Fewer than 60 per cent of doctors at Blackpool Victoria Hospital have completed adult safeguarding training

There is significant concern at the 'unacceptable' number of staff at the hospital who have completed adult safeguarding training

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

Before we get into today’s issue, I wanted to share a small piece of reader feedback we received recently.

It came from Julian Allitt, who is CEO and Programme Director of JazzRadio in Berlin. If it seems strange that he might write in to The Blackpool Lead, he spent seven years as political correspondent at United Newspapers - which is the business who used to own the Blackpool Gazette.

He wrote:

Congratulations on the support you are giving to those residents in the Revoe area of Blackpool who are opposed to the council’s redevelopment plans. In early January, I wrote about it to the Blackpool South MP, Chris Webb. I received an automated reply acknowledging my mail but no response on the actual subject I had raised.

If these properties were in London, they would be celebrated as Mews Houses - there are examples off Oxford Street, close to Mayfair.

It must be heartbreaking for local residents when the very people they elect to serve and protect their interests are the ones bringing about the destruction of their community.

Although I am currently living and working in Berlin, my heart belongs to Blackpool and I still have a business registered there.

My congratulations to the Rev Matthew Lockwood and the housing community union ACORN.

A very useful first step for people to get behind them would be to take out a subscription, as I have, to The Blackpool Lead, a great example of what an excellent campaigning newspaper can achieve through fearless reporting on behalf of its readers.

Today’s reporting continues on a thread we have been reporting on for the entire existence of The Blackpool Lead, but one which has taken on greater focus since details regarding the death of Preston Davey came to light.

That is that the number of staff who have completed safeguarding training at the hospital is a matter of ‘significant concern’ and ‘unacceptable’. Full report below the briefing as always.

Blackpool briefing

💦 Blackpool’s piers are deteriorating faster than they are being maintained, a structural engineer has warned. Chris Pratt, a chartered engineer with 40 years’ experience, gave the warning as part of evidence given in an appeal against Blackpool Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for new rides next to South Pier.

The Blackpool Pier Company was refused permission to erect and operate a Star Flyer and Log Flume next to the historic structure between April and October each year and as part of its appeal argues that the extra funds generated by the rides are needed to fund its maintenance.

Mr Pratt appeared as a witness at the opening day of a public inquiry which will decide the appeal and explained his company Westlakes Engineering has been tasked with reviewing safety of the structure since 2021 and reporting back to the pier’s owner.

According to Mr Pratt’s estimate, expenditure of at least £530,000 is needed each year just to maintain the current condition. He said: “The rate of deterioration is outstripping the rate of repair, it has been for a long time. Therefore if you don’t turn this around the incidences and individual problems will increase and the pier will no longer be safe.

“I can’t say when that will be but you will reach that point [...] It is ongoing, if you catch up on the backlog of work now, that would not be the end of it. The structure would continue to deteriorate while you were working on it.

“It is one of these ongoing jobs, we think of painting the Forth Bridge, well the piers are the same. The issue is there is a backlog as well as the ongoing needs.”

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🚔 A man has been convicted after a pub car park assault on the night of the Euro 2024 final in which England were beaten by Spain. Luke Bagshaw, 35, had been at the pub watching the final before becoming involved in an argument involving a group. He approached and punched a man in the face in an unprovoked assault.

The man was taken to hospital where a scan showed he had suffered traumatic bleeding on the brain, swelling and inflammation, and a two skull fractures. He had to relearn how to walk independently.

He was last week found guilty by a jury following a trial of Section 20 causing grievous bodily harm. Sentencing in September.

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🎭 Blackpool’s Winter Gardens Pavilion has been removed from the Theatres Trust Theatres at Risk Register. In doing so, the trust said that it is confident Blackpool Council will not allow the wider building to deteriorate further.

The Pavilion area has undergone renovation with the stage area converted into a café, meaning it is unlikely to be used for theatrical purposes in future, the trust said.

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Fewer than 60 per cent of doctors at Blackpool Victoria Hospital have completed adult safeguarding training

Blackpool Victoria Hospital

By Michael Holmes

Fewer than six in 10 doctors at Blackpool Victoria Hospital were up to date with adult safeguarding training, sparking “significant concern” from boss Maggie Oldham, it can be revealed.

It comes as tough questions continue to be asked of the Vic after two high-profile child murder victims - Preston Davey and Damion Russell - were treated there in the run up to their deaths.

Preston, 13 months, was seen three times with suspicious injuries that failed to trigger an intervention in the four months before he was killed by his adoptive father Jamie Varley.

And medics failed to ask Damion’s father how the boy, two, had suffered a bruise when he attended A&E less than eight weeks before he was subjected to a violent and deadly attack.

Oldham, who became permanent CEO in September 2024 and has been tasked with turning things around at the beleaguered hospital, voiced her frustration at a recent meeting.

She said the 58 per cent compliance rate among “medical staff” was “unacceptable” and required urgent improvement, according to documents seen by The Blackpool Lead.