22 September 2013 [Blog No. 34]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy

I’m still going on here in my blog today about the Heath Service Ombudsman trying to get away from Mr Barron MP’s request for clear answers to his letters to them regarding my complaint. You can see from the copy of Mr Barron’s letter dated 24 June 2013 as copied below that they are clearly stone-walling him, and still are to this very day because he is still waiting for a response to his letter dated 22^nd August, as mentioned in my previous blog. Mr Barron does state in his letter copied below that, and I quote; “………. and both she and I are unhappy with your current stance which we believe is preventing her from receiving justice”.

We appear to be just going around in circles, albeit Mr Barron MP did make a comment to me about the contents of one of the Ombudsman’s letters being a trick. On another occasion Mr Barron told me that he believed the Ombudsman's office had got their backs up against the wall by the way its been handled over the past two years.  They also give one case two case reference numbers, and I allege that by them doing this it’s just another trick in which to allow them separate vital evidence from their investigations.

In any event why should the Health Service Ombudsman want to stoop so low as to want to trick people, especially when Health Service Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor preaches in the Daily Telegraph about them now having transparency in their dealings and it being the way forward? What a hypocrite?  

My husband had cause to complain himself to the Health Service Ombudsman again quite recently, about the extremely poor treatment that he has received at the hands of the Rotherham DGH NHS Trust.

The Health Service Ombudsman declined to Review his case brought against the RDGH NHS Trust regarding him being prescribed Lipitor when the consultant had been clearly advised by me (in a sound recorded consultation) that he was intolerant to Statins, and that Statins made him very ill.

After him taking Lipitor for 3-weeks his GP at the Kiveton Park Primary Care Centre advised him, due to him being very ill, to stop taking the Lipitor and he was subsequently diagnosed by a GP at the same practice as having suffered a stroke. However, this also shows how we've been maltreated by medics because the GP failed to send for a blue-light response. He stopped him driving forthwith and just made routine appointments for him to have blood tests done at the Practice (two days hence) and made a routine appointment for him to have a CT Scan done at the RDGH which did not take place until days after the event. When Mr Barron MP saw my husband a couple of days or so after him seeing the GP, Mr Barron thought he was dying because he looked so ill.

A further complaint was also not upheld by the Ombudsman where he had complained about him discovering in his medical records, held at the RDGH, where a consultant had referred to him as; “Fortunately this man is still around to tell the tale”. And, the consultant had further referred to my husband in the same letter as “it” by saying; “it is still fit enough for repair”.

The Ombudsman had asked him to wait while his further two complaints had progressed through the RDGH complaints procedure, which he did. The Ombudsman then sent him two separate Complaint Forms to fill in due to, they said, it being about two separate issues. He completed two separate forms as requested which had the same Case Reference number written on them by the Ombudsman’s Office. He marked the Forms as Part 1 and Part 2 of the same complaint. By the two complaints being linked together it showed that the RDGH were discriminating against him treatment wise, for him daring to complain.

He’s just received two separate letters back from the Ombudsman’s Office advising him that they are now treating his complaint as two separate complaints and they have given them two separate case reference numbers. The case numbers (as you can see from the letters copied here) are polls apart and show clearly that the Health Service Ombudsman is currently receiving thousands of complaints from the public. It shows there are 2,590 cases just between my husband’s two case numbers alone. Apart from that, can you imagine the extra costs of the silly beggars investigating the two complain separately. That alone tells me it’s a scam?

I’d have cause to lodge a formal complaint in year 2001 against Dr Tooth, at what was then called the Kiveton Park Medical Practice. You can see for yourself from their letter of response dated July 24^th 2001 (copied below) that all four GPs (Dr D Say, Dr J Reid, Dr N Thorman and Dr H Speight) had signed off the letter and in paragraph four they said, and I quote; “A final concern to us is how you intend to receive GP services hereafter”.

You will recall from a previous blog that when accessing my medical records at that GP Practice in 2002 I discovered “Litigation Issues” and reference to “Court Case” reported in my notes and in letters of referral to Consultants, and this been the reason for my not being able to obtain proper corrective treatment from our NHS for my on-going knee and foot problems. Even after the ICO’s intervention in 2002/03 the KPPCC had failed to remove the offensive and unwarranted wording from my medical records held at their group practice. This matter was not addressed by the Kiveton Park Primary Care Centre (KPPCC) until around April 2011 after further intervention by the Chief Executive (Andy Buck) at Rotherham Primary Care Trust.

In a review of my medication one GP at the KPPCC had said he intended reducing the dose of one of my prescribed medication from 40mgs to 20mgs. However, after I obtained the new prescription from the chemist I fortunately noticed that he had actually increased the intended dose of 20mgs by 4x the amount, to 80mgs. Was he trying to kill me by any chance???

I allege that what they have done, however, is for the aforementioned signatories of the GP letter of 24 July 2001 is to kill any chance of my obtaining proper corrective treatment for my Right foot problem, even to this very day!!

My husband and I had had concerns about Dr Tooth when at one point in a consultation I’d asked him, at a time when I was seeking treatment from him, where the Hippocratic Oath was in all of this, and he retorted with; “Oh that, that was something dreamed-up in the jungle and we don’t go by that anymore”. What more can I say, I think that sums it if beautifully??

Both the GMC and the Health Service Ombudsman have failed to uphold any complaints put to them, and by them so-doing I allege that they have aided and abetted the medics in their adverse/non-treatment of me.

See copy of my letter dated 16^th August 2001 to Mr Barron MP where I put my concerns to him about the attitude of the aforesaid doctors at the KPPCC.

This true story continues …….

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17^th September 2013 [blog No. 33]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy

Mills Kemp & Brown Solicitors agreed to take instruction on my Clinical Negligence Claim against the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Trust on 8^th June 2001 due to new evidence that had come to light regarding the inappropriate and negligent administration of a Guanethidine Pain Block injection into my Right foot. The injection had been injected directly into my Right foot, as opposed to a vein, in November 1993.

Furthermore, and well after the case had gone pear-shaped and mentioned on a previous blog, in December 2008 I was advised by a consultant at the Rotherham DGH that he was very experienced in the administration of Guanethidine Pain-Block injections, and he advised me that it should not have been injected into my Right foot, for pain I was suffering in my Right knee (from the bony lesion being situated on the medial aspects of my knee) in any event! The consultation was sound recorded by my husband so I can prove what I am saying to you here.

I had been vigorously trying to obtain disclosure of what had become known as the 4^th Bassetlaw Hospital x-ray which had been taken of my knee at the Bassetlaw Hospital on 19/08/91. It was a Lat-View X-ray of my Right knee and it clearly showed the bony lesion to be situated on the medial aspect of my Right knee on that date.

You will recall from my previous blogs that my husband had seen that particular x-ray on three separate occasions and I had seen it on two of those occasions. On one of those occasions it had been shown to us by Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr Zeraati while at the Bassetlaw Hospital on 5^th November 1996. Mr Zeraati referred to the bony lesion on that day as been a “foreign body”. At a subsequent consultation with Dr Renshaw (Pain Consultant) at the Bassetlaw Hospital, Dr Renshaw confirmed to me that it was not foreign to me, it was a piece of bone.

As I have said earlier blogs, my Husband actually held that very same Lat-View x-ray on 3^rd November 1997 when he identified the 19/08/91 Lat-View x-ray (and the bony lesion seen in that film) to Radiographer Carole Perry and Medical Records Clerk Patricia Hewitt. After promising a copy of that x-ray on 3/12/97 on 4/12/1997 they all denied it had ever existed.

The piece of bone had been left in my Right knee at the time Mr Majumdar (Orthopaedic Surgeon) unnecessarily removed my Right knee cap (patella) from my Right knee in August 1987.

I had pursued disclosure by Bassetlaw Hospital via the courts and I was attempting to overturn an adverse Order made by Lord Justice Mantell sitting in the Royal Courts of Justice on 6 April 2000. A further appeal hearing was due to be heard at the RCJ in London in July 2001. After the hearing in the RCJ in London on 6 April 2000 I met –up with solicitor Michael Pringshiem who had sat in on my case. He advised me that as soon as LJ Mantell had opened his mouth he knew I was being stitched-up. After he had examined all my court paperwork he advised me that neither the solicitors nor the judiciary had adhered to procedure in my case.

When the appeal was further refused at the July 2001 hearing the Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MP had rightly suggested to Mr Brain that my case should go to a Judicial Review Hearing. However, Mr Brain (the solicitor at MKB) refused to do that. Mine and Mr Barron MP’s request for it to go to a Judicial Review was also put to a Human Rights Lawyer in Nottingham but he suggested he put the case direct to Strasbourg.

Back to Solicitor Mr Brain at MKB; as I said, he took my case on in a claim concerning the mal-administration of the Guanethidine Pain Block Injection against the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Trust and applied for public funding. He made the application to the LSC under an incorrect name of the Defendant, that of Bassetlaw Hospital & Community Services NHS Trust instead of Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Trust, and that was only for starters.

I allege that he knew that if my case came before the courts again naming the Defendant as Bassetlaw Hospital and Community Services NHS Trust, when I had brought a previous case against them regarding my Right knee problem that the case would be thrown out of court as being an abuse of process. As the case progressed Mr Brain appeared to me to do as much wrong as he could.

See copy of my fax to Mr Brain dated 20 February 2004 making comment on what he was doing wrong at that time. I had noted that he had failed to furnish Professor Galasko with Isotope scans dated 19/05/03 from the SNGH. Mr Brain tried to make out that he had not been sent those scans but my husband and I had accessed my medical records and Linda Gilbert had confirmed to us that she had sent those scans onto Mr Brian at MKB firstly on 7/1/2004 and again on 10/2/2004.

I had also shown concern (as had Mr Barron MP) at Mr Brain instructing Professor Galasko as been my medical expert to make a medico-legal report when Professor Galasko had made Mr Brain aware that he was a friend and colleague of Professor Dandy, an Orthopaedic Surgeon in Cambridge who was/had been severely criticised for alleged clinical negligence on his part in the case regarding my Right knee.

Furthermore, Professor Galasko had also advised Mr Brain that he was not qualified in the administration of Guanethidine Pain-Block Injections, and this was a core issue in my allegations against the Bassetlaw Hospital in this particular case.

I was also at odds with Barrister Shannon in Manchester when at the Conference on 1/10/2003, with him, Mr Brain, Galasko and my husband and I. Mr Shannon had allowed Prof. Galasko make several factual mistakes go unchecked and/or amended in his medico-legal report dated 29 May 2003. The errors and omissions allowed Professor Galasko to skate around events where Professor Dandy (his friend and Colleague) was being accused of negligence.  

You can see from reading the copy fax below that The Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MP agreed with me in these concerns.

At a meeting with Mr Brain Mr Brain had actually accused Mr Shannon of having his hand in the till. It was at a time when Mr Shannon was seeking urgent payment from MKB.My husband sound recorded the conversation so I can prove what I am saying here to be true. I also made allegations to the Bar Council about Mr Shannon and he subsequently refused to take instruction on my case.

See below a copy of my fax dated 2 March 2004 to Mr Brain at MKB. I think it sums-up exactly where I was coming from.

Mr Brain went on to instruct Barrister a Mr Elgott, and subsequently Mr Elgott, Professor Galasko and Mr Brain went ahead and had a conference without inviting me to attend. Even in Mr Brain’s Attendance Notes he himself questions the validity of them having the conference without my having had any input in that conference. I alleged that Barrister Mr Elgott was simply sabotaging my case so as to enable the LSC revoke funding of my case, and of course he did succeed in doing that.

I am coping below a copy of a fax received from French & Company, a firm of solicitors who was prepared to assist me in putting my case to the media. Mr Hale was of course cautious of pending court cases. However, there are none pending now so I intend taking Mr Hale up on his offer of help.

This true story continues …….

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8th September 2013 [blog No. 32]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy

To the best of my knowledge the Health Service Ombudsman (Director Gwen Harrison) has not yet responded to the Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MPs letter of 22 August 2013 seeking clarification on whether-or-not my case (Ref: EN-118242 & EN-148574) (as mentioned in my Blog No. 31) has been concluded by the Ombudsman to a point where my case can proceed to a Judicial Review.

In my last Blog (No.31) I omitted to insert my own letter dated 20^th August 2013 to Mr Barron MP where I showed concern that my case had not gone before the Ombudsman proper, and it had merely been kicked into the long grass with intent to prevent it proceeding to a Judicial Review. To enable you to keep up to speed with what is currently happening see copy of my letter to Mr Barron MP copied below.

I am very concerned that they are simply kicking my case against The Kiveton Park Primary Care Centre into the long grass because my case has been with the PHSO for in excess of two years and yet my husband has had a response from the Legal Ombudsman stating, and I quote exactly from the letter;

“…. I would reiterate that all ombudsman services are designed to be quick and informal ways of resolving disputes or complaints about professionals or other service providers. Importantly they are intended as far as possible to bring a degree of finality to disputes, and there must eventually be an end to the process. The end of the process is, in effect, the ombudsman decision, which parties must either accept or reject. They cannot accept in part, or attach conditions, or expect to be able to continue to argue or challenge”.

Albeit my husband had sent a letter direct to Chief Legal Ombudsman via special delivery post and marked as being a RESTRICTED DOCUMENT to Chief Legal Ombudsman Adam Sampson after seeing him on Breakfast TV recently, the letter of response, as received from Ranjit Thaper (Resolution Coordination Team) made no mentioned of Adam Sampson’s name. From that we can only assume that it was intercepted and it never reached Adam Sampson. Justice, what justice?

In any event; according to the article in the Daily Telegraph (as mentioned in my last Blog, Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor clearly stated that only one in ten case get as far as the Ombudsman. Obviously 90% are just turned away with the message; “Sorry you will be disappointed but there was nothing untoward found with the service provider”.

I have just been reviewing what I have put on my Blog and discovered that what I blogged on YouTube between 9/1/2013 to 24/1/2013 does not appear on these blogs listed here. Therefore over the next few days I am going to re-introduce them individually so you can see my story from the beginning. I am sorry for any confusion caused.

This true story continues …….

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25^th August 2013 [blog No. 31]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy

The Health Service Ombudsman responded to my husband’s request for a Review in a letter dated 19^th August 2013 denying him a Review of his case. See copy of letter below.

Listed below are my husband’s responses as put in the Request for a Review Form as sent onto the Health Service Ombudsman by email on 12/8/2013.

Re: Your complaint about the prescription of lipitor by Dr Louis (Cardiologist) and his assertion that you caused your own stroke symptoms through electing to come off Lipitor.

a) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that my wife had advised Dr Louis that I was intolerant to Statins.

b) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that my blood test results showed my cholesterol LDL/HDL to be within normal levels.

c) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that Dr Louis should have recognised that if Dr Louis had concerns over my cholesterol levels he should have resorted to prescribe an eating plan as opposed to Lipitor/Statins, him being made aware of my intolerance to Statins.

d) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that I was having problems with my speech as well as headaches and muscle pains and these side effects were a result of being prescribed Lipitor. The symptoms subsided in time after my GP had stopped me taking Lipitor and after my GP having diagnosed me as having suffered a stroke on 6 September 2010.

e) The GP’s actions were suspect when he diagnosed me as having suffered a stroke on 6/9/2010 and then referred me onto the RDGH Stroke Clinic to have blood tests 2-days later and a CT scan 10-days hence, as opposed to requesting a Blue Light. What happened to the F.A.S.T. NHS procedure when a patient is considered to have suffered a stroke??? According to the RDGH Stroke Clinic Consultant he CT scan results were useless after such a long period of time. It shows that both my wife and I have problems when seeking proper corrective treatment from our NHS! When I sought further advice in accordance with the suggestion of our Local MP, it was recommended on no less than three separate occasions that I should change my GP. And we (my wife and I) did.

f) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that a stroke is definitely a well-known side effect of taking Statins/Lipitor and should have been treated as such by Dr Louis.

g) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that the RDGH in their Complaints procedure and when reporting on the contents of the sound recordings provided, paraphrased what was heard/said in their transcribing of the sound recordings with intent to mislead.

h) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that the letter from Mr Lambertz to GP showed the contempt consultants/doctors had for me as a patient, and there was no way that I was to be able to access proper corrective treatment from the RDGH. Further complaints with the RDGH as attached here also show this to be a FACT!

i) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that Sleep apnoea is not a medical condition proper, and that it was only used as a get-out in preventing me receiving treatment.

j) The Ombudsman's investigator did not consider that after all said and done the hernia operation was undertaken at the Sheffield Northern General Hospital with only a one-night stay as an inpatient. It was undertaken without all the palaver under a general anaesthetic and within two months of them receiving the referral from my new GP. I allege that what went off at the RDGH was just a load of Bull****. The SNGH offered me Gold Standard Treatment albeit with the hernia having been waiting repair since 2005 they were landed with what had become an extremely complicated op. The rupture had gone down into the scrotum and part of my bowel had adhered to the right testicle. The operating surgeon advised that he might have to remove the right testicle completely. I suffered no side effects what-so-ever from having the general aesthetic.

k) Subsequently, I had been referred to the RDGH for a colonoscopy, which they performed on 9th July 2012. They also had instructions from the consultant to undertake haemorrhoid banding at the same time. After having this procedure I was left with more severe rectal bleeding and bowel pain than I had had previously. I lost all confidence in the RDGH and I requested of my GP that he refer me to another hospital. I was referred onto the Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield for assessment of the rectal bleeding. At the consultation the consultant offered me the option of having 3 haemorrhoids banding at that consultation, and I agreed. I explained how I was of the opinion that banding procedure had not taken place at the RDGH at the time of the colonoscopy. He advised me prior to him undertaking the procedure himself that I would have definitely known if they had done it. And I can assure you here and now that they definitely had not done it albeit the RDGH say they have reported on three separate reports. See copy docs attached here.      

l) Furthermore, and further proof that my wife and I cannot obtain proper corrective treatment from the RDGH is the time (27 March 2013) when my wife had to call for an ambulance due to me collapsing at home with chest pains at around 8pm. I was taken to the RDGH, had blood tests done and kept in a cubicle until 2.30am. I was then approached by a doctor who informed me that they were having problems obtaining blood results. She told me to go home and to return if I became worse. When I asked how I was supposed to do that she said “get a taxi”!

My Husband went onto say in his Request for a Review that the subsequent complaint to the RDGH was whitewashed over just the same as this complaint was.       

Now, according to the Article in the Daily Telegraph on 13^th August 2013 (See copy of Article below as taken from the Daily Telegraph) Heath Service Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor states; “Patients failed by toxic NHS cocktail”. It appears to us that Dame Julie Mellor’s Investigation Team are no better that the NHS when investigating complaints. It’s time she got her own house in order because she says that only 1 in 10 complaints about the NHS are investigated by the Health Service Ombudsman, and I say that that figure is far from being acceptable! What do you think??

By Laura Donnelly [Health Correspondent]

PATIENTS who suffer harm or poor care in hospitals are being failed by a "toxic cocktail" within the health service which means complaints go unheard and lessons unlearnt, the NHS Ombudsman has warned.

 

Dame Julie Mellor told The Daily Telegraph that patients often felt too frightened to complain for fear of receiving even worse treatment, while those who did encountered a wall of defensiveness from staff.

 

A report by the NHS Ombudsman, which investigates complaints when hospitals are accused of failing to handle them fairly, is calling for changes so that more concerns are acted on promptly, and action is taken before care is jeopardised. They include:

 

Access to a free patients' advice service 24 hours a day;

Each patient to be given the name of a senior person - usually the ward sister - as the first contact tor concerns;

Regular measurement of feedback from patients, so hospitals can compare their handling of complaints and make improvements.

 

The recommendations have been submitted to an independent review of hospital complaints by Ann Clwyd, a Labour MP whose husband died in hospital after a series of failings. The report is due next month.

 

It follows research by the NHS Ombudsman which found patients, carers and hospital staff were confused about how the system worked, while the NHS culture meant that too often, those who suffered harm were denied a simple apology.

 

As well as adding to patients' distress, it meant hospitals were failing to learn lessons from major tragedies, which were then more likely to be repeated, Dame Julie said.

 

She said: "What we found was that there is a toxic cocktail - patients felt reluctant to complain, because they can fear it will affect the care they get - and that if they do, they are met with a culture of defensiveness, where they don't get the explanations they need, and the opportunity is lost to learn really powerful insights, which could improve the NHS."

 

Research has found that more than half of those who consider complaining about the NHS do not do so, with many put off because they expect the process to be bureaucratic, while others believe it will make no difference.

 

Dame Julie, who was appointed last year, said that people contacted the NHS Ombudsman in desperation.

 

"There are three core things that people come to us about," she said. "Number one is - 'I just can't get a decent explanation, I really don't know what happened and actually maybe if I had a proper explanation that would sort it for me - I just want to know.'"

 "The second is when something has gone wrong, but there is a lack of acknowledgement of mistakes, and inadequate apology. The third is when there is insufficient remedy. I think that has really struck me about why the public complain, they do so because they want to prevent the same thing happening to someone else."

 

A study by the Ombudsman has found that staff are reluctant to properly investigate complaints because they are afraid of challenging the NHS hierarchy, or of drawing attention to failings by more senior colleagues, or that they will be punished for admitting to failings in patient care.

 

"This defensiveness is one of the most important things we need to overcome - that is about changing the culture, not about the procedure,"

 

Dame Julie said Patients who had complained reported that apologies felt insincere, and they felt their accounts of poor care were "manipulated" to minimise NHS failings.

 

The research found that one woman was advised to complain in writing about concerns that her mother was not being washed or helped to go to the lavatory in hospital. She was told her complaint would be acknowledged within 28 days. "My mum could have died in that amount of time," she said.

 

The Ombudsman has been criticised for not examining enough of the complaints which are passed its way.

 

Dame Julie last month promised a ten-fold rise in the numbers of cases which the Ombudsman examines but this still means only one in 10 complaints would be fully investigated,

 

She said it was "crucial" that hospitals improve their own systems, because accusations of poor care should be dealt with as quickly as possible before a situation worsened.

However, in my own case that has been set before the Health Service Ombudsman for a Review of my case (It’s been with the Ombudsman for almost two years now) and after an alleged breach of confidentially on their part, they first sent a letter asking me to give the KPPCC (the GP Practice) an opportunity to settle the matter on a financial basis but after seeking advice from a solicitor at our MP’s suggestion, the KPPCC just ignored the request for a settlement.

Subsequently, the Ombudsman requested further information, and after they had received the further information they responded saying that they were unable to review my case because I had provided them with too much information.

Subsequently, they sent me a further letter asking me what amount of compensation I was expecting to receive to satisfy my case. Our Local MP, when he saw the letter, said it was a trick because how could I in a position to set quantum on such a matter, and in any event had I set the amount  too high they would have turned my case down for that reason. So, it was a “trick”, yes?

However, some weeks ago our Local MP took the case on-board himself due to my frustration with the Ombudsman’s Office, and he himself has now received a letter dated 16^th August 2013 from the Ombudsman’s Office basically kicking my case into the long grass!!

See copy letters below dated 23^rd August 2013 from our Local MP, The Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MP, to me and a copy of the letter to Gwen Harrison at the PHSO.

This true story continues …….

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11^th August 2013 [blog No. 30]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy

I wish to draw your attention to Lipitor and Statins in a complaint against the NHS by my husband.

Firstly though, I am sorry for the delay in getting back to you here but it was due initially to a virus unwittingly being downloaded onto my computer after some kind person sending it to me in an email. Then subsequently, due to me suffering a further fall, which was due to my on-going Right foot problem. It has gone untreated because it was no good me attending our local hospital (RDGH) where I allege I cannot obtain proper corrective treatment.

I wish to refer you to my Blog number 24 where I referred to Mr Giles at the RDGH in December 2008 where and when he did say that if he were to treat my Right foot problem he would want to amputate my foot, from just below the knee. Much to my great concern I see that Mr Giles (according to the RDGH clinical list) is working in paediatrics where I contend the patients are so young they are unable to argue their condition or to be aware of what is going-off.

As I said in my previous blog, covering-up mistakes in our NHS is now reported in the media on a daily basis, and Jeremy Hunt MP has a difficult task ahead of him in putting the NHS back on track, especially if he fails to address the matter of the cover-up culture in our NHS. Not just a cover-up culture by staff against fellow colleagues but the cover-up culture against the patient when the NHS has been found doing something wrong.

The so-called Patient Services Department (The old “PALS” Department) at the Rotherham District General Hospital are no pal of the patient and/or the patient’s relatives. They are there and paid for by the NHS to put further pressure on the patient and/or the patient’s relatives by way of leading them up the garden path to the NHS merry-go-round complaints procedure. It’s a trick.

My husband had cause to complain because he too could not obtain treatment from the RDGH for his urgent hernia repair. His operation was put-off in 2005 by the consultants saying his heart problem did not warrant any operation being undertaken.

When a fresh referral was made by our then GP Practice (Kiveton Park Primary Care Centre) in May of 2010 a letter dated 24^th May 2010 had been sent back to GP Dr Chasabingo by the Consultant General Surgeon Mr M M Lambertz. To our dismay my husband discovered a copy of the letter in his medical records when he asked to see his files at the RDGH.

We, my husband and I, found the letter very distasteful and in fact downright intolerable. See copy of the letter copied below here where Mr Lambertz refers to my husband as “fortunately he still being around to tell the tale and further refers to my husband as “and it is fit enough for repair”.

A further referral had been made by Mr Lambertz for my husband to see Cardiac Consultant Dr A Louis at the RDGH. At the consultation (which my husband sound recorded) Dr Louis prescribed my husband with Lipitor albeit his cholesterol readings for LDL and HDL were within the prescribed limits, and I had also advised Dr Louis myself that my husband was intolerable to Statins as Statins had made him very ill in the past. Dr Louis insisted that Lipitor was a different medication and insisted my husband try them.

Within the following three weeks my husband’s health went downhill, and he telephoned our GP Practice on Friday 3^rd September 2010 explaining his condition of how he was having trouble with headaches, muscle pain and from time to time difficulty with speaking. The GP advised him to stop taking the Lipitor tablets, and made an appointment for my husband to see a GP on the Monday following that weekend. When he attended the surgery the GP examined him and diagnosed him as having suffered a stroke.

Instead of the GP sending for a blue light he simply stopped my husband from driving forthwith, made a routine appointment for him to have blood tests done at the GP Practice over the next couple of days and made a routine referral to the RDGH for him to undergo a CT Scan which was done 10-days after the event of being diagnosed as having suffered a stroke! The consultant at the hospital’s stoke clinic confirmed that them doing a CT Scan so long after the event was useless in diagnosing him of having suffered from any possible stroke. The scan results came back negative just as the Stoke Consultant had envisaged.

I allege that by Dr Louis (Cardiac Consultant) at the RDGH prescribing my husband with Lipitor (Statins) when I had categorically advised him of my husband’s intolerance to Statins was a direct attempt at doing my husband harm!

When my husband went onto the internet researching Lipitor he discovered that Lipitor were reported as being the worst possible kind of Statin, and what my husband had suffered as a result of taking Lipitor was in fact a common serious adverse reaction. You just cannot trust these people.

My husband put his complaint to the Patient Services Department (the old “PALS”) together with sound recordings of the consultations and telephone calls but they came back with the same old story that they Consultants at the RDGH had done nothing untoward.

See copy of my husband’s letter dated 24^th November 2012 to our Local MP, The Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MP, requesting of Mr Baron that he put the matter of a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. See also copy of MP’s letter to the PHSO of the same date. It has to be said that in one other matter of complaint put to Ms Taylor by my husband over a Colonoscopy issue she did handle it professionally in that she managed to get a consultant to see my husband within 48-hours of him lodging his complaint.

Unfortunately, when he subsequently attended the Sheffield Hallamshire Hospital for his problem to be assessed again he realised that they had not undertaken a particular procedure when he had attended the RDGH on 9^th July 2012 albeit the RDGH say they have it recorded on at least three reports that they had done the procedure in question at the same time of his Colonoscopy. My husband had sound recorded the whole procedure at the RDGH on 9/7/2012 and again when he attended the Hallamshire Hospital where the missed procedure was undertaken to a Gold Standard.

The Ombudsman came back to my husband in a letter dated 13 May 2013 in what they have termed as being a “RESTRICTED” document (meaning I cannot display it here because they are gagging him) simply saying in a bog-standard format that they have found nothing untoward with the RDGH. That Merry-go-Round is continuing to go around.

Before I go I wish to refer you to my blog No. 28 (16^th June 2013) with regards to a former firm of Atteys Solicitors who had been acting on a proposed case of professional negligence against Gosschalks Solicitors of Hull.

I noted that Atteys Solicitors were disbanded totally by the SRA in March 2013 in a case where again the details are being kept from public knowledge as to why they have shut them down. Now, is that been transparent?

On the 9^th April 2013 I requested of the SRA that my Atteys Files be returned to me by the SRA Investigation Team but to-date, after several attempts at obtaining my case files, I am still being stone-walled by this SRA Quango. My husband last contacted them on my behalf on 24^th July 2013 where once again they (Jess) stone-walled him. She said that she would get back to us but to-date (some three weeks later) we have heard nothing from them.

This true story continues …….

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23^rd June 2013 [blog No. 29]

Hello again, it’s me, Peggy
Covering-up mistakes in our NHS is now in the media on a daily basis, and yet I've been trying to expose cover-ups in my clinical negligence case since I was crippled by Orthopaedic Surgeon Pratiff Majumdar in 1987.

I reiterate again here; and as you can see from my previous blogs, I allege I was crippled further in my Right foot in November 1993 at the Bassetlaw Hospital by Dr Renshaw when he administered the Guanethidine Pain-Block injection directly into my Right foot, as opposed to a vein.

I allege the injection was both inappropriate and negligently administered and according to advice received from an expert in Guanethidine Injections (in 2008) it should not have been injected into my foot for the pain in my knee in any event.

Before I embark on what happened with my case when Mr Brain of Mills Kemp & Brown Solicitors had conduct of my case from 2001, I want to refer you to a letter to my husband dated 8 July 1998 as received from Jonathan Asbridge (Acting Chief Executive) at the Royal London Hospital. At the item marked No. 4 in his letter he confirms that x-rays show a piece of bone on the medial side of my knee. It’s not a foreign body, he said, and neither did he refer to it as a foreign or calcified body.

In 1998 Mr John King at the Royal London Hospital was prepared to operate on my knee to remove this piece of bone but once he became aware of the pending litigation against the Bassetlaw Hospital he told me that I would have to learn to walk on my hands. Meaning before anyone would help me. He was covering-up the backs of his colleagues, including the back of Prof. Dandy who, according to Zeraati, “had missed the bugger” (bony lesion) during his exploratory operation on my Right knee in November 1989.

Dr Renshaw at the Bassetlaw Hospital had referred to it as being a piece of bone, when at a meeting in 1996 but that was only after he had become aware of Mr Zeraati having shown it to me in the 19/08/1991 Bassetlaw Hospital x-ray. However, Renshaw conveniently failed to report it as such in his clinic notes.

They had always diagnosed my Right knee pain as been due to the controversial diagnosis RSD to prevent me having a case against the NHS. Since my having the botched Guanethidine injection put into my foot in November 1993 they’ve subsequently diagnosed the resulting crippling pain (osteoporosis) in my foot as again being due to  RSD. They just never give up!

According to Mr Paul Cooke, Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Nuffield Hospital in Oxford (in May 2009) due to the problem relating back as far as 1993 (the Guanethidine Injection) there is nothing that can be done now, it should have been dealt with much earlier.

Now, MKB:

I first instructed Mills Kemp & Brown Solicitors in 2001 on the alleged clinical negligence claim for the botched Guanethidine Injection put into my foot in 1993 which was gradually crippling me with severe pain in my Right foot. The case took quite some time to kick-off so to speak, and it was not until around November 2001 that Mr Brain actually got around to seeking disclosure of my medical records.

Mr Barron MP met with Mr Brain at Mills Kemp & Brown Solicitors on 22 November 2002, which was the day I had the bony lesion removed from my Right knee by Mr Bickerstaff at the Thornbury Private Hospital in Sheffield. The operation was paid for by the NHS. Mr Brain had always contented that the previous case against the Bassetlaw Hospital was passed and this new claim was for my Right foot problem. However, strangely, after his meeting with Mr Barron MP Mr Brain seemed intent on pursuing the previous claim regarding my knee problem?

For what it’s worth, I had been advised that the mere fact the NHS had paid for the removal of the bony lesion (which had been left in my Right knee since the operation to remove my patella in 1987) meant that they had accepted liability in my claim. However, as I’ve said, the claim I was actually bringing to MKB in 2001 was for the alleged negligence by the Bassetlaw Hospital regarding the maladministration of the Guanethidine Pain Block Injection.

I was referred by Mr Brain to a Professor Galasko (Expert Orthopaedic Surgeon) in Cheadle, Cheshire. I was not at all happy with the referral because Professor Galasko had informed Mr Brain that he was a friend and colleague of Professor Dandy, the surgeon who I had criticised for a substandard of care when at the Newmarket Hospital in 1989/90.


Furthermore, Professor Galasko confirmed to Mr Brain in his letter to Brain dated 11 December 2002 (See copy below) that he was not qualified in Guanethidine Pain-Block Injections. However, Mr Brain went ahead regardless of my protesting against the referral.

Mr Barron MP wrote to Mr Brain at MKB in a letter dated 23 December 2002 in support of my claim, albeit he inadvertently referred to it being an ankle problem. You will note that he suggested it going via a Judicial Review. See copy below.

When I met Professor Galasko on 1^st April 2003 he only had x-rays performed on my knee and he only paid attention to my knee problem, he disregarded my Right foot problem. I put this fact to Mr Brain in a subsequent letter.

When Professor Galasko made his report for the court he had only reported on my knee. He did not mention my Right foot problem. I had to return to Manchester for Galasko to make another report for the court on the administration of the Guanethidine Pain-Block injection in my Right foot.

In his report he informed the court that he was not qualified in the administration of Guanethidine Pain-Block injections. I contended that Professor Galasko should have categorically refused to make any such report due to his admission of not been qualified in that field of medicine and the fact he was a friend and colleague of one of the surgeons criticised in my case., and still further, that he was a member of the Professional Advisory Panel of the NHS Litigation Authority, who were the very same people I was suing. How’s that for a complete stitch-up!!

The reports made by Galasko contained many factual errors, and he had glossed-over the parts where Prof. Dandy had had any involvement in my treatment. I allege that I was well and truly stitched-up.

The cost of Galasko’s input was in excess of £7, 500, and he subsequently requested a further £2,000.00 if I wanted him to correct the factual errors contained within his reports. Strangely, in a subsequent court hearing where and when I had objected to his further costs the judge agreed with his request.

I reiterate here; now that Public Funding has been abolished by this Government for Clinical Negligence cases Litigants in person will not stand a cat in hells chance of obtaining justice!!! 

They've just given the medics a licence to lame and kill.

I have just received a copy of a letter addressed to the Rt. Hon Mr Kevin J Barron MP from a Government Quango where the content of that letter further shows hostility toward me, and which further depicts that I am certainly black-listed from having access to justice. Now, the head of the aforesaid government body came on Breakfast television just after she had been appointed, telling everyone she was going to be transparent in matters relating to the NHS. I can’t go into any further detail about this matter at this time because Mr Barron has agreed to deal with the matter himself, direct.

Before I sign-off I want to thank the editor@medneg.com for referring to my blog in his email on 19/6/2013 to his members, and also to my husband.

This true story continues …….

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