Royal Family Kill Nurse

A very sad and unfortunate story in many ways.

Not sure if the full story is known yet as to the circumstances and reasons of the young nurses death. Sky news reported she was on the switchboard at the time, and literally said one sentence to the “queen” and put her through to the ward. The nurse on the ward had a more detailed conversation and gave out details of Kate’s health. Apparantly the hoaxers never thought in their wildest dreams they get further than the switchboard.
Can you imagine, if it had been the queen and the initial call was questioned? Maybe the hospital do get calls from the rich and famous and the Jacintha thought nothing of a Royal calling? Who knows. As for the call being put through to the ward. Again, surely the nurse who gave out further informatin would have known the call has come through the switchboard, why would she question it?
It’s been said no one would have blamed Jacintha for the breach in security and patient confidentiality. But I am not sure. The press would have named her without a doubt. They probably knew her name before she died. Had the hospital come under pressure to be seen to be making sure mistakes like that don’t happen again, might they have sacked her? Had she been feeling from her employers anyway?
Who knows, things are never black and white.
As for the hoax. Many a hoax has been played throughout history. I am not excusing this one for one second, no one could have foreseen that is was going to end so tragicaly.

RIP Jacintha

Apologies for stating that Kate was being cared for by the NHS in my previous posting. King Edward VII’s Hospital Sister Agnes is a private hospital.

Despite the condemnation of the tastelessness of the Australian radio show, rather than everyone having sympathy for the hospital and its staff, the press immediately called for action. In response the Hospital announced a full review of security regarding the Royals, including an investigation into why the callers were put through to the correct ward in the first place. Without this tragic death, calls would soon have been made by politicians for action. These days calling for an issue to be dealt with inevitably means disciplinary sanctions and/or resignations/sackings. This may indeed still happen once the immediate dust settles. Even without calls for action from outside, the hospital would have taken this incredibly seriously, as they rely on being seen as discreet in their dealings with the rich, famous and Royal.

Jacintha Saldanha must have lived with that understanding for the last couple of days, as opposed to feeling vindicated by the current wave of public revulsion and sympathy, that we are currently witnessing.

In terms of that hospital investigation, we cannot be sure what internal procedures were breached, or whether Jacintha might have identified directly or indirectly which ward Kate was on. Either of these possibilities could be potentially disciplinary, whether or not the nurse revealed any specific medical details, especially as we (and perhaps the hospital) don’t know whether the clip heard on radio was edited as it wasn’t live.

The hospital have said that no disciplinary action was taken against her. That is no shock – if it had been, the hospital would surely have been flouting its own HR processes which must involve investigations, representation and hearings before any action can be taken. Suspension would have been equally inappropriate, unless her clinical practice was an immediate risk to patients or if her continuation at work could interfere with the forthcoming investigation. Suspension of course is not in itself a disciplinary action.

It is possible that the Jacintha was appropriately supported. It is equally possible that she was extremely anxious about an investigation which would examine both her conduct and that of the nurse on Kate’s ward, the outcome of which could be disciplinary, whether or not the investigation process had already begun. She would surely have been aware that the investigation would cover potential breach of procedures and confidentiality issues for both members of staff, whatever the eventual outcome.

I have no doubt that she must have felt threatened by the situation she was in. Whether her employers contributed to that is unclear, but both she and her employers would be more than aware that somebody in the hospital would ultimately have to be held accountable for this.

Jacintha Saldanha was by all reports a good nurse and a model neighbour. Her family have lost a mother. Nobody intended her to end up dead, from the Royals to the radio station to her employers.

Whatever the truth and who (or what) may have contributed to her demise, this is a tragic outcome by any standards.

The prank was the most artless of bluffs.

Am I the only person who thinks that if a member of the Royal Family is in hospital, there should be some kind of password/keyphrase/pin number without which no-one gets information?

I was under the illusion that those around key members of the royal family were briefed and protected by skilled security and media advisers. but it seems their privacy can be accessed with nothing more sophisticated than a silly voice.

The nurses were failed by those who are paid to protect the Royal Family from intrusion.

@j_in_france wrote:

@wordsworth60 wrote:

The prank was the most artless of bluffs.

Am I the only person who thinks that if a member of the Royal Family is in hospital, there should be some kind of password/keyphrase/pin number without which no-one gets information?

I was under the illusion that those around key members of the royal family were briefed and protected by skilled security and media advisers. but it seems their privacy can be accessed with nothing more sophisticated than a silly voice.

The nurses were failed by those who are paid to protect the Royal Family from intrusion.

I agree Words but also I have to ask what did the hospital management do to brief the nurse’s in the first place given the current stance now of the hospital blaming the Aussie DJ’s.

Apparently the nurse who was found dead moved to the UK nine years ago so you have to ask whether she would have even understood the difference between the accents that could have been Australian or British. We moved to France nine years ago and I can not tell the difference between French accents though they are significantly less regional than UK accents.

So imagine a nurse from a foreign country answering a phone call from someone saying they were the Queen, how intimidated would you feel and what would your reaction be to being told to pass you through to Kate?

Final question – why was it left to a nurse to have to answer the phone at 5:30 in the morning – skeleton staff at night?

If it all it takes to get through to the Royal Family is an English accent, maybe I’ll ring up in the morning.

Reality check, especially coming off the end of a huge scandal and enquiry about unscrupulous media tactics, no one, but no one should be getting through to the Duchess’s ward without some proof of identity – and I’m betting this wouldn’t be the first time Her Majesty would have had to verify her identity to one of her subjects.

What briefing was she given? Clearly not enough. And remember the barrier between the DJs and the Duchess’s personal information was not one, but two nurses thick, so it appears neither had any idea of what precautions they should take.

The DJs did, what DJs do, trying to entertain, we had our own spat with Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand last year. There’s no point in punishing them – for what? putting on a fake accent? They didn’t give away any information, it was freely divulged.

In my mind, the fault lies primarily with the Royal security/privacy people whether police, secret service or equerries. Interestingly there seems to be no mention of them in the media, just the hospital and the radio station. Bonkers.

@wordsworth60 wrote:

@j_in_france wrote:

@wordsworth60 wrote:

The prank was the most artless of bluffs.

Am I the only person who thinks that if a member of the Royal Family is in hospital, there should be some kind of password/keyphrase/pin number without which no-one gets information?

I was under the illusion that those around key members of the royal family were briefed and protected by skilled security and media advisers. but it seems their privacy can be accessed with nothing more sophisticated than a silly voice.

The nurses were failed by those who are paid to protect the Royal Family from intrusion.

I agree Words but also I have to ask what did the hospital management do to brief the nurse’s in the first place given the current stance now of the hospital blaming the Aussie DJ’s.

Apparently the nurse who was found dead moved to the UK nine years ago so you have to ask whether she would have even understood the difference between the accents that could have been Australian or British. We moved to France nine years ago and I can not tell the difference between French accents though they are significantly less regional than UK accents.

So imagine a nurse from a foreign country answering a phone call from someone saying they were the Queen, how intimidated would you feel and what would your reaction be to being told to pass you through to Kate?

Final question – why was it left to a nurse to have to answer the phone at 5:30 in the morning – skeleton staff at night?

If it all it takes to get through to the Royal Family is an English accent, maybe I’ll ring up in the morning.

Reality check, especially coming off the end of a huge scandal and enquiry about unscrupulous media tactics, no one, but no one should be getting through to the Duchess’s ward without some proof of identity – and I’m betting this wouldn’t be the first time Her Majesty would have had to verify her identity to one of her subjects.

What briefing was she given? Clearly not enough. And remember the barrier between the DJs and the Duchess’s personal information was not one, but two nurses thick, so it appears neither had any idea of what precautions they should take.

The DJs did, what DJs do, trying to entertain, we had our own spat with Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand last year. There’s no point in punishing them – for what? putting on a fake accent? They didn’t give away any information, it was freely divulged.

In my mind, the fault lies primarily with the Royal security/privacy people whether police, secret service or equerries. Interestingly there seems to be no mention of them in the media, just the hospital and the radio station. Bonkers.

So why were two Australian DJ’s able to ring a hospital in the UK and to be able to get through any Royal security measures (if any) and any hospital security measures (if any).

What it appears to boil down to is that two nurse’s trying to do the job they were trained to do were left in the early hours of the morning to become media consultants receiving a phone call that should never have reached them