In praise of FOI Officers

This blog post is offered as a small attempt to focus and highlight a positive, at a time when it feels like the world could do with some more positivity, and evidence based fact. Last week I made 235 Freedom of Information requests. I know, I know, Jack Straw would be having a fit if he […]

Actually, it’s not rocket science #Bubb #JusticeforLB

Last week was half term in these parts and as I was walking home from town one of the days I noticed a piece of plastic on the pavement and a small gaggle of children in the centre opposite gathered around the gate looking at it. I walked over and asked if they wanted it […]

#SouthernHealth Sleazy Read response to the #Mazars report

Big week this week, after months of delay the #Mazars report into deaths at Southern Health was finally published at just gone 2pm on Thursday 17 December. You can download/read the Mazars report here and you can download/read the easy read version here. I’m not going to blog about the findings here, others have done […]

Courageous challenge versus conformist control

This morning I was up early (for a Saturday), scrolling through twitter, wondering how to kick start my weekend. Last weekend wasn’t my best one and I was hopeful for something to set a different path. Jodi Brown and friends didn’t disappoint: Genuinely killer question. I don’t know Jodi at all well, we’ve exchanged tweets […]

Impersonal correspondence: 10-15 #nhssm

Once I’ve started something I always try my hardest to finish it, so having deconstructed and analysed paragraphs 1-9 of a letter from Katrina Percy to Sara Ryan, this post attempts to finish the rest of it. If you’d like to catch up before reading this, you can read the analysis of paras 1-3 here, then paras […]

Impersonal correspondence: paras 7-9 #nhssm

I continue, huge respect to anyone with the stamina to keep coming back to this issue, but as the conversation on twitter suggests it needs unpacking. You can read the analysis of paras 1-3 here and paras 4-6 here. Sara’s original letter is here and Katrina Percy’s response here. If you’re sitting comfortably, cuppa, chocolate, […]

Impersonal correspondence: paras 4-6 #nhssm

This post continues on from Impersonal correspondence: paras 1-3, all the context is there. This post continues to deconstruct the letter, starting at paragraph 4: ‘Like every single organisation and individual in the world, we are not perfect and on a rare number of occasions we get things wrong, sometimes with deeply distressing consequences. On […]

Impersonal correspondence: paras 1-3 #nhssm

I’ve been involved with the JusticeforLB campaign now for over six months, a number of people who work in communications roles, especially in the NHS, have been in touch in that time to say how useful this campaign has been for their learning, indeed one person described Southern Health’s behaviour as the ugly, of the good, […]

The legend that is Paul Clarke

Many, many years ago I started following Paul Clarke on twitter. I wasn’t sure who this man was particularly, and until today I had no real notion how digital he was, so either he was very modest or I wasn’t paying enough attention, but I liked his tweets. He was eclectic, witty, said it as […]