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*