For the record - a letter to Stephen O Brien MP

Dear Mr O Brien,

I am contacting you because of your involvement in the pressure group Cure the NHS who are trying to get some honest answers about what happened in Stafford Hospital.

I was assaulted at Stafford Hospital by staff in a very busy area, and have tried to get an apology and the staff who assaulted me disciplined. I do not care about compensation, I've said that over and over again. All I want is to be treated with some respect and for someone to apologise about the dispicable way I was treated, and to know the people who did it to me will never ever treat anyone in that way again.

Leigh Day and Co, the solicitors who have taken the mass case have decided to drop my case, and the excuse given to me today over the telephone is that my case is not cost effective! I told the man that the CCTV cameras would have been running, and there was a waiting room full of witnesses, so the treatment I was subjected to would have been very very clear. I asked him if the real reason my case has been dropped was because I am one of the Pindown child abuse survivors, and he denied it.

I cannot get in touch with Julie Bailey. I have tried again and again, but it seems that someone is blocking my emails to her organisation, Cure the NHS, plus she appears to have changed her telephone number. I read in the local paper that she has recieved threats over the telephone.

Julie Bailey would definatly want to hear from people like me, people who have been abused at the hospital, I know she would. I have asked Leigh Day and Co to pass on my contact details to Julie, but I do not think they can have done so, as I am sure that someone from Cure the NHS would have contacted me. So it seems that I am being deliberatly blocked from this group by some outside influence. I wonder how many other people are also being blocked from contacting Cure the NHS?

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Richards