Ten
little fingers, ten little toes,
Two little ears and one little
nose
Two little eyes that shine so bright
And one little mouth to kiss mother goodnight.
Two little eyes that shine so bright
And one little mouth to kiss mother goodnight.
Children’s
nursery rhyme.
A
chilly but sunny afternoon at the beginning of March. Four happy
children play in a back garden, shouting and laughing. It's tea time
so the children come inside for a spot of toast and cake. One little
girl leans on a door frame to take off her shoes. At the same time
the door is slammed shut on to the middle finger of her right hand.
She
shrieks, I run, open the door and see that the top joint of my
beautiful perfect five year old girl has been amputated. Before I
know what I am doing I shout to my friend to get us to A&E and
hold the top joint onto the finger. My little girl screams and
screams, we rush into a neighbour's car and within 10 minutes we are
at Lewisham Hopsital's Children’s Emergency Department.
That
was three weeks ago and those 10 minutes felt like an eternity.
Beatrice fainted five times in the car and I was powerless to stop
the horrible pain I knew she was in. I wanted to cry and scream
myself but I knew I had to be strong. The soaring relief to arrive at
the hospital was immense. We were seen immediately, Beatrice was
given pain relief at which point she fell into a deep sleep and I was
given reassurance by the fabulous nurses and doctors. We were
transferred to St. Thomas' Hospital that evening, Beatrice had
surgery the next morning and we were home again within 24 hours of
the terrible injury taking place. Thank you Lewisham Hospital. If you
hadn't been there it would have been an hour or more before Beatrice
had pain relief and the care she needed to prevent her losing her
finger. Long may you stay open for business.
Toby
Tall, Toby Tall,
Where
are you?
Here
I am, here I am,
How
do you do?
Children’s
nursery rhyme.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lewisham Hospital is a
successful, solvent healthcare provider. It's the kind of hospital
that David Cameron promised to champion during the election campaign
when he grandly pontificated: 'The
NHS is safe in my hands'.
And
yet, this fantastic hospital, full of caring doctors, nurses and
sensible managers is scheduled for down-grade to bail out South
London Healthcare Trust in a neighbouring London borough. As wrong as
it is that the people of Woolwich are being penalised for the
mismanagement and bumbling decision making of politicians it really
shouldn't be Lewisham Hospital's responsibility to shoulder their
burden.
Jeremy
Hunt and the cabal at the Department of Health tell us that their
hands are tied, there's nothing they can do, they must balance the
books! Don't we know there's a massive deficit? Don't we understand
that the NHS is simply too expensive? All of this while they wring
their hands in horror that hundreds of people died at
Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust because financial
considerations were put before patient care. All of this while they
promote David Nicholson who presided over Mid-Staffordshire while
dead bodies were being stacked up in the morgues. And all of this
while Jeremy Hunt clumsily claims to understand the clinical case for
downgrading our public services. It certainly doesn't help build
confidence that the Health Minister persists in clinging to the false
statistic that the massive service reconfiguration in South-east
London will save 100 lives. He's said it in parliament at least twice
so one would assume he must be sure of his facts, especially when the
entire cohort of Labour MPs from Lewisham called his assertion into
question.
Even
Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, has tried to stop
Jeremy embarrassing himself when he wrote a public letter to distance himself from the wayward minister's gaffe.
But, oh no, Jeremy bumbles on. He's even passed the misinformation to
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, who ineptly trotted it out at a
People's Question Time held in the London borough of Lewisham. I
wonder whether he'll listen to Jeremy again after the roasting he got
from the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign?
Not
only will the disastrous plans cobbled together by Trust Special
Administrator Matthew Kershaw and his pals at McKinsey's and accepted
by Jeremy Hunt definitely not save 100 lives, they will expose an
entire borough of London to unacceptable risk. The plans fly in the
face of patient care, health equality and take us back by a
generation in maternity provision. I think it would be fair to say
that David Cameron's pledge to keep the NHS safe is one made in pure
fantasy.
One
finger, one thumb
keep moving.
One finger, one thumb
keep moving.
We all stay merry and bright.
keep moving.
One finger, one thumb
keep moving.
We all stay merry and bright.
Children’s
nursery rhyme.
Meanwhile
Beatrice's finger continues to heal and I've been daydreaming about
what I'd like to do with with my middle finger but I have to concede
that this might not be the best way to negotiate with the Right Hon.
Jeremy Hunt MP. Tempting though it is.
It's hard to keep that middle finger down, isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteWe need you, Lewisham, thank you to all of you who are fighting for your survival!
Haha! We shall keep going and fight the good fight. How do I put the video from youtube into my blog like you did with your blog post yesterday?
DeleteI wish I could lurch behind every single door until I finally manage to crush Mr Hunt's finger in it then tell him there's no A&E to rush to!
ReplyDeleteAll my best wishes to little Bert xxx
Hello! How is Sicily? We miss you! Did Rebecca succumb to chicken pox? xxxx
Delete