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'....
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!
Whoops! However, the hospital has an excuse ready.… 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.
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!*
Mr Watson said he disputed some of the findings of an investigation into the incident.Does anyone? Anyone at all? Bueller?
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.”
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….
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.An accident? Carelessness?
The speakers had also been turned the wrong way and covered in paperwork.
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.Are you sure?
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.’
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.And the verdict?
‘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.’
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?
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.It’ll have to improve quite a lot…
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.”
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.And that’s why choice is the most important thing to bring to the NHS.
“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.”
The Fryatt Hospital and Mayflower Medical Centre in Harwich, Essex, opened in December 2005, having been built using a scheme similar to the private finance initiative (PFI).Yay!
But since its opening, the hospital has been dogged by problems.Don’t panic, though! No-one’s been sacked or demoted for this. You see, it’s all the fault of…unforeseen changes.
There was a three-year delay in getting GPs to move into the centre, half the floor had to be replaced, people were unhappy with the fact that its minor injuries unit was not open at night, and its x-ray department was cut to three days a week.
However, most complaints centred on the fact that its operating theatre was not being used. It was intended for minor procedures including foot operations.
Now North East Essex Primary Care Trust, which runs the hospital, has admitted it never will be.
Matt Bushell, acting chief executive, said changes in patient safety regulations regarding anaesthetics since its opening meant the operating theatre was now no longer "viable".It’s impossible to renovate it, then?
A spokesman for the trust added that it had been "the victim of unfortunate timing" regarding changes in legislation.Or the victim of utterly incompetent management…
Mr Bushell stressed that the theatre only took up about five per cent of the space of the hospital, which offered more than 60 health services.Quite…
John Brown from Harwich Town Council described the new hospital as a "white elephant" and said: "It has been a waste of money."
"For the millions it cost to build the new hospital they should have spent a fraction of that renovating the old hospital," he said.
A pensioner died after his chest was bled 'empty' when he was wrongly connected to a blood pumping machine and a hospital worker left the room.
NHS staff failed to use enough clamps to disconnect 76-year-old Dr John Baines from the device after a gruelling six-hour bypass operation, on January 29.
This meant his blood was pumped into the machine, which was filling in for his heart and lungs during the surgery, but not pumped back into his body.Someone will swing for this, surely?
Deputy Assistant Coroner Mairin Casey ruled that no one member of staff was to blame and his death was caused by a 'series of collective errors'.Wha..?
In a bypass operation, the pumps are operated by specially trained health professionals known as 'perfusionists', who work with the surgical team in connecting and disconnecting the machine to the patient.
However, the perfusionist who had been involved in the discussions about the complex operation was replaced before it began by two others, who oversaw the machine during the surgery.
One of them, Andrew Sutcliffe, said they clamped the line from the patient's neck and assumed two other clamps required had been attached by other members of the team.
He said: 'I think the issue is that we had clamped the common line. But clamps hadn't been applied where we would have expected them to.'And you didn't think to check? Somehow, 'professional' isn't the word I'd have used...
Miss Casey recorded a narrative verdict and said the mistake was the result of collective rather than individual error.
She said: 'I'm confident that from the earliest point the human error was acknowledged to the family and to all who needed to subsequently investigate this matter.
'I'm also satisfied that there's no culpability in respect of an individual in this case.'Nice! In effect, so many of you screwed up it'd be 'unfair' to hold any one of you responsible, so you get off with a massive fine (paid for by us taxpayers, of course) and a 'lessons have been learned' statement.
A dying teenager was "lost" for an hour in an NHS hospital after a bed manager asked nursing staff to move her to an inappropriate ward, an inquest heard today.
Doctors caring for 17-year-old Clementine Nicholson were "astonished" that she had been taken from a resuscitation unit without their consent, Coventry Coroner's Court heard.
And how did this happen?
Computer said ‘Yes’, innit?
Dr Mair Edmunds, associate director for clinical performance at the hospital, expressed her regret that Clementine had been moved by an electronic bed management system.
Well, no.
She might have been incorrectly marked for movement by a computer system, but real live people – supposedly, professional NHS staff – would have done the actual moving.
I mean, surely they check that someone’s well enough to be moved before they…
Oh:
Dr Edmunds said the hospital now had a nurse controller to oversee such moves and that more robust procedures were now in place to ensure patients were well enough to be transferred.
Before, no one checked?
/facepalm
A cancer sufferer was told he could not book a hospital appointment - because records showed he was dead.Another case of ‘Computer says ‘No’..’, I suppose..?
Alan Campbell rang a booking system phone line after becoming worried that the disease may have spread to his throat.
But when he tried to make an appointment with the NHS Choose and Book system, a telephone operator informed him their records showed him as 'deceased'.
'When I rang to take take the appointment I was told, 'Sorry, we can't give you an appointment, our records show you are deceased'.So he did. Because we all know there’s not point in arguing with call centre staff, who are unable to deviate from their instructions.
'I said 'you're joking, I'm talking to you aren't I?' But they said 'you'll have to go back to your GP to get it sorted out'.'
Mr Campbell, who has also survived a stroke and a heart attack, contacted his doctor and was told the problem had been resolved - only to phone the Choose and Book system again to be told their records still showed he was dead.D’oh!
NHS Blackburn with Darwen Teaching Care Trust Plus, in Lancashire, which is responsible for the phone service, has now apologised for the error.Within 14 days? How about NOW?
Mr Campbell has been told he will contacted within 14 days to arrange an appointment with an oral and maxillofacial surgery specialist.
Janice Horrocks, executive director of Engagement Partnerships and Operational Development, said they were investigating the case, adding: 'We are sorry for the distress experienced by this patient.'I love that ‘experienced by’… Nivcely swerved, Janice!
'We would like to reassure patients that using the Choose and Book system, which allows you to choose the hospital, time and date of your appointment, remains the fastest route to getting the quickest and most convenient hospital appointment for the care that you need.'Unless the NHS thinks you’re dead, that is.
A woman was left in excruciating pain for over a month after the medical services repeatedly failed to detect she had a broken hip.And by 'failed to detect' we should probably read 'repeatedly ignored request by patient that all this being unable to stand up and walk without pain was a bit odd, don't you think, doctor?'
"I said I'd like an ambulance to take me to Whipps Cross but he said they wouldn't give me an X-ray as he didn't think I'd done anything."Very strange. Usually, a 'better safe than sorry' policy applies, doesn't it?
Mrs Snow found days after the incident she still couldn't walk or sit down properly and decided to call her GP.So Mrs Snow sought that fabled second opinion:
But the doctor told her he wouldn't send her for an X-ray until she had been checked over by a physiotherapist who eventually arrived after a two-week delay.
Mrs Snow said: “She came out and was quite rude to me. She said: 'You're walking like a robot. Do you usually walk like that?'. She said I hadn't broken anything. I said to her about an X-ray and she said no.”
With the pain growing ever worse by the day, and over a month after her initial fall, Mrs Snow was eventually referred by a separate GP to St Margaret's Hospital, in Epping, for an X-ray. The X-ray confirmed her hip was broken.Ooopsie!
Mrs Snow's painful experience was not quite over yet, however, as she was initially told she would have to wait a further month for an operation.And we wonder why the NHS pays out so much money in claims...
She has now finally had that operation after a friend drove her to Princess Alexandra Hospital's A&E herself.
But on the other hand, if you are a young mother fighting cancer whose doctors have suggested a drug to prolong your life, it’s ‘Nope! Far too expensive’:Hospital chiefs have apologised to the family of a terminally-ill grandfather who died in agony after staff tried to keep him alive against his wishes.
Arthur Johnson, 64, had signed 'do not resuscitate' forms instructing medics not to revive him if his heart stopped.But after he was rushed to hospital, his relatives were horrified to find a full crash team fighting to keep him alive.
Is it me, or..?A mother fears she will not live to see her son's first day at school after NHS bosses refused to fund the only cancer drug that can help her.
Nikki Blunden, 37, who has breast cancer, says she has been handed a death sentence.
