23 June - Some days nothing useful gets done
A reader linked my aunt’s situation with that in Bexley six years ago
when a money scrimping Council contributed to the death of a woman when they
employed a lone drunk to man the emergency phones at night. A deliberate
decision by a manager taken in the face of more sensible advice. Thankfully she
is no longer employed by Bexley Council.
I know exactly what happened on that fateful night because I met the sacked whistleblower and still
have a copy of the emergency call logs somewhere. Bexley Council’s cover-up
machine went into overdrive and someone was paid to be quiet when she left Council employment.
That lady wanted to see some documents published here but I persuaded her that
signing the NDA had to take precedence. The Council Leader and the Press Office
did not come out of it well at all.
In Newham there is a similar emergency call system but unlike Bexley they do not
see it as a profit centre so it only costs a couple of quid a week. It is in
practice not a lot of good because…
• If the alarm is pressed they call me and I have
to go over there to sort things out. (It takes an hour but has only happened once.)
• It has proved to be quicker and more effective for several people to be monitoring the CCTV regularly.
• My aunt cannot remember what the alarm pendant is for.
Useless the service may be in this particular case but it cannot be cancelled as
if something untoward happened one would always be wondering if the pendant may have helped.
Another reader drew my attention to the Radio 4 programme File on Four. Today’s
repeat told a similar tale of NHS incompetence in Leicestershire as I have experienced in Newham.
A kill the elderly as quickly as possible policy would appear to be widespread within the NHS.
In Newham they have not yet succeeded in their mission. In Leicestershire
they took only eleven weeks to meet their target.
Maybe I should let them get on with it. I was away from home on mercy
missions for a total of five hours yesterday and six today and more time is
taken up answering innumerable phone calls and text messages from concerned friends.
Some I have to write to, most of them nonagenarians themselves who are still
able to write letters but not up to date with modern technology.
Council meetings are back this week too. ☹