
Day in the Life of Bob Peston
Wednesday 23 September 2009
1 PM - Mrs Peston made an urgent call to Mr Peston that their daughter, Clara Jackson, has appendicities and is in Royal Free Hospital. Mrs Peston and her son were on their way to the hospital.
2 PM - Mr Peston had to go for lunch, and drop some papers in the Town Hall, and make sure that he reaches the BBC studios sharp at 3 PM for his daily assessment of Finchley Memorial Hospital Financial Shortfall of almost £253,000 for the Borough of Barnet Local Government accounting period ended 31 March 2009.
It was a very complex issue. There was the question of the hospital not having spent the allocated money, partly funded by NHS and partly by the Kings Fund from Harvard University, during that year.
There was going to be heated debate due the forthcoming General Election between the Democrats and the Republicans during X-mas when Parliament had to be called urgently as normal Parliament time was insufficient to critically review all the pending legislation that need to be passed in a hurry.
Finally, it was agreed that in both parties Monifesto, the vialibilty of either extending the time limit for spending unallocated funds to the next fiscal year, or whether Finchley Memorial will lose those funds permanently.
On important are for a public inquiry debate could be whether comparison betweeon the budgeted amount and the actual was mandatory on an annual basis, or on a three years spending review cycle.
In the meantime, light was seen at the end of the tunnel. The best way is not to assess the situation on annual basis in the case of our NHS for all, not even over a three year period, but over the business cycle of when people's illnesses are increasing. The cycle period could be as long as 10 year, notwithstanding whther conditions and global warming.