OUR WORK FOR THE YEAR.

Compassion In Care 
Summary of work from May 2015 to June 2016 
May 2015  
11th and 12th Attended an Employment Tribunal whistle-blowing case to support a whistle-blower. Arranged for a documentary film maker to attend and highlighted the lack of protection.  
15th    Recorded an interview about our work via Skype for Euro TV to be broadcast later in year. 
Submitted our evidence on whistle-blowing to a Canadian review on international whistle-blowing laws. 
Spent 7 days organising a pop-up protest and printing 700 leaflets to hand out to public in order to raise awareness on the issues. 
27th     Protest held, aimed for enough people to line Whitehall holding up “I am Edna” signs. This was a great success and the line stretched down Whitehall into Parliament Square. We handed out all 700 hundred leaflets to the public. 
We then booked a room in Parliament so whistle-blowers who had reported abuse could meet with their MPs. 
Posted a high volume of information on the Compassion In Care web-site and Twitter. 
Volume of help-line contacts continues to be high. We also continue to support existing help-line cases. 

June 2015
1st   I spoke at The University of London event “ Stand Up for Truth” representing the UK in an international tour of whistle-blowers. Daniel Ellsberg, Colleen Rowley, Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack who all signed their support for Edna’s Law. Insert video link
We arranged for 3 individuals and 3 groups to learn Twitter as part of our new social media empowerment initiative. 
We advised three journalists working on issues relating to care. 
We continue to work with a variety of other campaign groups with common ground on whistle-blowing and abuse campaigns. 
Spent 6 days researching homes we had received concerns about. 

18th  Pre-recorded an interview for BBC Radio Suffolk broadcast next day about cameras in care homes. Also did a live interview at 8am for BBC Radio Stoke on the issue of Care Home Open Day. 
On the same day did two further interviews at 6pm BBC Radio 5 Live on the issue of whistle-blowing, and BBC Tyne Tees on Care Home inspections. 
Designed a new leaflet giving more detailed information on our Edna’s Law campaign and how the public can become involved. 
We were invited to take part in The Gay Pride Parade by other groups we have worked with and who support Edna’s Law. We photocopied (to save printing costs) 8000 leaflets and all of these leaflets were handed out to the public at the event, to raise awareness about abuse and whistle-blowing. We arranged for a group of relatives who had lost loved ones because whistle-blowers concerns were ignored to attend the event and also a large number of whistle-blowers were included in our section. 
23rd  Did an interview in the Mail about Cameras in Care homes. 
24th  Appeared on ITV This Morning about the issue of covert cameras. 
24th June. We were quoted in The Telegraph and The Mirror. 
  
July 2015 
3rd   I taught a session at Goldsmith’s College Summer School on whistle-blowing. I organised a panel of whistle-blowers who had contacted our help-line in the past and who now help us to raise awareness to speak on the issue and the class was very well attended and received. 
9th  I attended a book launch and discussion about blacklisting of whistle-blowers in construction to show support for the issues. 
15th Met with group of whistle-blowers to start new support network in their area. 
16th Filming all day for a documentary film to be shown later. 
23rd All day filming for documentary of our work (on-going project). 
24th I spoke to Sutton Retired group raising awareness on abuse. The event was also filmed for the documentary. 

August 2015 
Theatre Royal York called to ask if we would do an interview with a playwright to raise awareness on whistle-blowing and abuse. 
Two weeks holiday. 
Spent five days clearing backlog. 
28th Met with relatives. 
30th  Did a 4 hour filmed interview with a Romanian playwright. 
 
September 2015 
2nd  Featured in The Independent newspaper story on failures by regulators to act on coroners’ alerts. 
3rd Asked to write contribution for a European book on attitudes to ageing,“Forever Young” which will be published next year. 
8th  I attended a safeguarding meeting to support a family who had lost a loved one as a result of neglect. 
9th I did a live Interview with BBC Radio Kent on safeguarding failures. 
10th and 11th I met with helpline callers. 
12th Our work is acknowledged in a new book “Hidden Cameras” by BBC Panorama producer, Joe Plomin (who exposed Winterbourne View). 
15th and 16th I wrote a report to Department of Health regarding relatives either being banned from care homes or who had loved ones evicted in response to concerns being raised.  
17th and 18th I worked with Private Eye to highlight the issue of retribution against relatives. 
Supported whistle-blowers by arranging Court Companions. 
Jayne Swallow said her case not on your list but I think this is it as her case was 1st/2nd Oct)
Continued demand for Twitter empowerment support. 
28th Met with a group of relatives to give support. 
29th Published letter to Health Department. 

OCTOBER 2015 
1st The article on “Relative Retribution” published in Private Eye. 
Contacted by a further 32 people who had also had suffered eviction or been banned from care homes in similar circumstances. 
Spent most of the month on research into the CQC as a result of discovering hundreds of bad care homes were being registered to new owners (some as many as three times) and their history archived when in fact it was the same owner being re-registered as new. Contacted Private Eye and this story had a major impact when published. 
15th  Help-line caller John Parvin’s story published in Private Eye. ?Video interviews Price of Silence. 
 
November 2015 
11th After over a month of intensive research and looking in depth into the inspection histories of more than three thousand care homes and cross referencing the homes with Companies House records, the article “ Sleeping Watchdog” is published in Private Eye. 
12th Did an interview with French TV news channel on whistle-blowing law to be broadcast later. 

December 2015 
The Help-line continues to require three full days each week for calls and a further six days a month for administration of all help-line contacts and information recorded. 
I started to compile a special report “ CQC An On-going Concern” to publish in 2016. 
Continued to research the CQC.  Looked in depth at a further two thousand care homes and cross referenced owners with Companies House records. 
One weeks holiday. 
 
JANUARY 2016. 
Major reorganisation of administration workspace due to sheer volume of cases. All documented help-line cases filed in alphabetical order, new storage space built.  New system means we can efficiently access details on thousands of help-line case files, cross-referenced to names of care homes and updated easily. This took 14 days. 
6th Follow up story in Private Eye, re CQC, more abuse exposed. 
Continued to work preparing “CQC An On-going Concern”, first draft ready. 
BBC Radio 4 , You and Yours programme rang and I put them in touch with help-line relatives for a programme on relative retribution. 
Published news updates on website and tweeted high volume of information and documents. 
15th Radio 4 You and Yours broadcast our help-line callers. 
20th I attended The Law Commission consultation on MIPO, Misconduct In Public Office. Met with a number of whistle-blowers prior to event including Sharmila Chowdury NHS Radiology, Chris Ledbrook Justice Department, Dr Minh Alexander NHS, Martin Morton  Liverpool Council, Christine England NHS and Social Care. It was very productive and Compassion In Care later submitted comprehensive evidence to the review. 
21st  Front page of the Essex Chronicle re our help-line whistle-blowers and Panorama broadcast which placed three staff on trial for abuse. 
22nd Invited to Romania to attend the premier of the play “Common People” which featured my story, was unable to attend due to my workload but said I would attend a later performance. 
26th Worked with Private Eye to get story on Hillcrest care home published, discovered CQC press releases alleging inspections took place when they had not. 
29th  Third draft of CQC of special report completed.
7am Interview on BBC Radio Stoke on issue of 15 minute home care visits. 
 
February 2016. 
1st Artwork for next special report completed. 
Pre-recorded interview broadcast on French and German mainstream news today reporting on our campaign for Edna s Law. 
3rd The Hillcrest story published in Private Eye. 
Final draft of “CQC An On-going Concern“ took two further weeks of preparation. 
4th CQC An On-Going Concern published and copies sent to 600 people via email. 
5th Wrote a review for Joe Plomin’s book “ Hidden Cameras.” 
Huge response to Private Eye story and our special report. 
On-going correspondence with Government and departments of state re whistle-blowing and abuse cases. 
9th 10.15am live interview on BBC Radio Kent on the issue of cameras in care homes. 
11am attended a vigil with a bereaved family. 
9.30pm did a live interview BBC Radio Tyneside. 
10th New leaflet highlighting our special report “CQC an On-going Concern” emailed to all contacts with report attached. Also emailed to MPs. 
On-going reports published on website and copious evidence and information published on Twitter as usual. 
We built up a comprehensive picture archive for posters highlighting abuse of vulnerable people and whistle-blowing themes. 
16th Mail on Sunday want me to write short piece about theft in care homes. 
17th Private Eye published story on our work “CQC An Ongoing Concern”, my letters to the CQC, and Autumn Grange care home. 
Emailed my letter to the Government regarding Relative Retribution to 200 families affected by the issue and it was used to highlight the issues and had a positive effect in helping individuals with their cases. 
21st My column published in The Mail On Sunday. 
200 cases as a result of Mail on Sunday story. 
24th Met with the Mail On Sunday to discuss doing further stories. 
10pm did an interview on BBC Five Live on the issue of Whistle-blowing. 
Wrote a report on three care homes in special measures for our website. 
25th As a result of our work on the Old Deanery care home with Panorama, the three abusive staff were sentenced to the maximum penalty under the law and all three were jailed for 4 Months and referred to the abusers register and will never work in care again. 
Did a live interview on BBC Radio Kent Breakfast programme. 
5.pm Did another live interview on BBC Radio London regarding the Dame Janet Smith Inquiry into Jimmy Savile, to which we previously submitted comprehensive evidence on whistle-blowing.  Spoke on the issue of whistle-blowing. 
Spent four weeks supporting a journalist working on a under-cover project we had initiated. 
Advised on four other media projects. 

March 2016 
Redesigned headed paper and cards. 
New video on Edna s Law. 
I spent six days researching the effectiveness of CCTV as opposed to covert cameras in order to have a policy based on evidence. Study of effectiveness of CCTV in San Francisco was most informative . We are pro covert filming by families and staff if concerns all raised via proper channels first. We are anti open CCTV filming because it does not stop abuse but moves it to other parts of a home.  Our view is based on direct experience and factual studies. 
18th Published our Law Commission submission listing our evidence. 
19th Spoke in internet webinar on whistle-blowing. 
20th Wrote a second article for the Hazards magazine highlighting failures of care home regulation. 
Four days off 
29th  Quote in The Guardian on covert cameras. 

April 2016 
Throughout April we gave daily support and advice to award-winning journalist Simon Murphy from the Mail on Sunday who was working under-cover in Avon Park care village. Debrief each night at 10pm. 
6th Research and first draft of my report into Manley Park care home. 
7th Spent 8 days researching death rates in certain care homes. 
Wrote letters for families and whistle-blowers. 
Report emailed to all MPs. 
13th Private Eye publish story on Manley Park care home. All day reviewing Mail on Sunday journalist’s undercover camera footage.
6  days off due to bereavement. 
20th. All day filming on on-going documentary project following our work over four years. 
Tweeted high volume of evidence and information. 
27th Met with group of relatives who have started a network of support for other families, to discuss progress and to thank everyone for their support. 
28th 7.05 I do a live interview on BBC Radio Kent about cameras in homes. 
8am I did a live interview on BBC Radio Sussex on issue of abuse. Quoted in Bristol Cable Newspaper. 
Wrote an article for Primary Care Nurse magazine. 
  
May 2016. 
7 days research and preparation for next major new report planned, “ Breaking The Silence part 4”. 
Three new articles for website published. 
11th Two stories in Private Eye, firstly our work on cameras in care homes plus a story about the Old Deanery which BBC Panorama featured as a direct result of our help-line work. 
The Old Deanery whistle-blower continues to run in support of Compassion In Care and has gathered a team of runners called “Edna’s Army” who wear Compassion In Care shirts to events to raise awareness.
15th Story published In Mail on Sunday. 
19th Met with a union representing whistle-blowers to offer support. 
Gave in-depth quote published in Exaro News. 
Made a number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests which will be used later this year in our on-going work. 
Working with a number of journalists advising on work which will result in highlighting failures in the system. 
We have many plans for the coming year, including publishing data from a further 4000 whistle-blowers showing the obstacles to reporting concerns. 
We have many media projects underway which will expose the system’s failings. 
We plan to start a new project to encourage those responsible for investigating abuse to aspire to the highest standards: “The Richard Turner Award for excellence in investigating abuse” 
We have many other events and projects planned and will also continue our core work which is so effective.