Ombudsman
definition - protector of public service bodies against complaints made by members of the public
Following the Retained Organs Commission meeting on 13 March 2003 and being advised by Professor Margaret Brazier, chair of the commission and Steve Catlin, chief executive that I should make a complaint for the treatment I had received and the lies I had been told by Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust between January 2000 and March 2002 to the Ombudsman for Wales.
I made this complaint using the correct documentation through Gwent Community Health Council as advised by the RTOC and the eventual result of that complaint was that all the documentation relating to my complaint including documents coming from Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust were/are destroyed/missing.
GCHC have no records of my original complaint and after a full and thorough search of their own records and archives, the only documents that they have now about my original complaint have been copied from this website about my son Brendan, posted on another page to this site.
(click HERE to go to the GCHC webpage)
So following their discovery of my original complaint, they then took up my complaint for a second time some 18 months after I had made my original complaint and since then I have no quarrel with GCHC, only with their former employee Colin Hobbs who from the very beginning I distrusted from his comments in his eventual replies to me. It should be noted that I only received a reply because I telephoned GCHC to enquire whether they had received the official documentation with my complaint and I was told that they hadn't but miraculously within a day or so I do get a reply from Colin Hobbs!!
Now under the terms and conditions of the NHS Complaints Procedure I was entitled to a meeting with the Trust to discuss my complaint and perhaps have an amicable discussion about it and get a conclusion to my complaint and I had also previously been offered a meeting at any time I wished by the Trust in one of their letters to me when they had finally admitted that they had carried out a post mortem and held body parts of my son.
Now my request for such a meeting which I was perfectly entitled too under the NHS Complaints Procedure was totally refused out of hand by the Trust, now why was this? Was it because after years of their lies, I was now well prepared for more lies THAT they would have to tell me and they would then be put in a position of being in an argument with me that they would lose if they met me face to face?
I very much think so and Martin Turner and the Trust were running for cover!!
Now because the Trust refused to meet with me, my complaint now being put forward by GCHC for a second time went straight to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales at Bridgend, south Wales.
Ombudsmans report on my complaint
Well that turned out to be a complete waste of time and public money because from the outset I knew that any complaint from a member of the public like myself would never be upheld against a public body like Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust even though all the evidence clearly points that it should and when you read their findings (joke!), you will fully agree with me.
As part of this investigation by the Ombudsman, I was interviewed by their investigator Sue Ryan and I told her of my apprehensions about the Ombudsman's verdict. She told me that they were fully independent and would come to a fair and unbiased conclusion. When you read the actual report, you will see that she was talking a load of crap as in her report and if anything the report shows that I was very right about being apprehensive!
And so after a period of over another 18 months, I finally get a draft report which is going to be the final report anyway because they have no intention of listening to me or any views or remarks that I may make about it or make any alterations to it as I have suggested or disagree with.
Now during these 18 months, I received a number of letters from Sue Ryan apologising for the delay in submitting her investigation to the Ombudsman as she had to deal with "more important" things or that she was going on "holiday".
At first I could not understand why there should be any delays for as far as I was concerned and considering now it was almost 3 years since I made my original complaint to the Ombudsman, the expeditious conclusion to my complaint was all that I wanted, no delays!!
Now I consider and I also accuse Sue Ryan and the Ombudsman's office of the deliberate delaying in coming to a conclusion on my complaint because by their actions in doing that, they have taken me over the three year thresh hold for taking action against the Trust for personal injury. There are some very clever people of devious doubtful character's operating in the Ombudsman's office and that's certainly the case in the persons that were handling my complaint!!
Now to come to the report. I was initially sent a draft report and asked for my comments about it an although their report was 17 pages long my reply was 23 pages long.
I have never seen so much waffle, padding and statements that had absolutely no relevance to my complaint and were only added to try and give some some substance for a conclusion that went against me. In my reply I thoroughly objected to the inclusion of parts that are totally irrelevant and makes me question the mentality and intelligence of the person that wrote it, yes Sue Ryan I mean YOU!!! I rejected their report in its entirety as being being biased, unfair and a whitewash.
Read it for yourself and form your own opinion!
In the report and the reply I received from Elizabeth Thomas, Sue Ryan's line manager after I submitted my reply to the draft report which I rejected in its entirety, the Ombudsman's office has refused point blankly to interview one witness with regards to my complaint and that includes my wife and the mother of Brendan, who if anybody, should have been the first interviewee. Neither would they interview the South Wales Argus reporter Andy Rutherford who published the article on 9th December 1999 where Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust published an article that stated "Pledge to Parents", "we do not do autopsies on children" Remember the the meaning of "Pledge" - solemn promise just like the promise to me saying I could have a meeting with them anytime I want.
Andy Rutherford could have told where the information and source of that story came from but the Ombudsman fully accepts the Trusts comments of that they had no editorial control over the story. Now that's rubbish because the story is a true account of what they fed Andy Rutherford with!
Well I still want that meeting Mr Turner, have you got the guts or bottle to meet with me? Somehow I don't think so.
The Ombudsman did however interview a bereavement officer for the Trust and the Ombudsman fully accepts her views of how Keith Hamilton, the person appointed by Martin Turner because of his expertise, competence and experience to investigate my initial request about my son, even though she was not employed with Keith Hamilton, never met Keith Hamilton, had absolutely nothing to with me because I have never been offered counselling either at the time of my sons death or after the Trust finally admitted after lying for two years that they had carried out a post mortem on Brendan and most shocking of all was that they were still holding his body parts!
What the **** has she got to do my complaint and why did the Ombudsman put so much emphasis on what she had to say? Because the Ombudsman set out from the beginning to 'cover up' and whitewash my complaint against the Trust and also to deliberately delay their investigation so that I would be unable to take civil action against the trust.
So how could she possibly know anything about Keith Hamilton and the way he would work, Keith Hamilton appointed by Martin Turner for his expertise, competence and professionalism to investigate my inquiry, Keith Hamilton that Martin Turner is now throwing to the dogs for his ineptitude and mis-handling in investigating my inquiry because he did not do a good enough job in covering up ALL the facts and failed to convince me with his lies that Brendan had not gone through a post mortem or that they had ever kept body parts.
The Ombudsman fully accepts this woman's statement and uses it against upholding my complaint. Likewise, the Ombudsman fully accepts the Trusts statement where they say they had no editorial control over the statement in the South Wales Argus where they give their "Pledge to Parents". The Ombudsman refuses to interview the reporter concerned or even ask him or any other witness to give a statement. If they had asked the reporter Andy Rutherford where his information had come from, then his answers may have substantiated my claims.
Now these are just a couple of points that show how the Ombudsman's office works against any complaint made a member of the public against a government organisation of any kind and if you read my reply to the Ombudsman draft report which is the same as the final report you will see that the Ombudsman set out from the beginning to deliberately not to fully investigate my complaint, to deliberately white wash my complaint and protect Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust from any further legal action by myself by deliberately delaying to come to a conclusion as quickly as possible and because of that and the other reasons set out in my reply to their report I accuse the Ombudsman's office and both its employee's Elizabeth Thomas and Sue Ryan of being corrupt for even attempting to come to a conclusion without fully investigating my complaint and then basing their conclusion on supposition and conjecture, evidence that would never get near a court of law and would be instantly thrown out if anyone tried to include it!
Mr Keith Thomas a medical negligence solicitor in Newport recently stated in the South Wales Argus that most complaints to the Ombudsman usually take about 3 weeks to come to a conclusion, so how come it was over 3 years before I got a conclusion, it was for the reasons I stated above!!!
Reply to draft report, click here
The Ombudsman's report is a total whitewash even though the evidence fully supports my complaint. As repeated in the documents, I well remember the BBC Wales presenter Jamie Owen interviewing the Ombudsman for local authorities and the first question Jamie Owen put to the Ombudsman live on the BBC Wales 6.30 news programme was "It is highly unusual for the Ombudsman to uphold a complaint against a local authority, so why did you in this case?"
That question speaks volumes about the Ombudsman's role in the protection of any form of complaint against public bodies and a warning is issued here to the general public, that is if you want t make a complaint against a public body then you will find that Ombudsman's office is completely biased and corrupted against you from the beginning and your just wasting your time!
South Wales Argus news story of the Ombudsman's report - 29 August 2006
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Now one interesting item that did turn up in the Ombudsman's report was that all letters and documentation relating to my first inquiry about my son Brendan in 2000 are missing. There is no record in the archives of Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust that I had ever made and enquiry. Now I don't really find that strange because ALL the letters and documentation including some of the Trusts relating to my first complaint to Gwent Community Health Council under the NHS Complaints Procedure are also missing. No trace at all of any of these documents. As far as the NHS is concerned, I never asked about my son in 1999 and I never made a complaint against the Trust in 2003!!
Both sets of NHS archived documents, missing, deliberately destroyed and in the case of the Trusts documents, Martin Turner is again accusing Keith Hamilton for doing so. If you remember who Keith Hamilton is, he is the person that Martin Turner considered to be competent, experienced and well qualified to investigate my query about my son but he now becomes Martin Turners scapegoat!
Now the deliberate destruction of official governments documents is a criminal offence and I accuse Keith Hamilton of the deliberate destruction of documentation held by Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust concerning my inquiries about my son in 1999/2000 and I accuse Colin Hobbs, a former employee of Gwent Community Health Council for the deliberate destruction of documents held by GCHC concerning my original complaint under the National Health Complaints procedure.
I have now made an official complaint to the Chief Constable of Gwent, Mr Mike Tonge and have asked if my accusations are proved then I expect that these individuals to be prosecuted.
If the result of any police investigations produce's new evidence which supports my complaint then I will certainly be knocking on the door of the Ombudsman's office very vigorously and I will expect nothing less than a full public apology in the press and on radio and tv!!
Now I have named and shamed a number of individuals on this webpage and I hope they feel very proud of their actions and if they don't like it, then sue me and we will let the judges decide on your interpretations of the facts involved, in fact I look forward to that very much because I will be seeking substantial compensation in a counter claim.
The Ombudsman's office and all the individuals named above are a disgrace to the human society let alone to Wales and its people and they have made a mockery of the British Justice system.
People to be proud of???
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Parents Hold Their Children's Hands A While, But Their Hearts Forever.