Social media and the NHS
I was alarmed to receive a complaint from a constituent in my south-east region about a patient at Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, posting a picture on Facebook of elderly patients in bed. The woman and her friends then proceeded to make very unpleasant comments about one of the patients.
I wrote immediately to both the Aneurin Bevan Health Board and the Older Person’s Commissioner for Wales to raise my concerns about the photograph and the comments which had been posted on Facebook.
It was an appalling breach of privacy by the poster and I’m pleased that the health board and the Commissioner are treating the matter so seriously. I wonder whether the use of mobile phones will now have to be banned from wards.
Certainly, we cannot allow an incident like this to be repeated and the NHS needs to make it clear that this sort of practice is totally unacceptable.
Real Crisps
What a devastating impact the fire at the Real Crisps factory in Crumlin has had on workers, the company and the local community.
Employees have been guaranteed their pay until the end of this month but the future, at least in the short-term, looks very difficult.
The company is saying redundancies are inevitable but I would hope if there are job losses they be kept to an absolute minimum. I feel desperately sad for the workers and their families because their livelihoods are at stake.
The Welsh Government and Caerphilly council will need to play their part to help this company re-start operations. Every effort must be made to ensure Real Crisps stays in the Crumlin area, given its historic roots at Cwmfelinfach.
The Tayto group has offered me a meeting in the next couple of weeks so –once they have a fuller picture – to look at the way ahead. This is something I welcome.
I look forward to the day when I can visit a new Real Crisps factory in Crumlin. With any workers who lose their jobs now getting them back under a new operation.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales East
The problem is not mobile phones but facebook itself which is full of unpleasant comments about other people. It is the nasty,small minded gossip, of which every community has examples, gone digital.
The trouble with social media sites is that they cannot be controlled, any more than King Canute could control the tide. It is just an unpleasant facet of 21st century life. Nasty people will continue to post their drivel on the internet and it is up to the majority to ignore their vile, and usually untrue, attacks.