service at this end of things. In typical Falklands stile, it’s taken us a while to get this organised amid the difficulties of communications. Here, I have been in nine months and Bishop Tito is coming down now. I am really pleased that he is going to be coming here with his wife, Myriam and on the Sunday he is going to be conducting an induction service and also doing a couple of confirmations while he is here as well. Then, there are other things going on during the course of the week that he is involved with as well. He’s going to be taking a look at the Lighthouse Seamen’s Centre and we’ve also got the consecration of a burial ground at Port Luis. In the original burial ground, the graves are unmarked. Obviously there are concerns about not disturbing graves that are unidentifiable so a new burial ground has been set up. And, we are going out there to go through that process as well.

SG: Sunday’s service will start at 1030. The 0800 and 1900 services are cancelled.

DIRECTOR OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SERVICES ANSWERS CRITICISM OF THE CORONER:

The Director of Health and Medical Services has rejected the Coroner’s suggestion that all patients admitted to the hospital through casualty should be examined by a Doctor. He’s also turned down Nick Sanders’ request for a complete and immediate review of the Medical Records system, saying the current system is up to scratch. But Norman McGregor-Edwards has agreed to a general review of casualty admission procedures at KEMH.

The recommendations were made by Mr. Sanders at the inquest into the death of Arthur Gould at the hospital in September. He recorded a verdict of accidental death after Mr. Gould died from head injuries he sustained when he fell down some stairs drunk. Mr. Sanders said the standard of care Mr. Gould received from the hospital did not directly contribute to his death but fell short of what he was entitled to expect.

He said Mr. Gould should have been seen by a Doctor on his admission to casualty but Mr. McGregor-Edwards today rejected that suggestion. He said that on the information available to the clinical team at the time, there is no evidence that an examination by a doctor would have been appropriate at that stage. His statement adds that the Coroner’s findings suggest that even if an examination of Mr. Gould had taken place, there would have been no change to the tragic outcome of his accident.

Nonetheless, the Coroner’s comments do present us with an opportunity to review our admission procedures through casualty and we will do this with our specialist advisor. He said both medical and computer records are available, too, and easily accessible by clinical staff if appropriate. This is the case both in and outside normal working hours.

Since 1997, all current clinical information, including medication, has been recorded on computer. Despite this, evidence given to the inquest suggested that no member of staff consulted Mr. Gould’s records during the 8 hours he spent on the ward. They would have showed that he was taking a blood thinner which increased his chances of internal bleeding.

Mr. McGregor-Edwards also said that Staff at the Hospital are adequately trained in neurological testing, despite Mr. Sanders’ finding that Nursing Staff failed to carry out the tests properly. Mr. McGregor-Edwards offered sympathy and condolences to Mr. Gould’s family.

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