Fife NHS Board Candidate - Ken Cochran

Raised in Fife, educated at Bell Baxter in Cupar and St Andrews University, I am 53 years old, married for 25 years with two children, and run my own small business. Having lived overseas for several years and experienced a variety of health care providers, I am exceedingly proud of the NHS especially here in Fife, but it could be better.  Above all it must be protected and enhanced as our lives depend on it.

A couple of years ago my father passed away having declined for a few years from dementia. He received excellent care from Fife NHS. My wife is a cancer survivor, and I have chronic health conditions myself which are well monitored and treated by my GP  - we know first hand the value of good health care, especially the early detection and treatment of cancer and the value to our lives of caring and professional health services.

My priorities would be to help reduce waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, to increase screening programmes, care for the elderly and the availability in Fife of NHS dentistry. All this must be delivered with the highest standards of safety and infection control.

Thank you for visiting my candidate information page. If elected I will use this page to keep you informed of progress for NHS in Fife.

For further details on the above statement please see the paragraphs below. You can also read about my vision for young people, senior citizens and about my motivation to serve on the board for this area.

To contribute to the discussion of health care in Fife please visit my Facebook Group

Please remember to vote - it is your way to have your say in improving the healthcare you receive !

Thank you,
Ken Cochran                      You can contact me by emailing  nhsvote@cupar.org

More Details -
Priorities:
Screening: Many health conditions (diabetes, cancer etc.) can be successfully treated best, if diagnosed early. This also saves the NHS money as it is often cheaper to treat an illness when it is caught early.  I am delighted that among my birthday cards every couple of years I now get a bowel screening kit from the NHS.  However more  could be done here.  For instance The BBC reports that a simple "one-off screening test could prevent thousands of people dying from bowel cancer every year". (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8647103.stm ) I would make life saving screening programmes a top priority.

Reduced waiting times for treatment: 12 years ago my wife was diagnosed with cancer - Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Prompt surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment undoubtedly saved her life. For some treatments e.g. elective surgery, waiting times are an inconvenience, for others like cancer they can be deadly.  I agree with Gordon Brown that people should be seen and treated within a guaranteed and short time frame.  In industry we call these service level agreements (SLAs) and they motivate good performance.
There should be no need for lengthy waiting times for routine operations either  - for example, if there are consistent waiting times of months for a given operation because we can only do say 30 of these a month, we should work hard to clear the backlog.  Thereafter the shorter waiting times would continue even if we continued the operations at the same rate as before. It just makes sense.

Access to NHS dentistry: There are many people in Fife who cannot get access to NHS dentistry and are obliged to pay high private fees.  I know of several people who have left Fife but still keep their NHS dentist here as they can't get a dentist close to where they live.  One family I know travels over a hundred miles back to Fife to visit their NHS dentist, keeping a place that a Fife family could use.  No doubt there are some people living in Fife who travel similar distances to visit their former NHS dentist because they can't get an NHS dentist in Fife.  This is ludicrous.  NHS Fife dentists should serve NHS Fife residents.  Access to NHS Fife dentistry should not be log-jammed by people living elsewhere. If this was implemented nationwide it would be much more efficient.

Care for the Elderly: My parents were both NHS doctors, pioneers in public health - my mother a Fife schools doctor, and my father a GP and clinician in the then Tayside Health Board.  I am pleased to say that in their later years the NHS, which they had both pioneered and served so well, served them well.  As I cared for my father in his final years I was truly impressed by the caring and professional NHS staff who cared for him.  They were a credit to their profession and deserve our support.  Elderly people should be enabled to live their lives in dignity and with the respect which is due them for their many years of contribution to society.  No elderly person should ever be made to feel a burden.  I oppose any moves which would pressure any person or professional to prematurely cause death.  Proper palliative care make this unnecessary.

All of the above must be delivered with the highest standards of safety and infection control - no one should ever become sick as a result of accessing healthcare.

About Me: Raised and educated in Fife, I have been married for 25 years to Debbie, and we have two children. I spent 22 years in America running a small computer contracting business of my own, and now run a small media company in Fife. This has given me some insight into management and accountability.  I feel I could use these skills in assisting NHS Fife with improvements in efficiency and quality of care for Fife residents.
My experience overseas has also shown me the great blessing that the NHS is to our country.  Without doubt public health is a right for all, for everyone benefits from good public health.  Our life expectancy in the UK exceeds that of people in America and costs the nation less than half of what America pays for healthcare as a percentage of domestic product. This is primarily due to preventive and prompt medical care.  The NHS has a vested interest in keeping us healthy and I will support all efforts to continue that philosophy and keep it free to all at the point of service.
I am used to working on committees, serving as the secretary of my local community council and a trustee/deacon at my church.  I produce web pages for several local charities.

Thank you for your support

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