After a period of despondency and almost (but not quite) losing the will to live with seeing any hope of widespread improvement in the the quality and safety of NHS services, I’ve decided to make a stand, literally. I’ve decided to put myself where my mouth is and I am standing for selection as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in Arfon constituency near my home in North Wales.
Welsh below…
My experiences make me passionate to see the change this country needs. I know that means we need a Labour government and to win seats like Arfon. I have the knowledge, skills and experience to be an effective public representative and would love the opportunity to be part of the Arfon CLP team, so together with the local community we can bring about radical reform in Westminster. The people of Arfon deserve every chance to thrive.
I grew up in a mining town in the midlands and watched the impact of the closures of the mines on the community. A 1980s comprehensive school education meant I learned what happens when teachers are forced to strike. 6 months volunteering in India showed me abject poverty and the reality of relying on charities for basic healthcare. Back home, I went to work in the private sector and experienced the relentless drive for profits over fair pay and conditions.
I got tired of shouting at the TV
Disillusioned, I returned to education and studied clothing product development at Manchester Metropolitan University. I was elected students’ union women’s officer and then president, and organised health and rights campaigns including anti-tuition fees marches. Having a job with meaning is essential to me, so I joined the NHS in 2000. Over the next ten years I paid off my student loans and studied management and psychology part-time. I met my husband Craig working in Northumberland, another area decimated by loss of industry. We settled in Glan Conwy in 2004 when I came to work at what is now the continually troubled Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and trained as volunteer Childline counsellor for north Wales.
Working in the public sector has been my way to contribute practically to the delivery of the socialist agenda in the United Kingdom. I specialise in healthcare quality, driving improvements to services and outcomes for patients, and improving efficiency and value for the tax-payer. These days I work with hospitals that are failing to achieve national emergency care standards in the north west of England and the Welsh borders. I use my listening and analytical skills to diagnose problems, I bring people together to find solutions to those problems, and I use my change management and creative thinking skills, and the skills of those in the local team, to implement sustainable improvements. I support organisations to incorporate successful changes into local policy so they become sustained new ways of working.
18 years in the public sector has also allowed me to see the impact of Labour and Conservative policies on the sickest and most vulnerable members of our population. Whilst service quality and efficacy improved under Labour investment, Conservative policies of privatisation and austerity are increasing poverty, distress, disease and are taking lives. Staff, patients, carers and families are all worse off under this government. A recent report in the journal British Medical Journal Open suggested over 100,000 deaths were directly attributable to austerity measures since 2010. Every day I see the effect of reduced NHS and council budgets, of care homes closing, of care and health staff shortages and of hospitals beds being blocked by patients who can’t access the support they need to go home or to another supported place of care. I see dedicated staff being worn down and burned out by the constant demands to deliver more with less. Public services are at breaking point, and our socialist infrastructure is under threat.
In 2016 I got tired of shouting at the TV and joined the Labour Party to support Jeremy Corbyn and his approach. Since then I’ve contributed to local, national and parliamentary campaigns, CLP meetings and the Aberconwy Executive Committee. I stood as a Conwy County Council candidate in the 2017 local elections and was delighted when Christina Rees MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, joined me in my ward to help me campaign. Although I was unsuccessful I learned a lot about campaigning as a Labour candidate in North Wales. I’m a member of MiP union, affiliated with Unison, who also supported my campaign.
Welsh language is a priority issue in Arfon and I believe constituents have the right to communicate with their MP in their first language. Dw i’n dysgu cymraeg. I am learning a little more welsh every day and look forward to rapidly improving my skills to support all constituents in Arfon to feel they can have full confidence in their elected representative.
Yn dilyn fy mhrofiadau dwi’n angerddol i weld y newidiadau sydd angen ar y wlad hon. I sicrhau hyn mae angen llywodraeth Lafur ac i ni ennill seddi fel Arfon. Mae gennyf y wybodaeth, sgiliau a phrofiad i fod yn gynrychiolydd cyhoeddus effeithiol. Buaswn yn caru’r cyfle i fod yn rhan o dîm Lafur etholaeth Arfon. Gan weithio efo’r gymuned leol, gallwn sicrhau diwygiad radical yn San Steffan. Mae pobl Arfon yn haeddu pob cyfle i ffynnu.
Ges i fy magu yn nhref fwyngloddio yng nghanolbarth Lloegr ac fe welais effaith cau’r pyllau ar y gymuned. Trwy addysg ysgol gynhwysfawr y 1980au dysgais beth sy’n digwydd pan fo athrawon yn gorfod mynd ar streic. Fel gwirfoddolwr am 6 mis yn India fe welais dlodi trychineb a realiti dibynnu ar elusennau ar gyfer gofal iechyd sylfaenol. Yn ôl adref, es i weithio yn y sector preifat a welais yr ymgyrch ddi-baid am elw dros dâl ac amodau teg.
roeddwn wedi cael hen ddigon o weiddi ar y teledu
Wedi dadrithio, dychwelais i addysg ac astudiais ddatblygu cynnyrch dillad ym Mhrifysgol Fetropolitan Manceinion. Cefais fy ethol yn swyddog merched undeb myfyrwyr ac yna’n llywydd. Trefnais ymgyrchoedd iechyd a hawliau gan gynnwys gorymdeithiau yn erbyn ffioedd dysgu. Mae cael swydd efo ystyr yn hanfodol i mi, felly ymunais â’r GIG yn 2000. Dros y deng mlynedd nesaf, fe wnes i dalu fy menthyciadau myfyriwr ac astudiais reolaeth a seicoleg ran-amser. Wnes i gwrdd â’m gŵr Craig yn gweithio yn Northumberland, ardal arall wedi’i ddirywio gan golled diwydiant. Fe wnaethon ni ymgartrefu yng Nglan Conwy yn 2004 pan ddes i weithio i Fwrdd Iechyd Prifysgol Betsi Cadwaladr sydd bellach mewn trafferthion parhaol a hyfforddais fel cynghorydd gwirfoddol Childline Cymru.
Gweithio yn y sector cyhoeddus oedd fy ffordd i gyfrannu’n ymarferol i gyflwyno’r agenda sosialaidd yn y Deyrnas Unedig. Dwi’n arbenigo mewn ansawdd gofal iechyd, gan yrru gwelliannau i wasanaethau a chanlyniadau i gleifion, a gwella effeithlonrwydd a gwerth ar gyfer y talwr treth. Erbyn hyn dwi’n gweithio efo ysbytai sy’n methu â chyrraedd safonau gofal brys cenedlaethol yng ngogledd orllewin Lloegr a ffiniau Cymru. Dwi’n defnyddio fy sgiliau gwrando a dadansoddi i ganfod problemau, dwi’n dod â phobl at ei gilydd i ddatrys y problemau ac yn defnyddio fy sgiliau rheoli newid a meddwl creadigol, a sgiliau’r rhai yn y tîm lleol, i weithredu gwelliannau cynaliadwy. Dwi’n cefnogi mudiadau i ymgorffori newidiadau llwyddiannus i bolisi lleol fel eu bod yn dod yn ffyrdd parhaol o weithio.
Mae 18 mlynedd yn y sector cyhoeddus hefyd wedi rhoi cyfle imi weld effaith polisïau Llafur a’r Ceidwadwyr ar y bobl fwyaf bregus a sâl. Er i ansawdd ac effeithlonrwydd y gwasanaeth gwellhau yn dilyn buddsoddiad Llafur, mae polisïau’r Ceidwadwyr o breifateiddio a phrydlondeb yn cynyddu tlodi, gofid, clefyd ac yn cymryd bywydau. Mae staff, cleifion, gofalwyr a theuluoedd i gyd yn waeth ei byd o dan y llywodraeth hon. Awgrymodd adroddiad diweddar yn y cylchgrawn British Medical Journal Open y byddai dros 100,000 o farwolaethau o ganlyniad i fesurau llymder ers 2010. Pob dydd, dwi’n gweld effaith toriadau i gyllidebau’r GIG a’r cyngor, cau cartrefi gofal, prinder staff gofal ac iechyd a gwelyau ysbyty yn llawn efo cleifion sydd yn methu cael mynediad i’r gefnogaeth sydd angen arnynt i fynd adref neu i le gofal cefnogol. Dwi’n gweld staff ymroddedig wedi blino’n lân ac wedi torri gan y galwadau cyson i gyflwyno mwy efo llai. Mae gwasanaethau cyhoeddus ar fin torri, ac mae ein seilwaith sosialaidd dan fygythiad.
Yn 2016 roeddwn wedi cael hen ddigon o weiddi ar y teledu ac ymunais y Blaid Lafur i gefnogi Jeremy Corbyn a’i ymagwedd. Ers hynny dwi wedi cyfrannu at ymgyrchoedd lleol, cenedlaethol a seneddol, cyfarfodydd etholaeth Aberconwy a’i Pwyllgor Gweithredol. Roeddwn yn ymgeisydd Cyngor Sir Conwy yn etholiadau lleol 2017 ac roeddwn wrth fy modd pan ymunodd Christina Rees AS, Ysgrifennydd Cymru yr Wrthblaid efo fi yn fy ward i’m helpu i ymgyrchu. Er fy mod yn aflwyddiannus, dysgais lawer am ymgyrchu fel ymgeisydd Llafur yng Ngogledd Cymru. Dwi’n aelod o undeb MiP, sy’n gysylltiedig ag Unison, sydd hefyd wedi cefnogi fy ymgyrch.
Mae’r iaith Gymraeg yn flaenoriaeth yn Arfon a dwi’n credu bod gan etholwyr yr hawl i gyfathrebu â’u AS yn eu hiaith gyntaf. Dwi’n dysgu Cymraeg – ychydig mwy o eiriau bob dydd – ac yn edrych ymlaen at wellhau fy sgiliau yn gyflym er mwyn cefnogi pob un o etholwyr Arfon i deimlo hyder llawn yn eu cynrychiolydd etholedig.
