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Original poster

to be more and more outraged by latest Jimmy Savile report?

94 replies

Livingtothefull · 01/03/2015 18:15

The more I read, the more I think about it, the more disgusted I am. For anyone who has had a sick and frightened child in hospital (as I have) to read of children being abused in their hospital beds…..that is about as low as it is possible for a human being to sink. Just for that alone I hope he is rotting in hell right now.

And I don't believe for a minute that senior management at SM hospital didn't know what was going on as the report claims. How on earth could they not know? What a disgusting whitewash and a travesty this is. Over £7m of public money spent on a report which concludes nobody is to blame for this??

OP posts:
toothypeg · 01/03/2015 19:09

I was abused in a hospital. Not by JS or anyone else famous, but it happens.

Whenever I've talked about it, either IRL or online, people pile on me in disbelief. It's as though the whole "We Believe You" concept gets suspended in all medical settings.

Based on my experience of constant endless stonewalling and disbelief - I can verrrrrrrrry much believe he had his cronies protecting him.

Koalafications · 01/03/2015 19:11

Oh absolutely, toothypeg he had to have been protected by the staff who worked there.

I am sorry to hear you were abused. Flowers

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 01/03/2015 19:11

I am not sure if it is fair to blame the NHS staff on the ground. It seems to have been an open secret that JS was a predator and a pervert, also that he was considered to be untouchable due to his celebrity profile, establishment friends etc.

But there is absolutely no way that senior management at SMH could not have known. It is all just so convenient (for certain of his high profile friends - some of whom might otherwise be directly implicated) that this all only came out out after his death.

As AndThenISaid points out it would be hard to prove anyone to be accountable now as JS guilt was never established in a criminal court despite the overwhelming evidence. Had that happened, who knows where the trail of guilt may have led. As it is, it means that the spotlight is kept on him & all those who aided and abetted, or at least failed in their duty to check his activities, are off the hook.

OP posts:
TaintedBlood · 01/03/2015 19:11

Unfortunately I'm related to him (distant) but have family members who bear a resemblance.

I never met him but my nickname sums up how I feel.

JesusInTheCabbageVan · 01/03/2015 19:12

treasure It was Ecstasy, rather than Filth, and yes - chillingly spot on, as it turns out. People even knew about the Necrophilia.

Koalafications · 01/03/2015 19:16

You don't have tainted blood, you can't control who your family are. I feel very sorry for JS's relatives. It's likely that some of them were abused by him.

I know some of his relatives denied that he was a sexual predator and I don't have much sympathy for them.

ILovePud · 01/03/2015 19:17

The NHS isn't a homogenous mass, it is made up of thousands of different hospitals, teams and services. Something was utterly rotten in the organisational cultures of those places where Saville preyed on his victims, most of the people embroiled in this will be retired by now but I do hope that if enough evidence of covering up these crimes can be unearthed then there are some prosecutions. Holding people accountable would be a major warning to anyone else from frontline clinical staff to senior management that they cannot turn a blind eye to this kind of thing. I was disappointed that none of the senior management at Winterborne view were prosecuted, I don't believe abuse goes on without negligent (or worse) management.

TamzinGrey · 01/03/2015 19:28

I met Jimmy Saville when I was 11 years old. Queued up to get his autograph and the experience still makes me shudder now. He slowly looked me up and down and asked me whether I was married! WTF! I was 11! I said that I wasn't married and then he asked if I had a boyfriend. I felt confused and uncomfortable. He wanted to know who I was on holiday with and which hotel I was staying at. Luckily my two big sisters were there and ushered me away. Vile vile man.

ILovePud · 01/03/2015 19:31

Uggh, luck escape Tamzin, I used to love Jim'll fix it, when I was about 9 my friend and I wrote to the programme, thank goodness our idea wasn't picked up.

Royalsighness · 01/03/2015 19:33

Treasureisland have you seen the film filth? Is the book better?

Koalafications · 01/03/2015 19:34

Oh Tamzin that makes me feel sick.

Viviennemary · 01/03/2015 19:37

Friends in high places protected him. It was a form of blackmail IMHO. Investigate me and I will bring down higher public figures. It's not exactly a unique situation.

Royalsighness · 01/03/2015 19:39

Didn't think it sounded like filth.

I know as a very proud member of NHS staff I would go out of my way to prevent anything like that happening on my watch, at any cost, as I know every colleague I have met in my job would also do. It was an unfortunate series of events and enablement/entitlement that allowed him to do what he did but it is not the NHS as a wholes fault at all.

albertcamus · 01/03/2015 19:42

Having read Private Eye all my adult life & worked with one or two slightly dubious people in my teaching career, I wasn't really shocked initially when the story broke, just sad & cynical at the way things are hushed up in the UK ... but I do agree with your outrage OP.

I was disgusted last week when Radio 4 interviewed a 'retired senior nursing sister' who had worked @ Stoke Mandeville during the JS years - she was still in absolute denial about his activities despite the witness testimonies. She was not the brightest spark anyway & was very defensive, claiming that 'none of us were aware of any complaints'. Frightening to think of the thousands of vulnerable people on her watch.

The female lawyer some of the victims was, however, as sharp as a needle ... I just hope she enables the victims' voices to be heard.

bookishandblondish · 01/03/2015 19:47

One of the reports ( Leeds?) does say that Saville did choose his wards/ movements very carefully - he picked wards/ shifts where junior staff were on who could be intimidated by his fame and power.

Let's face it, if you are a nurse who is only just qualified, it's massively more difficult to question someone who is best mates with the PM and your chief exec. And especially at a time where child abuse/ harassment wasn't recognised as an issue.

Ubik1 · 01/03/2015 19:50

It makes me angry that they let the fucker die before any of this came out.

Which leads me to believe he knew stuff about other people that they did not meant to be made public.

treasureisland · 01/03/2015 19:50

Sorry, yes, ecstasy then - I haven't read any of his books since the late 90s and never seen any of the films (except for trainspotting).

But there's a necrophiliac hospital porter in one of them that seemed to obviously be modelled on JS.

Wasn't there also a fake 'have i got new for you' transcript that talked about it too. Obviously the transcript is fake, but someone got the content spot on it seems..

treasureisland · 01/03/2015 19:53

Ecstasy was published in 1996

Koalafications · 01/03/2015 19:53

Yes, Ubik and those people are probably still in positions of power and may still have access to vulnerable children.

trackrBird · 01/03/2015 19:58

Once people decide that it's too problematic to challenge a powerful person or group, and that it's easier to turn a blind eye - abuse is going to start, and proliferate.

It happened then, and not just with public figures like JS.

And it's still happening today. Whether it's a respected professional figure or a CSE ring, the exact same problems are in place.

If people feel it's too challenging to deal with the facts, victims will continue to be ignored, disbelieved, or told they played a part in their own abuse.

AmyLeeha · 01/03/2015 20:02

I was abused in a hospital, twice on separate occasions when I was sick (two different hospitals too and neither in the UK). I wasn't a child, but was incapacitated.

I totally understand what toothypeg means by "It's as though the whole "We Believe You" concept gets suspended in all medical settings." I have panic attacks in hospitals in certain situations so have to preempt them by explaining, briefly, why they might happen. I was also raped by a male nurse - not treating me & not in hospital - and I feel such a fool explaining it all. I know it wasn't my fault, but it just makes me sound like I'm that patient that you'd better be careful with, because she's liable to make up stories. I hate it.

And I agree his photo shouldn't be printed any more. We all know what he looks like.

Babynamechange · 01/03/2015 20:07

treasureisland I've just read your link Shock :(

Capricorn76 · 01/03/2015 20:09

This goes all the way to the top and that's why they let him die before anything came out because he would've names other names.

Original poster
Livingtothefull · 01/03/2015 20:12

Exactly Ubik1, I don't believe for a moment that they didn't deliberately wait for JS to die before allowing this to become public. It is all far too convenient how this all came to light directly after his death. If he were alive and being prosecuted then awkward questions would have had to be asked about his close connections to government, royalty etc figures (how did a washed up ex DJ come to have such high profile friends?) Something doesn't make sense, there is a lot going on here which we don't know about & are never likely to.

Royalsighness - I know having met many of them, that the NHS is full of wonderful, dedicated staff who are in no way to blame for this. Surely they should be all the more outraged at how the NHS has been tainted by association with this?

OP posts:
ILovePud · 01/03/2015 20:14

AmyLeeha and toothypeg so sorry to hear what you went through and how some people have reacted. Flowers

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