NHS non-apologies: the cases of Laura Booth and Richard Handley

What a week. On Monday Assistant Coroner Abigail Combes delivered a blistering conclusion in Sheffield Coroner’s Court, into the death of Laura Jane Booth. Laura died in October 2016, but there was no inquest into the circumstances of Laura’s death. 18 months later an inquest was opened following the intervention of BBC Breakfast journalist Jayne […]

When is neglect not neglect?

Still angry, I know its not healthy and if my lovely ma were still alive she’d be imploring me to shut my laptop and do something to relax. I tried this afternoon after posting my last three blogs, honest I did, but I managed to balls up my knitting and lose the plot of what […]

Hospital/healthcare passports: a help or hindrance?

Having just done a quick twitter search I’ve been grumbling on about Hospital Passports for a couple of years, a recent prevention of future death report made me think about them again this week, and question their use so I thought I’d put some thoughts down here, hopefully to prompt further discussion. Just to flag […]

2018 Update

It’s 9 months since I returned from Phase 1 of my WCMT travels visiting Australia and New Zealand and I’m preparing for the start of Phase 2 in Canada. This post will capture a few of the developments in the UK in the last year. I’ve live tweeted two more inquests of learning disabled. Richard […]

Ongoing open justice work: can you spare £1 a month?

Still a bit shell shocked at the outcome of the HSE sentencing of Southern Health this week. You can catch up on the tweets @JusticeforLBHSE, the full judgement is available to read here and the family statement here. The HSE hearing was the fourth inquest or tribunal that I’ve live tweeted and as #JusticeforLB starts to […]

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Richard Handley’s inquest concluded yesterday, the coroner found gross failings, missed opportunities and that Richard should not have died. No-one should die of constipation in a civilised society. It’s utterly disgraceful. It makes me so angry and so sad. It’s too early for me to blog about the coroner’s decision or what we might change […]

The life and death of Richard Handley #OpenJustice

I’ve spent the last fortnight in Ipswich, live tweeting the inquest of Richard Handley, a young man whose life was cut short in it’s prime, aged just 33. I’ve spent break times with Richard’s family in the court jury room, listening to the telling of tales and the sort of family folklore that we’d all […]