Blimey. More shite from the Sloves. My big sis, Agent T, (yep, we’re all discovering skills and talents we never imagined) received a letter from the Sloves today, addressed to her but responding to the grievance of another patient. This is reminiscent of the set of Community Team Meeting minutes, covering all five patients, I received by email when LB was in the unit…
…what-effers. Yadiyawnsville. You tedious, professional (in development), Sloven basher you…
Yep. I’m happy to assume the label of professional Sloven basher. Because they need bashing. Like other Trusts, I’m sure. (And given Norman Lamb’s completely frank account of the ‘abject failure’ of the Winterbourne View Joint (non) Improvement Plan* yesterday, I’m not sure what other options we have really).
Setting aside LB’s death (through complete indifference and disregard), we’ve had to sit through the Sloven Medical Director talk on local TV news about how the Sloves want to help us (me) move on. Move on. I don’t know how anyone can tell another person they need to ‘move on’ when someone they love beyond life itself, dies. Spoken by a representative of the organisation responsible for his death.
We’ve also listened to Katrina Percy, Chief Exec, talk bullshit about how this ‘isn’t about neglect’. I don’t want to meet KP but I’d like someone to ask her how LB drowning in the bath isn’t about neglect. About how the failings identified at STATT by the CQC, including a lack of therapeutic environment, aren’t about neglect. How ignoring staff concerns about an environment not fit for purpose at Evenlode isn’t about neglect. Etc, etc, etc. And relentless etc.
At the same time, despite (recent) assurances we’ll be kept informed of developments within Sloven Towers around the agonisingly slow process of doing anything in response to LB’s death, we know squit diddly. Agent T knows more about Mrs A’s complaint about her ******* than we know about any development in accountability for what happened to LB.
Then there’s this latest delight. An excel sheet emerging through a Freedom of Information request for all Sloven serious incidents by someone. I’ll work out how to post the full link tomorrow. In relation to LB’s death it states:
Senior management and Divisional Director informed. Police notified and attended, stated that the death appears not to be suspicious. Family notified. Parent has an academic interest in LD services and is known to the Trust – Comms made aware of potential media interest. Safeguarding notified. Incident form and IMA completed. CQC informed.
If you want to know why I’m raging and ranting about Slovenshite, it’s because even at the moment LB died (he died), their focus was on reputation. And has remained so.
* Worth flagging up here that #107days has no budget, no funding and is run solely on goodwill. An exceptional, unique celebration/critique of all stuff learning disability and broader. For free.
mydaftlife 
Bloody hell! Bastards!
Jill
Sent from my iPad
Oops – meant to email that directly to you rather than posting as comment
Sent from my iPad
Just when you think it can’t get worse it just keeps on and on. Not sure how you cope with the grief and anger they’ve caused. You are phenomenal. For what it’s worth you are constantly in my thoughts. x
Sent from Samsung Mobile
What an appalling statement. A parent with an academic interest ? What the fuck difference should that make ? Potential media interest ? Maybe they thought they would squash that one by declaring ‘natural causes’. 1,000 @justiceforLB followers in a few hours over a week shows that that didn’t work. There is no saving of their reputation, the hole just gets deeper than we could ever have imagined. Xx
Totally effing embarrassing. Please, please tel me that you sister has contacted Mrs A to put her in the picture……
Beyond appalling….hard to believe how many cans of worms there may be…
It isn’t even about protecting their reputation really is it? More about protecting jobs, and “image”. If you can bury bad things, divert or manipulate “media attention” then nothing need change. If they actually wanted to protect their reputation, they would be crawling with abject apologies and real concern.
Slovens record of mail in wrong envelope has been happening consistently.
As former admin assistant for them, we were told to start using window envelopes to stop this happening.
However this was changed when the folding of the paper in to the envelope revealed private information through the window of the envelope. A person rightly complained, so back to envelopes and sticky labels.
For decades this sort of thing rarely happened, however 10 years ago, the start of the reduction of the low paid ‘back office’ clerical staff who knew how to do things accurately and had enough time to do it happened. This is one of the impacts.
The audits and procedure checking that all nhs put in place to stop some of the errors happening, were previously not needed as the low paid clerical ‘back office’ staff did it. I do not think high up the chain it was known. I had it drummed in to me about date checking all equipment, stock rotation, etc Each clerical department had a notebook where this was recorded with reminders for ordering replacements and which supplier.
When I told my former manager about LB and the out of date oxygen and stuff missing, after the shock, she said that with my date checking it could not happen in our department. Sadly it was not on my job description, I just did it, as I had been mentored 20 years ago during a summer job by a wise lady just before she retired.
I still remember that the items in the first aid kit start to go out of date in May 2015, I will email them in the January to remind them to order more.
I think the NHS should give the families pound for pound legal expenses. Perhaps if both sides had equal access to legal teams, NHS lawyers and comms team would stop faffing about, things would be settled more quickly and hopefully with more compassion for the families.
My thoughts are with everyone who knew and loved LB
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