A few shots from the recent Bubb clan gathering in Hope
Cove, Devon. The hound and I, with 4 nephews and nieces, brother and 2
sisters and aged parents. And various appendages.
The new Civil Society Minister also spends time in this
beautiful part of South Devon. And worth noting the photos show the wonderful
coastline that belongs to the National Trust. Thank goodness, or the grasping
developers and useless local Councillors might put houses there!
15 comments:
Hi Sir Bubb. Great photos of a great family gathering. You are so lucky!
Please see the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1410174775883997/
In your latest role you are supposed to be ending the practice of sending disabled people hundreds of miles away from their families. But on Wednesday of this week the 'powers that be' intend to move Claire Dyer from West Wales to Brighton - if this move takes place then you are failing before you begin.
Please please please contact Claire's mother, Catherine Dyer, through the facebook page and help this family urgently to prevent the move.
How will this family ever have photos like yours if Claire is moved to Brighton?
Claire and her family are absolutely devastated at this news today and now even her home leave for tomorrow has been cancelled so she can be 'prepared' for the move the following day. This is appalling treatment for someone who, despite a section, has been out almost every day with her family doing everyday things like shopping and eating out and even running the Race For Life last weekend. How can anyone assess that it is in her best interests to be moved away from this loving family so that she can no longer see them or everything familiar to her. How can they assess that she needs a medium secure unit at all and how can they possibly assess or treat her(which is I assume the aim in an ATU) when the distress of the move is only going to cause her to become distressed, to say the least. Please make this your first priority in your new position!
I've been following Claire's story as well (and have blogged about it twice). Although I don't live near Swansea, I've seen how happy Claire is when she's out with her family. She does a lot of activities like trampolining and swimming. Being with her family means a lot to her and she is home almost every day (and has spent most weekends at home). Sending her away to Brighton (actually not Brighton, but somewhere out in the sticks near Eastbourne) will be devastating and whatever her reaction to that may prejudice her ever being able to return to the community. And being safe to go out all the time with her family is hardly consistent with needing a medium-secure unit.
Worse, the so-called responsible clinician has lied to other clinicians to manufacture a case for sending her away. They have made entirely false claims about her early life and behaviour as a child, for example. This must be stopped before it ruins Claire's life.
Claire's Mum Catherine says on her facebook page 'Claire's wish is to have a care home "close to home" as she was promised in Feb 2012, and to be able to come and see us when she wants.' Claire has been on a section for over 18 months......but she doesn't have a mental illness. Her challenging behaviour is a result of her autism. Autism is not a mental illness, it is a neuro-developmental condition.
How can a section be justified?
After she was placed on section 3 of the MHA on 9.9.13 she had (up to the beginning of April 2014) been home or in the community with her family 250 times out of 309 days. How can someone who is a 'danger to themselves or others' and therefore needs to be detained under the MH Act be out and about in the community and/or with family with such frequency.....clearly Claire doesn't need a section. Please can you work with the NAS and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation and Mencap and whoever else is in your breakfast club to challenge Claire's Health Board to remove the section.
Finally, I am sure you know that behaviour is not challenging if peoples' difficulties are properly understood and their needs met appropriately.
Please please help us save Claire from being sent so far away from her family .... She wants and needs to be where they can help and support her, please end this torture and torment for the family as this is just plain cruel and should not be allowed. We beg you to do all in your power to help Claire and her family
LOVE seeing your family pictures - FAMILY is so important to us all.
Claire has Autism and challenging behaviour and is being PUNISHED by being ripped away from her family - being sent 5 hours (each way) away from her family who she spends time with almost every day. Claire has a brother and a sister that she loves, she has a Mother who is her lifeline and she has a dog that is her world........
Seems to me this is another case that evidences that local services rebel against families who want a say in their adult childs care plans and packages - instead of working with family's they drive a wedge between them - put as much physical distance between them as possible and make it virtually impossible for a family unit to remain constant.
People in positions of power and authority talk the talk about person centred and individual care, but in reality it is not working out that way.
Claire has been told today that she is moving on Wednesday to a MS MH unit - she has made her wishes very clear that she does not want to go - shehad plans for tomorrow with her family and tonight she was told they have been cancelled so she can get ready for the move she does not want to make.
Please step up and step in and save Claire from more pain. Save Claire's family from more heartache and stop this family being ripped apart.
If you truly want to make a difference Sir Stephen, then start with Claire Dyer.
There is no better place to start your work in ending the practice of sending people with disabilities to ATU's miles from their homes than with Clair Dyer's case. It is abundantly clear that this is neither needed nor wanted..you need to act smart and act fast if you want people to have faith in your ability to end this despicable practice.
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that:
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home
and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of
this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a
democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the
economic wellbeing of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime,
for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights
and freedoms of others.
Article 8 protects dignity and autonomy. Though these concepts are not
mentioned in the article itself, they have developed through case law. Article
8 rights are often considered alongside Article 3, which covers mistreatment
serious enough to constitute torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. There
is evidence of mistreatment of some of those who use health and social care
services which may breach Article 8.
Taken from: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/humanrights/hrr_article_8.pdf
The worrying thing besides her being so far from home is that there are only two places this could be - you can Google "medium secure unit Sussex" and find this out. One is The Dene which is outside Burgess Hill - that's a private mental health secure unit for women although it takes NHS patients. The other is Hellingly, which is on the site of an old Victorian asylum near Hailsham (much nearer Eastbourne than Brighton) which is an NHS mixed unit and that makes no mention of learning disabilities on their website. Both units take people who are offenders, including those remanded on suspicion of serious crimes like murder. Hellingly also takes sex offenders. Neither of them are remotely suitable for Claire but they may have accepted her on the basis that she doesn't really have autism or a learning disability (which is what certain 'experts' have claimed). The Swansea staff have plainly paid no attention to what's best for Claire; they want rid of her by any means necessary.
Claire is in Wales. I am aware that you have been asked by NHS England to help with this situation but it is happening in Wales also. We need to engage the welsh government in this travesty. I cannot understand what is happening and why. I helped with some leads with housing and spoke to people earlier in the year and her mum and they were looking positively at some local solutions. Our big problem, whether in England or Wales, is housing and then the right local staff and support services. Many of us grassroots people have some good suggestions about that if you could help with that. Jayneknight2@me.com
Claire Dyer is not mentally ill and does need assessment or treatment... She needs care and support within her own community close to the family she loves. We seem to be going back to the dark ages instead of moving forwards where people with learning disabilities are concerned and this has to stop!
Sir Stephen - the dreadful situation that Claire and her family are in, is the very situation that your steering group was set up to tackle. As well as getting people out of institutions, we should be doing everything we can too stop them going there in the first place. Claire,is being moved 5 hours away from everybody and everything that is important to her, tomorrow. Please can you use your influence to stop this terrible misjudgement before untold damage is done. Thank you
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