Liverpool Care Pathway

This so called Liverpool Care Pathway is a travesty of all that the NHS is supposed to stand for and makes a mockery of the word "care".

My mother died in January 2010 and I now realise that she was effectively put on this diabolical scheme without our knowing then, that this was what it was. We were led to believe that nothing more could be done although following a discussion at the request of the family with doctors, they affirmed that they were unable to diagnose the precise cause of her condition. They could only surmise that it was due to a mixture  of undefined causes due to old age. She was 85 and although she had leukaemia, we were told that many people lived normal lives with her condition with appropriate treatment and that it alone would not cause death.

Some weeks before she had had a fall in the garden but apart from bruising seemed none the worse for wear. A couple of days later she felt ill during the night and my father called an ambulance and she was admitted to hospital. 

She appeared to be responding well but under the influence of painkillers tried to get out of bed right in front of the nurses station to go to the toilet and fell, breaking her hip. She underwent surgery and again responded well. Unbelievably, a day or two later, whilst in a private ward at the Musgrove Hospital in Taunton and again heavily drugged, she attempted to get out of bed to go to the toilet and inevitably fell again, necessitating a second operation! 

Again she recovered remarkably well and three weeks later went home, managing to climb the stairs and getting around surprisingly well all things considered.

Some three weeks later she felt very ill and was readmitted to hospital and was never to leave. During the last seven to ten days, the family felt it was necessary to mount a 24/7 vigil at her bedside to ensure she was properly cared for. The best care came from agency nurses whose compassion, skill and dedication was notable by comparison to some of the permanent nurses.

My mother was a lovely, courageous and much loved lady. She was not given the opportunity to decide for herself whether or not she wanted to continue eating and drinking. A decision was made by the medical staff and meals ceased forthwith.

This is not care. This is politicians and doctors playing God and it is abhorrent and reprehensible. This is euthanasia in everything but name. When the life of the sick and elderly is treated with such cold blooded indifference it is no surprise that respect and standards of care suffer drastically as a consequence.

Ask yourself why the Liverpool Care Pathway was ever conceived of in the first place? What was wrong with NHS care that necessitated the introduction of this sinister scheme? Surely it was and is the duty of doctors and nurses to give the sick and dying the best care possible at all times anyway! Why do we need a special scheme? It is utterly ludicrous and totally unnecessary.

This scheme is a political and medical sham and whoever was responsible for it should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. It should be buried unceremoniously and never be spoken of or practised again.

Needless to say, although the doctors could not make a clear diagnosis while my mother was in hospital, they had no apparent difficulty stating the cause of death on the death certificate! I never understood that.

Lastly, those who invented this scheme should remember that one day, they may well be faced by it's consequences. Starvation is extremely unpleasant and cruel. The poor patients however are in no condition to express their pain. This is not care. It's torture in the name of saving money and meeting targets. It's disgusting.

Letter to the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt - Secretary of State for Health

Dear Minister,

There are something's that are not for sale, one of which is healthcare. The prime objective of the NHS is CARE of the sick. The prime objective of private companies is profit pure and simple either by cutting costs, raising prices or compromising on quality or all three. The public are already fed up with the rip-off mentality of the now privately owned rail transport and utility companies. The food industry is equally guilty of serious negligence with regard to the health of consumers. Greedy banks along with complacent government have ruined the economy for everyone.

So as we can see privatisation is not the holy grail this government seems to believe it is. The government believes it can escape responsibility for it's own duty of care by handing it over to someone else, whom they can then blame if things go wrong. This is unacceptable. Healthcare is a social issue not a business enterprise.

The government must act with integrity to reform the standards of inpatient care and the efficacy of strong leadership on the wards based on the humanitarian principles that are the foundation of the NHS.

Outpatient services are generally excellent but at the present time there are many wonderful nurses and staff who are being badly let down by an uncaring ethos amongst some of their colleagues which then reflect on the service as a whole.

Your job as Minister is to make the NHS better, not offload your responsibility and work load to others whose main empathy is with money, not healthcare!

What are NORAD exercises over American cities really about?

What is wrong with this announcement? According to this there have been 5000 threats to US air space since 2001! That equates to 417 per annum, more than one a day! By whom? By what? What action was taken? Was anyone arrested, captured or killed? Where is the evidence? Why were these threats not reported by mainstream media? Why are they and the American people being kept in the dark? This is ridiculous. This stuff is just not credible. Something else is going on here and I doubt it has much to do with daily air threats! 5000 is a nice round number too, don't you think?

The announcement:

"North American Aerospace Defense Command will be training over the area (Washington) early Thursday morning.

The exercise, beginning after midnight Thursday, will include Civil Air Patrol aircraft and a U.S. Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter.

NORAD has been conducting these training flights in the United States and Canada as part of Operation Noble Eagle since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Since then, there have been more than 5,000 potential air threats in the U.S. Officials may postpone or cancel training in inclement weather."

End announcement.

Interesting that these exercise may be postponed during inclement weather. Presumably terrorists don't attack in inclement weather. It's the same principle as doctors taking the week-end off on mass in NHS hospitals because people only get sick Monday to Friday!