22 months since LB died. 14 months since the Verita report found his death was preventable. And this week we heard through an unofficial (and plucky) source that staff disciplinary action resulted in (allegedly), er, no action. Yep. Apparently the preventable death of a young dude, a CQC inspection bad enough to remove the enamel off your teeth and no action. There were a few other hand grenades lobbed at us this week (as usual) so not the brightest of times. There’s nothing quite like taking on publicly funded bodies/state agents.
[Some essential skills/capabilities: nerves of steel, humour, dogged determination, resilience, disregard for rules, attention to detail, expertise in wading through shite, reasonable communication skills, and the hide of a rhino. Luckily these skills are dispersed among JusticeforLB campaigners spreading the load and generating a collective (joyous) force for good.]
So where are we at, on the accountability front…? In no particular order:
1. Verita 2 (broader investigation into the local, regional and national context around LB’s death): findings are being shared in a stakeholder group early May. Report should be published before July 4 2015. Jointly commissioned by NHS England and Oxfordshire Adult Safeguarding Board.
2. Mazars death review (investigating all deaths in Sloven learning disability and mental health provision since 2011). Report should be published before July 4 2015. Commissioned by NHS England
3. Police and HSE investigation. Ongoing. We expect an update at the third pre-inquest review meeting on May 19.
4. Staff referral to disciplinary council. Ongoing. Expect an update in the next month or so.
5. The inquest. Currently due to be held on October 5 with two weeks set aside. Issues around witnesses, etc, are to be thrashed out on May 19. The date is subject to change depending on the outcome of the police/HSE investigation.
Wow.
Just wow.
22 months. What a crappy, shocking and sad journey. Lives on hold in an unspeakably distressing space. Offset by the remarkable light generated by #JusticeforLB. We’re on #107days part 2 and the magic continues. Not the daily, wondrous spectacle of last year but we have treatlets lined up that are off the scale of brilliance. Seriously.
Thankfully.
mydaftlife 
This fills me with dread about the road ahead for us and just utter contempt for the people who continue to try and make every part of your fight for justice intolerable. I don’t know, if it was me, where I could muster the strength from. I would be fearful of all that overwhelming me. It would only I’m sure be by the strength of others that I would hold on and survive to get that justice one day. The people who are carrying you and LB shoulder high through that most awful of journeys will be there until justice is done and probably for life as you will then have to know it and face it again. Liberated, justice done but still bereaved and utterly sad
Our sons loved and were loved for their entire lives. And we only have the truth to remember! TRUTH & LOVE must find a way!
Anyone out there know journalists with clout or any one of power in BBC or Panorama? In the name of justice and for all our children and those yet to come, this blatant nose thumbing inhumanity and abuse of power, must be held to account…
Sadly many are closed down. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1252505/The-man-killed-Dad-mentally-ill-PC-officials-say–service-user.html….. Filmaker Julian Hendy set up A Hundred Families website http://www.hundredfamilies.org/
after his experience……may be a useful contact?
Going back to 2000 I have tried continually to raise a spark of interest in this, and failed completely. Martin was under the Ridgway before it went to Sloven, everything was as Sara writes even then. Camilla Cavendish in the Times way back wrote an article on the family courts “Guilty until proven innocent” which was good. My eldest son and I have had to accept that we will never hold “them” to account, because they are them corporate power and we are us inividuals.
As individuals, it is really really hard – but I have unbounded admiration for those who fight anyway! And as someone who has been around a long time, I do think cracks are beginning to appear.
I have been battling for almost 10 years since my sons death….and Will Powell, a fellow campaigner has been battling for a legal Duty of Candour (Robbies Law) for 25 years! Wills 10 year old son Robbie was also failed!
Let the May, July and October dates be about accountability for a preventable death , the focus falling on what ‘ Mother ‘ did/didn’t do is so frightening and so familiar a tactic. My greatest fear is that the final grenade will be documentation suggesting Connor made a decision to be unsupervised which was respected by staff.
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Always thought the death of a patient detained by “agents of the State” was automatically investigated. But as I have also found out (to my cost) this guidance too is often left “unimplemented” It all starts with “I’m sorry YOU feel like that” and carries on like some weird Brothers Grimm fable! Reality is NOT the aim self preservation and reputation management is!