NHS patients should be able to challenge notes during treatment. My son should be alive!
NHS patients should be able to challenge notes during treatment. My son should be alive!
The Issue
EMPOWER PATIENTS BY GIVING THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHALLENGE WHAT IS WRITTEN ABOUT THEM AND BE INVOLVED IN SERIOUS INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS https://chng.it/4yzp6V9t
Everyday people enter a system (the NHS) that carries a secret veil across everything that happens to our bodies and minds. We face a battle to freely see our own hospital notes whilst being treated, when vital decisions are made about us. People have to fight to achieve clarity and honesty. Often what we are told doesn't match what is written and doctors will over simplify things with an assumption that we wouldn't understand. Often we tell a story of our symptoms and it never gets recorded in our notes when doing so would make a huge difference to our care. Hospital notes are one sided. We should have a right to see what is recorded and the instant right to record where we disagree or want more information considered. When things do go wrong we are faced with an investigation which excludes patients, relies on one sided notes and is carried out by the people involved in the failings. What chance do patients have of exposing the truth?
In June 2022 my son died needlessly at age 22 because of cultural biases and age prejudices that meant his hospital notes sent subsequent teams in the wrong direction regarding his care over a period of two weeks. Read our story Here: He should still be alive today
Our opinions, questions and experiences were never recorded despite them all pointing to heart failure. Seven years earlier I had experienced the same battles around my brother's mental health care. He took his own life because we weren't listened to at the hospital and we were unaware that his condition was trivialised in the notes.
Gone are the days when hospital notes stayed at the end of our beds. But access to our notes should be free and immediate. We own our bodies and we should have some ownership of the care we receive. We certainly should be heard and have our views recorded so that our wishes are considered and the evidence is less biased.
I am campaigning to have instant access to hospital notes and the opportunity to contest them or add to them in our own written words alongside doctors notes. No more secret coding. No more veiling. Everything on the table. Patient ownership of their care and an fully independent investigation process.
1,363
The Issue
EMPOWER PATIENTS BY GIVING THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHALLENGE WHAT IS WRITTEN ABOUT THEM AND BE INVOLVED IN SERIOUS INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS https://chng.it/4yzp6V9t
Everyday people enter a system (the NHS) that carries a secret veil across everything that happens to our bodies and minds. We face a battle to freely see our own hospital notes whilst being treated, when vital decisions are made about us. People have to fight to achieve clarity and honesty. Often what we are told doesn't match what is written and doctors will over simplify things with an assumption that we wouldn't understand. Often we tell a story of our symptoms and it never gets recorded in our notes when doing so would make a huge difference to our care. Hospital notes are one sided. We should have a right to see what is recorded and the instant right to record where we disagree or want more information considered. When things do go wrong we are faced with an investigation which excludes patients, relies on one sided notes and is carried out by the people involved in the failings. What chance do patients have of exposing the truth?
In June 2022 my son died needlessly at age 22 because of cultural biases and age prejudices that meant his hospital notes sent subsequent teams in the wrong direction regarding his care over a period of two weeks. Read our story Here: He should still be alive today
Our opinions, questions and experiences were never recorded despite them all pointing to heart failure. Seven years earlier I had experienced the same battles around my brother's mental health care. He took his own life because we weren't listened to at the hospital and we were unaware that his condition was trivialised in the notes.
Gone are the days when hospital notes stayed at the end of our beds. But access to our notes should be free and immediate. We own our bodies and we should have some ownership of the care we receive. We certainly should be heard and have our views recorded so that our wishes are considered and the evidence is less biased.
I am campaigning to have instant access to hospital notes and the opportunity to contest them or add to them in our own written words alongside doctors notes. No more secret coding. No more veiling. Everything on the table. Patient ownership of their care and an fully independent investigation process.
1,363
Petition created on 21 March 2023