.. As a Senior Social Worker, working in a Mental Health Trust in England for a short-term contract several years ago, I had to blow the whistle internally, in a Safeguarding Meeting: A female patient had disclosed to a nurse sexual abuse by her father. The Nurse told me: "This has been presented to (theConsultant) before - but nothing ever happened."
Before the Safeguarding Meeting, I learned from another Consultant that sexual abuse by her father had "long been a suspicion. At one point (the patient) threw herself down a flight of stairs. This was seen by some as due to the fact that the dad was kissing her more in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of manner. The allegation was put to him, but denied - and Social Services did not take it any further". (The Social Worker at the time has now passed away, and a local DCI have told me last year they have no further lead to investigate).
The patient had, when I met her, fluctuating mental capacity due to a neurological condition and a resulting learning disability. She was not always deemed to be a reliable witness. She was and remained on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs. I am not medically trained, but I wondered out loud how somebody with her condition and the side effects listed for her drugs could ever come to terms with what had happened in her life. The latter consultant threatened me with a 'Management Response' if I disclosed at the Safeguarding Meeting what he had told me.
I spoke at the Safeguarding Meeeting and - left the Trust a few days later - for other reasons. However, I was issued with a kiss-of death-reference by the Matron who had, not only in my view, contaminated evidence in the Safeguarding Matter. I had also inadvertently become witness to a litigious remark by a manager for the Trust. Management were clearly worried I might have disclosed this to patients' families, so they discredited me to third parties. As a result of the reference, I lost income immediately, suffered further loss to my credit-rating and of oportunities and eventually lost use of my business acount - where I had just began to realise my life's mission with a non-profit company. www.beaconsocialcare.org.uk
Before the Safeguarding Meeting, I learned from another Consultant that sexual abuse by her father had "long been a suspicion. At one point (the patient) threw herself down a flight of stairs. This was seen by some as due to the fact that the dad was kissing her more in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of manner. The allegation was put to him, but denied - and Social Services did not take it any further". (The Social Worker at the time has now passed away, and a local DCI have told me last year they have no further lead to investigate).
The patient had, when I met her, fluctuating mental capacity due to a neurological condition and a resulting learning disability. She was not always deemed to be a reliable witness. She was and remained on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs. I am not medically trained, but I wondered out loud how somebody with her condition and the side effects listed for her drugs could ever come to terms with what had happened in her life. The latter consultant threatened me with a 'Management Response' if I disclosed at the Safeguarding Meeting what he had told me.
I spoke at the Safeguarding Meeeting and - left the Trust a few days later - for other reasons. However, I was issued with a kiss-of death-reference by the Matron who had, not only in my view, contaminated evidence in the Safeguarding Matter. I had also inadvertently become witness to a litigious remark by a manager for the Trust. Management were clearly worried I might have disclosed this to patients' families, so they discredited me to third parties. As a result of the reference, I lost income immediately, suffered further loss to my credit-rating and of oportunities and eventually lost use of my business acount - where I had just began to realise my life's mission with a non-profit company. www.beaconsocialcare.org.uk
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