Letter #5 to the Police about Care Failings

TRIGGER WARNINGS: suïcidal ideätion; abuse.

Police are required to act under the Health & Social Care Act, where an individual needs to be safeguarded. as far as I can tell - as no amelioration in my situation has occurred - my local police failed to act.

I only receive one meal per day. No hydration support. My advocate video-calls each morning to prompt me to take my medications. Housemate supports me with, typically, one bathe each week. No assistance with daily hygiene, so no teeth-cleaning, washes or even wet-wipes. I have been in the same bedding for more than two months, all through the sweaty Summer period.

There is almost no support from my G.P. surgery (medical-practice). They hardly manage the four-weekly prescriptions without some issue arising - which drives my advocate nuts as she has to spend hours on the telephone and via emails trying to arrange the correct drugs. The letter below gives explicit instruction to deal with my advocate as if she were myself. Still, the surgery will not permit her to act as my proxy via  the NHS website, nor despite repeated requests send a readable form to her. I am still awaiting requested stronger pain-killers. Despite three suïcide attempts in 2023, I have been offered no mental-health support.

My housemate suffers dementia. Trafford ASS has offered him zero support: they in fact have not even been in touch with him. Nor have they over the past decade plus. All carers are supposed to be offered assistance by law. Another care failing!

If I do die due to neglect, at least there will be these blog-posts to document systemic failings across agencies.

*

Colin-Roy Hunter B.Ed.(Hons.) Esq.

[Redacted]

Chief Inspector of Greater Manchester Police

Stephen.Watson@gmp.police.uk

mminvestigationprogressionteam@gmp.police.uk

Incident ref.: [redacted]

Cc. Graham Brady MP for Altrincham & Sale West

altsale@parliament.uk

Cc. Sara Todd, CEO Trafford Council

sara.todd@trafford.gov.uk

Cc. Dr. [Redacted], Consultant at [NHS hospital redacted]

Cc. Dr. [Redacted], G.P. at [medical practice redacted]

Cc. [Social-worker redacted], Trafford ASS

Via access.trafford@trafford.gov.uk

Cc. [Redacted], housemate [redacted]

Cc. [Redacted], Advocate [redacted]

VIA Email

[Redacted] May 2023

Dear All,

Breaches of Care Act, Assault & Trespass

Safeguarding Failures

Advocacy

Further to my previous correspondence going back to my initial letter dated [redacted] December 2022, I note that I appear to have had no responses from GMP, my MP, the CEO of Trafford, etc.

CURRENT SITUATION

I have had no medications since [redacted] December, i.e. for 146 days (c. 5 months; 21 weeks), including anxiety, circulation and ulcer medications.

I have had 3 hydration-system refills (needed daily at least) in 146 days, each time during a visit by my ex-boyfriend; thus effectively 143 days without the hydration-system. In that time it has not been washed nor sanitised.

I have had no meals (due to no-one available) on 13 out of the past 146 days; only one meal per day on 121 of the last 146 days (usually after 20.00 when housemate returns from work); two meals on 9 out of the past 146 days; three meals on 3 out of the past 146 days (Christmas Day, 21st February & 26th April). This averages 1 meal/day over the stated period of time.

I have had no snack-bowl (fruit & cereal-bars) - a daily requirement - on 134 of the past 146 days.

I have had to survive on a single cup of water for some 20-22 hours/day over the majority of the past 146 days.

I have had no heat-pads for 146 days, which combined with no circulation meds, means I have been and am suffering from cold in my extremities. Sporadic bleeding returned to my toes. I continue to lose sensation in parts of my body with ever-increasing frequency and for extended periods.

I have had no face-wipes over the past 146 days; 2 washes over past 146 days; 5 showers over past 146 days; but I have had 22 baths (supervised by housemate or by ex-boyfriend - thus averaging one bathe each week).

I have not brushed my teeth on 142 out of 146 days. When I have done so I was supervised by my ex-boyfriend. I recall to mouth-wash occasionally (once or twice per week) when in the en suite.

Etc., etc.

My weight increased by c. half a kilo since Easter but continues to drop. My last measurement was 64.5 kg. The high fat, high carb diët I am currently on is not sustainable as it is too high in sugar & fats, and lacks fruit & veggies, so can only be viewed as a short-term stop-gap, despite having now continued for some eighteen or so months. This is likely to begin causing additional health-issues.

ANXIETY

Almost anything is now triggering anxiety- or panic-attacks. It is increasingly difficult for me to remain calm. I now invariably wake from sleep in the midst of an attack. I am constantly bursting into tears. My thoughts aimlessly jump from the depressive to the suïcidal and back to anxious. It is a scary helter-skelter!

SUICIDAL IDEATION

Intrusive thoughts are now more persistent. On 17th April I published the following on my blog.

“Is it time to die?

Without anti-anxiety medication for more than four months, my anxiety-levels are sky-high. No doubt I am also now clinically depressed. Alas, there is no point requesting medications from my G.P. (family-doctor), as there is no-one, no agency to give me my meds and ensure I take them. (Recall I am bedridden and most of the time do not have access to water.)

Without my anxieties (general & social) being under control, my ability to communicate - other than short blasts of text via social-media in situations that do not aggravate my stress-levels - is all but stymied as well as diminishing. My Fitbit is recording massive energy-usage despite my not leaving my bed. Stress is quite literally burning up my body. Over all, I continue to lose body-weight - well, between only one meal per day on average (sometimes up to 2 days without food) and my body’s reäction to stress, hardly surprising!

Then there is the constant pain. The list below contains the ones I have been experiencing of late. I have pain-patches which massively reduce but never completely obliterate the pain in my lower spine. Without the pain-relief I am in agony in aforesaid area.

For a year or so I have been contemplating suïcide on a regular basis - my G.P., hospital consultant and the relevant authorities were apprised but took no action. Suïcidal ideätion now plagues me several times each and every single day. I am having to use up my precious reserves of energy and my limited cognitive-abilities to try to convince myself to live. Much of the same resources are required as I try to recall to sip what little water I have throughout the day. (Remember I do not feel hunger nor thirst, so do not receive physiological prompts.)

To this end, I have drawn up lists [refer to the blog itself to read these] of pros and cons for killing myself. This is because I cannot always recall the good - though always can recall some of the bad. At least in the short-term I have events to which I can look forward. This gives me a glimmer of hope, a reason to stay at least for the short-term.

…

Thereafter, I anticipate little that is positive for myself. I am not sure how I shall convince myself to stick around at that point. Anyhow, I ought to be here for at least the next month or so…”

https://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.com/2023/04/is-it-time-to-die.html

On 25th inst. I published a further blog-post, “Suïcida: a Poem on Suicidal Ideation” in which I end with the statement:

“I continue to battle my desire for oblivion…”

https://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.com/2023/04/suicida-poem-on-suicidal-ideation.html

“Suïcidal ideätion” is item [redacted] on my revised spreadsheet “[Redacted]” sent to my G.P. & hospital consultant. They appear to have taken no action.

In sharing items with my new advocate (see below), I reälise I explicitly advised the CEO, Leader of the Council & my local Trafford councillors, as well as Trafford’s Re-ablement team with a whole section on “Suicidal Ideation” in a letter dated [redacted] June 2022. None of them - as far as I know - took any action. They had also been previously apprised of the issue.

“Suicidal Ideation

I have moved from being circa 85% bed-bound to some 95% bedridden. In Autumn of 2019, my G.P. agreed to refer me for a new inside wheelchair. My current chair is too large and unwieldy for use inside. I am still waiting for a referral. Had I had a usable wheelchair during these past couple of years, I could have gone downstairs more frequently, even out into my disabled-friendly garden constructed to support my needs. Instead I am trapped in what I cutely call my “bed-cell”!

I have increasingly been plagued by intrusive thoughts about suicide, dreams about my own or friends’ suicides and a waxing-waning obsession with death.

However, if my own G.P. is reluctant to support me, I really feel hopeless about my situation going forward.”

It ought here to be noted that Trafford Re-ablement team also did nothing to help me obtain a wheelchair, so my G.P. is not the only one at fault.

All agencies & relevant individuals have really let me down. No effort whatsoever to support my deteriorating mental-health let alone my physical health.

CONTINUING FAILURES TO MEDICATE

It ought to be noted that neither my GP, Trafford ASS nor Trafford Re-ablement have taken responsibility for organising the district nurse to attend. At nearly five months without medication this can no longer be seen as carelessness nor neglect, but rather wilful failure to care.

Despite GMP attending on [redacted] March, i.e. five weeks ago, there has thus far still been no change for the better.

COMMUNICATION

Due to insufficient & irregular eating and my almost constant dehydration, my ability to think clearly continues to deteriorate. These past few days, with the visit of a good friend, I have eaten and drunk well, which has yet again permitted me a period of clear-headedness.

See under SUICIDAL IDEATION above for an explanation as to why I am even less able to communicate now than a few weeks ago. Until my anxieties, depression & suïcidal ideätion are under control, my ability to communicate with most agencies will be stymied.

TRAFFORD ASS

On [redacted] April [social-worker redacted] visited and left a note. It only gave a telephone number. I do not use telephony. This information is included in a letter I wrote on my communication difficulties, dated [redacted] January 2023, which she solicited from me when she visited in December 2022. Copies were sent to most of you. The email containing the letter was sent to Access Trafford & acknowledged by them on [redacted] January.

My housemate did not apprise me of the note which I came across yesterday.

ADVOCACY

My long-term friend has travelled across the country and come to stay for a few days. [Advocate redacted] has agreed to take on the rôle of being my advocate. In the future, once I am able to make contact with a solicitor, she has also agreed to take on power of attorney on my behalf.

Please accept this letter as authority to discuss all matters with [Redacted] and answer her queries as if she were me. Her email is above. Her postal address is:

[Redacted]

In the first instance she will be contacting [G.P. redacted]. Her next priority will be Trafford ASS. [Advocate redacted] will keep me apprised as and when I am able. She is one of the very few folk around whom I can remain mostly calm.

There will still be no way in which to contact me urgently. Almost all of you do have the code to the key-safe. I am bedridden - for those that forget - so I myself am unable to answer the door. Currently all visits by anyone initially cause me to experience a full-blown panic-attack. I remind you also, that mostly I have little to no voice in the mornings. I have now obtained some pre-printed cards with common information and responses. Visitors may need to use a torch to read them in my darkened bed-cell.

SAFEGUARDING

My health & wellbeing will continue to deteriorate until appropriate measures are put in place.

*

I am advised that my next step - assuming no amelioration - is to refer the matters to the local ombudsman. However, I may still refer issues to the media.

Yours,

Colin-Roy Hunter