I received a big package yesterday from the Sloves. The spoils of my Access to Records request. Blimey, I thought. This will take a bit of a read through. As it turned out, it took all of five minutes. The bulk was a copy of the Verita report and one set of board papers (stretching to the typical 200 page length). That left very little.

Now I requested copies of all documentation (reports, letters, emails, etc) in which I was mentioned dating back to when LB went into the unit, including exchanges with other organisations like NHS England, the CQC, Monitor and so on. And following the new NHS emphasis on candour (that is, open, honest and frank engagement), I’d expect a thorough set of documentation.  I’ve had several Sloven emails mentioning me that have been forwarded to me over the past ten months.

Two emails were included. Two.  One the Sloves sent to two people separately, and a response to that email from NHS England.

So more billy bullshite from the now legendary slovenly Trust. Notwithstanding the emails I’d already been forwarded (not included in the Sloven Two), an organisation that’s actively seeking professional advice from different areas (including social media) to manage the trickiness surrounding what’s happened (an ‘unprecedented set of circumstances for the Trust’ according to the Chairman), would clearly have more than two emails mentioning me.

One of the other bits included in the package was the Briefing Note to Monitor. This 3.5 side document includes four separate mentions about wanting to meet with me.

• To date Ms Ryan has declined all invitations to meet with the Trust Chief Executive
• It has been suggested that the Trust is somehow “hiding” from the media on this matter. The truth is very different. The Trust has responded positively to media requests and more importantly it remains keen to engage properly with Connor’s mother, Sara Ryan, but to date she has declined to meet with the Trust.
• For these reasons we should not respond through social media channels but we should continue to seek to engage with Sara Ryan in other ways. We owe it to her to understand that she is currently going through a grieving process and while she may not wish to meet with the Trust now, we still have a duty to engage with her in the future.
• We are pleased that Ms Ryan is meeting with David Nicholson and Jane Cummings – and subject to their agreement – we would invite NHS England to use its best endeavours to persuade Sara Ryan to meet with the Trust.”

This is another example of the completely misplaced focus of Sloven actions, a misplaced focus that filtered down and ultimately led to LB’s death. Instead of concentrating on the care provided and the ship they are running, they seem determined to hound me (and encourage others to hound me) into meeting with them. Why?

And if you’re reading this, KP and team, can you bung the missing documentation my way? Or have I got to make a second ‘official’ request?