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The voice of health service staff
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April 2012 News |
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Wessex Health |
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INDEX |
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Last Branch Meeting details
Date 21st May 2012 Time 7.30 pm
Venue Ringwood
Further details from the Secretary |
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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
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Coalition Government’s final solution |
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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
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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 |
