We were well aware of the Tory-LibDems plans to dismantle the Welfare State and privatise the NHS. My parents are elderly and until my father suffered a stroke on the 13.6.2013, they were living in a more or less balanced and tranquil manner in a large Torquay house near the seafront (with Charlotte – their adult disabled daughter), as well as Rachel (there eldest daughter) and her husband Paul. Myself (their only son) and Gee (my partner) visited between with our young children between the school term times from South London. We all put-up a stern political resistance to what the ‘Coalition’ Government was doing. My mother rang me around 1900hrs on a warm Wednesday evening, saying that the police had contacted her and that Dad had been found collapsed around 1600hrs, and that he had been taken to Torbay Hospital. Early reports suggested he had been found in Preston – but later my father confirmed that he was near the tennis courts in Abbey Grounds. This was confirmed by a medical professional (known to the family) who was passing the area at the time, who said he saw my father lying on his back with a crowd of people around him whilst two NHS Paramedics were using the defibrillators to apparently revive him. To this day my father states he was hit over the head from behind just prior to the stroke – but the police and Hospital Authorities would not investigate further. (My father says that he saw someone come around the corner through his peripheral vision and then he was hit on the top and to one side of the head. He fell to the floor and when he got onto one-knee and attempted to rise – his right side of his body went suddenly ‘numb’ and he fell back down. For a time, he could see feet gathering around him, and he claims he could hear for quite some time without being able to walk). My father did have a deep cut to one side of his head at the time which bled profusely.
The Tories and LibDems had privatised the NHS in 2012, but by 2013 the cracks were beginning to show as demand for treatment (paid for in advance through taxation) clashed with cuts and cancellations. We witnessed two nurses trying to care for two wards full of sick people – with patients and relatives having to help one another (and each other’s families) due to lack of staff and resources. Although, as a very rich nation the UK taxpayer contributes more than enough for a first-class health service delivered free at the point of use – the Tories and LibDems have manufactured a crisis in the NHS (by deliberately reducing the amount of money spent on it) to allow the private (US-style) medical industry to take over. NHS staff are hard-pressed and many are performing miracles to keep a service going at all. My father received life-saving care and treatment despite all the cuts and insecurities in the NHS, and this is a testament to the calibre of the staff that work it. Tory and LibDems tyranny have brought-out the bulldog spirit of these people, and something of the fortitude demonstrated in the ‘Blitz’ in the patients! Even though it is all unnecessary suffering.
With Dad in hospital, and against her better judgement, my mother tentatively asked Social Services for help – and this is where our lives started to slowly disintegrate and turn into a state of what might be better termed ‘hellish’. My family had worked in the past (both voluntarily and professionally) with Social Workers, and we were all very well aware of their duplicitous behaviour. Very much in the mould of those who governed the ‘work houses’, British Social Workers are trained to blame the impoverished for the poverty and injustices they suffer in society. They do this whilst propagating the myth that they only have the best interests of the impoverished at heart, but consider this- since 2010, Social Workers (and Social Services) have actively supported the British State by implementing the wide sweeping ‘Austerity’ reforms demanded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). As confirmed by the United Nations in 2016, and numerous university and research institute reports, this ‘Austerity’ has killed between 120,000 – 130,000 vulnerable people in the UK – and Social Workers have been on the frontline of purposely applying these cuts knowing full well that their actions are causing immense suffering to the poor, and death to those elderly or vulnerable people who are of a delicate disposition. Of course, the average Social Worker does not care about the morality of their actions, or the deaths they have caused.
My sister Charlotte is one of these disabled and vulnerable people, although my parents are now in their 70s and each frail in their own way. My father, due to his notoriety, currently lives in a very good care home in Babbacombe staffed by good and caring staff. In the family home, however, things have turned-out very differently. My mother is now bed-bound and cannot walk around. Social Services, due to the cuts that have been applied by the Tory (and LibDems) Governments, have continuously provided sub-standard care from private healthcare providers on the cheap. The worst of many such outfits was ‘Bay Care’ whose staff are not trained or DBS-CRB Checked – but they were not the only ones. My mother, Charlotte and other members living in the house suffered psychological and physical abuse (reported to the police), and when we complained to Torbay Council about these happenings, Social Services decided to ‘punish’ my mother by using ‘deception’ to take Charlotte out of the family home and unlawfully (and illegally) incarcerate her in a care home. When we dared complain about this, Social Services then (without or knowledge and consent) contacted our landlord (Robert Flether), who agreed to issue my family with an Eviction Order. This was in retaliation for my mother asking for a roof tile to be repaired (Although, in reality Social Services did this in the name of my mother). Bear in-mind that since 2002, my parents have paid Robert Fletcher around £120,000 in rent to live in the ex-motel he owns (situated near Livermead Beach), and yet he states he does not have the ‘money’ to make any repairs. This is interesting, as he has just spent a few thousand in getting an Eviction Order.
Lawyers hired by my parents, as soon as they started communicating with Torbay Council, Torbay Social Services and the DWP, etc, started colluding and working against the wishes of my family. Although the Authorities had broken the law – my mother was advised to simply ‘give in’ to every current demand and to withdraw ALL previous complaints. If we did this, then Charlotte might be allowed to visit on occasion, and Torbay Council would advise the landlord to withdraw the ‘Eviction’ Order. As this is the purest of corruption, and given it was happening because my parents are neither rich nor possess titles, we decided not to give-in – and our complaints still stand. As a consequence, the Eviction Order will be served on Monday the 28th of October. The family pets are being threatened with termination, and my family face homelessness. I write from the small attic room that I use as my study and bedroom when I stay with my parents in Torquay. Although we are desperately trying to solve problems and traverse the massive disturbance occurring to the family, in the gaps between manic activity, I access my laptop and record events for prosperity. I hope that those who have done this to my family will one day be arrested, charged and imprisoned for their crimes.
THE SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 