Having posted some of the horrors I have encountered here it is only fair to say some of the good things about University College Hospital.
The main consultant under whom I have been and remain admitted is clearly a very clever and astute man. I also find him to be, without question or hesitation, to be a wholly ethical and strongly motivated man. I made a mildly disparaging remark that I had not seen him for a week until he turned up on a Sunday morning two weeks ago following a visit from the police. I would like to apologise for any offence caused. I think it is pretty natural that a man of his skill, intelligence and humanity is in demand.
It was actually not my wish to see him that day but I did want to make a statement to the police about the actions of his registrar Dr Giles Bond-Smith. On the day in question I apologised that my attempting to do so had interfered with a day with his family during a week when I know things had not been easy for him.
There would have been no need for him to come if Camden Police had done their job. They did not come because Dr Bond-Smith told them I was insane - as New Scotland Yard confirmed.
Dr Bond-Smith is a Registrar on a colo-rectal team. When he told the Police I was insane he had been “off my case” for five days and I had issued instructions to that effect, disbarring him from commenting on or partaking in my care in any way. He therefore should have refused to discuss the matter with the police and passed it up to his boss.
In addition Dr Bond-Smith is a “bum doctor” and a surgeon and not qualified to make statements regarding my sanity. Had he checked with the people qualified to make these statements he would have been told it was an inaccurate statement.
He went against the specialist advice available, broke guidelines in discussing a patient with whom he had been advised his relationship is over and failed to note in the notes serious issues discussed at length which would have pointed a finger of guilt at him had the meds he prescribed seriously injured my health or worse.
Furthermore the statements he made to the police were defamatory and not covered by priveledged communication as they were outside his field but designed to make sure he was not investigated.
He succeeded which is why I published. Sometimes if you don’t shout you don’t get help. And sometimes if you do shout you don’t get help.
When people run around making inaccurate statements about your sanity - in either situation - the picture becomes coloured with these lies and you are less likely to get help whatever you do and however you act.
I need the help of this hospital to recover my health. First my injuries need to be understood, which is not yet happening. I have been trying to explain what’s up and some people understand some of it and some testing has been done.
The reporting on the tests is invariably only partially accurate however because there is no clear understanding of what is wrong with me and the radiologists - excellent as they undoubtedly are - do not know therefore what they are looking for. They miss things - significant things.
There are also a plethora of uneccessary tests being undertaken which will only show I am “not in the textbooks” - something I have heard again and again.
I know this hospital has some of the brightest brains in medicine working here. I also know that what I suffer - though not yet in the textbooks - is fully comprehensible.
Putting to one side the appalling history of poor investigations, lazy false opinions and at times deliberately misleading interpretations that has plagued me at other hospitals, I would like to say this:
Once you understand what is wrong you can stop the plattitudes and excuses and then and only then can we have an intelligent forward looking discussion about recovery from, or the management of, my physical injuries.
University College Hospital - like most hospitals - is staffed by doctors, nurses and auxillary staff who are on the whole very dedicated, caring, good, professional and hard working people.
Too often, they are fighting an NHS which is over-politicised, managed from two power-structures which are pulling in opposite directions and is frankly too large to ever be efficient (the NHS used to be and I believe still is the biggest single employer worldwide).
The staff here are also fighting a badly designed and over-budget hospital building in which the lifts don’t work and something as simple as an additional meds trolley takes an infinite amount of time not to organise. There have been cutbacks because of the overspend and thus the burden of work is higher than ideal.
I don’t want to fight for my right to health any more. The fight is killing me. I have legitimate grievances here with one doctor which should have been externally investigated in the circumstances for my accusation is a grave one and not made lightly. Having tried to make sure it is investigated via the appropriate channels and been thwarted I was left with little choice.
It is not appropriate for doctors to close ranks as that is anti-thetical to truth and natural justice. It will do them, medicine and me nothing but harm if they do so. I do hope this will not be allowed to happen any more - it has gone on too long and is being used as an excuse for inaction for darker reasons than those admitted or averred.
Beyond that what I can say about University College Hospital is all good: The nursing, cleaning and catering staff on the ward I am on are friendly, helpful and caring. There is dedication clarly visible on their faces. This ward is also spotlessly clean.
The consultant I am under is as I have said an honest, intelligent, ethical and very human doctor. If the rest of the doctors here can put past mistakes of colleagues elsewhere behind them and get on with the job in hand I have no doubt the outcome will be to everyone’s benefit and I will be writing glowing reports of the care I have recieved here in days to come. Let us aspire to common sense prevailing.
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