Best Dressed Window
The Town Council have run a competition in conjunction with their lights switch on, for local businesses to take part in a best dressed window challenge.
Many of the shops in Alfreton chose to take part and it was a very difficult decision for the judge to make.
Wendy Comins of South Normanton Area Food Bank, the Town Mayors chosen charity, has kindly chosen the winner after visiting each shop one afternoon. ‘It was not an easy job because each one was beautifully decorated,… many in a style in keeping with the shop itself. I chose ‘Pierce of Art’ on Central Road. The display reminded me of an old fashioned Christmas with stockings hanging on the fireplace, a blazing fire and presents around the tree’
Well done to the staff at Pierce of Art; Lesley, Elizabeth, Jess, Lucy and Abbey, they will be presented with their prize by the Town Mayor, Councillor Mary Kerry next week.
Alfreton gets lit up for Christmas!
The Town of Alfreton burst into light at 5pm last Saturday when the Town Mayor, Councillor Mary Kerry, assisted by local children, turned on the Town’s Christmas lights.
The event was well attended by a large number of adults and children who packed the area around Alfreton House. They had been entertained throughout the day by a range of musicians, street entertainers, fair ground rides and of course dear old Santa.
The event also gave the opportunity for local charities to raise around £2,000 for good causes. Local producers and businesses also had the opportunity to showcase their wares.
Councillor Gail Dolman, the event organiser said “Of course an event like this cannot go ahead without the support of local businesses and shops. I would like to thank them all for their generosity particularly our support from Brandon Tool Hire, Keycraft, Alfreton Rotary Club and the many shops and businesses who generously provided raffle prizes”.
Councillor Mary Kerry, the Town Mayor said “I was thrilled to perform the switch on and pleased to see the excitement for Christmas from the many children and also the adults who helped with the Christmas countdown. I know that Christmas is a time for giving but once again Alfreton people displayed their warmth and generosity with spontaneous gifts and food parcels as well as cash for my chosen charity for this year, Alfreton Foodbank”
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EMAS has put out more ambulance resource than ever before. However, the combination of significant patient demand, pressure within local hospitals, and flooding across the East Midlands, have led to this level of escalation.
Declaring a critical incident includes a formal ask of partner services to take immediate action to help mitigate the risk for people in our communities, including:
Rapid release of ambulances from hospital departments. We appreciate this will be challenging for hospital colleagues however, we need to ensure we have emergency ambulances available to respond to people waiting in the community where life is at threat.
From the morning, local NHS Clinical Hubs to take Category 3 calls (see additional notes) from EMAS and provide support and/or a local alternative NHS pathway for these patient. This allows EMAS to focus on responding to Category 1 (life-threatening) and Category 2 (serious) calls.
All Category 3 calls (see additional information below) from NHS 111 receive a clinical validation from DHU Healthcare (the provider of 111 services) before it is sent for an ambulance.
Like many across the NHS, EMAS colleagues have been working tirelessly to respond to patient need. All internal actions and options to mitigate risk have been exhausted; therefore, a critical incident has been called to ensure mutual aid to support delivery of emergency and urgent patient care.
The public is asked to help by using NHS services wisely and by taking regular medication to manage long-term conditions. If your illness or injury is not immediately life-threatening, please seek alternative care via a pharmacy, urgent treatment centre, or general practitioner (including out of hours services) – visit the NHS website for services near you: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/services-near-you/
Given the additional weather-related pressures being responded to by emergency services across the East Midlands, please act responsibly and do not take unnecessary risks.
Additional information:
Given the severity of the concern, senior leaders will continue to respond to the challenges faced and to ensure support for staff and volunteers at work. Therefore, media interviews will not be conducted tonight. Media requests should be sent via communications@emas.nhs.uk and will be responded to tomorrow.
This is the first time that East Midlands Ambulance Service has declared a Critical Incident.
In response to pressures in the NHS system and on ambulance services, on Tuesday 26 November 2024, EMAS escalated to Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP) Level 4 – the highest level which indicates a potential for failures within the service. The service has remained at REAP Level 4 since then.
The Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response framework describes a critical incident as: ‘any localised incident where the level of disruption results in the organisation temporarily or permanently losing its ability to deliver critical services, patients may have been harmed or the environment is not safe requiring special measures and support from other agencies, to restore normal functions.
NHS England Ambulance Response Programme states Category 3 calls are for urgent calls such as abdominal pains, and which will include patients to be treated in their own home. The aim is to respond to these patients at least nine out of 10 times within 120 minutes.
Please check the images on this post to find your revised collection date and ensure your bins are out by 6:00am on the day of collection.
Full calendars can be viewed at https://www.ambervalley.gov.uk/rubb.../bin-collection-dates/
