This quote was from a bereaved family member who spoke to me as part of the CQC Deaths Review. It is a conversation I have often ruminated on since we had it. A remarkably tenacious mother who had done everything in her power to get answers to what happened to her baby, and ensure that […]
I am incredibly excited to share that I have been awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship 2017. The WCMT fellowship will cover my costs to travel to Canada, Australia and New Zealand for six weeks in total to look at what currently happens in those countries in relation to involving families, and learning […]
I can’t believe that I’m writing this blog post. I can’t believe that anything I’m about to say should need saying, so I’m going to try and keep it short. I’ve written a couple of previous blogs about my experience of the #CQCDeathsReview and my last ended with a section that shared the header of […]
In mid December 2016 the CQC Deaths Review was published. To coincide I published my own scoping review Family involvement in, and experience of, death investigations by the NHS and I blogged some initial thoughts about it here and some thoughts on potential learning here and here. I promised that I’d blog some thoughts about the experience […]
A couple days ago I posted How can we improve things #CQCDeathsReview and wandered off twitter and email for 36 hours. It’s been a roller coaster week, bizarre in many ways, trying to keep on top of the media coverage since the review published, wanting to engage with people who offered their perspectives, and reeling […]
This is a bold title on this blog post, and I’m sitting her before 7am, before coffee, the day after the #CQCDeathsReview published tapping my keyboard – so bear with me, hopefully the discussion and comments will add to whatever I can offer. At the last ERG (Expert Reference Group) someone raised the concern that once […]
The CQC Deaths Review publishes today. You can download and read the report here. It makes for a gut churning read. The headline message is that the NHS is failing to identify deaths that need investigating, failing to investigate properly (when investigations happen) and failing to learn lessons, improve care or prevent future deaths. It […]
It’s twelve months today since the second Verita investigation into the circumstances of LB’s death was published. I wrote this blog post a year ago, 10 reasons why I can’t support the Verita 2 conclusions and sadly since then I’ve become more convinced that I was right to mistrust it, not less (which is what I […]
Alternative title, not to be used publicly: how to protect your reputation at all costs When a patient dies Don’t bother apologising or the family might get the wrong idea and try to sue us. Assign as much as possible to ‘natural causes’, especially if they’re using mental health services, have a physical disability or are learning […]
The aspect of the #CQCDeathsReview that I’m most involved with focuses on the experience and treatment of families and bereaved relatives. This is the area that I’m most experienced in, and most interested in. It doesn’t come without some reservations and concerns though, some of which I’ve previously blogged here. I’m lucky because I have […]