Reprimanded for Writing Stories

 

Today, not long after my fourteenth "sackiversary", I've come across a case of attempted dismissal which is possibly even crazier and unjust than my own. A nurse has been facing discharge and deregistration, being banned from working as a nurse in the UK for the rest of her life, for writing stories. The actual charges includes one in which the author, Kathleen Pugh, "advertised" her literature in the course of her job and sold her book, a short story anthology called Aristocracy or Not, to other staff members and patients; she was allegedly observed putting up posters for the book at her clinic. However I suspect that this is an embellishment; it's more likely she sold the books to willing patients after getting into a discussion about the subject with them. I'm an author too, see: https://hpanwo-bb.blogspot.com/2016/08/roswell-rising-is-here.html, and know that when I bring that subject up, people are often curious and ask me more about it. I've made a few book sales that way and I don't apologize for it. Besides, the conclusion of the disciplinary investigation was that the subject matter of the story itself was their main cause for concern. So they're not trying to hide it. There is a parallel with this lady's plight in the past because of Robin Cook the American author who has written dozens of medical thrillers involving themes of organ snatching, human experimentation, necrophilia, neurological mind-control, pandemics, murderous and corrupt medical organizations and many other frightening subjects. Like Kathleen Pugh's story, Cook's novels contain explicit sex and violence and are intended for a purely adult readership. He's an extremely influential writer, has had several of his books turned into films and has inspired other authors like Tess Gerritsen and Michael Creighton. Yet Dr Robin Cook is also a practicing physician. During the height of his career, in the 1970's and 80's, there was never any question that he was a writer on one hand and a doctor on the other and that he could effectively do both. Nobody was concerned that his fictional settings mirrored his own medical activities; why? Because they were just stories... Duh! Source: https://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/74799/nurse-and-her-steamy-novel-a-cautionary-tale.

The world has definitely changed. As I've explained with Robin Cook, a few short years ago it would be unthinkable to persecute a person through their employment for simply writing fictional stories, but now it's completely acceptable. The patients who bought Kathleen Pugh's book probably didn't think twice about complaining about her, if indeed they did. You'd think that Kathleen Pugh had written a real description of something she herself had really done and forced the book onto their shelf, deaf to their protests. The authoritarianism of the modern NHS has crept up on us so slowly that we haven't even noticed it. We're still "free", technically; but there are so many strings attached to our freedom and so many hoops to jump through to get it, that a lot of people will simply give up on it. It's particularly revealing that this nurse has been slated for an act of artistic creativity; it's almost punishment for that very act in itself. We're not allowed to be creative. We're only machines after all, designed to do a job for the state we live in. This is why it is vital that we defend our rights to be creative and have free expression in our creations. What I most object to in the media coverage of this incident is the normalization. It's terrible that the news article includes the words "a cautionary tale" in its title. It's almost like it's about a man who goes swimming in a dangerous river or something and drowns. The risk of persecution by authority for doing nothing wrong is regarded like that, a morally neutral force of nature; and that it's perfectly reasonable to warm people not to mess with it. Like Kathleen Pugh I was also once a health care provider who was stripped of that calling because of activities in my off-duty life in suspicious circumstances, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/01/thirteen-years-on.html. I wish her luck with her writing career. And who was it who said: "The only bad publicity is no publicity"? The source article, even though it supports the establishment position and is pretty disparaging of her, will spread her name across the land and hopefully get her a big pile of purchases.

Breaking Bad Art Gallery

                                          

The "main street", a large corridor that runs through the public area of hospitals, is often used for purposes auxiliary to the core medical mission of the institution. At Oxford's John Radcliffe, at the main street on Level 2, just inside the JRII main entrance, there has long been a public art gallery. It is officially called The Corridor Gallery, although it is in fact just a stretch of wall. The artworks often have a medical theme, although not always. The artists also decorate other parts of the unit. One recent exhibition is rather unusual; it appears to be based on the TV series Breaking Bad. This American serial has become one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed TV productions in history. It's a drama that mixes familial relationship and friendship with the conflict themes of the old Wild West. It centres on a school chemistry teacher called Walter White who is afflicted by a fatal disease. He dedicates the end of his life to securing his family's financial security, but in doing so resorts to organized crime. He uses his knowledge to produce synthetic narcotics. The paintings are not disturbing, in fact they are quite benign and even stylish. They are a form of still life. Their tone is what you'd need to show in a hospital. The artist, Claire Venables, is from Oxford and she sells prints and cards etc if you're interested, see: https://clairevenables.co.uk. These photos were taken for me by one of my "men on the inside". As always, I have protected his identity by sanitizing these images of all metadata, like I did previously, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/12/jumpers-update.html. I had not heard of Breaking Bad until I was introduced to it by my friend from Newbury "AnotherBlonde", see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-secrets-of-newbury-2.html.

MRI Deaths

 

Most modern hospitals these days have a magnetic resonance imaging facility. MRI is an alternative to computed tomography X-ray scanning and is better in many ways because it does not involve an ionizing radiation dose and it provides better quality images of some tissues. It works by causing the nuclear particles of atoms to spin and give off a radio signal that can be picked up by a special antenna. It's more stressful for the patient though. MRI's make a loud rattling noise and the patient has to wear earplugs. They have their whole body inserted into a narrow tubular space inside the machine which is a bit claustrophobic. MRI scanners are very expensive; each one costing up to a million pounds. Despite their health benefits, they have their own dangers. The magnetic field generated by the system is incredibly powerful, four to five teslas, sometimes more. This can cause injury if a person has a medical implant or jewellery on. It can also damage electronics, machinery and clockwork, in a wristwatch for example. All magnetic objects, metallic primarily, have to be kept away from the scanner.  Sadly there have been some accidents. I have found two. Michael Colombini was aged just six when he was taken into the MRI chamber for a scan. When the machine was activated a steel oxygen cylinder was attracted to the coil and flew across the chamber, striking the boy's head. Michael, of Croton-on-Hudson, New York USA, was killed. The hospital accepted full responsibility, but the hospital consists of many different disciplines, including portering. Were some more to blame than others? Well, the transportation and installation of medical gases is the job of the porters. It is our duty to make sure the cylinders are moved safely and attached to their regulators correctly. In an MRI chamber no cylinder should be left because they are made of metal. Gas comes from a mains supply via a non-magnetic pipe. So in this instance, it may well be the HP's fault. However, blame can rarely be assigned to one person. Who trained them? Were they trained correctly? Is the radiographer supposed to double-check the chamber before scanning commences etc? However; it was clearly at least partly a porter's fault. Source: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/hospital-horror-boy-6-killed-35605165.

In the case of the second accident, a Mr Keith McAllister entered the chamber after his wife, Adrienne, called for help. This was during the scan when he was not authorized to do so. The sixty-one year old was wearing a weight training chain around his neck... God knows why! The magnetic field dragged him into the machine by this chain causing him lethal injuries. Source: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-dragged-death-mri-scanner-35601685. Ironically this happened just two days previously at the Nassau Open Hospital on Long Island, New York; quite close to the Westchester Medical Centre in Valhalla, NY, the one Michael Colombini was at. No porter can be blamed for that. I'm not sure it's the fault of any staff member. Mostly likely it was simply misadventure on the part of Mr McAllister. The relatives of both he and young Michael have my deepest sympathies. Bad things happen in hospitals, some of the worst things you can imagine. Some of that is the truthful inevitability of healthcare, other times they are mishaps. It seems to be standard practice to try and blame HP's as much as possible; as the saying goes: "shit rolls downhill". We HP's are not blameless angels. We get things wrong and we even commit evil deeds, but sometimes you simply have to be fair and admit that the porters are innocent.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2017/08/lift-accident-porters-not-to-blame.html.
And: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/12/jumpers-update.html.

Bad News

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2021/11/guess-what.html.
With great regret I am compelled to bring you this unsettling update. I recently got into a conversation with somebody I know online. He is an Englishman called Troy who lives in Portugal; he is married to a native woman. Although I have never met him, I have been interacting with him for a long time and consider him to be an honest person. He is calm, rational, intelligent and friendly. He is a fairly well-known author, publisher and commentator who keeps a regular and detailed blog. I commented under an article he wrote about David Fuller, mentioning my feelings of relief that he was employed as an electrician in the PM suite and was never a porter. My acquaintance then informed me that he was. This was quite a shock to me; this was never reported in the media. Troy then explained how his mother had been a nurse at the one of the Royal Tunbridge Wells hospitals and knew him. She described him as "extremely odd and creepy". I have no reason to disbelieve Troy. Source: https://troysouthgate.substack.com/p/the-beasts-of-tunbridge-wells. This is of course sad news. I hate to think of a HP committing such horrific crimes, but I have to remind myself; we HP's are not angels. I have tried to publish an honest and disinterested assessment of our general moral character and it does indeed often fall short of what I'd like. I've experienced this personally, although never quite to the depths David Fuller plumbed; for example see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2023/12/hps-and-psychos.html and: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2020/12/oxford-grooming-gang.html. I regret having to inform MEP&DB&SP's of this uncomfortable fact, but I have a duty to. David Fuller is serving his sentence at HMP Frankland, a Category A men's prison. Among the inmates is also Wayne Couzens, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/07/sarah-everard-update.html. The gaol is nicknamed "monster mansion" because it houses some of Britain's most infamous criminals. We can only hope the less revolting among them offer David Fuller a "traditional prison welcome".

Chair-Saga

 

See here for essential background: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2025/11/one-of-our-wheelchairs-is-missing.html.
As you can see, three days later and the wheelchair was still there. It had been moved from the middle of the sports pitches by the players and was parked by the shipping container they use to store their equipment. Despite the fact I had called OxRad hospital porters and told them, nobody had been round to pick it up. I didn't fancy its chances much if it were left lying in the open for a lot longer. These vehicles have no anti-corrosion protection, not being designed for outdoor work. A few weeks in the elements and it would start to rust and the wheels would seize up. After that there's not a lot you can do. Sure, you can take it to estates and they might be able to clean it up and fix it, but they might not consider that worthwhile. By then it might be easier and cheaper just to scrap it buy a new one; and the new chair would not be nearly as good because modern designs are rubbish compared to this one. By saving the chair I'd be saving them that expense; not to mention my brother HP's having to put up with substandard tools. A hospital wheelchair like that costs many hundreds of pounds, about as much as a high performance bicycle. Therefore I decided to take matters into my own hands. I returned the vehicle to the hospital myself. This was not easy. As I said, they're built for smooth hospital floors with no suspension or pneumatic tyres and so it bumped and vibrated badly as I pushed it along the street. I found it hard to manoeuvre over curbs and other obstructions. One of my clients offered to help me by putting it in the back of her car and driving with me to the hospital. I thanked her for the offer, but I knew it wouldn't fit. This model is designed exclusively for inpatient use and never for disabled people in the community. It was far too big and heavy to put into a car, and it had no way of folding or disassembling. I also abandoned my previous plan to take it on the bus. I wasn't sure the driver would let me and I'd have had a long wait at the stop on a Sunday; so I walked with it... I portered. It felt very nostalgic, especially when I reached the hospital itself and was wheeling it along the corridors. I had a text from my daughter asking: "Dad, why are you walking along Hollow Way pushing a wheelchair?" She had seen me pass from the window of her gym. I managed to take a short cut through an alleyway and gambled that the bike bars at the entrance to the Churchill Hospital would be wide enough to let me through with it. I delivered the wheelchair to the porters' lodge only to be told I was at the wrong hospital! This chair came from the JRH. The Churchill porters are under G4S and not Mitie; which is worse? These contractors tend to be all the same. I told my Extremely Proud and Dignified Brother Porters that I wasn't going to wheel it any further and asked them to arrange for ambulance transport to move it, which shouldn't be difficult. I spent a few minutes talking to my bother porters. I didn't recognize any of them; but I did get the selfie you see below with MEP&DBP Izzu. After that I left the vehicle by the main entrance where they're supposed to be stored. Mission accomplished!

One of Our Wheelchairs is Missing!

 

Yesterday I had an amazing experience. I was walking through a small park in Donnington, Oxford, close to where I used to live, when I came across the weirdest thing imaginable. I felt like how the characters in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind must have felt when they came across aeroplanes and a full-sized ship in the middle of a desert. In this case it was an equally incongruous apparition, a second generation Roma Medical Aids hospital wheelchair just sitting there in the middle of the park, right in the area marked out as a football pitch. See the photographs above and below which I took. How it got there I cannot imagine. Maybe the aliens in Steven Spielberg's classic movie and real and they scooped up the chair from one of the OxRad hospitals, maybe with a patient in it whom they abducted, and dumped the vehicle from their flying saucer along with the planes of the lost Flight 19 and SS Cotopaxi. I assume they will come back to earth in fifty years to return the patient, who will be the same age as they are now. I'm not sure which hospital it came from because there is no plate on it to identify it; unlike in my day when every chair had on it "JRH PORTERS". It has a Mitie sticker, but unfortunately the latest tin pot contractor brought in specially to trash the service is everywhere, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-mitie-hps.html. I made a guess that it was the JR and called the porters there. I had to go through a long and complicated maze of automated voices before I finally managed to speak to a brother porter. It was not somebody I recognized. I told him about the wheelchair and ended the call with "I used to be one of you; pride and dignity!" I do hope they come and collect the chair soon. That model is actually one of the best. It's a neat, manoeuvrable and compact front wheel steering vehicle. Note the shopping trolley style lock chain to stop them being taken by members of the public. It's an adaptation of the old Bristol Maid design, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2023/11/acute-care-vehicles-2-second-generation.html. This is not the first time this has occurred. Back in the 2000's I once had to rescue a wheelchair from Headington Conservative Club, a good half mile from the John Radcliffe. Again, its enigmatic teleportation remains unsolved to this day.

"Forget it!"

 

Whenever I ask somebody what is the most annoying thing another person do they can always give me an answer, and it varies with different individuals. For me it is probably when a stranger says something to me that I can't hear. I am not deaf, but sometimes they speak indistinctly or there is a lot of background noise. I ask them to repeat it and if they do I still sometimes can't hear them and ask again. At that point, or sometimes after a third try, some people will just wave me away impatiently and groan "forget it!", as if it's my fault; as if I'm somehow deficient for not having the ears of a bat and can pick up their slurred mumblings from forty feet away. This happened to me a few days ago. I was walking past a house in Rose Hill, Oxford and a woman stuck her head out of the door and did just those things and then slammed the door in my face. About twenty minutes later I was walking past her house in the opposite direction and sang one of my HP songs in a loud voice:
Porters' Dignity
Porters' Dignity
Porters' Dignity
And Porters' Dignity
Porters' Dignity
Oh, Porters' Dignity
Porters' Dignity
And Porters' Dignity

Porters' Pride
Porters' Pride
Porters' Pride
And Porters' Pride
Porters' Pride
Oh, Porters' Pride
Porters' Pride
And Porters' Pride

I'm sure she heard that! It's the same one I've sung doing other dig stats, for example: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2017/11/fantastic-dignity-statement.html. I consider this possibly my finest civilian dignity statement.