It seems I can’t make a post here without someone exclaiming “Oh my god! You published the patient’s address!” For the record, NO I DIDN’T. All the names, addresses and other identifying details on these posts have been changed, and none of the addresses published even exist. Run them through Streetmap if you don’t believe me. My name isn’t really Mark Myers, either.
I would take all the addresses out entirely, but I think it spoils the “flow” of the post, plus the addresses I use are similar to the originals in that they convey what kind of area the call was from. So if a call took place in a council estate in Peckham, I’d move it to a fictitious estate in, say, Hackney, which is a similar kind of area. If it took place in posh Chelsea, I might move it to equally posh Kensington and make the address ’something Mansions’, so everyone could see this is a posh person calling. You get the idea.
So please… no more comments!
March 27th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
I imagine if you made it more obvious in the name change that it was a fake name, then you wouldn’t get so many comments.
e.g. 34 PoshArea Mansions, Chelsington
March 27th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
That’s quite a good idea, I might do it next time.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Maybe put a “names and addresses of patients and callers have been changed” disclaimer at the top of the page.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Then perhaps Mark could go on Mastermind? - “Mark Myers, specialist subject, stating the bleeding obvious!”
(with thanks to Basil Fawlty)
March 27th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
you mean like this existing disclaimer of Nee Naw
“Disclaimer
The views expressed within this blog are mine alone and are not representative of London Ambulance Service as a whole, ambulance crews, other Nee Naw Control staff or indeed anyone in the world at all whatsoever. All names, places, ages and other identifying details, including those of staff, have been changed to protect confidentiality.”
March 27th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
You know, it never even occurred to me that the names and addresses you were giving might be real! I assumed from the outset that they’re all fake.
And thank you for doing this blog. I find it enormously interesting and really enjoy reading it.
March 27th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
well i think for the tower block how about mandela house, they you could call the people at that place, delboy ,rodders, etc.
.dive street, poshington ave, middleclass close.
have fun thinking up names
March 28th, 2006 at 12:08 am
Kayjay - one at the top of the page would make it look messy and detract from the content. As Dave has noticed, there is already one on the “About Nee Naw” page.
Poshington Ave though… I’m going to have to use that one!
March 28th, 2006 at 12:25 am
How about Poormans Place for the other end of town
March 28th, 2006 at 5:08 am
Poormans Place, that’s where I live!
March 28th, 2006 at 5:09 am
Keep up the good work Mark. Goodonya!
March 28th, 2006 at 5:52 am
Yes, there is a disclaimer on the “about” page. I’m just saying that a lot of people don’t read that page, as is pretty obvious by the fact that you get so many people complaining about revealing names and addresses.
I’m sure you could easily fit a small disclaimer into the text of the sidebar without it looking messy and distracting. After all, the sidebar is full of text. Hell, you could even put it at the bottom of the page. The point is to have it were it can be seen without having to click through onto another page. Otherwise, I can almost guarantee that even after this post telling them not to, people will still whitter on about the names and addresses.
But your blog, your call.
March 28th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Does that mean that people who leave messages saying they are a ‘policeman in Australia’ or a ‘call taker from America’ really aren’t really posting from these countries there?
Follower from Hong Kong (no, really.)
March 28th, 2006 at 6:37 am
The message was scrambled. But I think it still makes sense.
March 28th, 2006 at 7:17 am
i think mark just meant the addresses and names in the posts that are published on the main page.
March 28th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Kayjay - The trouble is, if I make the disclaimer subtle enough to be inobtrusive (whether on the side bar or a separate page), people are still going to miss it. I think the best idea so far is the “obviously made up addresses” one.
Blogreader - I have no control over other people’s comments in my blog and I have no idea whether they use their real names and locations or not. The disclaimer obviously only refers to the bits that I write myself.
March 28th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
It never entered into my head that any names or addresses would be real ones. I live in New Zealand where we have such tight privacy laws (I assume you do too), I too work in a public sphere and can’t even discuss with my co-workers anything that happens whilst working. Sometimes we do have the funniest, or most frustrating, things happen.
Keep up the great work, I love this blog and I’m now a regular reader.
p.s. I think it would be great to use names such as Poshington Ave or Poorman’s Pl as it would really help those of us who don’t know London so well…
March 28th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
I always assumed they were fake as well. But then again, I’m from “The States”(TM) and don’t have any reference to go by, so… None of this exists anyway.
March 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am
In my coursework for uni I have to refer people as Child A or Mr X, I much prefer your system, as you said it makes it more real and flow more easily.
March 29th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Hi
I am from a nursing background and, like the others, automatically assumed you used fake names (my real name isn’t Carla either!!).
I am now totally addicted to your blog - much of what you say rings bells - I worked in ITU and Cardia for many years. Keep tellin’ it as it is - mybe the rest of the world will begin to understand what it is we ‘healthcarers’ do and how much ingratitude there is for it!!
March 30th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Doesn’t matter where you put the disclaimer, some buggers just won’t read it.
April 1st, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Mate - dont worry about it and DONT change a thing - if people are really that stupid well, thats their problem!
We have got to lose this NANNY STATE way of thinking - you have a disclaimer, thats enough - what do people want, a disclaimer on every single post? makes me laugh - i saw a disclaimer on a packet of nuts the other day, it said WARNING THIS PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN NUTS! lol
Some people shouldn’t be allowed out in public!
Keep on going the way you are mate!
Oh and BTW im a LAS medic - your prev post about the ?17yr old panic attack - NOTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE - THAT SIMPLE!!!!
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:48 pm
Because of the mountains of coursework I do, I automatically include a disclaimer in the side bar of my site explaining that names and other identfiying details have been changed to protect the innoncet and not so innocent. As with my coursework, where I want to write about an incident I automatically write with the names intact then do a search and replace in openoffice so that consistancy is maintained. In some of my posts I use a system that I first saw in use by the man from shitty high which tags his co-workers with descriptive titles (Smileroid is one of my favorites) though I actually find this quite confusing. None the less, no matter how obvious you make it, some one will find fault… *sigh*
Still loveing the blog Mark
NQH
August 8th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Where is the disclaimer?
August 9th, 2007 at 11:45 am
http://www.neenaw.co.uk/index.php/about-nee-naw/