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...

NHS loses CD of 1.6 MILLION patients' records

An NHS trust has told patients that it is acting to improve its data handling practices after a rebuke from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for losing a CD containing details on 1.6 million people.

Chief executive of NHS Kent and Medway Ann Sutton said that information is now more secure following the implementation of encryption systems to replace the use of floppy discs and CDs.

Last week the trust was handed an undertaking by the information watchdog after sending the personal information to a landfill during an office move in March. The ICO said the data contained the names, addresses, dates of birth, NHS numbers and GP details of those affected.

Source: The Register.

Are The Words ‘No, Love, It’s Supposed To Look Like That’ So Hard Then..?

GPs should not refer women who are well but worried for female genital cosmetic surgery on the NHS, say experts.

Well, duh!

Specialists at a Central London teaching hospital say they received 30 such referrals, mainly from family doctors, over the past three years.

This included eight schoolgirls - one as young as 11 - the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology reports.

Experts say doctors need clear guidance on how best to care for women who mistakenly believe they need surgery.

Sorry, why? Don’t they do five years at medical school? How hard can it be?

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons says medics need to determine whether a problem exists or whether an alternative solution may be preferable, but offers no advice on how to judge the problem, say the researchers from University College London's Women's Health Institute.

If it’s not an actual clinical problem, what sort of advice should you need?

They say it may be simpler to ban the procedure in the NHS altogether, leaving it to private practices.

Well, I’m all for this on cost grounds, actually, but then what about those who do have a real, clinical problem? Where do they go?

I mean, good grief, why is it so bloody hard for supposed ‘professionals’ to just do the damned job they are paid for?

Dr Sarah Creighton and colleagues believe the future demand for so-called "designer vagina" operations or labial reductions is potentially infinite and is driven by society's wider and growing desire for cosmetic surgery in general and changing expectations about what is a desirable appearance for women.

Yes, you can certainly blame the media and women’s magazines and fads started by the permatanned chavs of Essex and Cheshire for the desire for such surgery.

But you can’t blame the GPs’ reluctance to address those issues with their patients, and to send them for unnecessary and costly surgery on the NHS, on that.

Can you?

The Fundamental Problem With Nursing...

Sir Stephen Moss, chairman of Stafford Hospital and himself a nurse for 40 years, said that “too many patients and families” are being let down but that staff shortages are not to blame.

He suggested the problems lie in the training nurses receive as well as the way they work on hospital wards, and plans to lead a new campaign to improve standards.

I take it ‘the way they work on hospital wards’ is code for ‘they should put down ‘Heat’ magazine occasionally and check to see if elderly patients are starving to death’?

Unions and professional bodies have suggested that the problems are down to staff being over-worked or forced to focus on Government targets rather than providing personal care.

Because if it wasn’t for the government telling them how to do every tiny small task, they’d be completely unable to understand that patients need to be fed and floors need to be washed?

But other commentators have claimed that too much care is now provided by cheap healthcare assistants, who do not need to meet national training standards and who are not regulated by a professional body; or that nurses think they are “above” feeding and cleaning patients now that they have to be university-educated.

Surely not!

Sir Stephen is drawing together a group of seven “big hitters” in the health service to suggest ways that hospital care can be improved.

Their plans, to be disclosed in September, will focus on how nurses can be trained for “the real world of the NHS rather than the classroom” .

I can’t say this isn’t welcome, but I fear it’s too little, and far too late.

Nostalgia Alert! Rationing's Back In Fashion!

Health service trusts are “imposing pain and inconvenience” by making patients wait longer than necessary, in some cases as long as four months, the study found.

Executives believe the delays mean some people will remove themselves from lists “either by dying or by paying for their own treatment” claims the report, by an independent watchdog that advises the NHS.

And this surprises people? It was always bound to happen…

But managers, who are already rationing surgery for cataracts, hips, knees and tonsils, say they must restrict treatment as the NHS is under orders to make £20 billion of efficiency savings by 2015.

Because, clearly, there are no other possible ways of making those efficiency savings, I suppose?

H/T: AC1

Those Selfless, Caring NHS Staff....

An elderly hospital patient suffered severe brain damage and died after staff turned down the volume on an alarm system monitoring his heart.

Ahhh, those caring NHS staff…

An investigation found the volume of the heart-monitor alarm had been turned down to 40 per cent of its maximum on November 21, 2008.

The speakers had also been turned the wrong way and covered in paperwork.

An accident? Carelessness?

No…

An inquest sitting with a jury at Hanley Town Hall yesterday heard the volume could not have been reduced accidentally as someone has to change the settings on a computer system.

Under questioning, the staff adopt the sort of attitude you’d expect from state-run healthcare ‘professionals’:

Margaret Archer, a sister at the hospital at the time of the incident, said she had not heard the crisis alarm sound when Mr Bough’s condition worsened.

North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith asked her: ‘Is this a case where someone on your shift has just turned the volume down, or has it been like this for some considerable time?’

She replied: ‘I don’t know. I wouldn’t have allowed anyone to do it.’

Are you sure?

Because clearly you didn’t notice the speakers or the paperwork, so we can only conclude you were quite happy to allow that…

After restarting Mr Bough’s heart, Dr Satchi checked the telemetry system that monitors the heart rates of up to ten patients on the ward.

‘I checked the monitor, which appeared to still be flashing red, but there was no audible alarm,’ he said.

‘I checked the screen to see if it had detected an abnormal heart rhythm and it had done so for between 15 and 17 minutes.’

Mr Smith told Dr Satchi: ‘Had he been treated promptly, the likelihood is you would have got his heart back earlier and he wouldn’t have suffered the significant brain damage he did.’

Dr Satchi replied: ‘Yes.’

And the verdict?

As Mr Bough’s relatives sobbed in the gallery, the coroner ruled that he died of natural causes ‘exacerbated by an act of omission causing alerts from the heart monitoring to not be seen or heard’

Why not call it what it was – criminal negligence?

Hospital pillows riddled with infection

Hospital patients are at risk of catching infections such as MRSA and C. difficile from "biohazard" pillows which are ridden with 30 different bugs, according to a new study.

Nurses are required to regularly wash their hands and disinfect bed frames and mattresses, but underestimate the risk of infection from dirty pillows, a report said.

But dead skin, dandruff, dirty air and contaminated fluids found on pillows in hospital wards expose patients to the risk of diseases ranging from seasonal flu to chickenpox, hepatitis and even leprosy, it was claimed.

The study by The Barts and The London NHS Trust found 30 different types of infection in a sample of pillows taken from hospital wards, posing a significant risk of infection.

While used linen and bedding is changed and laundered between patients and is routinely cleaned, the study found a "very high and unacceptable percentage" of damaged pillows on three test wards.

Tears to the lining or stitching of pillows mean they cannot be effectively cleaned and patients could be exposed to infection through the mouth, nose, eyes and ears, the report said.

Germs are released through tears and the stitching of standard NHS pillows when pressure is applied – for example when a patient lays their head down, it added.

Source: Telegraph

Elderly told: Bang tambourine to call for nurses' help

HOSPITAL chiefs have apologised after giving elderly patients a TAMBOURINE to call for nurses in an emergency.

The musical instrument was left in a day room after older patients feared they were too far away for nurses to hear any cries for help.

A pair of maracas were also handed out as a back-up — in case the tambourine failed.

But an NHS watchdog complained and bosses are now providing a hand bell - and making sure patients are accompanied.

Cardiff Royal Infirmary is well known for its long corridors and has been used to film episodes of TV's Dr Who.

Staff put the tambourine in the West Wing day room following complaints from frail patients that they struggled to get the attention of staff.

Source: The Sun

Accountability? What Accountability..?

A GP who sent a four-year-old girl home with a fatal pneumonia infection can continue practicing medicine after a hearing found he had “learned his lesson”.

Oh, really?

Dr Shoab Ibrahim failed to listen to the concerns of the girl’s parents and did not carry out “simple but important” tests that would have shown she was seriously ill.

Yes, clearly a very easy mistake to make for someone whose job consists mostly of listening to patients and then ordering tests….

/facepalm

Ibrahim, who practices at the Robert Frew Medical Centre, in Silva Island Way, Wickford, was told by the General Medical Council he was guilty of misconduct in his treatment of the girl, but that his failings were “highly unlikely to be repeated”.

Panel chairman Sheleen McCormack told him: “You have shown insight into your misconduct and you have remedied the deficiencies in this case.

“The panel does not consider your fitness to practice is impaired.”

That doesn’t seem to jibe with this part of the summing up, though:

Ms McCormack said the girl’s parents had been “clear, consistent and reliable” in their evidence, whereas the doctor was “inconsistent in several material respects”.

That sounds very, very close to ‘We caught you out in a lie several times’. Doesn’t it?

Ibrahim, who qualified in Pakistan in 1988, can now continue practicing without restrictions as a result of the decision.

Great. Glad he isn’t my GP.

Bullied by the NHS, cancer patient who complained about his treatment online

A cancer patient who wrote an online diary highlighting failings in his hospital care has been threatened with legal action by a ‘bullying’ NHS trust.

Retired publican Daniel Sencier, 59, was so worried about delays and damaging administrative problems at his local hospital that he arranged to have surgery for his prostate cancer in another part of the country.

Following his successful operation Mr Sencier campaigned for improvements at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle because he wanted to help other patients. He lodged a formal complaint and an internal inquiry resulted in an eight-point ‘action plan’ to improve procedures.

But instead of apologising to Mr Sencier, NHS bosses have hired lawyers with orders to clamp down on his blog.

A letter sent by solicitors Ward Hadaway, acting for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, warned him: ‘The Trust will monitor the content of your blog and if it contains information that is not factually correct or which contains unsubstantiated criticism of the care you received at the Trust, the Trust will have no hesitation in considering taking legal action against you.’

Mr Sencier and his supporters were planning a demonstration outside the hospital, but legal action has been threatened over that too.

The father of five said he was appalled that health service managers would rather spend ‘thousands of pounds’ to pursue him than put into effect the low-cost measures to improve patient-doctor communication he has called for.

Source: Daily Mail

Ice, Ice Baby...

Debra Sanderson said her son was told by doctors at Royal Blackburn Hospital his leg needed to be packed with ice to reduce heavy swelling so he could undergo an operation.

But when she asked nurses for ice, Mrs Sanderson said she was told they had run out.

Run out of ice? Isn’t it just frozen water?

Can’t they make some, or has the NHS lost the recipe?

She said she was forced to visit a supermarket twice a day to buy ice cubes herself for her son, who spent 10 days in hospital after injuring his ankle while playing football.

I’d be damned if I’d do that!

Especially as it turned out there was no need – there was ice available, it was just that the useless, lazy, incompetent staff couldn’t be bothered to go get some, recommended by the doctor or not:

Hospital bosses said ice had been available elsewhere in the hospital, but the trust admitted this had not been made clear to the family.

Well, no. I bet it wasn’t:

Mrs Sanderson, 45, of Sutton Avenue, Burnley, said her son was taken to Blackburn by ambulance and was visited by a consultant the following day.

She said she was told her son’s leg would need to be kept elevated and packed with ice.

“When we went in to see him on the Sunday he was in some discomfort,” she said.

“I asked the nurses if he could have his ice replaced because it had begun to melt.

“When we went back that evening it still hadn’t been done.

“I asked a nurse again because nearly five hours had elapsed. She said ‘unfortunately we’ve no ice’.

“I said, ‘I’m sure in a hospital this size there is somewhere you can get some ice’, and she said ‘we can’t, the machines are all broken’.

Translation: ‘The ones nearest our station are broken and we can’t be arsed to put our copies of ‘Heat’ and ‘Hello!’ down for the five minutes it’d take to go get it.’

Mrs Sanderson said: “It’s not so much the money, because the ice cost about £3 a day.

"It’s that I don’t want it to happen to anybody else.

“We’ve had an email saying it was a lack of communication, but it wasn’t a lack of communication in my opinion, it was neglect.”

Yes. Yes, it was…

Lynn Wissett, deputy chief executive of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said it had contacted the family within four hours of receiving Mr Birtwistle’s email and met with them the next day.

She said: “The patient’s leg needed a very large amount of ice to reduce the swelling, meaning ice flowing through the ward’s machine was not quite enough.

“There are a number of machines across the hospital and the trust has always had enough ice to meet the needs of patients.

“Unfortunately, the availability of ice elsewhere in the hospital had not been made clear to the patient and his family.

“At our meeting, we explained that enough ice was always available to meet all of our patients’ needs, and further explained this patient’s treatment plan.

“We are, as with any patient, happy to meet with this patient and his family again.”

I’m not generally in favour of the compensation culture, but in this case, maybe if it came directly out of the lackadaisical staff’s wage packet, it’d actually make a difference?

Third World Healthcare...

41-year-old Mr Thompson had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs but instead of taking him to accident and emergency, staff at the Edale House unit at the Manchester Royal Infirmary left him sprawled on the floor, where he eventually died.

And before they discovered that he was dead….

CCTV captured staff pulling the lifeless body of Peter Thompson along the floor like they were 'dragging the body of a dead animal'.

The family are appalled at the CCTV footage. And at the attitude of the staff.

Senior nurse Helen De Lacy-Leacey said she alerted night staff that the patient was outside the doors of the ward and asked them to: 'keep an eye on him and make sure he is okay'.

And did they?

Well….

… night manager Steve Soobhug said leaving him to sleep outside was 'the appropriate method of handling the situation at the time'.

If he’d just been drunk rather than dying (in some Third World-standard hospital), you might - might - have had a point. But he wasn’t.

Fellow senior staff nurse Miss Dini Oyebadejo said she checked on the patient several more times overnight but discovered him 'stiff' at 6.15am and raised the alarm.

Eh? Rigor mortis had set in? So all those ‘checks’ you claimed to have done failed to pick up the absence of life?

No wonder the coroner’s asking questions…

I Think I Preferred You When You Were Denying People Cancer Drugs, Frankly…

Fast-food chains could be told to cut the size of portions of chips, the chairman of the NHS watchdog says.

Shouldn’t the NHS watchdog have far more important things to concern itself with, given the poor performance of so many of its hospitals?

Sir Michael Rawlins said the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) may produce guidelines to recommend smaller servings to help combat obesity.

Well, that’s fine, then. Guidelines can be ignored, can’t they?

Sir Michael, who leaves Nice next year to become president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: ‘Someone had actually reduced the number of chips in a standard portion.

‘Nobody noticed, which is quite interesting. Nice could suggest it.

‘It could be a recommendation. When it comes to obesity we have to do more to help people reduce their intake of food.

'It is not a single bullet but a whole variety of things that we need to do to help people and help communities.’

I really don’t think we need that kind of ‘help’. I’m pretty sure we don’t need to pay you to come up with it, either…

The watchdog is drawing up guidelines to help councils and health trusts tackle obesity.

This is expected to be published in November 2012 following public consultation.

What sort of public consultation?

The sort where the public point out what useless, counter-productive nannying claptrap you’ve come up with, and you then go ahead regardless?

The details are unlikely to include specific advice telling fast-food chains and restaurants to cut chip portions.

However, Sir Michael indicated that in future the watchdog could suggest such measures.

Suggest away. I’m sure everyone will feel free to treat your suggestions with all the attention they really deserve.

None.

Fifth mother dies at 'worst maternity unit in the country' as sister blasts doctors for 'delaying treatment'

Violet Stephens, 35, died just days after the Care Quality Commission delivered another damning report on Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex. Last year the hospital had three maternal deaths which makes its death rate three times higher than the national average for maternity units.

Ms Stephens, a care worker, from Brentwood, Essex, was rushed to hospital at the beginning of April when she was 32 weeks pregnant. She had raised blood pressure a warning sign that she might have the potentially fatal condition pre eclampsia. It was her third pregnancy and she had suffered from the condition at the same stage of her first pregnancy.

But staff delayed giving her a caesarean operation for four days and she died soon after surgery from HELLP Syndrome an advanced form of pre-eclampsia...

Source: Daily Mail.

Mother-of-two dies after doctors give her 16 times correct dose of labour-inducing drug

Suzanne Ballantyne, 47, a partner at Capsticks Solicitors, was being treated at St George's Hospital in London, after her unborn child died in the womb 39 weeks into her pregnancy.

Doctors gave her an 800-microgramme dose of misoprostol, as recommended by the Trust's in-house protocol, in an attempt to induce labour and retrieve the foetus. However, the drug is known to put patients at increased risk of tears to the uterus.

Guidelines from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists - published just four days before Mrs Ballantyne's death last November - recommend doses of no higher than 50mcg...

Source: Daily Mail.

Up to 400 women are suing Liverpool Women's NHS Trust, claiming their incontinence was made worse by surgeon George Rowland.

A hospital is to pay compensation to hundreds of women who were given the wrong treatment for incontinence.

Up to 400 women are suing Liverpool Women's NHS Trust, claiming their incontinence was made worse by surgeon George Rowland.

Mr Rowland, a former consultant urogynaecologist at the hospital, is accused of performing inappropriate operations and giving poor post-operative care.

Of the 400 women suing the Trust, around 70 cases have been processed and, in 50% of these cases the hospital has admitted negligence and offered compensation.

That is according to Ian Cohen from Liverpool law firm Goodmans Law, which is handling most of the claims.

The women, who had pre-existing incontinence problems, all went to Mr Rowland between the mid-1990s and 2007.

Some then underwent unnecessary procedures, some of which were badly done, according to Mr Cohen.

The outcomes of some of the operations had been "life changing" for some patients, he said.

"Some women have gone in with minor symptoms and have been left double incontinent and have come away with very significant problems. It is horrendous."

It is believed to be one of the largest group actions ever taken against an NHS trust and the eventual cost could run up to £10m.

The General Medical Council has now imposed conditions on Mr Rowland's licence to practise and ruled he must not carry out any urogynaecological surgical procedures.

A spokeswoman for Liverpool Women's NHS Trust said that Mr Rowland no longer worked at the hospital.

Source: Sky News

Travel Broadens The Mind, But Doesn't Do Much For Kidney Disease...

A woman has to endure 12 hours of travel a week to get lifesaving dialysis because no nearby hospital has room for her.

But…but….but all that money Labour poured into the NHS! Where’s it all gone?

Mrs Rusack was hoping to be able to use new renal dialysis facilities at Clacton. The introduction of a unit offering dialysis treatment at Kennedy House, in Kennedy Way, was announced in 2009 and the new unit was supposed to open in spring 2010.

Complications with building work delayed the project and it is still not operational.

Oh, blame the builders?

Janice Rowe spearheaded the campaign to get the unit.

She said: “I’m appalled at the delay.

“As far as I know all the equipment is in there waiting but not being used.”

Ah. Maybe not, then.

A spokesman for NHS north east Essex said the delays were mainly due to changes in NHS policy and legislation.

He said: “We are optimistic this situation can be resolved in the near future and it is hoped we will be able to open the Clacton unit in the next 12 months.”

‘It is hoped…’ ‘In the next 12 months’. Not exactly rushing, are they?

In the comments, it turns out this isn’t even news:

janiscurtis, Holland on Sea says...

In 2002 my father had to do the same journey, leaving Clacton sometimes as early as 4am & returning late evening. He fell and broke his hip whilst in the London Hospital and contracted MRSA while staying there. This was no surprise as the conditions were less than ideal.

Someone else, at least, is asking the right questions:

allanledwith, Colchester says...

janiscurtis you email your father had to make the same journey in 2002 and here we are in 2011 and nothing has changed! Its really disgraceful all the money pumped into the NHS by Labour in 13 years and no improvement. I challenged Cllr Julie Young about the new Turner Road Walk in Centre and the palatial offices on the first floor for the bureaucrats. Cllr Young defended that as a benefit. Here we are in 2011 and people are still having to travel to London for dialysis. Its diabolical! This is how Labour wasted NHS money plush offices and big salaries leaving patients in this situation! An answer for these people Councillor Young especially after Labour's prediction how well you will do in the coming election! Justify this - no change for these patients since 2002!

Hard to disagree.

Mother killed by a blood clot weeks after GP told her 'Don't worry, you won't drop dead'

A woman who feared her continual migraines were life-threatening died weeks after a GP allegedly told her: ‘Don’t worry, you won’t drop dead.’

Lucy Rudol visited her doctor up to 50 times to voice her worries at the headaches which were leaving her in pain and confused, an inquest heard. After four years she was eventually given a scan which revealed blood clots on her brain and showed that Miss Rudol, of Reddish, Stockport, had suffered a series of minor strokes.

Her mother, Julie Harrison, a nurse, said: ‘Lucy started feeling numbness down her left side and she developed terrible headaches. Initially we believed the diagnoses of migraines and Lucy was relieved it was nothing serious. But the symptoms didn’t get any better and the medication they gave her didn’t work. She kept going back because she was so worried.

'I would estimate she went at least 50 times and I started to think it might be a bleed on the brain because I recognised the symptoms. But they just dismissed us. This went on for years and the symptoms started to get worse. She would get confused and one day she said she couldn’t understand the words in her book. One week, Lucy was so ill that went to see the GP three times, but it wasn’t until we insisted on a brain scan that they agreed. That was four years later.’

The scan was carried out in March last year and revealed blood clots on her brain which showed she had suffered a series of minor strokes...

Source: Daily Mail.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390849/Mother-killed-blood-clot-weeks-GP-told-Dont-worry-wont-drop-dead.html#ixzz1NSup3Ooy

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

The family of an elderly patient who died from dehydration said they were forced to give him water through a damp flannel - after hospital staff refused to put him on a drip.

One nurse allegedly told the man's daughter: 'You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink' just days before he died.

If you treated a horse the way you treated that man, the RSPCA would want a word...

Another blundering doctor even said Kenneth was ready to be discharged only hours before he passed away - and told coroners his family were happy with his treatment.

Can you be done for perjury in a coroner's court?

Bosses at Royal Derby Hospital, where Kenneth had undergone a routine hip operation, have admitted a string of failures at an inquest into his death.


The hearing even discussed whether Mahya Mirfattiahi should face a police investigation for initially telling a coroner's officer the family were happy with his treatment.

No surprises what conclusion they eventually came to...

But Coroner for Derby and South Derbyshire, Robert Hunter eventually decided not to refer the doctor's actions to police.

Shocker, eh?

Dr Hunter was due to record a verdict last night - telling the family it could be one of accidental death, with a rider of neglect.

And it came to pass that this was, indeed, the verdict.

Brigid Stacey, director of nursing and midwifery, told his inquest: 'I offer sincere condolences to the family of Mr Walters and formally apologise for the insufficiencies.'

That's nice, dear. Who's losing their job, then?

Oh, no-one? How surprising...

Cuts? What Cuts?

The coalition hasn't really got to grips with waste in the NHS. They've merely shifted it:

A healthcare watchdog plans to spend nearly a quarter of a million pounds on new communications staff – as hospitals prepare to shed thousands of jobs.

The Care Quality Commission, which regulates health and social care in England, is advertising for seven roles, including a digital communications content manager and technical web developer.

*sigh*

Mother dies of brain haemorrhage after hospital sent her home with painkillers

Hospital chiefs have been forced to apologise after a mother with a brain haemorrhage died when she was sent home with painkillers.

York Hospitals NHS Trust has paid 'significant' compensation to the family of Dawn Liddell, 42, who collapsed and died four days after the consultation. Dawn would have had an 80-85 per cent chance of survival if she had been sent for a CT scan and then gone into a neurological unit for treatment.

Instead, she was sent home and told to contact her GP if her symptoms continued. Days later, she collapsed and died from a second haemorrhage after going back into hospital. Her mother Beryl says the treatment today is worse than in the 60s, when she had a haomorrhage and was rushed to hospital immediately where it was diagnosed.

Source: Daily Mail

Boy, 6, dies of meningitis after doctors tell him to 'go home and sleep off sore throat'

A six-year-old boy died from meningitis just hours after he was sent home with antibiotics by hospital staff.

Mohammed Akheel Khan was rushed to Rochdale Infirmary Urgent Care Centre by his mother Safina, after he started vomiting at school. He was discharged by a doctor, who Mohammed's family say told them the little boy had tonsillitis and that they should let him 'sleep it off'.

But less than five hours later Mohammed was taken back to the hospital after his condition deteriorated. He was diagnosed with meningitis and died two hours later...

Source: Daily Mail.

Who Is The 'Customer'? Not You, That's For Sure...

A nurse is under investigation after she allegedly gave a child the MMR jab without his mother’s consent.

Practice nurse Rashiela Parekh failed to ask permission before injecting the three-year-old and did not inform his parents that he had been given the jab until it was too late, his mother claims.

Robina Siddique has accused the nurse of giving her son the injection simply to meet Government targets.

Would anyone be surprised if this turned out to be the reason, rather than simple arrogance or incompetence?

Hospital bosses apologise after woman patient was left on trolley for SEVENTEEN HOURS

Hospital chiefs have been forced to apologise after a patient was left on a trolley for 17 hours.

Mother-of-two Kathy Ollis-Brown, 47, was rushed to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill on Sunday after suffering an epileptic fit. She was still waiting on the trolley at 3.30pm on the following day before she was finally moved into a ward...

Source: Daily Mail

Woman is left brain damaged after waiting two hours for an ambulance... that was sitting only 100 YARDS away

A woman suffered serious brain injuries and a heart attack after she was forced to wait two hours for an ambulance - which was sitting 100 yards away.

Caren Paterson, 33, collapsed in her flat in Islington, North London, before her boyfriend made three frantic 999 calls pleading for an ambulance to arrive.
Her brain was starved of oxygen.

Ms Paterson's family have now started legal proceedings against the London Ambulance Service after it emerged that staff were told not to enter the flat.

Paramedics were required to have a police escort, which was not available at the time, because officers had previously attended the address and deemed it 'high risk'.

But the Paterson's legal team believe the grading might have related to a different flat or was placed on the property several years before Ms Paterson, a medical researcher at King's College Hospital, moved in...

Source: Daily Mail

Former NHS director dies after operation is cancelled four times at her own hospital

A former NHS director died after waiting for nine months for an operation - at her own hospital.

Margaret Hutchon, a former mayor, had been waiting since last June for a follow-up stomach operation at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.

But her appointments to go under the knife were cancelled four times and she barely regained consciousness after finally having surgery.

Her devastated husband, Jim, is now demanding answers from Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust - the organisation where his wife had served as a non-executive member of the board of directors.

He said: 'I don't really know why she died. I did not get a reason from the hospital. We all want to know for closure. She got weaker and weaker as she waited and operations were put off.'

Mr Hutchon, of Great Baddow, Essex, said his wife, 72, had initially undergone major stomach surgery last June but the follow up procedures were repeatedly abandoned.

The former mayor remained at the hospital for months but her family feared she was becoming institutionalised and decided to bring her home until an operation was a certainty.


Source: Daily Mail

Foreign doctors work in Britain without speaking English

Foreign doctors whose English is so poor that they need interpreters are being allowed to operate on patients in Britain, the medical regulator has warned.

The General Medical Council said current European rules represent a “serious cause of concern” and risk to patient safety by banning it from testing GPs’ language skills before they can start working here.
The regulator said it has some doctors on its books who "are not able to communicate in English" but could not prevent them seeking work here under European law.

It warned that bogus doctors from other countries may find their way into the NHS by presenting fake certificates or ID, because of a lack of security checks, or could hide the fact that they had been suspended from practising in their homeland.

Even genuine doctors from abroad may have little idea of how to carry out procedures that are standard in Britain, because there is no standard training, education or healthcare system.

The GMC’s strongly worded submission to the European Commission, which is reviewing the laws that allow free movement of medics across the continent, comes after the scandal of Daniel Ubani.

The German doctor, who worked mainly as a cosmetic surgeon, gave a lethal dose of painkillers to a 70 year-old English man on his first shift as a locum GP in Cambridgeshire, but the GMC had been unable to check if he had any experience in general practice.

Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Health Minister, said “inherent weaknesses in the vetting system” allowed the Ubani case to happen.

“To suggest that workers can operate in our healthcare system without proper training, assessments or being able to communicate with patients seems to me to be absurd."
Under the current system, doctors from the European Economic Area - the 27 European Union members states, along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - are allowed to work in Britain and 23,033 are registered to do so.

Unlike doctors who come to Britain from other parts of the world, the European single market means that the GMC has to accept their qualifications and is not allowed to test their competency or their English language skills. Potential NHS employers are allowed to carry out such assessments, however.
The regulator, which keeps a register of qualified doctors and holds disciplinary hearings that can result in them being struck off, has said that a handful of foreign doctors are on its books even though they cannot speak English.
Its submission to the EC states: “Currently, EEA applicants to the GMC register do not need to pass a language assessment even in cases where there is doubt.
“We have recent examples of EEA doctors seeking recognition and registration with the GMC who are not able to communicate in English and were assisted by an interpreter. This is a serious cause of concern to us.”
In such cases, all the watchdog can do is remind doctors they have a duty to understand the language of the country in which they are seeking to work, but it cannot prevent them from registering.

The GMC said it has already carried out fitness to practise cases in which doctors have been struck off or suspended partly as a result of their poor English.
In one case, a doctor was found “apparently speaking in a foreign language” in an operating theatre, leaving the assistant surgeon “unsure what assistance was required”.
The GMC said: “It remains our view that the ability of the professional to communicate effectively in the language of the host member state should be a prerequisite for registration and that we should be able to assess the knowledge of language where appropriate.”
In an apparent reference to the Ubani case, the GMC told the EC: “Recent events in the UK have highlighted some of the regulatory gaps that have the potential to harm patients and undermine confidence in both the single market in general and healthcare in particular.”
It warned the EC not to simplify the system of mutual recognition of doctors across Europe “at the expense of patient safety”.

The submission raised “serious concerns” about a code of conduct that prevents it from getting hold of translated copies of migrant doctors’ diplomas and proof of their identity, and said that a proposed “professional passport” also brings “significant risks” of fraud and forgery.
The GMC said that it and other regulators across Europe “cannot have full confidence in each other’s medical training and education” because there is so little knowledge about standards in different countries.
In addition, European states operate widely differing healthcare systems so that there is “patient safety risk” when foreign GPs are asked to carry out procedures they were unused to in their home countries.
It said doctors should only be registered to work elsewhere “when they are known to be fit and safe to practise and have no conditions or limitations on their registration”.

The Strange Case Of Abiola Abara

Abiola Apara, 58, was sacked after a string of concerns were raised over her management of the hospital’s Lionel Cosins elderly people’s ward.

But it took a while:

Apara was initially suspended following complaints from staff and patients in spring 2007. Then, in September 2007, the entire ward was re-staffed. The hospital has refused to release details of its probe or comment on any irregular activities, but a source confirmed the investigation into Apara had looked into her recruitment of nurses.

And what was wrong with her recruitment of nurses?

The concerns came to light after Eileen Curry made an official complaint about conditions on the ward. Mrs Curry, 66, of Weathersfield Way, Wickford, complained following the death of her mother Catherine Talbot, 89. She was admitted to the hospital in April 2007 with shingles, and died the following month from blood poisoning caused by an infection she received in hospital. Mrs Talbot also caught superbug Clostridium Difficile while in the hospital. Mrs Curry told the Echo: “I was shocked when the hospital explained to me why conditions on the ward were so bad, partly because of the manager’s involvement in recruitment. “My mother was partially-sighted and deaf. She would have struggled to hear anyway, but the strong accents made it even harder for her to know what was happening. Many of the nurses failed to have any empathy with the patients, and were also rough with my mother. “It is nearly four years since my mother died, and the tribunal is only just happening.”

Ah. There’s a lot of clues here, isn't there?

Alan Whittle, hospital chief executive, wrote to Mrs Curry about her original complaint and stressed staff should look after patients regardless of any cultural differences.

Hmmm, that sounds awfully familiar….

Rationed osteoporosis drug is 17 times more effective

Millions of women are being denied the benefits of an osteoporosis drug that is far more effective than the standard treatment, new research suggests.

An in-depth study found that strontium ranelate is 17 times better at boosting bone formation than the medication usually given to sufferers of the crippling condition.

It is also far easier to take than the recommended drug, which requires patients to stand or sit for half an hour after taking it and can cause stomach pains.

But strontium ranelate, which costs more than six times as much as the standard medication, is strictly rationed in England to older women at high risk of suffering fractures or who cannot take the usual drug, called alendronate.

Professor Roger Frances, from the Institute for Ageing and Health at the University of Newcastle, said: “These results are so important for patients as strontium ranelate is a proven drug that is already available on the NHS. This study clearly suggests that strontium ranelate helps patients to build new bone to a far greater extent than alendronate, the current standard of care.”

Source: Telegraph

"Show us yer dirty knickers, love!"

For the last few years, she has counted on the health service to afford her dignity and security in her old age.

But now a blind 77-year-old widow has been left feeling dehumanised and humiliated by those who were supposed to be looking after her.

Edith Braddow, who was prescribed incontinence pads by a local clinic after being referred by her GP, says she was told to bring in three soiled pads if she wanted to continue to receive them.

This doesn't even make sense. It's not like she couldn't fake it if she wanted to, is it?

And just what do they think she's doing with them if she doesn't need them? Is there a black market in incontinence pads?

Even worse is the fact that she and her son meekly complied with this request:

'I was incensed, but we put three pads in a carrier bag.

When we got there the nurses actually weighed each pad in front of us and referred to some kind of scale...'.

And believe it or not, the health authority actually defended this:

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Community Health insisted that testing incontinence pads for absorbency was standard practice.

‘A review of the continence service took place during 2010 and changes have been made to ensure patients receive optimum care,’ she said. ‘The aim of the service is always to return patients to continence wherever possible. Pads are only prescribed for those patients with moderate to severe incontinence.

‘All patients are offered a comprehensive clinical assessment, which includes reviewing existing pads to ensure adequate absorbency and comfort to the patient, as defined by National Good Practice, followed by a clear treatment plan.’

I don't know which I'd prefer to believe - that they are so dehumanised themselves that they believe that this is acceptable behaviour, or that they are just secret perverts who are turned on by soiled underwear.

If the latter, I suggest they go to Japan, where such tastes are catered for with vending machines...

'The staff didn’t seem to think it was that unusual, they said it happens a lot.'

Frances Randall, 21, had been waiting for three hours to be moved to a maternity ward when her baby arrived as her partner and mother desperately looked for help.

He was delivered by a stranger in the room, but fell to the floor and hit his head.

I know the hospital well - it's a £238 million disaster area.

The woman who came to her aid, Kiran Deep Virdee, 52, added: ‘It is disgusting that in this country she had to give birth on a chair. She was given no dignity.’

You thought you were in a First World country, didn't you? You were wrong, at least when it comes to Queen's Hospital...

This isn't their first maternity-related screw-up, after all:

Queen’s Hospital’s head of midwifery, Sue Lovell, apologised for the latest incident and said a new triage system was being introduced.

‘When labouring women arrive they will be seen immediately by a midwife and moved straight to the most appropriate area, whether that be the labour ward or ante-natal,’ she said.

‘This will eliminate the need for women to stay in waiting areas.’

It didn't occur to you to do this before..?

Patient Opinion report released today.

New report released today

In their own words: What patients have been saying about health services over the past 5 years

Read or download the report here (PDF)

Foreign nurses will be able to work here with just TWO days' testing in EU shake-up

Poorly-trained foreign nurses will be allowed to work in Britain after completing only two days of role playing and multiple choice tests. The short course replaces the rigorous assessments and exams currently undertaken by those failing to meet NHS standards. To work on wards, nurses are likely to need to show only their skills on dummies, with no requirement to speak good English.

The shake-up is being imposed by the European Union, which says tests on foreign workers go against its freedom of movement laws. Senior health officials fear the multiple choice assessments, which will begin in April, will be unrealistic and too easy.

Under the existing rules, any EU nurse whose training is deemed substandard must go on an intensive adaptation programme lasting up to six months before they can work in UK hospitals. The courses, which can cost up to £1,500, are run by universities and consist of theory tests, written coursework and practical exams in wards or nursing homes. Although not directly assessed on their English, candidates would struggle to pass without good language skills. The regime is so strict that only a quarter of the 8,000 EU nurses who apply to work in the UK every year see the process through. Most are put off by the cost and difficulty of making the grade.

Those not up to scratch largely come from states relatively new to the EU such as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia. The new tests are being drawn up by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. It is understood they will involve multiple choice, role plays and demonstrations on dummy patients – and may last just two days.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘These multiple choice tests will be far too simple.

‘This is giving patient safety no priority. How can nurses’ ability to carry out drug calculations and all the other skills required on the ward be assessed in a multiple choice test? It’s disgraceful that this is allowed to happen.’

John Lister, director of campaign group London Health Emergency, said: ‘This is a retrograde step and this is something the NMC should be challenging in court.’ The council is being forced to take action after being threatened with lawsuits by Bulgarian nurses who claimed it was too difficult to register to work in Britain.

The EU has also blocked rigorous checks on foreign GPs who want to work here. This had disastrous results in 2008 when engineer David Gray died at the hands of German locum Daniel Ubani, who gave him ten times the normal dose of diamorphine.

Mr Gray’s son Stuart, who is a GP in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said: ‘It’s a ludicrous system. The NHS is a very different to other countries’ health systems and people need training before they can practise here.’

Nurses from countries outside the EU will still face stringent tests.

The NHS relies on foreign nurses and in the past decade more than 90,000 have registered to work in the UK, mainly from the Philippines, Australia, India and South Africa.

Relaxing the entry requirements for EU nurses is likely to see an influx of nurses who had felt it too much trouble to work in Britain.

A spokesman for the Nursing and Midwifery Council said: ‘The test will ensure that EU-trained nurses are able to meet the same standards that we require of nurses who trained in the UK.’ A Department of Health spokesman said foreign healthcare professionals would need to pass robust language and competency tests.

Student lay dying yards from hospital gates after receptionist told friend 'ring an ambulance'

Melody Davis, 20, was driven to the Royal Liverpool Hospital but the car got stuck in a car park on nearby Mount Vernon Street because a barrier was blocking the way.

Her friend rushed into the reception area on foot for help as Miss Davis's asthma attack worsened, but was told to call an ambulance. By the time she returned to the car, the Liverpool University student had collapsed. She later died at the Royal.

Liverpool's coroner, Andre Rebello, asked Merseyside Police to investigate the incident because of the chance more prompt treatment may have saved her...

Source: Daily Mail.

Healthy baby boy dies of pneumonia after 'being placed in broken incubator with Do Not Use sticker'

The 15-day-old boy was allegedly put in an incubator which had a "Do Not Use" sticker on it in the busy ward.

Health watchdogs revealed the boy was born 'perfect in every way' in the hospital before being sent home with his mother. But the mother and baby were readmitted more than a week later because she was suffering from a chest infection.

The mother, who hasn't been named, was being treated by doctors while the baby was put in the incubator which allegedly failed to keep him warm enough. The baby died from a chronic case of pneumonia at the giant 550-bed Singleton Hospital in Swansea, South Wales.

Patients watchdogs at the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Community Health Council in Swansea confirmed the complaint had been received from the heartbroken mother about her baby's death.

A report from the health council said: 'The post mortem revealed the baby was perfect in every way but died from massive bilateral bronchopneumonia.'

Source: Daily Mail

Colchester Hospital vs Military Hospital

Sapper Ashley-James Hall, 20, whose legs were blown off in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was being treated in Colchester General Hospital for suspected meningitis.

He is now being treated in isolation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where injured troops are cared for.

He still has open wounds from the explosion and has contracted a bacterial infection in his legs.

According to the family, the infection is similar to MRSA and means he must be kept in isolation. However, staff at Colchester General Hospital wanted to put him back on a general ward.

/facepalm

Dad Stephen said: “He has got an infection in his legs and it was felt by us the hospital could not deal with his injuries. So he discharged himself.

“Military care is better than the NHS. You ask for something to be done on the NHS and it takes hours.”

If it happens at all, that is.

Mr Hall said: “At Colchester one set of doctors tells you one thing, then another set say something different.

“Ashley was not happy with his care.

“Ashley has an Afghan bug similar to MRSA, but they were trying to put him in with the general public on a general ward.

“We were having to shout and scream at them.

“He is in an infection control ward in Birmingham.

“Colchester doesn’t have the same medical facilities. We were dealing with new doctors all the time. It was just appalling.”

The family have angered the hospital by going to the media.

A hospital trust spokescreature whines:

Mark Prentice, a spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are disappointed that Mr Stephen Hall has concerns about the care given to his son Ashley-James but also that he has chosen to raise them directly with the media and not with us.

“We would urge him to contact the trust as soon as possible so that we can thoroughly investigate and report back to him.”

And will you find that their concerns are well-founded in that investigation?

“As a result of Mr Hall contacting the Gazette, we have carried out a brief, preliminary investigation which indicates that the care given to Ashley-James was entirely appropriate at all times during his recent stay on the emergency assessment unit at Colchester General Hospital.”

That’ll probably be a ‘no’ then…

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.

Doctor 'failed three times to spot baby's swine flu'

A girl aged 12 months has become one of the youngest people in the country to contract swine flu.

Jessica Davies was diagnosed with the virus only after being taken three times to a GP, say her parents. A hospital doctor spotted that Jessica had the illness and she was prescribed the Tamiflu drug, according to Athol and Lindsay Davies.

‘I would like to warn other parents to keep going back to their doctors if they think their child has swine flu,’ said Mrs Davies, from Hartlepool, ‘If it wasn’t for a doctor at the hospital suggesting Jessica was tested then she wouldn’t have been diagnosed. To me, that is very worrying.’

Source: The Metro.

'Rest break' death ambulance technician keeps job

An ambulance technician who chose not to respond to what proved to be a fatal heart attack when he was on a tea break has been told he can keep his job.

The technician was 800 yards away when 33-year-old Mandy Mathieson had a cardiac arrest in Tomintoul, Moray.

However, the call was instead answered by paramedics based 15 miles away in Grantown-on-Spey.

Source: BBC

Mothers giving birth at night are being put at risk because of poor staffing at NHS hospitals

Dr Tony Falconer, the new president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), claimed many inexperienced doctors working night shift on labour wards lacked necessary skills to ensure a safe child delivery.

Dr Falconer, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, said medical staff often undertook unnecessary caesarean sections on women, leading to some babies suffering catastrophic harm during their birth.

A disproportionate numbers of NHS payouts over alleged medical negligence in childbirth involve babies born overnight, he said.

Trainee doctors working overnight were sometimes too slow to realise that a new mother was still bleeding after a caesarean or to spot post-operative complications.

Other staff who train during the night, such as obstetricians and anaesthetists, are also less experienced than teams working during the day, with many junior obstetric doctors lacking technical skills to use forceps or vacuum to ease a baby's birth, he added.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Well, I Can't See THIS Going Wrong, Can You..?

An NHS efficiency drive may result in hospital appointments being outsourced to call centres in India.

Not when it's worked so well and proven so stunningly popular with customers in all other industries!

I mean, it's not as if anything bad has ever happened befo...

Oh:

The proposal comes despite a scandal two years ago when the confidential medical records of patients at one of London’s top private hospitals were sold on by Indian IT staff.

/facepalm