Two Years!

Well, as I said, this is a big day – it’s two years ago today that I started my Blog.

It was, of course, quite unlikely that I would still be around now but I still am!

It may seem strange that I kept it going for so long?

Not really. Anyone who has read it for any time will know that I’ve been having a lot of fun doing it.

There were jokes and poems and silly logos. Of course I never realised that on lots of platforms like smartphones, my cartoons and clever fonts only come out as ‘JJJJJJ’ or ‘XXXXX’! It didn’t bother me. This is why I did it;

 

I’ve got a problem

and it’s really starting to rankle.

You see, I hurt my leg

in fact, I broke my ankle.

 

The problem was my mistake

Oh what would that be?

The ambulance took my break

to St. Peter’s A and E.

 

Because instead of trying

to fix it there and then.

Some idiot, what was he was doing?

Sent me home again.

 

You can mess up a finger

You can bugger up a wrist

but only a consultant at St. Peter’s

would think a break was a twist.

 

I know, I know; a very silly poem. But my complaint didn’t get me anywhere – it got buried. It took a complaint to The Care Quality Commission and their help to get St. Peter’s to send me the report that had been written but not sent to me for ‘6 weeks’!

I got the report after the consultant who messed up my ankle had been allowed to leave quietly. But that meant that this idiot was allowed to spend a further 3 months in Accident and Emergency messing people about.

No action has ever been taken against him.

So what did I achieve in these two years apart from having a ridiculous amount of fun and immortalising the A and E at St. Peter’s on the internet?

Well, my campaign to get 10 consultants at the A and E may or may not have worked; A and E now attempts to hide staffing levels on St.Peter’s website.

The bumbling consultant who couldn’t spot a dislocated fractured ankle has left.

So too has Andrew Liles the overpaid chief executive who has moved on to a lucrative post as an advisor to the private sector (that’s where the real money is).

The hospital is being forced into a merger no one actually wants.

The A and E is still a real problem which is reflected in its inability to recruit and retain good staff and the number of mistakes it makes and Coroners notices it receives.

It's not all bad news, two days ago I passed Ashford Hospital and noticed new signs on the entry to the car parks – it’s free to blue badge holders and now they actually tell disabled people about it.

It wasn’t me who won that campaign back in July but I played a small part in publicising it.

It’s all about people power and solidarity and taking on those arrogant people who think they know best.

They don’t always.

It's also about sticking up for the underpaid, overworked and ignored people who work for the hospital.

Perhaps I should try to stick around a bit longer.

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com