My much loved daughter in law Mariana Pinto died, aged 32, on 16 October 2016. The Coroner, issued a narrative verdict at the end of the inquest, on 13 March 2017: “Mariana Pinto died on Sunday, 16 October 2016, when she stepped over the balcony of her home, fell from …
Last week I met a lovely young woman whose brother had died from a brain tumour 10 months earlier. She felt that she could tell me about this because I met her in a work capacity and she had already listened to me talking about grief and my own struggles …
I’ve had a few experiences of a loved one having some kind of breakdown or mental health crisis. What I have learnt is that the process of assessing a person in crisis takes very little, if any, account of the knowledge of the person’s loved ones/family/carers. The mental health crises …
Trying to do a good job when you’re not completely sure of what you’re doing is difficult and can be very stressful. I think it happens to all of us. Most of us navigate our way through this by turning to a colleague and saying “I’m not sure how to do …
Last week I was speaking at a healthcare conference in London run by HC-UK. The majority of delegates were senior clinicians and management from NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers. At the end of my presentation, I asked for questions. There were some very good questions (some of which I’ll come back to …
It was announced on Wednesday 17 July that the NHS has decided to stop funding the automatic investigation of all killings by mental health patients. This announcement took many people totally by surprise, and in the case of families bereaved by mental health homicide, shock and horror. Making Families Count …
This is the third of a series of blogs in which the members of Making Families Count write about their personal journey and why working with MFC means so much to them. This blog features MFC Director Jan Sunman. I became involved with Making Families Count, after the death of …
This time last week I was at the Patient Safety Congress in Manchester. I had an excellent time and met so many interesting and impressive people. It was also an opportunity to do a lot of networking (which is always so valuable) and meet up with people I’ve worked with in …
This is the second of a series of blogs in which the members of Making Families Count write about their personal journey and why working with MFC means so much to them. ROSI REED (Administrator – Making Families Count) I’m proud of working for Making Families Count but the price …
This is the first of a series of blogs in which the members of Making Families Count write about what drew them into the work they do and how they feel about it. It’s another way of getting to know the individual members of MFC and gaining a better understanding of …