I am not ready to respond fully to the article which appeared in The Edinburgh Evening News last week but Mrs Carr has asked me to post now to highlight two areas of major error, one of which grossly overstates a facet of Mrs Carr's medical problems and the other which grossly overstates the help supplied by NHS Lothian.
Firstly, the article states, ".... I [Mrs Carr] had swelling up and down my legs. My liver function was all wrong. I’ll have liver problems for the rest of my life.” and " .... at Christmas in 2006 she had to go to hospital as her organs started to fail."
but
- she will NOT have liver problems for the rest of her life;
- she did NOT have to go to hospital;
- Mrs Carr's organs did NOT start to fail
The correct position is:
- Mrs Carr did have swelling of her legs
- her GP referred her to hospital for routine tests as an outpatient
- the tests showed that Mrs Carr had reversible changes to her liver function
- no more testing has been carried out
We both believe it is vitally important that Mrs Carr's case is stated as accurately as possible. Allowing this error to go uncorrected could reflect badly on Mrs Carr because it might appear that she was exaggerating her problems. At no time has Mrs Carr done so.
Secondly, the article states, "Since her treatment at the Cullen Centre stopped, Janice has received counselling, which she says has managed to keep a lid on their problems, although they have not gone away."
This sentence suggests the NHS has offered and supplied counselling. Nothing could be further from the truth.
- since Mrs Carr's treatment at the Cullen Centre ended she has been offered NOTHING
- the NHS has NOT at any time offered counselling
- the NHS has NOT at any time suggested that Mrs Carr look privately for counselling
- the NHS specifically said that Mrs Carr should NOT seek counselling
- despite this Mrs Carr sought private counselling and this we are funding
- the private counselling is beneficial
Again it is important to reflect the true position of NHS support and this we have tried to do at all times.
Sometime in the next week or so I will respond to the article but these corrections were too important to wait.
12 comments:
The sooner you get alert the paper to the errors the better it will be in getting the real story heard.
Interesting to see how much the papers can get wrong; but also a demonstration of your success in starting to get publicity for mental health. On the whole, surely you must feel encouraged.
I'm sure every story a newspaper publishes has some errors, everything is done in such haste. I would certainly send a clarification to the newspaper people however I would not hold my breath while waiting for a correction.
As Sackerson says, the fact that the article was published is certainly a mark of some success for your publicity campaign.
Hi, Calum
I appreciate you are probably busy at the moment, but if this is to be timely I need to do it ASAP.
As I am a guest-writer at the Devil's Kitchen, I thought a post tying this story (mental health problems among MPs) with your own experiences and the wider issues around NHS mental health provision would be very effective. But before I do I would like your approval.
The part dealing with MPs will be along these lines. For the part of the post that deals with your story, I could work from these posts?
Let me know what you think. Be aware if you are not a regular reader that the Kitchen is renowned for its robust language and its commenters could not in any way be described as 'sensitive'.
The NHS has treated you atrociously ....
I am with Sackerson here. You know how I feel about campaigning, you just have to keep trying and not be put off. You really have made a good start.
Ian_qt
In case my email has gone astray, please go forward and post.
Could you let me know when it appears?
All
That the paper published an article at all is welcome although,I must say, had they published this as a news story rather than a feature it might have had more effect but beggars ...
How the campaign can succeed for Mrs Carr I don't know. I just don't see NHS Lothian moving their position unless the publicity really increases massively. I'll keep plodding along, doing what I can and we'll see. As long as Mrs Carr wants me to continue then I shall but I'm certainly up for a prolonged battle.
Thanks to you all for your comments, interest and advice.
Please e-mail me when you see this - I didn't receive any email from you yesterday.
Send it to:
questionthatblog@gmail.com
It's the story of our lives. If we suffer with anorexia or bulimia - any type of ED for that matter - we are given next to nothing in the way of help. My GP tears his hair out that he cannot get me counselling in less than six months. At the rate weight falls off me, there'll be bugger all to treat by then!
What a joke. I hope your wife gets the treatment she desperately needs, and I hope I do, too. But I'm not holding my breath.
Alison
Thanks for visiting.
It's a disgrace that better services aren't available for those suffering from EDs.
I hope you get what you need.
Again thanks for visiting and commenting.
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