A quick one for journalists who have been following my posts. If you want to talk about what happens when you complain about the NHS, please message me. I’ve been doing this for years and I have kept everything. The emails. The letters. The complaints. The responses. The timelines. I’ve gone through the proper channels. I’ve chased. I’ve asked questions. I’ve challenged answers when they didn’t make sense. And I think there are some very important questions about the complaints process that need to be asked. If you’re a journalist and want to talk, DM me. ❤️

@andyburnham @10DowningStreet On 11 August, I wrote directly to you about the Court of Protection and what happened to my family. I asked you to listen. I laid out serious concerns about ex parte hearings, parents being excluded, professional evidence, accountability and the lack of independent scrutiny when things go wrong. That post has now been viewed and shared by people who recognise the same failures. I received no response. So I'm asking you again. You are now Prime Minister. What is your Government going to do about the lack of independent oversight within a system that can make life changing decisions about vulnerable people, while potentially excluding the very family members fighting to protect them? Who checks the evidence? Who checks what was left out? Who holds professionals accountable when they are accused of misleading the court or breaching court orders? And who protects parents when raising concerns about their child's care turns them into the subject of allegations themselves? I don't want another statement about how the system is supposed to work. I want you to look at what happens when it fails. Because my family lived it. And other families are living it too. Prime Minister, I tagged you on 11 August. You didn't respond. I'm asking again: will you listen to the families who have actually experienced the Court of Protection system, and will you act? We need independent oversight. We need transparency. We need accountability. And we need it before another vulnerable person and their family are failed.

THIS. This is exactly the bloody problem. ❤️ You try to get legal help and find there are hardly any solicitors willing or able to take your case. You try to get justice and discover that unless you have money, knowledge, time and the bloody stamina to keep fighting, you're basically on your own. Then you complain. And what happens? You get a complaints officer dealing with a complaint about their own organisation. You get responses that, in my experience, can completely misrepresent what you've actually said. You challenge it. You escalate it. You chase it. You wait. And eventually you're told to go to the Ombudsman. And you're left thinking: WHO THE HELL IS ACTUALLY INDEPENDENT HERE? Because seriously, where is the person who isn't employed by the organisation you're complaining about? Where is the person who isn't protecting the institution? Where is the person who will actually look at the evidence and say, “ Hang on. This isn't right. ” That's what people need. Not another bloody complaints process. Not another form. Not another email address. Not another organisation telling you that your complaint has been “ considered ” while completely missing the bloody point. And let's talk about Monitoring Officers too. If you're complaining about a local authority and the person whose job it is to monitor the council is still part of that council, how independent does that actually feel to the person desperately trying to get accountability? And then we get to the Ombudsman. I've seen people asking exactly the same questions, Who holds the Ombudsman to account? Because once you've exhausted the complaints process and reached the Ombudsman, where the hell do you go if you believe THEY have got it wrong? That's the problem. Every bloody door seems to lead to another door. And ordinary people are expected to keep knocking until they are exhausted enough to give up. I refuse. I've spent years fighting to get answers. I shouldn't have to be a bloody investigator, legal researcher, records expert and campaigner just to get someone to properly listen. And neither should anyone else. Access to justice isn't real justice if ordinary people cannot realistically access it. A system where the wealthy can buy legal representation while everyone else is left trying to navigate a maze of complaints, reviews, escalation procedures and Ombudsman processes isn't a system that feels like justice. It's a bloody obstacle course. And I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being told to trust systems that give people every reason not to. I'm sick of families being exhausted into silence. And I'm especially sick of vulnerable people being left without proper protection because the people responsible for accountability are too close to the systems they're supposed to scrutinise. We deserve better. Our families deserve better. And I am bloody well not shutting up about it. ❤️

Let's talk about the #NHS and what happens when you dare to complain. Because this is something people need to understand. I didn't complain because I was bored. I didn't complain because I had nothing better to do. I didn't complain because I wanted a fight. I complained because my daughter was being harmed. I saw things happening that I believed were wrong. I raised concerns. I questioned decisions. I challenged a professional. Because that's what you are SUPPOSED to do when you believe a vulnerable person isn't being properly protected. Except apparently there is a massive difference between telling people to " speak up " and actually having the audacity to SPEAK UP. Because once I did? Everything changed. Instead of simply dealing with the concerns I had raised, I became the concern. Think about that. A mother raises concerns about what is happening to her vulnerable daughter... and suddenly the spotlight turns onto the mother. My behaviour. My credibility. My motives. My questions. My complaints. My refusal to shut up. Apparently that was easier to investigate than the original problem. And THIS is what makes me so angry. Because when you're dealing with a huge organisation like the NHS, they have the power. They have the professionals. They have the records. They have the lawyers. They have the complaints departments. They have the language. They have the institutional power. And what does a parent have? Their voice. So when that parent uses the only weapon they have, their voice, why does the system seem so determined to take that away from them? I was not asking for special treatment. I was asking for my concerns to be properly investigated. I was asking people to listen. And instead I found myself fighting a system that seemed far more interested in dealing with ME than dealing with what I was raising. That is the part I will never forget. Because once you've experienced it, you see the complaints system very differently. You realise that " please complain if you're unhappy " sounds wonderful until you actually make a complaint that someone doesn't want to hear. Then suddenly you're difficult. You're challenging. You're unreasonable. You're the problem. No. I was a mother trying to protect her daughter. And I make absolutely no apology for that. If my refusal to stay quiet makes me " difficult, " then so be it. If asking questions makes me " difficult, " then so be it. If refusing to accept answers I believe are inadequate makes me " difficult, " then I'll happily wear the fooking label. Because my daughter's welfare matters more to me than making professionals comfortable. And here's my message to the NHS: Don't tell families to speak up if you're going to punish them for doing it. Don't tell us complaints are welcomed if what you really mean is, " We welcome complaints that don't make us uncomfortable. " Don't tell us patient safety comes first if the person raising a patient safety concern ends up being treated like the problem. And don't expect me to quietly disappear because the system has made it exhausting to keep fighting. I'm still here. I'm still asking questions. I'm still documenting what happened. I'm still challenging what I believe was wrong. And I'm still speaking. Because my daughter deserved better. And frankly? So does every vulnerable person whose family has the courage to say: " Something isn't right here. " Maybe the NHS should stop asking, " Why won't this parent shut up? " And start asking: " Why did we give her something to complain about in the first place? "

WELCOME TO MY X PROFILE Thank you to everyone who has commented, shared my posts, followed me, or even just taken the time to read them. Every share helps. You are helping what happened to my family be heard. For those who don't know me, I'm Zoe James, although you may know me as ZJ, the name used for me in the blog written by @KitzingerCelia from the @OpenJusticeCoP If you have read Celia's blog, you've read part of my story. But you haven't read the whole story. Celia's blog is the only TRUTHFUL account of what happened. The narrative that was put forward in the court judgment is very different, what I have called a FALSE narrative from the beginning. Although I have asked several times for the last hearing to be published, this has been denied repeatedly. I was excluded from those proceedings for months. I wasn't there to tell my side of the story. I wasn't there to challenge what was being said about me. Then came the final hearing. The evidence changed. But that hearing has never been published. Instead, it has been buried, leaving the public with a version of events that doesn't tell the whole story. The truth. You can read Celia's blog here: openjusticecourtofprotection… And if you're new here, start there. Then go right back to the beginning of my X profile and read everything I've shared. I've already started publishing my complaints, correspondence, responses and the evidence I've been able to share. I came to X and started telling the truth of what happened, because the organisations and departments I complained to have shown me complete contempt and disrespect by ignoring me, delaying complaints, failing to properly investigate, stalling and leaving me constantly chasing for answers. And after all of that, not one of them has simply stood up and said: “ We fooked up. ” That's the part I struggle with most. Because mistakes happen. But when organisations make mistakes, the answer should be accountability, not silence, delays, excuses and making the person who complained keep fighting for someone to listen. So I'm putting it all out there. Read it all. Read the blog. Go back to the beginning of my profile. Read the complaints. Read the responses. Look at the evidence. The blog is part of my story. My X profile is where you can read the rest. Welcome. " ZJ " Zoe James

I'M GOING TO SAY THIS AGAIN. For anyone who missed my last post, this is the bit that sums up exactly how I feel about the bloody complaints system: “ A complaints system shouldn't depend on how stubborn you are. It shouldn't depend on whether you're prepared to send email after email. It shouldn't depend on whether you can build a timeline, find the evidence and work out what hasn't been answered. " And honestly, the more I think about it, the more pissed off I get. Because you make a complaint because something has gone wrong. You think the organisation is then going to investigate it. That's literally the bloody point of making the complaint. But what actually happens? You end up becoming your own investigator. Finding the evidence. Going through documents. Checking dates. Putting timelines together. Working out what happened and when. Then you're your own administrator. Keeping every email. Every letter. Every reference number. Every bloody deadline. Then you're your own case manager. Keeping track of who's dealing with what. What's been answered. What's been ignored. What's still outstanding. And then, somehow, you become your own bloody watchdog. You're watching the people who are supposed to be dealing with your complaint. You're checking whether anything is actually happening. You're chasing when nobody gets back to you. You're checking whether they've actually answered what you asked. You're keeping records because you don't know what you're going to have to prove later. And at some point you just sit there thinking... WHAT THE HELL ARE THE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENTS ACTUALLY DOING? Because surely this is their bloody job? I'm not expecting someone to just believe everything I say. I'm not expecting complaints to automatically be upheld. I'm expecting someone to actually investigate them properly. Look at the evidence. Answer the questions. Tell me what they've found. And if something hasn't been dealt with, bloody well say so. But why am I having to keep chasing? Why am I having to point out what's missing? Why am I having to explain the timeline? Why am I having to keep reminding people that I'm STILL waiting for an answer? I've had to learn how these bloody systems work because I haven't had much choice. I've had to keep everything. I've had to document everything. I've had to challenge things. I've had to work out where I go next. And yes, I'll keep doing it. Because I'm bloody stubborn. And I'm bloody determined. But here's the thing, NOT EVERYONE CAN DO THIS. Not everyone has the time. Not everyone understands the language these organisations use. Not everyone knows what they're allowed to challenge. Not everyone knows where to go next. Not everyone has the confidence to keep pushing. And some people will eventually just get exhausted and think: “ Fook this. I can't do this anymore. ” And that's where this becomes really bloody serious. Because their complaint doesn't suddenly become less important because they don't have the energy to keep fighting through pages of bureaucracy. They shouldn't have to become an investigator just to get someone to investigate their complaint. They shouldn't have to become a case manager just to keep their own complaint moving. They shouldn't have to become a watchdog just to make sure the people dealing with it are actually doing what they're supposed to do. THAT'S NOT HOW A COMPLAINT SYSTEM SHOULD WORK. And if I'm having to do all of that myself, WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENTS THERE FOR? Seriously. What are they there for? Because I'm bloody sick of hearing about procedures while the actual person making the complaint is left chasing, waiting, emailing, documenting and trying to work out what the hell is going on. And yes, I've learned how to do it. I've got bloody good at it. But I shouldn't have had to.