National BBC News: The little-known spinal injury ‘costing the NHS millions’
In summer 2021 after attending a Ladies networking event in Leeds I was given a golden nugget of information from one of the speakers Camilla Mankabady, who had been an editor at BBC and ITV news.
I had asked her advice about who to approach to help tell our important story about CES and the harm being done to patients through delays and misdiagnosis in the NHS.
Camilla was charming, enthusiastic, and supportive. She assured me that if I contacted Mr Clive Coleman on Twitter with a direct message, she was sure he would be interested hearing about cauda equina syndrome.
I felt extremely excited, almost anticipating how important this information was. I was aware of Clive Coleman and his career as the BBC’s Legal Affairs correspondent. Before I set off home, I made sure to send Clive a DM via Twitter, just as Camilla had told me too. Using Camilla’s words, I wrote “Clive I hope you don’t mind the message, but I have a story for you that needs to be made public. People are being disabled in their hundreds every year through delayed and misdiagnosis in the NHS. Can you help me get this story out there and make it public?” Almost immediately I received a response “I am flying out on holiday for two weeks but if you have time for a quick chat we can talk before I go” I was astounded. I had been trying to make connections like this for years, and all it took was a day trip to Leeds to ladies networking event in a cinema. Wow! Could it be as easy as that?
“That day I learnt a very important lesson – Be cheeky and never be afraid to ask for what you need. There are many people who are willing to help you.”