An exploration of the UK unpaid carer's world

                                                                       If only that were true

This page will serve as the basis of a subsequent complaint.  Responding to the call to complain is a decision not taken lightly.  more

Those involved will be fully identifed.

So far, the main page is this Email from Colin Merker - 23 November 2015.  He is Director of Service Delivery - 2gether - fifth down here.

Contents

1. Panel 1 - Email 23 Nov2015 from C Merker as result of meeting attended by him, T Wallin and the website author.
2. Panel 2 - Follow-up email 11 December 2015 from C Merker
3. Panel 3 - Email from me 8 Jan 2016 ending the almost entirely negative interaction with 2g 
4. Panel 4 - Email from me 2 March 2016 stating that 2g needs to justify its disagreements

Paragraphs within Panels 1 & 2 were numbered upon receipt.  Paragraphs in my replies were already identified.

Panel 1 Email 23 Nov 2015 from C Merker as result of meeting attended by him, T Wallin and the website author.

Numbers in red carry the website author's reaction.

1

Thank you for meeting with Tim Wallin and myself on Wednesday, 18^th November 2015 to discuss issues that have recently caused you concern.

 2

I said at the end of our meeting that it would probably take me until Monday, 16^th November 2015 to write to you, so as discussed and agreed, I am therefore emailing you with an update on issues.

3

I am sorry our introduction did little to support your confidence in us/me, but I hope that you felt I subsequently listened to your concerns and I hope we can progress them together to improve the care and support we collectively provide to you and your wife.

He forgot my name.  I challenged him later but he refused to acknowledge that it was a fundamental error.  

See Item 27 on the Hereford Memory Service protest page 3 Nov 2015   here 

 4

Both Tim and I were sorry to hear of your own health issues, but we both hope that the arrangements Tim has put in place for you to be supported by Rosemary will help things improve.

This turned out to be another disaster  - more to be added

5

We were also sorry to hear of the difficult night/day you had before you met with us.  We both hoped things might have been a little easier for you later in the day after we had met and you had had your appointment with Rosemary.

6

We both listened to what you had to tell us and we could both see how you could draw a number of the conclusions around us only responding as you had made us, through the actions you had taken. I would like to think you could see following our meeting that this has not always been the case and Tim in particular has tried to put a number of things in place to help address your concerns and improve matters for you.

"through the actions you had taken"  - the drastic action is seen on  the 23 Oct 2015 - A4 protest sheet here

                                                         the main action was numerous webpages listed here  for subsequent use

7

Tim and I were discussing things before you met with us and I could see a number of actions that would not have helped your confidence in us and our professionalism.

8

The issue of you writing to us in August and us not responding is unacceptable and I am sorry this happened.  I can see that this didn’t mark a good start to improving relationships and I can see that when we had an opportunity to demonstrate a more professional and responsive approach after your meeting with us in September we did not get it right again.

The issue of you writing to us in August   is here

9

I know that following those events you took specific actions which you relate to then seeing a response from us.

From my discussions with Tim, however, I believe that on most occasions we had been responding, but either our time to respond or type of response was not seen by you as how you would have liked us to respond.

10

I know you have directed us to look at your website on a number of occasions and I would confirm that I have looked at your website myself.  I can see that you have put some significant work into your website and it contains a wealth of information on a number of things.

11

From our staff’s perspective and my own perspective, I am sorry to say that I did not find it easy to follow and I would have a concern if staff were to try and use this as a mechanism for supporting communications around yours or your wife’s care and support.

This para and para 10  -  read Item 2 - specifically "Oooh, diddums!" in red text here

12

I understand the use of patient diaries, but unfortunately I believe that they need to be simple and direct and not included within a wider system of communications as there is a real danger that important messages and/or actions get missed.

13

I know from my discussions with Tim he has felt similar when he has looked at the website, as you asked him to, which is why he has tried to establish direct one-to-one contact with you so that you can have a straightforward dialogue together to try and move things on.

14

I believe Tim has consistently tried to progress and improve things for you and your wife.  I saw your appointment with Rosemary following the September meeting as a sign of his proactiveness.  Your appointment with Rosemary was arranged without the usual GP referral and in an attempt by Tim to help you and demonstrate our responsiveness.  The meeting with you in September was trying to do the same for your other concerns, but the delays in following through meant that its intent was overshadowed as subsequent actions appeared to follow your follow-up actions.

15

From a communications perspective, I would like to ask that you talk to the clinicians involved in your own and your wife’s care and agree with them how best to communicate outside of your formal meetings/appointments. I believe for us to support you and your wife appropriately, colleagues need to be confident in their communications with you and I am sorry if these need to be outside of your website.

Comment at No. 11 applies to " I am sorry if these need to be outside of your website.".

16

As we discussed things, I could see that you care deeply for your wife and want to do all you can to help maintain her “wellbeing” for as long as you can.  I could also see from your comments about your involvement with the adults with severe learning disabilities, that you give generously of your time, skills and commitment to others and from those experiences, you have seen that your interventions have helped improve things for them in varying degrees from your perspective.

" . . . your involvement with the adults with severe learning disabilities" is here .

17

I could see that in a similar vein you feel that you can help your wife with cognitive stimulation in a “non-invasive” way which will also let you monitor her illness and its progression.  As I said when we discussed this issue, I had some stark concerns at your actions/intent before we spoke.  Following our discussions however, I can see from how you describe your interventions that they are “non-invasive” and they are driven primarily by cognitive stimulation rather than illness monitoring.  I know you want to continue to develop this approach and I would like to understand how we may be able to help you in this and/or advise you that your actions are not appropriate and/or in your wife’s best interests. In order to do this I am waiting to talk to my Clinical Director for Older People’s Services and want to ask him if he will meet with you to discuss this and your comments about this being an opportunity for possible joint “research” in this area together.

" . . .  advise you that your actions are not appropriate and/or in your wife’s best interests."  The first time I heard about this was by email from an Adult Wellbeing advisor - source to be given.  

"2g chose to communicate with a third party re passing info to carer."  No. 5 on the 2g Overview page here.  See also 11 & 13 under the heading Summary of ensuing pages   on that page  

18

I am hopeful that I will get to talk to Martin Ansell, our Clinical Director, early this week so that I can write to you further around a possible meeting.  Please also bear in mind that following discussions with Martin we may have to “beg to differ” that such an approach is helpful and I will tell you openly if we get to that point.

19

During our discussions you also told me about the letter we sent to your wife following her first assessments.  You spoke about the style of its presentation and the information it conveyed without supportive context.  Both Tim and I agreed with your observations and subsequently we will be looking at the letter and how future similar correspondence and feedback are provided, as we both prefer/favour a clinician to patient and carer feedback rather than a postal communication.  Thank you for raising this with us, as any changes we introduce will benefit others coming into our services in the future.  Please also accept my apology that we got this wrong in your wife’s case.

Letter to caree 16 March 2015 here

20 

I hope from our meeting and our discussions you can see that things have not been as stark as you have seen them.

21

Tim Wallin has tried to progress many things for you and I believe he has. Tim has wanted to do this from talking directly with you and I would hope you can use Tim as a point of contact for matters you want us to consider in the future.

22

I hope your involvement with Rosemary helps to improve your own mental health and wellbeing and I hope you have agreed together how you will communicate between you so that you have a shared and agreed expectation that will work for you.

23

I will write again as I get to talk to Martin Ansell about him meeting with us to discuss matters around cognitive stimulation and cognitive monitoring through person-centred tests.  I anticipate my further correspondence, which will be by email as you requested, should be towards the end of this week.  If I am delayed in making arrangements with Martin I will drop you a note to let you know what is happening.

24

I am sorry a number of things have frustrated, annoyed and concerned you this was not our intention.

25

I hope that the inputs from Rosemary, direct content with Tim and other input I am trying to arrange through Martin, will move things on for you and your wife and let you see that we are responsive, our staff are professional and we want to help support you and your wife as best as we can.

26

If in the interim there are other matters you would like me to consider I would be grateful if you could email or write to me.

pagetop  for pasting  Email - C M - 23 November 2015   here  

                              2gether Complaint Home page here

 Panel 2  Follow-up email 11 December 2015 from C Merker

Sent: 11 December 2015 17:07

27

I have now been able to have a discussion with my Clinical Director for Older Peoples Mental Health Services, Dr Martin Ansell. Martin has a particular interest in Dementia, and has been the driving force in Gloucestershire behind our successful structure for dementia services that we are trying to embed in Herefordshire.

Note the patrician use of my.

28

Martin would be happy to meet with you and I to discuss issues around cognitive stimulation, functioning and monitoring/measurement. I believe a discussion with martin sic would allow you to talk to us further about the idea’s sic you discussed with me around whether there was a piece of therapeutic intervention which could also be used as action research. The discussion would also enable you to raise any specific concerns you may have around your wife’s care and support that you would like further comment/advice/reassurance around.

29

Martin has suggested that Thursdays or Fridays would be better days for him to meet with you, so I would be grateful if you could advise me of some dates and times around Thursdays and Fridays when you would be available to meet with us. I am happy to make arrangements for the meeting to be at The Knoll in Ross, as I think this is the most accessible base for you. If you would like us to meet elsewhere, please let me know and I will look to try and make these arrangements.

This and para 28 indicate a change of decision in the same document. 

Compare " . . .  advise you that your actions are not appropriate and/or in your wife’s best interests."  in para 17

 Perhaps someone told him about a meeting  where

"Jodie provided a range of information on areas that she felt maybe helpful including opportunities to participate in research."   See  No 3 on the 30th September 2015 Meeting Home page here.   "Jodie" , as far as I could work out, didn't last long.  She had been in a management post a few weeks at the time of the meeting.  

30

I would like to ask Tim Wallin to join the meeting with Martin, as I would like Tim to be your continuity on issues and a point of contact for you as we go forward.

31

I hope things are easier for you than when we last met, and I hope that our interventions are helping with your own wellbeing.

32

I look forward to hearing from you.

pagetop  for pasting  Email - C M - 23 November 2015   here  

                              2gether Complaint Home page here

Panel 3  Email from me 8 Jan 2016 ending the almost entirely negative interaction with 2g 

33

 On 08-Jan-16 4:29 PM, Prof Alan Harrison wrote:

Dear Mr Wallin 

a
Thank you for your phone call.

b
You mentioned Mr Merker's email.  It omitted the fundamental factor that I wanted to work/research with 2g.  It also contains nonsense relating to my informal work on Person-Centred Tests.

c
An email with the title - I quit - was sent to RC several days before the last session at the Knoll.  It anticipated that I would quit immediately after the session.    Events then just confirmed that I would.  I gave RC a copy of the letter within the email.

d
Another reason is in b).

e)
Ending the almost entirely negative interaction with 2g has been one of the best things I have done.  I want no further correspondence or phone calls.  The exception is an email confirming or otherwise that 2g is under investigation relating to incompetence.

f)
Thank you for your interest in my situation. 

Panel 4  Email from me 2 March 2016 stating that 2g needs to justify its disagreements

34 

2 March 2016

blue text is from CM

Mr Wallin