In this edition of Dispatches from the Front - NHS and the Feet of Clay - we facilitate and join a telephone conversation about unnecessary deaths in NHS hospitals, and the wider UK nursing care system. Two individuals - Barbara and Mark - both of whom have lost loved ones ... for Barbara her husband …for Mark his mother, talk of the circumstances surrounding those deaths, and explain why they should be of immense and immediate concern to the wider UK public.
Both Barabara and Mark believe that the lives of their loved ones were deliberately ended and then an orchestrated cover-up put in place to protect those responsible.
Many people will find their stories hard to believe, but the UKColumn can report that for several years we have been hearing of other cases of untimely NHS deaths in strange circumstances.
Whilst we know that a great many kind and hardworking people do their very best within the NHS, more and more media and press reports are surfacing of serious failures in hospitals, and nursing homes, the worst of which result in unnecessary deaths. According to available NHS and Government statistics this is affecting not just a few people, but multiple thousands.
Worryingly these sinister practices are now accelerating within a clearly privatised NHS, where money and big profits take precedent over compassion in life and death decisions.
We will hear of a lack of humanity, lies and cover-ups, collusion between the very regulatory bodies that should be protecting the weak and vulnerable - the NHS itself, the Care Quality Commission, Local Authorities, Law Firms and even the Police and Coroners.
Over the forthcoming weeks Dispatches will be covering much more of what is really happening within the NHS and we encourage as many people as possible to join us. Whilst the subject matter may be disturbing we need to recognise that at some stage all of us will be affected by the UK care system - either through our own needs or the needs of our children family members and certainly elderly relatives.
That being the case we need to understand what is really happening both to protect ourselves and others, and to create the necessary drive and persistence to stop the accelerating abuses within our NHS and wider care system.
I will leave listeners to understand the full significance of the Clay Feet.
