Thread by @Beck_Sall

🚨 Remember clapping & rattling pots & pans for the NHS? Read this and you'll never lift a wooden spoon again.
Steve Sapseid, 63, was admitted to hospital, staff took his hearing aids, glasses and mobile phone. He asked for them back, nurses claimed they could not find them.
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Steve was a member of Stand in the Park covid action group. One of the members, Nicola Smith, who had worked for her local council in finance, began studying law after the pandemic hit and offered to give them a legal weapon to force the NHS to act in a more humane way.

It was day four when the notice was served and although the family received no answer, attitudes towards Steve changed swiftly. He said: ‘Suddenly the nurses found my glasses, hearing aids and phone.'

Marianne Griffiths, CEO of West Sussex Health Trust (WSHT), the umbrella for St Richard's, was issued a 63-page affidavit detailing poor care, and a formal notice asking her to provide evidence of authority over Steve that superseded his wife Jenny's.

conservativewoman.co.uk/inhumane-hospi…

Griffiths was told that if she was unable to provide that authority, she was to instruct her staff to let Jenny talk to her husband immediately and to remove any DNR notice they might have applied to his notes.

Jenny was incredibly worried. When she rang, they said: “You need to prepare yourself. He won’t be coming home”. Steve said.
Once Steve could speak to Jenny, he received more humane treatment. After two weeks, he made it home. Until then, he thought he might die.

Control over personal healthcare is important but even with a legal power of attorney (LPA) relatives have little say over their loved one’s care. Patients need an Advanced Decision Notice (ADN), a living will, that cannot be overridden in the way that an LPA can.

Nicola’s letter was so successful she launched My Medical Choice, a private members’ association which has around 600 members. They provide information on legal protection and medical treatment options in emergency situations.
blog.my-medical-choice.org/2023/09/05/inf…

MMC give advice on avoiding contaminated blood, explain how to refuse procedures needing blood or blood components, and have created a national safe blood donor database. They will provide an ADN document, which warns health professionals if they ...

... ignore a patient’s wishes they are liable for personal prosecution, a hospital-to-emergency-contact SMS service which sends a message to your ICE contact, a wallet-sized advance decision notice which alerts first responders to check for your wishes.

MMC’s document ‘Dealing with Medical Gatekeepers’ tells you how to negotiate with the NHS.
Steve and Jenny still do not know what medication he was given and have requested Steve’s medical notes, but St Richard’s have yet to provide them.
@TPHA_UK @FreedomHealthAZ @KathyConWom

Steve said:‘I’m very angry, it was a frightening & isolating experience. If Jenny & Nicola hadn’t intervened, I feel like I could have died.
Jenny said: ‘I sensed he was in danger, but I was powerless. I am so grateful to Nicola. Without her help, Steve may not have come home.’