A while back, Simon Stevens, NHS England CEO, appointed/commissioned Stephen Bubb to chair a steering group looking into the provision of learning disability services/assessment and treatment units. I dunno if anyone understands why. Bubb’s final report was published earlier today. The report can be read here. I’ve not read it.
Andy McNicol did a cheeky bit of totting up earlier:
His word count doesn’t quite capture the stampede of activity. Back in the day. The ill informed, knee jerk, caught on the hoof, government response to Panorama scenes of abuse. Flattened by a bunch of organisations (48 in total) scrambling to get piece of the sudden, unusual and unexpected funding.
Some years ago now, Tom got a Harry Potter game for Christmas that involved wand waving and repeated half whispering/hissing ‘stupefy’. I’ve not read Harry P nor seen the films but we did a lot of ‘stupefy’ hiss/whispering that year.
Dunno why but this word kept dancing around my brain when I read the responses to Bubb’s offering. I googled and learned what every Harry Potter fan knows. It’s a ‘stunning charm that renders people unconscious and halts moving objects’. And the more wizards aiming at the same target, the more the power is increased.
Ah. This may have legs. What trickery is being woven by the usual suspects around the latest (non) report? All firing at the same target [no real change].
- That the abuse of learning disabled people only started with the Panorama expose. There is no pre-Winterbourne View.
- That “now is an opportunity to restore faith, where so far there has been repeated failure, and build the community support people with a learning disability and their families want and have been promised.” (Mencrap/Challenging Behaviour Fundation) Those of us not under a stupefy spell (and with access to the internet) can remember how back in November 2014 they were bleating on about welcoming “much of what is included in Sir Stephen Bubb’s report, but it must now lead to a clear plan and urgent action.” Same words. Different order.
- National Autistic Society wizardry? The Bubb recommendations are “good and should be considered carefully by both the Government and NHS England”. Stupefy
- And the government response… A half arsed refrain of ‘there may be trouble ahead’ coated with super stupefy moments; ‘”it is believed that…” “transforming care for thousands…”
- Oh, and no mention of the Mazars review.
These made up responses to a made up report continue to erase history, erase life, erase hope and deny imagined futures. No one in any position to do so has the guts to call it for what it is. And the grotesque dance continues.
What a bunch of fucking losers.
mydaftlife 
But WE CANT STOP THEM
Someone needs to add up the thousands of pounds wasted on these non reports as well as count the words. So very depressing…
As sure as nught follows day the next steps will be that the government releases some money for the new Commissioner of LD. Next there will be list of non job titles for the boys surrounding this new post, followed by offices and sundries. Then before you know it there is no money left to actually change the lives of the people who are the reason the job was created for in the first place. All swallowed up by the people on the gravy train.
This is exactly how all big charities work, and some smaller ones, set up to further government profit from LD.
Exactly!
This is a huge job.
Or not.
Chucking a group of people however well known and paid, in a room to discuss something truly scandalous that is already well known is not the way to stop it .
”Not rocket science”.
Deciding someone ought to be in charge of improving things, took my window cleaner 5 seconds to come up with
Our sons and daughters are valuable commodities when weighed in pounds and pence. This sordid market needs things to sell and buy.; buy low sell high? Our boys and our girls.
Watching KP stutter through her mean apology to Sara was like watching a particularly untalented Z rated reality star. It was queasy to watch. Yet she is still there. What are the more talented CE’s thinking while she is the poster girl for them? And there are good leaders in the NHS for I have worked with them and it is to them we need to appeal. Find the people who want to be seen and valued as a strong leader rather than an NHS pop star . We need competent champions from inside the NHS.
More cash to design, train and accredit yet another care standard to be imposed on an already oppressed group of vulnerable people…….EASY. Another product like NVQ that good caring poorly paid people studied long and hard to obtain, and yet all the inhumanity, abuse and neglect issues and worse are still there
Status driven talking shops will always abound, for loads of people want to be seen to be the poster expert. Mr Bubb et al all cannot but have been moved by what he has heard and seen, and the job appear so huge must seem impossible, and want to stop abuses, if the principle motive is a new top committee job and refreshed status reward, it is the wrong place to start.
It is up to us to turn this ship. And we need to find champions, from the good people and good leaders in NHS.
I kicked-off as a Hampshire taxpayer when reading an article in the ‘The Echo’ with KP’s smug face having allegedly been given a boost by surviving a vote of no confidence at a Hampshire Adult Social Care Select Committee meeting. Unfortunately, I was due to make a deposition but had to send apologies as a result of family illness. However, Cllr Andrew Joy (a Sloven Governor) was in attendance as an observer (he is not on the committee) and has given me the following written statement (as his personal view):
“For the record, HASC has not expressed a vote of confidence or, indeed, a lack of confidence in anybody and certainly no-one in SHNFT. No such vote has ever been taken by the HASC or its predecessors.”
So Sloven’s PR team might have no evident expertise in Crisis Management but their spin doctors must have been trained by Alistair Campbell.
Sara – sorry haven’t had time to send you the other stuff as promised but will do so tomorrow.
But why was the Winterbourne abuse, allowed to be shown on the BBC, which was then, particularly, pro government policy ?
Before this national, horrific footage, Local social services, and the Care Quality Commission, had received various warnings, of this abuse in Winterbourne, but did nothing, and the abuse continued.
A senior nurse reported his concerns to the management at Winterbourne View, and to CQC, but his complaint was ignored.
In June 2011, the Association of Supported Living, issued a press statement, which was unusually, followed up in writing to every member of the United Kingdom Parliament, calling for community based supported living services to replace institutional services for people with learning disabilities
[citationhttps://www.mencap.org.uk/organisations/association-supported-living
This supported living could be in every way, if not more abusive, as Winterbourne.
The accountability and checks are still the same.
The facts suggest, that the real reason for the exposure of the Winterbourne abuse, was not to stop it, but to move all those from public institutions, to private ones, which where, and are now, still being built at a furious pace.
And LAs, and Courts, are forcefully removing all the LD/Autistic, from good, loving family homes, who receive no support, to these private institutions, to make huge private profit from public NHS money.
And, as can be seen from Thomas Rawnsley’s death, the abuse continues in them.
Thomas, died 3 years after Winterbourne was exposed, in community based supported living, and there has had little media coverage.
https://finolamoss.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/the-non-media-coverage-and-investigation-of-thomas-rawnsleys-death-why/
Of course supported living is no betterthan Winterbourne. In fact in a hospital seting there are at least safeguards that SHOULD be there, in supported living – none
That is why, I fear the Winterbourne exposure, and its follow up, has nothing to do with stopping abuse, but instead, is all about increasing institutionalisation for private profit.
It is the perfect industry to invest in.
And that is why Rothschild and USA, Canada pension funds are.
No accountability, any service allowed, no enquiry into how the money is spent, permanent, reliable, increasing government funding, and, an ever increasing, via the courts and social services, captive consumer base.
Of course. My mind is beyond boggling. This is the scam of all scams.
Approx pro not very much, I heard a rumour that there could have been a fraca in an NHS Board meeting where police may or may not have been called, Over the long frustrating years of caring for my son against many many obstacles l have developed a fairly comprehensive swear vocabulary.
In the meetings, with incompetent paid people who failed to prevent the horrible harm done to my son I have tried to behave respectfully at all times even though they have treated me like a pre revolution Russian serf. Done any less and I suspect they would have called security.
I recommend after a particularly shite meeting and we all have been forced to crawl through our share, like the drunk old priest in father Ted who shouts over and over ‘drink’ ,’drink’………while driving home (window closed!) I choose a really really bad swear word in plural, and l shout it over and over, and over at top volume. Really helps.
I usually choose the very very bad one, and they can’t call security.