20th September, 2022 During the early hours of this Tuesday morning , Hampshire Police were alerted to an incident somewhere along the Basingstoke town ring road. It is uncertain but evidence suggests that Childline, a counselling service in the UK for children and young people under 19, had reported a distressed young girl running in the road at risk from fast moving traffic. The incident which occurred at 02.48 was attended by PC Carter of Hampshire Police. Later that morning, at 05.36, the same girl was then taken to the Emergency Department at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital where she was attended to by a doctor outside in the car park. She was reportedly attempting to cut herself with broken glass. In an attempt to establish her identity, PC Carter and or PC Purchase of Hampshire Police referred to a database of current mental health patients. They already knew that the girl was called Megan and found two entries under that first name. Then, incredibly, one or both police officers asked the girl, ‘Is your name Megan Stock?’ The girl nodded in reply and, without further investigation or verification, they entered the incident under the name, Megan Stock.
This girl was not called Megan Stock.
This girl had a different identity with a different surname. While PC Carter and PC Purchase were attending to this incident, the real Megan Stock, my daughter, was warm in her own bed at her mother’s house.
This incident was later entered into my daughter’s medical records by Ceri Stanbury ( MH&LD). And there it would have remained, in error, in perpetuity, causing mischief.
Meanwhile, the cynical and vexatious complaint made about me to Hampshire Police by CAMHS art therapist, Sally Mungall, had driven me to access records held by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT) and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust (SHFT). SPFT were being particularly uncooperative in meeting all of my requests but this made me all the more determined to follow through with my investigations. As I pushed back against this resistance it occurred to me to advise Meg to make her own access to records request. Meg made an immediate access to records request of SHFT and later in the year made a similar request of SPFT.
Meg’s medical records, held by SHFT, were disclosed on the 18th October, 2022. That disclosure revealed many shocking and inaccurate entries into her medical records, some of which I will write about in later entries to this blog with Meg’s permission. The disclosure also revealed the grievous misidentification that occurred on the 20th September.
I helped Meg draft the following email
‘From: Meg Stock ******************* Sent: 24 October 2022 10:10To: Cleverley, Larissa ************************************** Subject: Re: Access to records request
Dear Lara,
Thank you for forwarding my Progress Notes, received by me on Tuesday 18th Oct 2022.
I am very concerned at two entries that are dated 20 Sep 2022, the first of which is timed at 02:48 and the second which is timed at 05:36. The two entries detail an incident reported by the police that claims that I called a PC Carter following a suicide attempt and taken to ED where a doctor assessed me in a car park. After about 3 hours I was apparently running in the middle of a ‘ring road’ claiming I was suicidal. An MOD policeman called PC Purchase was at the scene. The originator of these record entries was Ceri Stanbury ( MH&LD ). These two entries are entirely fabricated.
I never called PC Carter. I never attempted to ‘cut’ myself with a piece of glass. I was never at ‘the scene’ wherever that was. I never attended ED and was never assessed by a Doctor. I was never running in the middle of what was becoming a very busy ‘ring road’ claiming I was ‘suicidal’. I was at home throughout the entirety of the time in question.
I was referred to the Bridge Centre on the 8th Mar 2022 and am currently on a waiting list there for psychological therapy. My dad has just written to Farayi Nyakubaya, Head of Nursing at the Bridge Centre asking him to investigate this matter immediately. My dad suggested that I should also contact you to make you aware of my concerns. I am deeply distressed by these two entries into my medical records and need to know how and why such obviously false information has been logged in against my name and ID number.
Yours sincerely,
- Meg’
This incident was raised by me with Farayi Nyakubaya, the Head of Nursing at CMHT, The Bridge Centre toward the end of October, 2022. Farayi carried out his own investigation over, which lasted more than two months.
The question asked by PC Carter and or PC Purchase, ‘Is your name Meg Stock?’ is an example of a leading question, a question that suggests a particular answer and contains information the examiner is looking to have confirmed. It is obviously a particularly ineffectual method for obtaining credible information. Indeed, the College of Policing guidelines state
‘The information obtained as a result of leading questions may be less credible and in extreme cases could be ruled inadmissible. They should, therefore, be used only as a last resort.’
In any reasonable assessment, PC Carter and or PC Purchase made basic policing errors.
But it wasn’t only Hampshire Police who were at fault. Meg’s care coordinator at the time, Clem Feeney, was negligent in his oversight. He failed to notice the entries into Meg’s medical records that described the alleged suicide attempt of a patient under his care. In fact, had I not suggested that Meg access her medical records then she would never have had an opportunity to dispute the account of events. Farayi later confirmed that such a mistake in the records had further profound consequences, not least to the other Megan whose own records made no mention of her suicide attempt. Clem Feeney breached ethical codes again when he divulged the full name of the other Megan in a later conversation with me.
Meg demanded a replacement care coordinator soon after.
Farayi Nyakabaya’s investigation was successfully concluded and Meg’s medical records were amended accordingly. Farayi informed me that Hampshire Police would contact Meg to apologise for their mistake but no apology was forthcoming until I prompted Hampshire Police myself. The apology finally came, by way of email
‘From: Green, Lisa (28046) ******************************Sent: 02 February 2023 14:39To: mark@****************Subject: Police Complaint
Dear Ms Megan Stock/ Mr Mark Stock
I am writing to you today to express our sincerest apologies in regards to the identity error that has occurred on our part during an Incident where you have been incorrectly named as being involved in an incident and for any distress this has caused you as a result.
I have spoken to the officers involved and ascertained what has happened.
This incident occurred as a result of information given to the police regarding another female by the name of Megan also and due to the limited nature of the information available at the time we have incorrectly linked your name with the female concerned who confirmed her name to police as Megan.
This has resulted in your name being added to the log in error and was a genuine mistake on our part.
I can assure you that we have now updated our records to reflect the correct person involved.
Your details no longer appear on any of our records.
I am happy to speak to you in person if you wish to discuss this any further.
Once again my sincere apologies for any distress caused.
Kind Regards,
Lisa
Police Sergeant - 28046 Lisa Green
Response and Patrol Sergeant
Parklands Station
Basingstoke’
It has been three years since this appalling mistake by Hampshire Police and my opinion of them has never improved. They have proven themselves, as an institution, to be inept and chaotic, dogmatic and arrogant and they have treated me continuously with contempt and disdain. I can say, without reservation, that I now hate Hampshire Police.
