Wednesday 7 October 2015

Grandma B`s future is going to be determined by secret Court of Protection

On 20 July 2015, Grandma B was brought to HMP Hull to visit her loyal son and carer Peter. Her face was bruised and she showed signs of neglect. She is also badly traumatised after her abusers have stripped her of her assets and unceremoniously deposited her in a home against her wishes, instead of allowing her to spend her remaining years in her own home. York social services has not allowed Grandma B to contact her loyal son since then, which is emotional abuse. She was too confused to be able to say exactly where she is being held, but believes she is in a home in the York area. Can anybody help find out where she is ?

Posted By: Andy Peacher October 6, 2015

http://freedomtalkradio.co.uk/freedom-talk-radio/secret-court-to-determine-grandma-bs-case-on-9-october-2015/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Ramping up palliative care in Scotland

"More than 10,000 Scots who could benefit from palliative care towards the end of their life die each year without receiving it, a report has suggested."

"Professor David Clark, of Glasgow University, said an estimated 40,000 people in Scotland could benefit from the specialist form of care."

"However, the report, produced for Holyrood's Health Committee, claims about a quarter of the group might not receive it."

"Projections based on data from England suggest an estimated 10,600 people in Scotland die each year without receiving any palliative care."

"It said that "reliable studies" looking at the need for palliative care estimated that "in rich countries around 82% of all people who die would benefit from palliative care" - with this equating to about 40,000 people a year in Scotland."

"The report stated: "In England, slightly less robust estimates have been produced which indicate the numbers that might currently be receiving palliative care."

"These have been used to form estimates of those who might benefit from but are currently not receiving palliative care, giving an estimate for Scotland of 10,600 people who die each year without receiving palliative care."

"Palliative care aims to prevent and alleviate suffering caused by life-limiting illnesses, particularly towards the end of life. The UK was the first county in the world to recognise it as being a specialist field in medicine in 1987." [And many elderly have died/been killed before their time ever since.]

"Duncan McNeil, convener of the Health and Sport Committee, said MSPs had heard "anecdotally there are serious deficits in the quality of palliative care being provided for in Scotland" when they were considering the issue of assisted suicide." [So he is interested in assisted suicide as well as the palliative death pathway? That figures.]

"Deputy convener Bob Doris said: "The provision of end-of-life care is not one that is going to go away as our population ages and more and more people need care at the end of life." [All life ends. It always has. So what difference should an ageing population make? Really what this means is that people are living too long and something needs to be done about it.]

"The Scottish Government is already looking into this area as they prepare to publish their framework for action on palliative and end of life care. We hope that this research and our inquiry findings will provide some helpful insight to this."

"Health secretary Shona Robison said: "I welcome Professor David Clark's contribution to this important debate. This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that palliative and end of life care is delivered to the highest standards, in every situation, right across the country..."
http://m.stv.tv/news/scotland/1328722-more-than-10000-scots-die-every-year-without-palliative-care/  My 96 year old father died on the morning after his birthday having spent the evening with his family. We were all laughing as he recounted some of his best stories. He passed away peacefully without anybody`s assistance.

Death takes care of itself. It`s the living who sometimes need help.

Whistleblower asks for support to protect elderly and vulnerable

"During my time at Individual Solutions SK, there were several different occasions when my colleagues and I cried at our desks, empathising with adults, vulnerable elderly people and home support workers."

"Adults and vulnerable elderly people would ring to ask why their carer had not arrived, why the visit was missed and as a result they were hungry. Telling adults and vulnerable elderly people there are no carers to come was difficult and painful. I fed back to management several times and one day I went to top management and was told that Individual solutions SK provides high quality care and if you go to your MP we will deal with you."

https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-david-cameron-support-vulnerable-adults-and-the-elderly-by-protecting-whistleblowers?source_location=petition_footer&algorithm=promoted

After I attempted to expose bad practice at Individual Solutions SK providing care for vulnerable adults and the elderly, I have been subjected to continued harassment and abuse that persists today. I even attempted to get the GMB Trade Union involved so that I could have someone fighting my corner, but they refused to support me.I turned to Manchester’s Employment Tribunal for help, in the hope that malpractice would be exposed. I soon discovered that I was mistaken. The current laws do not protect vulnerable adults, elderly people and whistleblowers like me.

Manchester’s tribunal ruled in favour of Stockport Council and Individual Solutions SK, disregarding much of the documented evidence in support of my case. A witness who had travelled 200 miles to give evidence was not allowed to speak to the tribunal. Many whistleblowers are threatened with cost orders, leading to the withdrawal of cases. I have been ordered to pay £5,000 in costs, for more details http://olesi.com/cost-order/

https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-david-cameron-support-vulnerable-adults-and-the-elderly-by-protecting-whistleblowers?source_location=petition_footer&algorithm=promoted

Phoebe Olesi Muchilwa has a petition on change.org

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on emailShare on google_plusone_shareShare on linkedinMore Sharing Services\l "\l "

Care homes provide palliative care and then verify death ?

"DEVON Doctors have announced that out-of-hours GPs will no longer be called to verify deaths in Plymouth care homes to help ensure help can always be given to the living."

"As of October 1, 2015 the urgent out-of-hours GP service provider has said it will be the responsibility of the home to arrange for the death to be verified and for the undertakers and family to be informed."

"When approached by The Herald, a spokesman confirmed the decision has been made but added Devon Doctors has been going "over and beyond its statutory obligations" up until this point."

"He said: "The reality is that this is already what happens in many areas of the country."

"There are a number of organisations which provide training for care home staff in the verification of death and it is entirely legitimate for anyone who has successfully completed this training to verify death."

"Verification of death, he explained, is different from certifying death, which explores the reasons why a patient has died and which, the law dictates, must be done by a medical practitioner and does not require the attendance of a doctor."

"He added: "We envisage that care homes will continue to contact us when a death occurs during the out-of-hours period and we will continue to support them, putting them in touch with one of our clinicians to explore whether it was an expected death and, when this is the case, giving them the confidence to go ahead and verify it."

"The change in practice only applies to care homes and Devon Doctors will continue to attend any expected deaths in private residences during the out-of-hours period."

Read more:
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Doctors-longer-verify-deaths-Plymouth-care-homes/story-27609279-detail/story.html#ixzz3ist9fZft

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Predicting death ?

Jane`s Story:

Professor Pullicino -

"Predicting death in a time frame of three to four days, or even at any other specific time, is not possible scientifically. This determination in the LCP leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The personal views of the physician or other medical team members of perceived quality of life or low likelihood of a good outcome are probably central in putting a patient on the LCP."

"There is no data for telling if someone is in the last hours or days of life, so the actual decision is not a scientific one. The actual decision is an intuition by the group that's making the decision. If you start to say somebody has a poor prognosis, then you make a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Dr, Philip Howard –
 
"Patients are put on the LCP by multi-disciplinary teams rather than by physicians. This indicates management decisions supplanted medical judgements. It is a decision with an end in view. The patient is dying. Why? Because we say they are dying. Why? Because we have decided."

"On the wards there has been a change in attitudes with the introduction of terminal care pathways, the most familiar of which is the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP)."

"We know that prognosis is not accurate and we often get our predictions of prognosis wrong. A tool based upon prognosis is therefore dangerous as it may become a decision that a person will die. Often on such pathways triple therapy is used (with morphine, midazolam a sedative and a hyoscine which is a drug to dry secretions). This means that the patient, who may or may not be dying, is given drugs that may hasten or even cause death. This is particularly true if hydration is also withdrawn. On such a regime the patient cannot survive."

"On The Big Question –
I think one of the problems with the Liverpool Care Pathway is it’s predicated on a false premise, namely that you can accurately diagnose death; you can make an accurate prognosis as to when that person is going to die, within the next few hours or days. And there’s no scientific evidence that we can do that. And I know of no calibration tools that we can use to say just how accurately we can make that prognosis. That’s the danger. Now, if you then sedate the patient, stop observations, stop interventions, and stop food and fluids, the patient must die. Whether or not they would have died anyway, they must die if you adopt that regime in full."

John Smeaton –
 
"Doctors are being pressurized to participate in the LCP even when they feel very uncomfortable about it, being told that the LCP is national policy. Some doctors are losing control of the clinical care of their own patients."

"The prognosis of imminent death may well be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The LCP's combination of narcotics and dehydration is ultimately lethal. In many cases it appears that there is a deliberate intention of hastening death."

"The LCP is usually applied without the knowledge or consent of the patient. The lack of assessment of mental capacity of patients and the lawful obtaining of informed consent are serious concerns..."
 
"My discussion of events leading up to the implementation of the LCP is documented and has been submitted to you. This aside, the issue does remain that the law and the Version 12 LCP does require informed consent by the patient and this did not proceed."

"Discussion with the family and the multi-disciplinary team should only have proceeded in the event that my mum was not competent to make this decision herself. As I have reported to you, on the very day that implementation proceeded, capacity was demonstrated when my mum remonstrated with the examining physician not to manhandle her in the manner that he did."

"You state at item 12. that the family had agreed but the decision of the patient should have taken precedent. That decision was not sought and no test of competency was made as is required."

"When mum declined intervention previously in regard to the treatment offered, that decision was respected. Why, then, in the respect of intervention via the LCP, was her decision not sought likewise?"

"You speak of ‘best interests’ but ‘best interest’ would have required the intervention she had declined. That could not proceed, obviously, because, without her permission, that would have amounted to an assault."

"Therefore, in not seeking her permission to do so and making no test of competency to give her permission to do so, enacting the LCP and putting my mum on a syringe driver for 18 hours also amounted to an assault. "

http://liverpool-care-pathway-a-national-sc.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/liverpool-care-pathway-janes-story.html
__________________________________________________

Three months for banned solicitor

"A BANNED SOLICITOR who posed as a colleague to get round a ban on practising law has been found guilty of breach of interdict and jailed for three months - after leaving an ELEVEN year trail of destroyed clients & legal problems across Scotland."

"John Gerard O’Donnell (64) who also appeared in a special BBC Scotland investigation Lawyers Behaving Badly was finally sentenced by Lord Stewart at the Court of Session on Friday. However, O’Donnell was freed for a period of two weeks to enable him to decide if he wants to appeal."

"The custodial sentence comes after a catalogue of evidence heard during court proceedings revealed many examples where the Law Society of Scotland system of self regulation lawyers investigating themselves fails to protect the public...."

"However, the judge Lord Stewart said he had no option but to send O'Donnell to prison. Lord Stewart said: "In order to punish Mr O'Donnell and to deter others, the court must impose a custodial sentence."

"One of O’Donnell’s victims widow Elizabeth Campbell (71) only discovered O’Donnell was not Colin Davidson after she visited Diary of Injustice law blog and saw his picture along with media investigations into O’Donnell’s decade long trail of client scams."

"Mrs Campbell had been referred to John O’Donnell by Gilbert S Anderson who worked at Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau - in a position funded by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. "

"Letters obtained by the Sunday Mail newspaper & Diary of Injustice - revealed Anderson sent O’Donnell a handwritten note saying "possibly in my mind a cash for Colin £3000" indicating he hoped O’Donnell would be able to scam fees from the elderly widow."

http://petercherbi.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/to-catch-brief-it-takes-eleven-years.html

Friday 3 July 2015

Police assist bailiffs to evict Mr Crawford


In January, more than 300 people gathered on the quiet street in Nottingham to help stop Mr Crawford being evicted

It was the second time the cancer patient had received help from total strangers, after hundreds travelled from across the country in July 2014 to stop his eviction.

Speaking to ITV News Central, Mr Crawford claimed the bailiffs waited until he was "at least two hours away" and waited for his daughter to leave the house before they "smashed the door down".

He also claimed there was no warrant and the bailiffs did not identify themselves.

http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-07-02/bailiffs-evict-cancer-patient-from-home/

Sunday 1 February 2015

Still fighting LCP at Westminster Health Forum

On Tuesday the 13th January, Peter Tulloch together with Eddie Woodhead and Karen Colligan, attended the Westminster Health Forum. As a delegate he was entitled to submit an article for publication with the transcript. This he has done and his article can be read below. The transcript was made available to all the delegates and speakers `as well as parliamentarians and central government officials with an interest in the subject matter who could not be there on the day, and a wider audience of relevant organisations, businesses, academic groups and individuals. Here is Peter Tulloch`s article:

An unforgiving pathway

Introduction

Two years ago Baroness Knight wrote to me about the "Medical Mafia" and their determination "to keep their current practice of killing off elderly patients who are ‘blocking’ a bed." In the past few years there has been a widespread public outcry against deaths on the LCP, and Professor Mark Glaser characterised the LCP as being the "Most corrupt practice in British Medicine" (Daily Mail, 5 November, 2012). Glaser said that he personally has rescued "dozens" of people from certain death on the LCP. The day before the forum there was a report in the Health Service Journal (12 January, 2015) that there is a ‘sustained’ fall in the life expectancy of older people in some areas. The report suggests that this may be due to cuts in social care. I consider a contributory factor may also be the ‘Medical Mafia’ and their continued use of the LCP.

LCP confusion

The high mortality rate at Mid‐Staffs has been linked to the LCP and according to Anthony Wrigley in the Nursing Times (1 October, 2014), he is "aware that certain institutions have gone back to relying on it." And that there is a reluctance to admit this "due to its tarnished reputation." More worrying is his claim that the continued use of the LCP is due to "confusion" about the best approach to end of life care. All of this was swept under the carpet at Tuesday’s forum and I came away with the impression that, despite all their backslapping, confusion and chaos remain integral to palliative care.

The status quo

The LCP was introduced into hospitals by Palliative Medicine but the conclusion of the Neuberger Review that the LCP should be scrapped is evidence that their presence makes things worse. The only evidence‐based study on the effectiveness of the LCP was made by Constantini et al as reported in the Lancet (16 October, 2013) and the accompanying editorial concludes:

"that the benefits generated by the systematic implementation of the pathway are, at best, slight. In view of the little or no clinical benefit compared with standard care, any harms to individuals exposed to LCP, including premature death, are unacceptable."

This research paper showed that there was no advantage to palliative care over best medical practice. I suggest that there would be better patient outcomes if Palliative care teams were removed from general hospitals.
 

Parliament misled

In Hansard of 18 July 2014, Baroness Neuberger, speaking to the House of Lords of her review into the LCP, stated "It is important that we found no evidence that it had been used to hasten people’s deaths…" This is simply not the case. Her review panel had evidence from

me concerning my mother and this was acknowledged by them in a letter to me dated 7 March 2013:

"I would like to assure you that your account of your mother’s care will form part of the evidence to the review of use and experience of the Liverpool Care Pathway…"

My account is not necessarily proof, but it is evidence. I have obtained information that had been previously withheld from me and my account is now much more robust; and supported by clinical evidence. In any case, it was not the remit of the Neuberger review to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, and this of course they never did.

On Tuesday I said to Baroness Neuberger that I was "puzzled" why she thought it was "important" that they had not found evidence that the LCP had been used to shorten people’s lives. She replied that I had "misinterpreted" her. How? I only said that I was puzzled by her statement to the house.

Conclusion

If we really want to see ‘compassionate’ end of life care, I have a suggestion: instruct the police to conduct a thorough investigation into all allegations of misuse of the LCP. If criminal proceedings were brought against those who have misused the LCP, vulnerable patients would be given best medical practice care until the last moment of their natural lifespan.

Information about Health Forum below:
http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/forums/index.php?fid=westminster_health_forum

Brother shops sister over reign of terror


Reign of terror: Siobhan Koralewski

"Police told the court Siobhan was "a Darth Vader-type character who created an atmosphere of intimidation and fear around her".

"Jeremy, 28, and Jennifer Price gave evidence at her trial."

"But Jeremy says there was no hint of the horror to come when his parents, Margaret, 67, and Raymond, 56, took over the seaside home in 2004."

"They thought it was a great opportunity," he says. "I quit Npower and worked as a chef and Siobhan had qualifications in care."

"The home housed 12 dementia patients and promised "specialist treatment".  But the treatment meted out by Siobhan was very different."

"Jeremy noticed a change in his sister’s behaviour a few years into the takeover."

"He says: "She used to call herself the "dementia champion" which I found a bit odd. She’d always had a temper but usually managed to keep it in control."

"Now, little things sent her over the edge, shouting at patients. We had rows about it but she never listened."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brother-reveals-shopped-sister-over-4761746
 

Grandmother abducted and son arrested

"It is believed that Peter Hofschroer has been set up with false charges, to stop him carrying on with his private criminal court case against his mothers abductors, and to draw attention from the real criminals who abducted his mother and who are intertwined with those who frustrated justice by hiding Jimmy Savile and Peter Jaconellis crimes."

"Peter Hofschroer is supported by people who have a long history of anti child abuse campaigning and childrens rights campaigning, and do not believe the fabricated charges against him are in any way true."

"North Yorkshire Police refused for 3 days to even confirm if Peter was alive or dead. He has been kept out of contact with everyone, it has now been found that Peter was charged on Wednesday Dec 3, with 18 charges relating to 6,969 indecent images of children on different dates over a ten-year period between 1999 and 2009. Magistrates decided the case was too serious for them to deal with and he has been remanded in custody to appear at York Crown Court where he will appear on December 15."

"The arrest is a very sinister development in a long saga of action against Peter and his mother. It is believed that the abductors of Peter`s mother (Grandma Barbara), and the attempted theft of her house, some of whom are members of Peter`s family, had links to Jimmy Saviles network. "

cathyfox.wordpress.com/2014/12/04/peter-hofschroers-arrest-by-north-yorkshire-police/comment-page-1/#comment-1098

See blog for further information.
https://grandmabarbara.wordpress.com/

Reward elderly for assisted suicide



"One in 10 British people believe elderly people should be offered a "reward" if they opt for assisted suicide, new polling suggests. Anti-euthanasia campaigners said the finding was "chilling" evidence of deep-seated prejudice towards older people from a small but significant minority of the population."
"They claim that it is proof of the possible dangers of any change in the suicide laws such as the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill which is due to return to Parliament for detailed scrutiny on Friday. The bill would allow terminally ill patients judged to have no more than six months to live and a "settled intention" to end their lives to be prescribed a lethal dose of drugs if two doctors agree."

"Members of the House of Lords are due to consider 175 separate possible amendments to the bill, which was debated by peers in July, aimed at tightening up possible safeguards. The polling, by ComRes, was commissioned by the disability campaign group "Not Dead Yet" and the anti-assisted suicide alliance, Care Not Killing."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/assisted-dying/11213869/Elderly-should-be-rewarded-for-choosing-assisted-suicide-say-one-in-10-Britons.html?fb

Acknowledgement for employers who support carers

"This January at their Stockbridge offices, LifeCare Edinburgh was presented with an award certificate of the recently launched Scottish government ‘Carer Positive’ kitemark at the ‘engaged’ level. The Carer Positive kitemark is awarded to employers in Scotland who have a working environment where their staff, who are also carers for family members, are valued and supported. This might be through flexible working policies or with simple practical measures which can make a big difference to carers."

"When asked what this recognition means to the organisation, Care Services Manager Margaret Stewart remarked:"

"This award is proof that we do what we say we do. LifeCare is set apart from other organisations by how we look after our staff as employees and in their caring role." "We are very proud to be one of 16 organisations across Scotland to be recognised for this award."
"A carer is someone who looks after an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner. In Scotland it is estimated that around 1 in 7 people in the workforce are juggling work and caring, with the number of carers across the UK forecast to increase by around 50% over the next 20 years. By supporting our staff in caring for their loved ones, we will ensure that we help them care for the carers. 90% of working carers are over the age of 30, with the ‘peak’ age between 45 and 64, when considerable skills and experience have been built up."

http://www.evoc.org.uk/noticeboard/notices/lifecare-recognised-national-award-commitment-supporting-staff/