The family of a woman who died after spending months on an NHS waiting list say she was 'let down'.
43-year-old Jo Sharpe from Ashford had been referred to a specialist after suffering a seizure in January - but passed away earlier this month.
Also on today's podcast, there's a warning temperatures could top 30 degrees in Kent today.
A heat health alert is in force across the county and won't end until Friday morning. We've been chatting to Kent's deputy director of public health.
If you live in Folkestone, you're being asked what you think should happen to the town's library.
The building on Grace Hill has been closed since December 2022 because it became unsafe for customers and staff. We've been speaking to a campaigner who's keen for the facility to re-open.
There are fears introducing parking charges in part of Kent will kill the town centre.
Until now, shoppers heading into Tonbridge on a Sunday didn't have to pay.
But, plans have been approved to extend week-day charges to 8pm, and at weekends, Sunday charging will be introduced. The Local Democracy Reporting Service has been getting reaction.
And in sport, Kent's Emma Raducanu has got off to a winning start in the Washington Open.
She beat Belgium's Elise Mertens in three sets.
Can't online news. News you can trust. This is the Can't online podcast, Nicola Everett. Hello. Hope you're okay. Thanks ever so much for downloading today's podcast. It's Tuesday, July the 30th, and our top story today is that the family of a woman who died after spending months on an NHS waiting list say she was let down. 43-year-old Joe Sharp from Ashford had been referred to a specialist after suffering a seizure in January, but she passed away earlier this month after experiencing an even worse seizure. With Joe's sister and brother Jacqueline and Philip have been speaking to reporter Millie Bowles. What keeps me awake and I isn't a lot of my sister. I know it's probably those boys can make it. It's going to be difficult for them now if all the pressure did they run though. It's financial as well as sort of the issues. It's just it's hard to break it to a certain extent. You should know what's coming. And Joe had already kept the bluest family together, our own family. She was a small bechlius for a third-hour college. I mean is it? I was just kept right until I went around today. It was my main help. It's not right. And she had the kettle on. You know, giving in her a fluffy salt or some general words of shot and sex upstairs, go out of her sleeve. It was all she had run me a bath or something like that. You know, the single things. But not a lot for they mean the well. It's a small thing. Yeah. You know I always worked hard and I'd be struggling from time to time and you'd have a little call with her and I probably wouldn't dispose of what was really over. I mean I'd had a couple of days later a parcel would turn up in the outside of my house and it'd be, you know, something touching that sort of going to be that boost. That is, I mean, we're an epic, you know, but he seemed to see that he hides a lot more than he does, you know, and Joe would definitely see for him. Which was good, you know. I mean, the best example was I would have broke my legs and I'd just split up from a part of, so it wasn't an all after-moment part. So I was open. You know, it was right around business. It was 90 hour weeks for a standard for me, which is challenging to me inside a relationship and a house and everything. But I had that determination to try and succeed when it didn't work or when I'm broke up with the legs and I split up from a part that I was alone basically. And they'll see, I hid that from my sister, building what I had to feel sulling from me or whatever. But I'll never forget when she walked through the front door, when she came up to see me. I hadn't kept my emotions to go for a long time. And I think just seeing her face, it was good for me because I just completely collapsed inside. It was what I needed, I suppose, to be fair. Although I felt it broke me, you know. But for me, it was like, oh, there's, there's, there's my companion, there's, you know, I can be, I can be myself to find them there. It was really good for me because I was in a bit without place. I used to run it out 110 miles an hour, all of a sudden, you start. It becomes really quite difficult. So she was intuitive to enough to read, swing the lines. And I think she was like, that was everyone. I suppose it wasn't just me. It was on me. You did me to tell her your problems. You could tell her if you were struggling. And she wouldn't force you to talk about it. She was a club user. The subtle, small, small things that don't make her special, I suppose. Yeah, we have been in contact with East Kent Hospital's trust. They say they offered their heartfelt condolences to Joe's family and will work with the coroner to give the family answers. Kent online news. Other top stories for you today and a woman's been charged with murder by police investigating the death of a man in Strude. We're told the victim was in his 60s and was found at a property in Gun Lane on Friday. Nina Mercer, who's 42 and from the same road, appeared in court yesterday. Police are hunting a suspect following an alleged sex attack on a teenager in Medway. The victim was walking through Luton Wreck near Ashree Lane on Sunday night when she was approached by a man with a dog. We're told he was wearing an England shirt and had a tattoo sleeve on one arm. A prolific shoplifter from Medway has avoided another prison sentence. Lindsay Osborne appeared before magistrates after taking almost 200 pounds worth of sweets and chocolate from a co-op in Rochester. The 39-year-old who doesn't have a permanent address was already serving time for similar offenses but was given a conditional discharge. An Ashford care home has been placed in special measures after inspectors found staff used excessive restraint against residents. The Hall in Hamstrace provides care for up to 10 people with learning disabilities and autism. It's now been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission. Now there's a warning temperatures could top 30 degrees in Kent today. That means a heat health alert is in force across the county and it won't end until Friday morning. While you may be enjoying the sunshine and a blast of summer, we are being urged to be particularly careful to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on the NHS. Lucy has been chatting to Ellen Schwartz who's Kent's deputy director of public health. What happens when temperatures are that high is that the body has to work so much harder to cool down and individuals at the extreme ends of life, very young babies and older people, for them it's much more difficult to regulate temperature. Also people with underlying health conditions or people let's say will have sort of dementia who don't perceive that they are too hot, can't respond appropriately. So we're really kind of coming with a plea to all of you out there listening and that is just watch out for people who could be vulnerable in your neighbourhood, families, you're basically around you and make aware that they know the basic trips, and that is protecting from the direct sun. So keep the curtains shut when the sun shines into a particular and a window front and open the windows when it's cool outside, not at the height of the hot hot weather. If you're going out plan ahead, so if you're on a trip by car, plan ahead, take some water with you, make sure that you can protect yourself or babies from heat coming through the car windows. Or for other people who are these vulnerable people is the postpone your trip to the supermarket or to the pharmacy and show that you've got things you need urgently at home already, just a little bit of forward thinking to avoid that we're getting into really critical situations. And if you do go out, protect your head, wear a hat, use some sunscreen, because this sun is really strong. The risk is that we're kind of losing strength, developing some severe weakness, faint heart problems can occur, lung problems can occur, even heart attacks can happen as a result of heat. So it is for some people a serious condition, and if you are in any doubt that somebody has developed some of these concerns and some of these problems, do dial 111 and seek medical help immediately. Yeah, of course, what we don't want is people ending up in hospital or having to go to the doctors with heat stroke. Is there a potential risk it could put more pressure on the NHS this hot weather? Absolutely. And this is for my experience exactly what happens. These little episodes of extreme heat or higher temperatures, we see them immediately in terms of more attendance in hospitals. So the advice is really, as you say, also to keep that, you know, basically keep that pressure as low as it can possibly be. And just with a little bit of planning and working together as communities, I think we can do just that. And of course, we're quite used to temperatures around 30 degrees now. It seems to happen every summer. I know I think this is our second heat health alert this year, is that right? Obviously potentially more to come. Is it still relevant issuing this guidance, even though it seems like quite a regular thing? It's really relevant. And as you say, it will become more frequent still. And it's a learning curve for us to really adapt to more erratic weather, you know, that can be as we've experienced weeks of rain and actually low temperatures. And then we have this heat wave. And it's really learning how to kind of gear ourselves towards responding in the most appropriate way. So it is important that we continue broadcasting these messages to remind people not just for their own health, but I emphasize really look out for those around you who may be vulnerable and may have just simply missed kind of thinking about having some medication in store or stuff like Kent online reports. It's been confirmed no arrests have been made a year on from a fatal crash in Ashford. 20 year old Matty Tabaka died and three others were injured when the car he was in collided with the Flanders field roundabout in the early hours. A 21 year old man was interviewed under caution at the time. Inquiries were told are continuing. Elsewhere crash investigators want to hear from other drivers after a woman was seriously injured in a crash near the Dartford crossing. Emergency crews, including the air ambulance, were called after two vans and a lorry collided on the 8282 last Wednesday afternoon. Meantime, there are plans to cut the speed limit on a busy road in sheerness in a bid to improve safety campaigners, suggesting it's reduced from 40 to 30 miles per hour on marine parade between the Catamaran Yacht Club and Barton's Point Coastal Park. A 20 year old was killed in a crash there earlier this year. The idea will now go out to public consultation. Now, if you live in Folkston, you're being asked what you think should happen to the town's library. The building on Grace Hill has been closed since December 2022 because it became unsafe for customers and staff. The county council have been looking at what should happen and proposing to leave the site and set up in a new facility instead. But John O'Connor from the Save, our library campaign disagrees. He's been chatting to Kate. I think the campaign is really the local community saying that this building matters enormously and the battle goes back many, many years actually. It's a building that's been very badly maintained, poorly funded. So the critical dates, I guess, would be December 22 when it was closed to the public due to water, which the council said was the fault of seagulls blocking the downpipes and apparently they can't solve unblocking the downpipes. So it's been through various stages of discussions and so on over the last two years, a year and a half, and we're still there. We've got a consultation live at the moment with Canada Council. And say the library campaign, you're hoping to have the library services reinstated, the building brought back into use and all of the other associated services that come with it. Is that what you're aiming for? Yeah, our aim is to say that this is a building that was gifted and built for the community actually, 1880 thereabouts. It was only given to Canada Council in, I think, 1974 as a transfer of local authority responsibilities. So they only got the building in order to provide the library service. Actually, I would say if they're not going to provide the library service, give it back. It shouldn't be theirs to sell. So yeah, we want the building to be in community use. We want it to be owned by the responsible body, which at the moment is Kent County Council. We want a library service in there and we want to sustain other factors. The Sassoon Gallery is really quite special. It was part of the gift to the community for arts and general culture. The location is also important, if I could just mention that, because the reason it was built there was because it served communities in folks in East folks in harbour, which actually experienced a lot of hardship and disadvantage. A consultation will run until September 11th, a former hospital near Tumbridge Wells is going to be knocked down to make way for a housing estate. 87 homes will be built on the old Benenden Hospital site, not far from Cranbrook. Developers will be contributing more than half a million pounds to improve local infrastructure. Ken's online reports. Nine fire engines have been sent to tackle a huge cornfield blaze near Canterbury. Video at Kent online today shows the flames and smoke off Inan Road in Hurston. It broke out at around half four yesterday afternoon and crew spent nearly three hours at the scene. There's going to be another closure of the King's Ferry Bridge's work hasn't been completed on time. Now you may know that Network Rail have been replacing steel ropes on the bridge, which links sheppy with mainland Kent. We're told it'll be shut for another eight days to complete the repairs and that'll probably happen during the October half term. People living in a village outside Ashford fear they're losing their identity because so many new homes are being built. This is actually one of the most read stories on the website today and it comes as plans for another development have been put forward for land that used to belong to White College. If approved, it would see an old science lab demolished and would be the fifth project on the 80 acre plot. You can let us know what you think by commenting on the story or via our socials. Now there are fears introducing parking charges in a part of Kent will kill a town centre until now shoppers heading into Tumbridge on a Sunday didn't have to pay but plans have been approved to extend weekday charges to 8 p.m. and at weekends Sunday charging will be introduced. Well Ron Maine lives in the town and has been speaking to the local democracy reporting service. Decimated Tumbridge Wells where they've increased their parking charges on a Sunday, random in Kent, seven oaks. All these places charged for parking on a Sunday and look how it's made them ghost house. This is what I fear is going to happen to Tumbridge. I won't use the car parks in the evening. I'll go to where there's a free car parking space like many other people do and the town will lose out. Graham Simmons also has concerns. I think going forward they've got to monitor the result very carefully and ensure order to make sure some of these businesses don't suffer to an extent that they end up closing down and going forward I think the council and the council leaders learn that engagement with the residents needs to be a lot better than it has been. Matt Baughton is the leader of Tumbridge and Mornin Council. We've also never hidden away from the fact that obviously this does bring in extra income for the council. I don't really want to pretend it doesn't do because it does and obviously that helps fund important services that residents expect as well. So I think it's only fair to be open and honest with residents across Tumbridge and Mornin about that but at the same time I trust that they want a good well-run local council and also parking issues in the area to be addressed. So that's why we've made the changes that we're making. The new fees will be introduced on August the 19th and Atford women's been left covered in blisters after being bitten by a tiger mosquito in the Caribbean. Amy was treated with antibiotics after getting a rash while on holiday with her partner in the Dominican Republic but it reacted with other medications she was on leaving her with peeling skin and a swollen body and the RSPCA. So urging councils in Kent and the rest of England to ban goldfish from being given away as prizes at fairgrounds. The charity says the animals often suffer as a result of the practice. Their survey shows nine in 10 people here in the southeast are shocked that it's still legal. Kent's online sports. To the Olympics first, Angelingham born Eila Norman Bell has helped Britain into the quarterfinals of the women's rugby sevens elsewhere. Kent's Georgia May Fenton will be competing in the women's team gymnastics final later. And in tennis, Emma Rajikanu has got off to a winning start at the Washington Open, the 21-year-old from Orpington beat Belgium's Elise Mertens in three sets and says it was all about getting through. Trying to find a way to work your way into the tournament and I'm very proud of that. I think the first set I played some pretty good tennis too and I think I lost my focus a bit in a second and I'm happy to have recovered the break back in the third set. So I think I'm just most proud of my mentality and character today. She chose not to represent Team GB at the Olympics so she can focus on preparations for the US Open. But that's all from us for today. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get details on the top stories. Direct to your email each morning via the briefing to sign up to that. Just head to kentonline.co.uk. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast.
