Tuesday 5 March 2013

'Care in the Community.' Who's caring?

How many times have I written this piece? How many more times will I have to? How many times will the police/authorities/NHS say the same: 'We will learn from our experiences. Lessons will be taken on board. It won't happen again...' Well, it keeps on happening and it won't stop happening until someone somewhere takes responsibility and until that happens, nothing will change.

A young woman who had earlier killed her own mother while the balance of her mind was severely impaired was allowed out from 'Her Majesty's Pleasure' to kill again. She spent three years. THREE YEARS under a section so that she should 'get better.' Does someone 'get better' from having killed their own mother? She knew herself that she was ill. She made phone calls. She took herself off to hospital, she called the police. She begged. She literally begged to be taken to a secure unit because she knew that she was so ill that she could kill again. What happened? Nothing. No one took responsibility for her. No one shut her up into a secure unit. No one bothered to find her notes. So she did. She killed again. A 58 year old grandmother had her head almost severed from her neck. Now, of course, they lock her up. The judge doesn't attribute this murder to her mental illness. No, he'd much rather say that she was manipulative. Calculating. Guilty. Who's guilty?

WHEN are there going to be mechanisms put in place so that our most vulnerable and most mentally ill people are cared for? Why is it that in the twenty-first century that there is such a lack of responsibility towards British citizens when they are 'cared for' so abysmally by the NHS? Why is it that we are more likely to suffer from physical illness than our European counterparts? Why does each suceessive government close down wards for medical cases and mental health units? How is it possible that people die of starvation and dehydration in a 'hospital'? It's a disgrace. Does this happen in Sweden or Germany or Norway? Where does the money go? I'll give you one example: When I was a volunteer for a Cancer charity at our local hospital our unit wanted to purchase a small fridge for the department. We were only allowed to buy it from a 'named' supplier. Not John Lewis or Selfridges. This supplier was 25% more expensive than both named stores but there was no choice. This is what the NHS is like. Cronyism and back pockets. That's where the money goes. Huge salaries for managers who mis-manage; blackmail for not divulging the graft and greed that is endemic in an organisation of this size.

It's boring to continually write the same blog. Every day I could do the same thing. Say the same things. Use the same analogies,  the same words. Someone has to change something. The problem is who and the problem is when will it happen.

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