I would truly like to thank the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust Solicitors, Wardhadaway of 102, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne (or whoever instructed them) for taking this Blog to heights that I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams, just a week ago.
Thanks to their threatening legal letter, designed to 'shut me up', we started front page of the local paper on Friday, followed by a full page in the Daily Mail on Saturday. I am on the Radio on Monday morning and have the BBC TV coming to my home during the day to record an interview.
Three different Human Rights activist groups have agreed to help with organising the demonstration at the hospital and to help with legal fees should that be necessary. ( I don't think so!) One of the groups is also coming all the way from London to film an interview with me.
My Blog has gone off the scale with hits from all over the world, all pledging support. By the end of the weekend I will have had more hits in 2 days than in the whole of the year before.
I am the Mature Student Representative at the University of Cumbria, and I have had massive support from other members of the National Union of Students. The message being..."We are ready to march"!
I am exhausted today replying to floods of mail from Cancer Support Groups up and down the country and also from NHS staff who say they know exactly what I am talking about. After all, this has never been about attacking them, the NHS contains some of the finest people in the country. However, it also harbors a bunch of pen pushing fat cats who are paid 'Bankers' wages to perform no service that will help keep the people of Cumbria in good health. Their jobs exist to keep the Trust looking good, and to sue the butt off anyone who might dare to say anything out of place.
Bullied by the NHS, cancer patient who complained about his treatment online (click on this link)
This is the link to the Daily Mail article which I hope will be a catalyst to changing not only the way that our trust operates but could help change the whole of the NHS for the better.
What the hell is my local Trust doing, spending millions of pounds a year on Public Relations and solicitors fees, to keep patients quiet. That money could be spent on extra staff to help those nurses and doctors in the system now, who are exhausted and demoralised as a result.
I will be asking a lot of people to make a move to action soon, please don't let the people of Cumbria down, you don't have to put up with how things are, because as it stands, you and your families are in danger. You need a hospital where doctors and nurses work for the good of your health, not an office block full of people trying to convince you that the sun is shining when it's actually blowing a gale outside!!
Daniel
ReplyDeleteWell done for publicising the most dangerous organisation in the world, the NHS. Some very dedicated people work in this organisation, unfortunately their efforts are spoilt by thousands of others for whom the NHS is merely a career pathway, an opportunity for self-aggrandisement. The error rate in the NHS is appalling, and the administrative systems and organisational culture conspire to increase the probability of error and minimise the opportunities for detecting it. The patient is merely an inconvenience.
Lets face it, over 1.3 million people are employed in the NHS, plus an unknown number of sub-contractors. That's at least 1 in 46 of the population. Think about this figure for a few moments......1 in 46 work for the NHS..... you would thnk they would be dragging us in off the streets begging to treat us for something in order to keep busy. Throwing more money at it is pointless, clearly the NHS employs too many of the wrong sort of staff, and not enough people to do the real work, as the system is both dangerous and ineffective.
The NHS has helped a number of my relatives to an earlier death, through incompetence. From various commentators on the web, this story is not unusual, yet the politicians and NHS management are still in denial.
I reckon the error rate in any interaction with the NHS runs at close on 50% - 75%, there always seems to be a screw-up no matter how trivial the interaction. Typical human error rates of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000 for professionals doing well-trained tasks are in fact worsened by NHS systems and practices. The NHS appears to actively suppress error checking processes, something that humans are actually pretty good at when allowed to use their intelligence, training and initiative.
As far as the NHS goes, bigger is not better. By all means have state-funded healthcare, but it should be done at the level of individual, independent hospitals and medical practices. Otherwise the best aspects of human nature are suppressed, and the worst allowed to flourish.
Daniel, I have just read about your blog (Saturday Mail).
ReplyDeleteI want to say GOOD FOR YOU!!
I recently worked for a year as a secretary in a big NHS hospital and I can see that you are doing nothing but speaking the truth about the real state of the NHS!
As you say, the doctors are competent and well-meaning. It's the ancient, creaking, bow-legged, hopelessly inefficient systems (paper notes that get lost all the time/understaffing/appointment dates often received by patients after day of appointment, no linkage between depts and systems etc. etc. etc.) that are the problem. I really could write a book about it.
Never mind the 'damned lies and statistics' that fall from the mouths of managers and politicians, the NHS has still to be sorted to make it work properly. It will take a hell of a lot of sorting.
It is indeed shocking that NHS Trusts such as the one you speak about would want to pour money into sueing someone like you, who only wants to improve things for patients, rather than doing the jobs they are paid for and improving it themselves!
Again, well done to you for standing up and speaking out, we need many more like you.
Very well done Dan! I have read the article and it says it all. Great that they reproduced sections from the blog. If the hospital wanted "facts", well, you gave them. I rather think that the NHS are sooo going to regret that they didn't have the good grace to treat you with courtesy and respect, offering apology and behaving with suitable professional humility at having got something wrong in the first place.
ReplyDeleteSo, NHS Cumbria, if you are reading this, you will be able to trace me - I am "goodwife" on the PaC forum. Is this Britain or Syria?
You may like to check these out :-
ReplyDeleteThe Great CANCER Hoax: The Brilliant Cure the FDA Tried Their Best to Shut Down... VIDEO
http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/49633-the-great-cancer-hoax-the-brilliant-cure-the-fda-tried-their-best-to-shut-down
and this one :
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 1 of 7)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhT9282-Tw