Are You Sure It Wasn’t A Siberian Filigree Hamster?

Staff spotted Mr Ketley stumbling around a corridor with the rat hanging from his neck by its teeth and nurses knocked it off and killed it. Hospital officials said it was a field mouse.

Ah, yes, the well-known man-eating field mouse…

But his mother Pat Boardman told the Mirror: "That's an outrageous claim. He had large, open bite marks.

"I'm appalled that this sort of thing could happen to my son in an NHS hospital in this day and age.

"He was completely helpless and terrified. It's a disgrace. He was very scared and the staff had to show him they had killed the rat to prove it could no longer hurt him."

The field mouse, I guess you mean? If you know what's good for you....

"I put my hand inside and felt an organ and I pulled it..."

File that one under 'things you don't want to hear at an inquest'...

Dr Carter said as a result of the death operating procedure had been modified slightly and the new method communicated "worldwide".

The 'new method', presumably, being 'Don't let the trainee have a go, and if you do and they mess it up, don't then rummage around in there like you were looking in your cutlery drawer for that pickle-fork you know you had just a few weeks ago'....

Yes, They Really Should Have, Shouldn't They?

"I can't believe they did what they did. Someone should have checked everything they needed was there before they got my mum into theatre.

"I just hope we don't experience anything like it again."

So much for the NHS being the wonder of the world...

Adam Brooks, clinical director for specialist support, which covers operating theatres at NUH, said: "We're sorry that Mrs Taylor's operation was delayed on 1 December.

"The specialist equipment (metal plates and screws) needed for her surgery had not returned from being sterilised – which is vital for the safety of such a procedure. We apologised to Mrs Taylor at the time and were able to reschedule her operation for the following week.

"All of our theatres equipment at NUH goes through a thorough checking process to ensure everything is of the highest quality and within sterilisation dates."

Look, Adam, no-one's suggesting that it doesn't, or that it should be any different. What they do expect is that your surgical staff should ensure they have everything they need to hand before they start searching for a place to stick the epidural.

It's only common sense, after all. Haven't your staff ever put together anything bought from MFI or IKEA?

Oh, Well, So Long As The Paperwork's In Place....

A father has hit out after a York Hospital doctor failed to consult next of kin before filling in a “do not attempt resuscitation” form for his son.

Gosh, and they said this’d never happen!

… kidney patient Andrew Watson’s condition deteriorated one night while his parents, Peter and Sheila, were asleep at their home in Wigginton.

Peter Watson only found out the following afternoon about the decision not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation if his son went into cardio respiratory arrest.

Whoops! However, the hospital has an excuse ready.

Not a good one, admittedly:

However, hospital bosses said a DNACPR form was not a consent form, but was intended as a record that a discussion about the decision had taken place.

*BZZZZZT!*

Still wrong. Because no discussion had…

Mr Watson said he disputed some of the findings of an investigation into the incident.

He said: “I do not intend to let this lie, as I do not want any patient, partner or next of kin to be put through the same distress that we had to suffer, and I don’t believe the trust will do anything constructive if left to manage it themselves.”

Does anyone? Anyone at all? Bueller?

Sarah Lovell, directorate manager for acute and general medicine, who investigated the matter, said in a report that Andrew had not been well enough for the decision to have been discussed with him and the doctor concerned had intended to discuss it with his next of kin.

Well, that road to hell is just paved with intentions, eh, Sarah?

She acknowledged staff could have made more pro-active attempts to arrange for a discussion much earlier in the day.

And could have, say, not simply filled the form in regardless….

The Sinking Ship Suffers A Bit Of A Manpower Problem...

A leading surgeon quit an NHS hospital in disgust, claiming that patients routinely suffered due to a lack of resources.

But I bet the hospital administrator's office doesn't suffer a lack of deep-pile carpet and personal coffee machines...

He is one of five surgeons to have quit the hospital in the last year.

And you'd think that would prompt questions in high places, wouldn't you?

“Something has happened but don’t worry, it is ok.”

Really? Not the words I'd use to describe this, and maybe the hospital had a rethink, because later - incredibly - there was no mention of it:

‘She said she would tell me when I came in to visit in the afternoon but when I got there they didn’t even mention it.

‘All I know is that Anthony woke up and he said the man had his hands round his neck and that someone must have pulled him off, and then they took him off.

‘He wasn’t all that good. I wouldn’t say he was dangerously ill but he just said he didn’t feel all that right. They kept asking him to drink water.

‘But Anthony was one of those people who didn’t like to make a fuss. He’d just say, “Oh I’m all right.”

But wait, you say, how was this allowed to happen in the first place? Wasn't he under guard?

Well, incredibly, the answer appears to have been 'Yes':

The UK Border Agency confirmed it is in the process of attempting to remove the Iranian man. A spokesman said: ‘We are reviewing this incident and, if necessary, will take appropriate action.

‘The detainee was handcuffed and accompanied by three escorts when the incident occurred.’

What were they doing?

NHS – More Concerned About Punishing The Leaker…

…than resolving questions about the competency of their staff:

NHS officials have called in police officers as part of an investigation to identify a hospital worker whose leak of confidential information highlighted serious allegations about the work of a doctor.

And no doubt that effort is 100% greater than that they expended on the actual allegations…

Now Staffordshire Police is applying for a court order to force an internet provider to name the mystery worker who revealed that some of the work of University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS) radiologist Dr Changez Jadun was branded 'negligent'.

Branded by whom? Some troublemaker with a grudge?

No. His own colleagues:

The documents showed how two external and one internal inquiry had been carried out into the safety of Dr Jadun's work.

Fears over the safety of his work were raised by both a national expert and then three of his fellow consultants.

The paperwork contained the names of a number of Dr Jadun's patients; and hospital bosses say that broke the law.

And can they spare some time away from the international manhunt to deal with the allegations?

After a string of new reviews into dozens of patients Dr Jadun operated on, the radiologist is to be allowed back to work full-time.

Ah. Great. So we don't know why the allegations were made, nor whether there was any basis to them. But I think we can guess why the unknown leaker felt he/she had no option but to take this route...