Woeful, woeful first response from Ray James, NHS England learning disability lead, to the #leder review. He states families ‘unparalleled insight should be the acid test of whether we are doing enough’. Okeydokes… A bit of insight for you Ray. Comments in red.
(Short answer – you ain’t.)
The footies on. Somewhere. Everywhere, it’s so damn quiet. Home alone with Bess. Listening to music. Head spinning from so much happening and not happening. LB’s five year death anniversary speedily approaching. The day before NHS 70th birthday celebrations. I feel queasy already. Hunt and NHS England remain silent about the leder review. Bouncing back FOI requests as too expensive. Refusing to comment.
An extraordinary level of engineered wilful disinterest.
Non-disclosure
I put in a Subject Access Request a month ago asking to see Valerie Murphy’s statement for the MPTS hearing. She read my statement. Her barrister commented on it during his illness inducing cross-examination.
The answer came back today:
“I do not believe there is information that is disclosable under the DPA”. Oh. The GMC will however disclose extracts relating to LB if I sign a confidentiality agreement.
Murphy had no such restrictions. She can say whatever she wants about my statement. To whoever she chooses.
And so it continues..
A week ago a bizarre comment was posted on justiceforLB.org:
The answer to George’s question was this:
Spencer and Murphy studied at the same university at the same time.
Oh my.
[Howl].
We know snarky (or worse) and largely unchallenged discussions go on behind the password protected doctors.net (and I’m sure other forums). These started within weeks of LB’s death. Mother (and other) blame has had a remarkably unremitting purchase in health, social care, education circles for decades now. Noted and discussed at length by families. A steely silence (apart from the odd dissenter) from professionals who must recognise this shite for what it is.
These random, unexpected and typically incoherent attacks are pretty hard to endure. Our boy died. He died. You just don’t seem to understand this. He was 18. Can you imagine your child dying a preventable death in the ‘care’ of the NHS?
A beloved and beautiful child. Dying. A preventable death.
Can you begin to imagine?
Why don’t you fucking try to imagine?
Time.
Approaching five years since LB died has been weighing heavily. Five years. Half a decade. Mostly taken up with a brutal fight for accountability. Leaving us barely standing at times. Irreparable, inexcusable damage and destruction.
Five years.
Five years since I last hung out with, touched, talked with, loved with my eyes as well as my heart, my beautiful, extraordinary boy.
Five years.
The Williams Review
Today the rapid policy review ‘Gross Negligence Manslaughter in Healthcare’ report by Norman Williams was published. Four months in the making. A ‘rapid policy’ route. Four months…
Four months.
Four months of hearing from ‘many individuals and organisations. Bereaved families, healthcare professionals and their representative bodies, regulators, lawyers, investigatory and prosecutorial authorities, as well as members of the public…’
A review conducted, written, signed, stamped and published within four months.
Four months.
Shorter than the length of time NHS England sat on the leder review before sneakily publishing it in May.
Four months.
And five years.
#bastards
mydaftlife 