This Is What Happens When You Introduce Choice To The NHS…

Patients losing faith in Basildon Hospital and opting to go elsewhere for treatment has partly caused a NHS £43million overspend.

It seems the patients are opting out because, well, read for yourself:

It has emerged that part of the reason for NHS South West Essex’s colossal cash woes are because more patients last year refused treatment at Basildon, due to concerns over the standard of treatment they would receive.

A bit of an awkward PR situation for the trust?

Barbara Stuttle, director of quality and nursing for the trust, admitted this was a reason, as under Government rules a trust has to pay a penalty tariff if a patient wants to go to a hospital further away.

Mrs Stuttle said: “Yes, that was a factor in the sense that a lot people opted to go to Southend instead of Basildon, and in particular London hospitals, which has a much higher tariff. But Basildon is improving. Let’s put that straight.”

It’ll have to improve quite a lot…

A former nurse who died on Basildon Hospital’s diabetic ward was deprived of insulin for nine hours because her syringe driver was not connected.

D’oh!

Staff on the Mary Seacole ward (Ed: that’s the priority, in the modern NHS – not patients, of course, but ‘diversity’ and political correctness) did not realise the syringe, supposed to be administering insulin to diabetes sufferer Luz Tacon, 61, wasn’t connected until an hour after her death, because it was under her blanket.

In fact, it was a catalogue of errors from start to finish:

Commenting on the breakdown of communication between staff in intensive care and the ward, the report said: “The handover to the late staff was very sparse – no clinical/nursing information was given to the night staff, they only knew a patient was coming later.

“Allegedly, the night nurse was told to look in the handover book that is kept on the ward. This stated that patient Luz Tacon had a sliding scale of insulin.

“On questioning the night nurse, she confirmed she does not generally look in the handover book.”

And that’s why choice is the most important thing to bring to the NHS.

Because when patients can vote with their feet, these actions have consequences.