Let me state once and for all that this is a fictional tale based in WIRRALSDALE not Calderdale--this is an entirely fautly assumption.


damiana

I have just read the 3 pages of letters attached to the July article on this book. Would I be correct in assuming that on the issue of patient confidentiality, there are no letters there from actual patients or indeed actual nurses? 'A nurse friend of mine' doesn't quite have the same ring to it!! So.........if no patients and no nurses felt sufficiently strongly to write in, and those writing in are 'third parties' does this make the indignation over 'breaching' patient confidentiality a bit of a non-event? Indignation on behalf of others who have not themselves spoken is a tad patronising, is it not?

Sorry I'm late to the party but I DO live a fair distance from the UK and the carrier pigeon service is on vacation!

Juest a reminder, published 13.9.o8


My colleague Jean Wilkinson and I would like to express our thanks to your columnist Virginia Mason for her excellent review of our book Ladies of the Night , an account of overnight district nursing based on the experiences of ourselves and our colleagues, over a total period of fifty years.

We would like to stress, however, that we deliberately gave the area described a fictitious name and all the characters were composites.

Although, in essence, the anecdotes were based on reality - otherwise there would have been little point in writing the book – these anecdotes were constructed in a way to preserve confidentiality both of patients and other people. Any resemblance to any actual person or situation is unintentional and the action was focused down to one year as a literary device.

Although the area where we worked is known, I myself have worked in two other authorities and used some incidents from these in my reminiscences, and the book should not be taken as a literal account of any specific area.

I am sorry if we did not make this clear at the interview and hope this letter will clarify any misunderstanding as to the nature and intent of the book. The format was based on James Herriot's books and the many other professional, semi- fictitious memoires which are popular with the public.

Barbara Green