I think the cynical two faced attitude of the authorities is all too evident and quite despicable ; of all those mentioned none have offered to say why it is that Glen as a dying man was unable to obtain treatment and refuge. By way of contrast when I issued one or two complaints about the Police Department I was hurriedly confined as 'Psychotic,' and threatened with six months arbitrary strait jacketed detention, force fed sedatives and had a report written up about me that fails to mention a single symptom of any malaise or quirk of behaviour, also alleges that a fortnight is of nine days duration, in short no expense could be spared. All this at a time when Jamie Cann MP and his Secretary wife Rosie had made great political capital for themselves (with the abetment of the Ipswich Evening Star) out of public concern that standards of care in St Clements Hospital were not what they should be and at a time when those who are very keen to profess their political motivation as being egalitarian have in theory spent more not less, on these so called medical services.
I didn't make it to the funeral as I had what I though was an important date with some much needed employment with someone who turned out only to be interested in the black economy : ah well, it never rains but it pours as they say.
I hope my few pathetic words, all to late as they are alas to aid Glen in his deepest of dudgeons may at least be in line with the feelings of his blood relatives.
Insofar as there can be anything involved here which can be considered 'a political issue' it is the apparent expectation of some that we live in a society where it is taken for granted that persons in dire need of life saving treatments should get it. I really think it should be stated unequivocally that it is rather the case that politicians especially those which are nominally left of centre and especially local ones have rather sought to hoax people into believing this is the case in an ongoing attempt to popularise themselves, sanitise the myth of 'New Labour' and are rather more concerned to be looking out for themselves and keeping their own private medical insurance paid up : having given up on Clement Attlee's ambitious vision a long time since.
We live in a curious world where one is expected to play and live life as a game of double standards especially in public life, where it could be easily said that moral standards have improved little in two or three thousand years so it isn't easy to evaluate just what it is we have been promised by members of a government who have come up with just about every yarn under the Sun that one might think of in the last twenty years or so. I rather imagine however that whatever the precise stipulations regarding the 'treatment' of such persons as Glen (which are in any case irrelevant given the impossibility of disciplining anyone who fails to maintain them), I would consider that that an awful lot of those people I know who meet a tax burden of any noticeable size each week or month would be happy enough to agree that those who haven't eagerly been looking for work and have been otherwise flagrantly politically incorrect should be left to die without incurring the expense of any treatment. Especially since what information we do get about the way our taxes are collected and spent and which proportion of what total goes where tends to be a continual assertion that such characters are a burden to the nation rather than more influential recipients of the general largesse such as the Royal Family.
Related Documents
The MP and his Mental Health
Glen Collier (In Memoriam)
IPSWICH coroner Peter Dean today promised the grieving teenage daughter of street-dweller Glenn Collier that the inquest into her father's death would investigate unanswered questions.
Eighteen-year-old Rachael, who spoke out just days after her father was found hanging in a room in the Town's Portman Road, believes while her father fought with spiralling physical and mental ill health, Ipswich simply turned its back. Today as others joined her protest, authorities involved in the 49-year-old's care expressed their regret over his death and defended their actions in the wake of powerful criticism.
Glenn or Glynn, or even The Beacon as he was sometimes known, was discharged from St Clement's Hospital on August 1. Within two months he had made an attempt on' his life, throwing himself into the River Gipping. On October 14 he was found hanging in temporary accommodation friends had secured for him. A spokesman for the Suffolk Health has confirmed that Mr Collier was' discharged by consultant psychiatrist Dr Ray Goddard from St Clement’s Hospital after an overnight stay.
The spokesman said that following a psychiatric assessment of Mr Collier, the doctor decided it appropriate to refer him back to his GP. He also advised him to seek help from Ipswich Borough Council housing and social services to try secure accommodation.
Close friend Mandy Irving, of High Street, lpswich said she found Mr Collier wandering the streets of Ipswich. "He told me they had kicked him out," she said. Ms Irving, who had known Mr Collier for 2l-years took him to a friend's house where they got him in the bath. "I couldn't believe it when I saw the state of the man, it really made me want to cry: He had lost maybe four stone in less than four months. His body looked like somebody had got a knife and scratched him from his neck to his feet. He told me it was the scabies scratching on the street for four months."
After he was discharged from St Clement's Mr Collier retreated even further into himself. He was too sick both mentally and physically to act on the advice he had been given by Dr Goddard.
Close friends say be left the house on Portman Road on only two occasions, once to throw himself into the River Gipping and a second time with a friend to visit the Doctors.
John Ridgard, a co-ordinator at the Ipswich Community Resource Centre in Old Foundry Road believes Mr Collier's case highlights the plight faced by other homeless or vulnerable people in Ipswich. He said: "We have noticed one or two cases recently where we felt that little was done or said when it should have been - cases in which the manner or circumstance of death were really quite horrible or brutal."
Mr Dean (the Coroner) is currently investigating the deaths of three homeless or vulnerable people who have died in Ipswich in the last three months.
David Owers, 19, was found dead on a church porch on St Helen's Street on August 4. He died in the same doorway that Mr Collier used as a place to sleep. Big Issue Seller Paul Jenkins, 35, was found dead in his room in the Salvation Army Hostel on Fore Street on September 28.
The inquest into Mr Collier's death was opened and adjoumed on Wednesday. It is due to be completed some time next month - a date is yet to be fixed for the hearing.
"You can't help but be stirred by some of the things you have to deal with," said Mr Dean. "in life in general these days there are many vulnerable people around. The tragedy is that some seem to slip through the net."
Although it is too early to comment on the ease of Mr Collier, Mr Dean assured Rachael that one of the roles of an inquest was to offer her the opportunity to question witnesses. The inquiry would also investigate as a matter of course St Clement's involvement he confirmed. “If somebody has recently been in hospital is admitted to hospital or if for example they weren’t admitted, we would investigate to look at what went on and the issue of why somebody was or was not discharged," he said.
However Mr Ridgard believes that often it is the whole system that fails to hold together. "What we need is a single body or team responsible for seeing through the problems homeless and other people face." Building up a trusting relationship with vulnerable or homeless people and helping them through the confusing array of GP’s, psychiatric nurses, social services, supported housing and help is the only way to ensure gaps in the net are tightened, he added.
In many ways the system had already failed Mr Collier even before he was admitted to St Clement's, argues Mr Ridgard. Mr Collier told friends he was registered with a Doctors' surgery in Derby Road so when he was sleeping was rough on the steps of St Helen's Church they made repeated calls to the surgery asking for help.
The Derby Road practice has refused to comment but those close to Glenn claim he was too ill to go to the surgery himself.
Commenting on the case of GPs going out to see people such as Mr Collier the spokesman for Suffolk Health said: "Each case is taken on its own merits. There is no policy of GPs not seeing people who are homeless either at their surgery or at another place. "It depends on the circumstances and the information given to the GP."
However despite NHS assurances that homeless people are entitled to the same health services as anyone else, those close to Mr Collier are adamant that the system failed. Neil Bardwell, a close friend and one of the people that helped Rachael take her father to hospital, said: "Even though he may have been a street person and not the kind to contact the benefits agency or Ipswich Borough Council himself, the bottom line is he didn't get the help from his GP and psychiatrists that he was entitled to."
A council spokesman said they recognised there was a problem in Ipswich in Ipswich in finding accommodation for single men who may be suffering from mental health problems. Among the provisions available is a housing advisory officer who goes to St Clements to talk to patients and a mental health support worker who provides an emergency response.
The spokesman said: "This case is a tragedy and shows that it is sometimes impossible to catch everyone from falling through the net. Ipswich Borough Council puts considerable resources into supported housing projects to provide help for people with mental health problems. We fund jointly a mental health social worker and work closely with housing associations, the health authorities Social Services."
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