Obvious name change.
We had a very close family friend admitted to this exact stroke ward at the time of the druggings. My mother was her friend's next of kin, as the friend had no family and she was in hospital for over three weeks. I'll call her Andi.
Andi was extremely vulnerable, she'd struggled with her mental health and being hard of hearing left her with a speech impediment which made it difficult for her to always be understood. She'd faced a lifetime of abandonment, isolation and sadness but, we welcomed her into our family and she was happy and loved. She was in her 60s.
Most of the staff, including a friend of mine who worked there were great.
But quite quickly, concerns emerged. We were Andi's only visitors, only advocate.
Initially, Andi was having to shout to be heard as no one was coming near her, she was being left in her own urine, she wasn't getting fed.
She was labelled as a "little bugger" and an attention seeker by one member of staff. As night time meds were brought round she joked "I think we'll need to give you a little something extra to sedate you so you'll not be shouting all night!" and she'd loudly say "I can't understand a word you are saying Andi" without even attempting to listen. You got the sense her and her bubbly mate loved to take the piss. And Andi of course had a vulnerability and was one of the "weakest" so no doubt bore the brunt of many of the jokes.
Not surprisingly now, the next night we visited her, Andi was totally out of it. Snoring loudly, impossible to rouse, had missed her meals, she'd hear our voices and try and open her eyes and lift her head from the pillow but her eyes would roll back in her head and she just couldn't wake.
My mother sat with her anyway, holding her hand for the next couple of nights.
She'd call for an update as, being a nurse herself, she was concerned that Andi was dying.
One of the nurses had a go, asked why she was next of kin when she wasn't family...was very hurtful. It was over the phone so we'll never know who it was.
The next night when we went to visit Andi, and I think took clean pyjamas and a teddy for her my mother was brought to tears by how she was treated by the pompous bitch of a nurse when she was signing the visitors book. She treated US with suspicion. Told us there was no point in visiting when she didn't know we were there. My mother said she couldn't in good faith abandon her friend and leave her without visitors, we were all the family she had and as a retired nurse and a Christian she felt her conscience was telling her to be there.
I'll never forget how bizarrely talked down to we were...targeted...for visiting a friend. I know now...as all three of us are healthcare professionals, and good at our jobs, that it was because we'd already raised concerns about Andi missing meals,
being difficult to rouse and uncommunicative.
That night we received a call from a HCA to say Andi was on end of life care.
Her admission had not been expected to be life threatening. That first night, she'd shown no signs of a major stroke. As nurses we knew exactly what to look for.
We were advised not to visit as she wouldn't know whether we were there or not...she was just "sleeping peacefully in a side room".
Three nights later, we received a phonecall and expected the worst but it was a doctor calling to say Andi had been taken off end of life care and that things were actually looking pretty good...she'd been reviewed and it wasn't felt that end of life care was appropriate.
I told my friend, who worked in the stroke unit, but not on Andi's ward.
"Oh that's great news! At least we've got some good news coming off that ward, there's all sorts of things going on but we're not allowed to talk about it."
The next day, we turned on the news and heard about the staff being suspended and a criminal investigation.
And Andi...miraculously...was back to her normal, bright, chatty, communicative self.
Co-incidence?
Andi got home but was never the same after her ordeal. A few months later, she went to sleep and didn't wake up. At least she died safe and happy in her own bed, knowing she was loved.
I've read the whatsapps. I can't help but wonder, in fact I strongly suspect, are some about Andi? She was sedated "within an inch of her life". She wasn't quiet initially and it was obvious she got on at least one of those women's nerves.
It's very difficult to read.
I hope they won't ever have a caring role again.
Blackpool Vic is an awful place, truly terrifying and I say that having decades of family members having worked there.
And this case isn't even the worst.
Poor Valerie Kneale died as a result of a sexual assault whilst being cared for at the Vic and her perpetrator has not been caught.
We try to avoid the Vic. I'm considering moving so that it's no longer our local hospital. I wouldn't trust them with my worst enemy.