In addition to the delay I banged on about in the previous post, I found out from NHS England this week that Sloven staff disciplinary processes are continuing. In Sloven time. On the midnight train to never never land. I’ve had this conversation several times now. It sort of sits at a junction between Tedious as fuck and Off the scale of outrageous. With a backdrop of Howl mountain.
‘What can we do?’ I asked the bearer of no news. Gnawing on the handset.
‘Nothing really’, was the answer.
‘There must be someone we can contact to say ‘This delay is unacceptable for everyone, can you do something about it?”
‘Not anymore, the only person really is the Board Chair’.
A heartsink statement given my 2 hour conversation with ‘Mr In Denial’/’Mr Kept in the Dark’ (sadly not ‘Mr Know it all’) a few months ago. Anyway. I sucked it up, fired off a letter with the keyboard smoking, and copied it to pretty much the whole world in his hands. Including Jezza, Norm, Si, Davie B and KP too.
I was chatting to Little Sis Sam earlier and she said how outrageous it was that we’re having to do this. Yep. And how awful it must be for families who haven’t been able to meet with the various people we have. Yep. Bit of a double edged sword really, she said.
More triple edged really. If that’s possible.
1. We shouldn’t have to do it.
2. It stinks that some families have more traction than others in trying to get accountability.
3. What has actually happened?
Those wagons are firmly circled.
As the old growler sang;
Mud can make you prisoner
And the plains can bake you dry
Snow can burn your eyes
But only people make you cry…
mydaftlife 
Such an accurate picture….says it all. The picture that speaks a thousand words. Big angry sighs … :(( xxx
It’s such a tough road and having tried to stand alongside Chris and Thomas with two similar situations in the intractable, oppressive services and the inherent apathy but with two outcomes ( hate that word now) that are so different. I despair. The system is diabolical. I reel from having had 30 years working in a bubble of incredibly positive, genuine, great life opportunities for people with disabilities and working alongside people so enjoyably and lovingly
to surfacing into a world where I now see the forgotten and down trodden, “poor ” people again. Once more we have labelled, removed, ridiculed, marginalised, drugged, tiortured and eventually killed people who needed our help more than anyone. The weak who are the people who did not know how to express themselves to get the best help. We then support and care for the people who did it, who took them away, justified it, failed to help them thrive and hurt them. Instead of making them an example of all that is wrong we look after their so called poor, sensitive, but really abusive and negligent souls.
What happened? Everything that was learnt has been pushed down and discarded. There is no error or chance that people who want to work in repressive systems end up working there. It’s a choice and a belief. That’s why they work where they do and act like they do. Those in Government who support those regimes believe that medical model is best too. It’s those nuts we have to crack and that’s very hard to achieve. In the meantime, as I know from the recent heartache for Paula in the loss of darling Thomas, the effects are devastating. For Lynne and Chris, the despair and fear goes on and Lynne will not rest until Chris is home. I saw Paula plead for her son. I saw them say it was an expensive meeting so could not listen to her! We tried our best but if you are up against 3.lawyers and a gagging order and no legal it’s nigh on impossible. We thought we had a real possibility of a solution. We planned to go and see this plot of land just near home. Nobody had helped us with this.,it was his a Mum and me who were going to put it together. It was simple and totally doable.. We could have had a purpose built bungalow for Dad and Thomas there. It was perfect. Instead I met Paula on exactly the same day to promise Thomas, on life support, that we would get justice.
Hopefully we meet on Friday for Chris to get his new home after 18 months of battle and let down.
On the 24th I am attending Thomas funeral because he was completely let down and failed by the system. He died in a place he was pleading to leave. He died wanting to ask the judge if he could go home. There is no excuse. He has to stand along with LB as the beacon for justice in this very dark place. Paula is desperate, lonely, bereft, and grief ridden. She has vowed to get justice because she feels she, the very person who fought for him all the way. failed him. We all failed him.
The people responsible should stand up and be counted now. Let these lads never be forgotten. These lads were failed by all of us ever working in this system. They were one of us, fellow citizens and we let a system of neglect and abandonment hurt one of our own. Let’s get the people who perpetuate these atrocious places out and never let them near our most vulnerable people ever again. I’m ashamed of the people who don’t shout this from the rooftops. I’m ashamed to be associated with anyone who has said they have worked, trained or supported people in a person centred way that doesn’t put an I am Thomas A4 paper in front of them and say that they support thiis young man. On the 24th of this month, Thomas will be put to rest. For respect for Thomas, LB and all the people who have suffered in these regimes we should be holding a minutes silence. RIP xxx
I heard a saying the other day which is becoming very apt for all of us, one way or another being caught up in the nasty world of “care”. It was this…” To the living we owe honesty, to the dead we owe the truth”…… Quite frankly the more that’s revealed behind the closed doors of LA`s and CP`s, the more it stinks.
24th February – minute’s silence. I like that.