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April 2012 News

Wessex Health

INDEX

Last Branch Meeting details

 

 

Date   21st May  2012

Time    7.30 pm

 

Venue  Ringwood

 

Further details from the Secretary

Next Meeting

 

This will be a thank you from the Branch Committee for all the support shown over the years by our members

 

Contact Ian Copplestone, the Branch Secretary for further details

 

 

 

Coalition Government’s final solution

A grateful Michael and Laura Cockerham with Phineas

NHS..the  whole truth about the NHS Team

 

Today will be the last update of this web site as Unite has agreed to the break up the Wessex Health Branch splitting the Branch Committee who co-ordinate and fund this site into five different Branches

 

The files attached to this site will be available for  four more weeks before being consigned into the hyperspace cemetery

 

Before we go, we bring more interesting material

 

First there is the secret Risk Assessment  of the NHS organisational changes the Government has tried to hide

 

Secondly is an article on NHS Whistle Blowing from Private Eye that makes shocking reading

 

It may be appropriate to add the hyperlink of this website to your monthly reading

 

Finally our last ever article, from the Daily Mail

 

No friend of the NHS, but this story with pictures from grateful parents  highlights the commitment of all NHS staff, including those not seen on Casualty who play their part in the NHS team

 

The parents have made it known that over 100 NHS staff were involved in saving their son, but unfortunately many were either not around or did not want to be photographed

 

The moral is that only the NHS would put this level of team working, commitment, training and resource into saving a single life

 

Please read the article below and then peruse the details of the 63 staff who were involved, over the subsequent three pages

 

We make no apologies, this is what NHS staff do best but for how much longer?

 

 

The 63 heroes who saved our son

 

The Daily Mail reveals the heart-tugging story of a critically ill baby and the astonishing army of NHS staff needed to save one life

 

PUBLISHED: 02:25, 3 April 2012

 

Michael Cockerham recalls with chilling clarity the moment he and his wife realised they might lose their three-week-old son, Phineas

 

‘He was lying on a bed hooked up to drips and tubes while teams of medics were working on him,’

 

says Michael, 42

 

‘I asked the doctor whether he was going to die; he paused for a long time before answering, in a noncommittal way, that he didn’t think so.

 

‘That was when I realised there was the possibility we could lose Phineas and I just broke down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The family's terrifying story began in May, 2010, when the little boy suddenly become lethargic and developed a temperature

 

Only a few weeks earlier, Michael and his wife, Laura, had taken their healthy newborn baby home

 

Then, one night, Phineas developed a mild fever; with terrifying speed the virus turned deadly, overwhelming his immune system

 

Now his parents could only watch on helplessly as doctors battled to save his life

 

‘It had all happened so quickly — one minute he just had a virus, the next he was close to death,’

 

recalls Michael

 

Amazingly, Phineas recovered — thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the hospital staff who worked on him

 

His father was so grateful he embarked on a mission to photograph every doctor, nurse and specialist who’d helped save his little boy — all 63 of them — to acknowledge their incredible work, and help raise funds for their hospital, the Evelina Children’s Hospital, London

 

As Michael, a professional photographer who lives with Laura and their sons Joshua, seven, Toby, four, and Phineas, now two, in Hextable, Kent, explains:

 

‘I never want to forget the people who fought to save my son

 

And I wanted to highlight the huge team involved in his care, to show the enormous number of medics needed to save a life.’

 

His photographs — below — provide a brilliant visual testament to the resources the NHS commits to saving lives every day

 

Each picture tells the story of the vital contribution that each medic made.

The family’s terrifying story began in May, 2010

 

One night, Phineas suddenly become lethargic and developed a temperature.

Laura, 33, took him at 6am the next day to the Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup, where she was told her son just had a virus, and to take him home.

 

But a few hours later, Phineas’s condition had worsened, so Laura took him to another hospital, Darent Valley Hospital, near  Dartford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Phineas had become more listless, and even less responsive,’

 

she says.

 

‘He wasn’t even crying.’

 

On seeing his condition, a nurse immediately called for a consultant.

 

‘That’s when I really started to panic,’ recalls Laura; she rang Michael, who had taken their other two sons to visit Laura’s parents, and he arrived later

 

The doctors couldn’t work out what was causing his symptoms — Phineas’s oxygen and blood sugar levels were dangerously low, which can lead to long-term brain damage or be fatal

 

Just 24 hours after he’d arrived at hospital, doctors took the decision to transfer Phineas to the specialist Evelina Children’s Hospital 12 miles away in London

 

‘He was transferred in a type of cocoon — it looked like something produced by Nasa,’

 

says Michael.

 

I’ve never seen so many dials and pumps and buttons

 

It was all temperature-controlled, with heart rate and oxygen monitors built into it.

 

Laura went with him and I followed in the car, so I was 45 minutes behind the ambulance.’

 

For the next 36 hours, staff at the Evelina battled to keep Phineas alive, while trying to work out what was causing his symptoms

 

His temperature had soared to 102f, and they flooded his tiny body with a vast number of antibiotics and antivirals, in the hope of catching whatever it was behind his condition

 

Phineas also underwent chest X-rays, a lumbar puncture to check the spinal fluid for signs of brain inflammation, blood tests and urine tests

 

‘The doctors couldn’t tell us whether he would suffer any brain damage, so it was running through our minds how we, and our family, would cope with this,’

 

says Michael

 

It was a desperately fraught time, made worse by the fact that they weren’t able to hold their son, because of the machines and wires keeping him alive

 

Finally, the doctors managed to stabilise Phineas’s condition

 

Michael explains: ‘One of the doctors came up to us and said it had been life-threatening, but that he was going to pull through. We were both overwhelmed with relief and Laura dissolved into tears — it was a combination of such fatigue, worry and relief.’

 

They were then able to hold their son properly

 

‘It was difficult as he still had tubes in him, but it was just so lovely to have him back in our arms,’

 

says Michael

 

Phineas was moved from intensive care on to another ward; five days after he was admitted, the medics discovered the cause of his illness — the Parechovirus

 

It’s a common virus, often causing nothing more than fever and general malaise, but because Phineas was so young, it had overwhelmed his immature immune system

 

The year Phineas was admitted to hospital, 2010, doctors had witnessed a rise in cases of the virus, which is transmitted in bodily fluids, though they were unsure why

 

However severe reactions to the pathogen remain rare. In the majority of people it causes few, if any, symptoms, but in some newborns it can have more serious effects

 

A week after he was admitted with a life-threatening illness,  Phineas was well enough to go home. But Michael wanted to do something to express his gratitude

 

With the help of a hospital consultant, he tracked down all the staff who’d helped saved Phineas

 

‘Some were shy about having their picture taken, but they understood what I was trying to achieve.’

 

His book of the photographs, Phineas’s Friends, is now on sale, with all proceeds going to the Evelina Children’s Hospital

 

He was just a tiny baby, but so many people fought to save his life and keep him here with us

 

‘Now, every time I look at that book of photographs, I’m overcome with gratitude

 

I will show Phineas the book when he is older and tell him about all these remarkable people

 

For more information go to bluefilter.co.uk/phineasfriends

 

Meet the 63 heroes

 

More Front Line News of the month

 

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It was a desperately fraught time for Michael and Laura, made worse by the fact that they weren't able to hold their son, because of the machines and wires keeping him alive

A grateful Michael and Laura Cockerham with Phineas. The family's terrifying story began in May, 2010, when the little boy suddenly become lethargic and developed a temperatureIt was a desperately fraught time for Michael and Laura, made worse by the fact that they weren't able to hold their son, because of the machines and wires keeping him alive