NHS Apology For £10,000 Hitler Questionnaire

An ambulance service has apologised for a survey asking staff to rate how "cool" Hitler was.

The survey was sent out to 4,000 employees at West Midlands Ambulance Service

West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) apologised for the survey, saying: "At the end of the day, Hitler galvanised a nation into doing something quite unusual."

"Dreadful atrocities took place off the back of that… the staff involved were not trying to cause any offence to anybody…with hindsight, it would have been better to have used a different example..."

In the NHS questionnaire staff were asked to rate how "cool" Hitler was

WMAS sent the questionnaire to 4,000 employees as part of a £10,000 study to identify good leadership.

Respondents were asked to rate how "cool" 10 famous leaders were on a scale of one to five.

Besides Hitler, the list included Gordon Brown, Richard Branson, Winston Churchill and Fabio Capello.

But health campaigner and former WMAS worker, Steve Jetley, was so incensed by the survey that he set up a website, www.howcoolishitler.net, condemning it.

On the site he says: "You may feel like many emergency ambulance crew members in the WMAS that the money would have been far better spent providing improved and more modern equipment (like pelvic splints instead of triangular bandages!), improved training or even replacing ageing ambulances with over 250,000 miles on the clock that are slow and unreliable."

Steve Jetley's website parodying the West Midlands Ambulance Service 'cool' survey

Incensed former employee Steve Jetley created a spoof NHS website

The project, called Making Leadership Cool: How Emerging Leaders Wish To Be Managed And Supported, is a year-long study being conducted by two members of staff at the ambulance service.

The aim was to identify the key characteristics of good leadership, to allow the organisation and the wider NHS to be more efficient and effective which, in turn, would have a direct and positive impact on improving patient care, WMAS said.

The questionnaire, sent out last month, had so far been completed by "several dozen" members of staff, the spokesman said. The funding for the project was provided by the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, he added.

Source: Sky News

The patients 'bullied' into joining NHS database

The NHS is scaring patients into signing up to its controversial database - by claiming that those who refuse run the risk of receiving the wrong test results or the wrong drugs.

Dire warnings have been placed on the website of the agency in charge of the new IT system, saying that failure to sign up could lead to lost records and prescribing errors.

Patients are allowed to opt out of having their information stored on the database, which is designed to be accessible to all GPs, hospital consultants, nurses and other NHS staff.

It is intended to replace the current system, under which health records are written on paper files in GPs' offices and cannot easily be accessed by hospital staff.

But doctors' leaders have complained that the database makes it too hard to opt out, prompting the government to suspend the roll-out of the programme in some areas.

Now it has emerged the NHS is trying a different tactic to persuade patients to sign up - scaremongering.

On the website for the NHS Connecting for Health agency, visitors are warned that if they opt out of the computerised 'summary care record' scheme, they could suffer 'adverse consequences', including 'a delay or missed opportunity for correct treatment'.

It says: 'The NHS has significant problems now with lost records and test results and treatment and prescribing errors.'

Connecting for Health's strategy is controversial because it highlights the safety risks inherent in the current paper-based records system.

But critics argue that the dangers are not as high as the agency is suggesting.

On Sunday night, a Department of Health spokesman said the problem of lost records or mistreatment was not a major concern, prompting speculation that the Government was making the claim to frighten patients into joining the database.

Asked if there were 'significant problems' under the current system, the spokesman said: 'One misplaced record is one too many.'

Asked if there was a 'major problem' under the current system, he said: 'No'.

Dylan Sharpe, campaign director of Big Brother Watch, said: 'The whole handling of the summary care record system has been sneaky and underhand, with the government doing anything to prevent people from opting out of the system.

'If you value your privacy, ignore these false and misleading warnings and opt out.' More than 1.25million patients' records have already gone on to the database.

But fears about the security of highly personal health details, including sexual history, drug use, HIV status and mental illness, are driving a backlash.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association said: 'There are advantages to having a computerised records system because paper records can get lost.

'But other IT Government projects have been subject to problems so people are very worried about the way their data is used and who has access to it.'

Source: Daily Mail

Mother stabbed by crazed neighbour loses fight for life as attacker’s family tell how he pleaded to stay in hospital

Mr London had been referred by his GP to Watford General Hospital’s Acute Admissions Unit on April 29 after his mother became concerned when he repeatedly and inexplicably went missing over several weeks.
His family revealed that, in the hospital, he became fearful of an attempt to take a blood sample and struggled to stay when he was told he could leave the hospital.
Despite his pleas for medical assistance, Mr London was discharged – with an appointment to be assessed by a psychiatric team the following day.


Source Daily Mail

Man died after medics missed disease six times, inquest hears

A young father died in agony on Christmas Day after medics repeatedly mistook a fatal bowel infection for a groin strain, an inquest has heard.

Malcolm Drake, 23, died from Crohn's Disease and spent his final hours unable to move or eat. He had sought help six times in the days before he died, but GPs and two Accident and Emergency doctors had missed his condition. He was even refused an MRI scan three days before he died that would have shown up the condition, the hearing was told...

Mr Drake had first complained of abdominal pain in mid-November before the first of six visits to medics and physiotherapists in the 15 days before he died, during which time his right leg had swollen considerably and he was in such pain he couldn’t eat.

He saw a GP on December 10th, went to A&E on the 13th, another GP on the 17th and finally A&E again on the 22nd. In between, he had two bouts of physiotherapy.

The hearing was told that Dr Richard Aw, a junior doctor who saw him at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire’s Accident and Emergency department on December 22nd, did not refer to his previous recent visits which were on his medical records, nor make a written record of them when Mr Drake explained who he had seen.

Dr Aw had been employed as a GP locum and had only one year’s experience. He diagnosed Mr Drake as suffering from a groin strain “consistent with previous findings” and sent him home with a dose of painkillers. Dr Aw also claimed that despite ambulance staff apparently noting a 'palpable mass' in Mr Drake's right thigh on the way to A&E, he did not find any lump in the leg himself.

It emerged that Dr Aw had advised him against having an MRI. Giving evidence, he admitted that an MRI would have shown up the Crohn’s disease. Simon Fox, representing Miss Lindop and Mr Drake's family, told Dr Aw: "Had Mr Drake had the scan, it would've led to the diagnosis - Mr Drake had it exactly right didn't he?"

Dr Aw replied: "Yes."

The hearing continues.

Source: The Telegraph

Hampshire swine flu girl 'not given Tamiflu'

A teenager who died after contracting swine flu was not given the drug Tamiflu when she was admitted to hospital, an inquest has heard.

Madelynne Butcher, 18, of Southampton, Hampshire, was admitted to Southampton General Hospital on 2 July 2009. But it was 36 hours before tests revealed she had the H1N1 virus and she was given Tamiflu.

Coroner Catherine Mason at Leicester Town Hall recorded a verdict that Miss Butcher died from natural causes...

Source: BBC

Surgeon cut off testicle 'by mistake' at Bury hospital

A patient lost a testicle during an operation because the surgeon cut it off by mistake, a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing has been told.

Dr Sulieman Al Hourani was only supposed to cut out a cyst, but removed the whole right testicle instead. Dr Al Hourani was a locum surgeon at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, at the time of the surgery in September 2007.

He is accused of misconduct and also of stealing medication. It is alleged the doctor, who is now practising in Jordan and was not present at the hearing, also injected himself with a drug meant for a patient.

Sarah Prichard, counsel for the GMC, said the mistake was made as a nurse helping the surgeon turned her back to get a stitch. When she turned around the testicle had been removed...

Source: BBC

NHS bars woman after she saw private doctor

A WOMAN has been denied an operation on the NHS after paying for a private consultation to deal with her severe back pain.

Jenny Whitehead, a breast cancer survivor, paid £250 for an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon after being told she would have to wait five months to see him on the NHS. He told her he would add her to his NHS waiting list for surgery.

She was barred from the list, however, and sent back to her GP. She must now find at least £10,000 for private surgery, or wait until the autumn for the NHS operation to remove a cyst on her spine.

“When I paid £250 to see the specialist privately I had no idea I would be sacrificing my right to surgery on the NHS. I feel victimised,” she said.

The case will reopen the debate over NHS policy towards patients who pay for some of their care privately. Following a Sunday Times campaign in 2008, the government ordered the NHS to stop withdrawing care from patients who received additional private treatment or drugs. Cancer sufferers were being barred from further NHS treatment after buying potentially life-saving medicines not offered by the health service.

Whitehead’s case, which has shocked her local Labour MP, reveals that patients who go private in despair at long waiting lists still risk jeopardising their NHS treatment. Department of Health officials admit it remains official policy.

Whitehead, 64, a former museum assistant from Yorkshire who works as a volunteer at a hospice, went to her GP in December for back pain. Because of her breast cancer history, she was immediately offered an MRI scan to check the disease had not returned. It revealed a cyst on her spine, pressing against her sciatic nerve. Her GP referred her to a consultant at Airedale NHS hospital.

She was told the next available NHS appointment was in May, so she accepted the offer of a private slot to see him the following week.

“My husband and I are retired and don’t have a lot of money, but I am in intense pain and couldn’t face the thought of waiting months just for an initial consultation,” she said.

The specialist promised to add her to his NHS waiting list for surgery. After two months, however, hospital managers told her she had been barred from the waiting list because she had seen the surgeon privately. Now her only alternative to paying £10,000 privately is to go back to her GP, seek another referral to the same specialist, this time on the NHS, and face another 18-week wait.

“We will scratch together the money if we absolutely have to, but I feel it’s incredibly unfair,” said Whitehead. “I’ve paid full National Insurance contributions all my working life and feel I should get this operation on the NHS.”

Ann Cryer, who is standing down as Labour MP for Keighley, has written to the hospital urging it to reconsider. She told Whitehead that she had been “badly let down and ill advised”.

Bradford and Airedale NHS trust said it was looking into the case “as a matter of urgency” but added: “Anyone who chooses to pay for a private outpatient consultation cannot receive NHS treatment unless they are then referred on to an NHS pathway by their consultant.”


Source :Times Online

Girl’s cancer was wind, said doctor

A little girl’s leukaemia was misdiagnosed as trapped wind by a GP at a scandal-hit out-of-hours surgery, it emerged today.

Three-year-old Taylor Codling was taken to the weekend clinic by her father James when she turned yellow and her temperature hit 40ËšC (104ËšF). But after a two-minute check-up the doctor sent them to pick up a bottle of gripe water to ease her condition.

Taylor was no better two days later so she was taken to Ipswich Hospital where doctors diagnosed leukaemia. Mr Codling, from Hasketon, Suffolk, has now threatened to launch legal action against the service.

‘This mistake could have cost her her life,’ said the 32-year-old. ‘There is a big difference between having trapped wind and having leukaemia.’

The misdiagnosis was made by a foreign doctor working for Take Care Now – the same company which employed 67-year-old German locum Daniel Ubani. He accidentally killed 70-year-old patient David Gray, of Cambridgeshire, by giving him a lethal overdose of painkillers.

Last year TCN was stripped of its out-of-hours contract but the decision only came into effect from April 1 – a week after Taylor went to the surgery. Harmoni HS Ltd, which now runs the locum service for Suffolk, said the doctor in question had not worked for them since April 1.

Source: The Metro

NHS chiefs' pay rises 'double those of nurses'

Top managers in England's NHS trusts received average pay rises of nearly 7% in 2008-09, compared with less than 3% granted to nurses, a report says.

An Incomes Data Services report into boardroom pay at more than 380 trusts found chief executives earned seven times more than the average nurse. Senior managers in NHS trusts typically earned £147,500, the report said. The NHS Confederation said trusts needed top managers to help them through financial challenges...

Source: BBC

A Special Interview with Dr. Andrew Wakefield

Click post title to follow link to a transcript of a lengthy interview with Dr Andrew Wakefield, who was the one who claimed that letting your children have the MMR jab could cause autism.

'Pinkie' operation death 'could have been prevented'

The death of a man during a routine hospital operation on his little finger could have been avoided, according to an inquiry.

Gordon Ewing, 44, from Cambuslang, died while being treated at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow in May 2006. A fatal accident inquiry heard how he swelled up and turned bright red after being given too much oxygen. Sheriff Linda Ruxton said his death could have been prevented if anaesthetists had simply woken him up...

Source: BBC

NHS payout after mum misdiagnosed

The family of a young mother who died after doctors failed to diagnose her cancer has secured a six-figure pay-out from an NHS body.

Lavinia Bletchly, a 23-year-old mother of two, was sent home from hospital three times before she died of the aggressive cancer.

A High Court judge approved an out-of-court settlement with Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, part of which will compensate her daughters Shaila, nine, and six-year-old Chloe.

Miss Bletchly, of Bridgend, south Wales, died from peritonitis and malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A full-time textile design student at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, she fell ill in May 2004 a few months after Chloe's birth.

Examinations during the next eight months ruled out gynaecological problems, but she continued to complain of pain in her abdomen and pelvis. In February 2005 an ultrasound revealed a cyst and an exploratory operation found fluid above the liver. Over the next three weeks she was admitted three times to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.

On one occasion her family said a senior consultant told her it was "all in her head" and that she should make way for urgent cases. In March 2005 a CT scan and further surgery found an extensive malignant tumour had encased her bowel and spread to her stomach. It is understood the family will receive about £350,000.

Source: The Metro

NHS turns injured toddler away due to computer shutdown

Herts and Essex Hospital turned away three-year-old Rafferty Searson because the computer system had been shut down before hospital closing time.

A toddler who was bleeding heavily from a cut to the face was refused treatment by hospital staff – because they had turned their computers off for the day. Three-year-old Rafferty Searson, who was covered in blood from a gash on his cheek, was turned away from the NHS hospital 15 minutes before closing time after a receptionist said he could not be logged on to the computer.

His nanny Kate Moss (?), who took him to Herts and Essex Hospital, said: ‘Two nurses who walked past just looked at me and when I asked for help one said “We have shut down all the systems there is nothing we can do”.’

Rafferty’s 35-year-old mother Hana, from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, said: ‘It was a case of “Computer says no”. They were covered in blood and Kate was literally holding his face closed.’ Ms Moss drove Rafferty to a hospital 24km (15miles) away, where he received six stitches.

A spokeswoman for East and North Hertfordshire PCT said there was a ‘large number of people’ at the hospital, which only receives out patients and has a small accident and injury unit.

Source: The Metro

NHS managers rise to nearly 45,000

The number of managers in the NHS in England rose by nearly 12% last year, to almost 45,000.

During the same period, the number of qualified nurses increased by less than 2%. The NHS in England now employs just over 1.43 million people - an increase of 4.6% on the previous year. After a period of record growth, the Department of Health plans to make cuts of £4.35bn a year. It added managers were still a fraction of the workforce.

NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson said the NHS had enjoyed record investment over the last decade. But he said the NHS was entering a period of less growth, with the service "focused on improving quality and productivity to release efficiency savings that can be re-invested back into the service".

Source: BBC.

Hospital tells parents to drive burns girl 25 miles for treatment

WHEN five-year-old Madison Healy was rushed to hospital with third degree burns her parents expected her to be given urgent treatment.

Instead doctors at University Hospital sent her away naked with just a blanket to protect her from the cold. Her parents were told the youngster needed to see a burns specialist at Birmingham Children’s Hospital 25 miles away – and were told to drive her there themselves.

Bosses at University Hospital say they understand why Maddy’s parents were distressed but insist doctors made sure she was safe and stable before referring her. They say the burns were ‘relatively small’ and did not put Maddy in danger so the guidelines advised she be sent by car rather than ambulance.

But furious mum Alana Regan said: “It was very traumatic – I feared the delay might cause lasting damage.

Source: Coventry Telegraph.

Man left infertile after wrong testicle removed

A man was left infertile after surgeons botched an operation on his testicle.

Doctors at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds were tasked with removing the man's right epididymis - a coiled tube which carries sperm away from the testicles - but they removed the left one instead.

The man, who has not been named, had to undergo a second operation in January last year on his right testicle, which resulted in infertility.

Health bosses declined to comment on whether he has received any compensation.

Nigel Kee, interim chief operating officer at the hospital, said: "The safety of our patients is our number one priority. As such, we take any incidents which compromise safety extremely seriously.

"A thorough investigation into this case was carried out by an independent consultant, who advised us to introduce an additional hospital-wide policy giving clearer instructions on marking and verifying sites prior to surgery.

"We implemented this recommendation immediately.

"We have an overriding duty to protect the confidentiality of our patients. As such, we will not comment in any further detail on this case."

Source: The Independent

Leeds widow sent home from hospital in nightgown

The family of a widow from Leeds is demanding an apology after she was discharged from hospital in the middle of the night wearing just a nightgown.

 

Elsie Allanson, 74, was admitted to the city's St James' Hospital last month after suffering a suspected stroke. She was sent home in a taxi in freezing weather at 0200 GMT the next day. Her family had not been informed. Her daughter said the hospital should admit its mistake.

 

The NHS trust said it would be "inappropriate to comment"...

 

Source: BBC

Hospital failed to spot child had broken both arms

A toddler spent a night in agony after bungling doctors sent him home from hospital without realising he had broken both his wrists.

Three-year-old Regan Mercer was taken to a hospital's accident department by his mother after he hurt his arms falling downstairs at home. Doctors at Mayday Hospital in Croydon X-rayed only one arm, saying they did not like to expose children to too much radiation. Medical staff then put a plaster cast on his right arm and sent him home.

He was in so much pain during the night that his 33-year-old mother, Angela Doherty, took him back the next day when doctors realised their mistake. Hospital chiefs have launched an investigation...

Source: Evening Standard

Disabled woman who asked for help getting 200 yards from car park into hospital told 'dial 999'

Donatella Coppini, 42, suffers from a spinal condition which means she has to use sticks to walk. She was taken to A&E by her partner Nick Ault, 34, suffering from excruciating back pains but when the couple asked hospital staff to help her inside they were told to dial 999. The couple from Shoeburyness in Essex had to wait in the hospital car park until paramedics arrived to help them into Southend Hospital.

Mr Ault, who is his partner's full-time carer, said: "She was in the car and couldn't move. I asked if someone could get help and get her out of the car. They said they would have to call 999 to help them. So I had to dial 999 even though it was just 200 yards from A&E. It blows my mind, it's suppose to be a hospital. If someone fell over outside and cracked their head would they need to call 999? I think it's pathetic and unacceptable."

Source: The Daily Mail

Newborn baby given overdose of tuberculosis vaccine

The boy, who was born on February 5, was injected with 0.5mg of the BCG vaccine - 10 times the usual 0.05mg dose, lawyers for his family said.

A statement from law firm Irwin Mitchell said the boy is now being treated with help from the poisons agency and an expert in immunology at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

A spokesman for Scunthorpe General Hospital said it had launched a ''full investigation''...

Source: The Telegraph

Patients ‘treated in dirty storerooms'

HOSPITAL patients are being treated in mop cupboards and storerooms, it is revealed today. They are left in dirty conditions with no privacy, says a survey of nurses. Two out of three questioned claimed that patients in their hospitals were moved to "non-clinical" areas because of ward overcrowding.

 

And eight out of ten feared the growing use of cupboards and similar areas was putting safety at risk, said the Nursing Times poll of more than 900 nurses. It showed that some patients were left for days on trolleys in corridors. Workers claimed people were put in areas with no basic equipment, including oxygen, hand basins and emergency call bells. They were often ignored when drugs and food were being handed out...

 

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The vast majority of NHS patients experience good quality, safe care. We acknowledge there is more to do and we strive to make services even safer."

 

Source: The Soaraway Sun

Many NHS trusts 'give wrong data'

More than half of hospital trusts inspected last year provided the public with incorrect information on their performance and quality of care, it has been claimed.

 

Documents obtained by the BBC's Panorama programme show that of those hospital trusts inspected in 2008/09, just over 60% had provided inaccurate information to the Government regulator, a spokesman for the programme said.

 

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) uses this information, on criteria such as patient safety, care environment and public health, to give the trusts a rating - which is used by patients as a guide to their local hospital. However, the fact some hospital trusts have been wrongly assessing their own performance casts doubt on the accuracy of some of these ratings, the spokesman said...

 

Source: Press Association, via Yahoo.

Labour hid ugly truth about NHS

DAMNING reports on the state of the National Health Service, suppressed by the government, reveal how patients’ needs have been neglected.

They diagnose a blind pursuit of political and managerial targets as the root cause of a string of hospital scandals that have cost thousands of lives.

One report, based on the advice of almost 200 top managers and doctors, says hospitals ignored basic hygiene to cram in patients to meet waiting-time targets.

It says “several interviewees” cited the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells [NHS Trust in Kent where 269 deaths during 2005-6 were caused by infection with Clostridium difficile bacteria].

“Managers crowded in patients in order to meet waiting-time targets and, in the process, lost sight of the fundamental hygiene requirements for infection prevention,” the report stated.

There were subsequent failings at health trusts in Basildon in Essex, and Mid Staffordshire. Filthy wards and nurse shortages led to up to 1,200 deaths at Stafford hospital.

Lord Darzi, the former health minister, commissioned the three reports from international consultancies to assess the progress of the NHS as it approached its 60th anniversary in 2008. They have come to light after a freedom of information request.

One must wonder at the pointlessness of a Labour Lord commissioning reports if his own party then contrives to hide unfavourable conclusions.

Source: The Times

NICE says no to bone marrow disease drug

NICE has decided that azacitidine will not be available through the NHS

A drug for treating rare blood cancers will not be made available through the NHS in England and Wales.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided not to recommend azacitidine or Vidaza for treating myelodysplastic syndromes because it is too costly.

Cancer charities say they are angered and disappointed by the decision.

Around four in 100,000 people in the UK suffer from MDS - a debilitating bone marrow disease.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) mean that the bone marrow does not produce enough of one or more types of blood cells.

Most MDS patients have to rely on frequent blood transfusions to manage anaemia and extreme fatigue.

The average survival of patients with MDS is about 20 months. Nearly a third of patients progress to acute myeloid leukaemia.

NICE says that the majority of patients with MDS receive the best care in current clinical practice.

Not a cure

Dr Carole Longson is health technology evaluation centre director at NICE. She said that azacitidine is not a cure for MDS but could potentially prolong the lives of people with these conditions by around nine months longer than standard treatment.

However she stated: "The Appraisal Committee concluded that relative to the benefits, the price the NHS is being asked to pay for azacitidine is still too high for it to be recommended as a cost effective use of NHS resources."

The manufacturer of the drug, Celgene UK, has announced that it plans to appeal NICE's draft guidance ruling.

According to the manufacturer's estimates, azacitidine costs approximately £45,000 per patient.

David Hall is an MDS patient. He is also chairman of the MDS UK Patient Support Group, which is supported by pharmaceutical companies, including Celgene.

He said the decision was a huge blow to MDS patients.

"A total of only 700 patients a year in England and Wales would require treatment with azacitidine so we do not believe that providing this life-extending treatment would make a huge impact on the NHS budget," he said.

Source BBC

Guilty plea after nurse's death at hospital in Swindon

A health trust has pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations after a woman was given an epidural anaesthetic in her arm.

Mayra Cabrera died following her son's birth in 2004 after Bupivacaine was mistakenly connected to her arm at Swindon's Great Western Hospital.

Lyn Hill-Tout, chief executive of Great Western Hospitals NHS, entered a guilty plea before Swindon magistrates.

The case was committed to Swindon Crown Court to be heard at a later date.

The court was told how a nurse at the Great Western Hospital had made a fatal error on 11 May 2004.

Mrs Cabrera who had worked as a theatre nurse at GWH had gone through a relatively straightforward birth but required saline to help bring her blood pressure back up.

But a nurse attached the wrong bag of solution to a drip attached to her right arm.

Within minutes, Mrs Cabrera began to feel unwell - and then started to fit. She died soon after.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust - now the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - had previously admitted liability.

An inquest into the 30-year-old's death in February 2008, ruled Mrs Cabrera was unlawfully killed.

Source BBC

Neglected by 'lazy' nurses, man, 22, dying of thirst rang the police to beg for water

A man of 22 died in agony of dehydration after three days in a leading teaching hospital.
Kane Gorny was so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help.
They arrived on the ward only to be told by doctors that everything was under control.
The next day his mother Rita Cronin found him delirious and he died within hours.
She said nurses had failed to give him vital drugs which controlled fluid levels in his body. 'He was totally dependent on the nurses to help him and they totally betrayed him.'


Source Daily Mail.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command are investigating the death of Kane Gorny at St George's Hospital after this was referred to us by Westminster Coroner's Court.'
A spokesman for St George's Hospital said: 'We are extremely sorry about the death of Kane Gorny and understand the distress that this has caused to his family.
'A full investigation was carried out and new procedures introduced to ensure that such a case cannot happen in future.


Yeah right as if I believe them?

Hospital admits plaster error over toddler's broken leg

A toddler with a broken leg was sent home with a plaster on the wrong limb and then hospital staff implied it was his mother's fault for not spotting it.

The error was made when Bella Powell took 21-month-old son Rafe to Torbay Hospital after he fell from his high chair at his Brixham home.

On returning to get the error resolved, Mrs Powell was laughed at by staff and told she should have said something. The hospital has apologised for the mistake and the comments made by staff...

Source: BBC.

Hospital staff under 'pressure' to hit targets

Staff at a Nottingham hospital "bent rules" on recording patient waiting times due to "enormous pressure" to hit targets, a review has found.

Independent auditors were brought in to the Queen's Medical Centre after inaccurate reporting of waiting times over the past four years was uncovered. The hospital has to treat 98% of patients within four hours to meet government targets.

Auditors said patients were not put at risk. The report states: "Some staff described the enormous pressures they felt under to achieve the four-hour A&E target and deliver patient care at the same time."

The review of the department, which is one of the busiest in England, was sparked after a member of the hospital's medical staff noticed by chance that a patient's time in A&E had been inaccurately reported.

The audit found 1,889 records had been wrongly recorded since April 2008...

Source: BBC

Surgeon who removed baby's bladder guilty of misconduct

We'd mentioned this story before, but here's the outcome:

A surgeon who mistakenly removed a baby's bladder instead of a hernia has been found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council (GMC)... Pierina Kapur, 43, was supposed to take out a hernial sac but instead removed 90% of her bladder.

It's not clear to me whether the surgeon was actually punished in any way, all it says is "the panel does consider [her] misconduct to be sufficiently serious as to justify a finding of impairment in this case."

Source: BBC

Patient death charge hospital admits safety law breach

A hospital in Essex where a severely disabled man died has admitted breaching health and safety law.

 

Kyle Flack, 20, from Stanford-le-Hope, who had severe cerebral palsy, was found dead at Basildon University Hospital, on 12 October 2006. His head had become trapped in the rails around his bed, an inquest heard.

 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution, accusing the hospital of failing to ensure the patient's safety. Matthew Taylor, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told magistrates Mr Flack died at the hospital, two days after being admitted with stomach problems...

 

Source: BBC

 

What is unclear is why Rab C Nesbitt is posing as the man's mother.

PARAMEDIC 'REFUSED TO SAVE 30-STONE DYING MAN'

A JURY yesterday heard the moment a paramedic allegedly refused to resuscitate a dying man then instructed a colleague to lie to cover his tracks.

 

A recording of a 999 call captured the disturbing sound of a 30-stone heart-attack victim collapsing in front of Karl Harris, who allegedly stopped a colleague going to his aid with the words: "Don't bother. There's no point." Experienced paramedic Harris then ordered his trainee crewmate: "Just say he was dead when we got here."

 

Harris, 45, from Brighton, East Sussex, sat impassively in the dock as the recording was played at Lewes Crown Court yesterday, where he denies perverting the course of justice. The jury was told that even though Harris broke guidelines by failing to try to save Barry Baker, 59, he narrowly avoided prosecution over his death because it was "highly unlikely" resuscitation would have saved him.

 

Harris and trainee Ben Stokes, 36, were dispatched to the former Jobcentre worker's home in Brighton in the early hours of November 29, 2008, after he dialled 999 suffering breathing difficulties, the court was told.Unknown to the pair, emergency operator Marilyn Benson stayed on the line and listened to events as they unfolded.

 

Harris has been suspended from his job with South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Mr Stokes was given a written warning and put on restrictive duties.

 

The case continues.

 

Source: Daily Express

Teenage dancer has leg amputated after doctors 'failed to spot cancer'

Shannon Corr, 15, repeatedly visited GPs for over two months complaining of agonising pains in her right knee and shin that left her struggling to walk.

But doctors told her she was suffering from a disease which usually affects teenage boys who play football and growing pains, advising her to go home and rest. After GPs refused to refer Shannon to hospital her mother Jeannetta Swift, 44, rushed her to A&E and pretended she had fallen over so she could be fully examined.

Doctors immediately spotted a problem, but by the time osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer, was diagnosed it had spread to her leg's soft tissue and they were forced to amputate...

Source: The Telegraph

From Canada: 'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery

An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said he went to Miami to have a "minimally invasive" surgery for an ailment first detected nearly a year ago, based on the advice of his doctors.

"This was my heart, my choice and my health," Williams said late Monday from his condominium in Sarasota, Fla.

"I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."

The 60-year-old Williams said doctors detected a heart murmur last spring and told him that one of his heart valves wasn't closing properly, creating a leakage.

He said he was told at the time that the problem was "moderate" and that he should come back for a checkup in six months.

Eight months later, in December, his doctors told him the problem had become severe and urged him to get his valve repaired immediately or risk heart failure, he said.

His doctors in Canada presented him with two options - a full or partial sternotomy, both of which would've required breaking bones, he said.

He said he spoke with and provided his medical information to a leading cardiac surgeon in New Jersey who is also from Newfoundland and Labrador. He advised him to seek treatment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

That's where he was treated by Dr. Joseph Lamelas, a cardiac surgeon who has performed more than 8,000 open-heart surgeries.

Williams said Lamelas made an incision under his arm that didn't require any bone breakage.

"I wanted to get in, get out fast, get back to work in a short period of time," the premier said.

Williams said he didn't announce his departure south of the border because he didn't want to create "a media gong show," but added that criticism would've followed him had he chose to have surgery in Canada.

"I would've been criticized if I had stayed in Canada and had been perceived as jumping a line or a wait list. ... I accept that. That's public life," he said.

Source: Google News

Stafford Hospital deaths findings awaited

Further details are expected to emerge later about one of the worst scandals in the history of the NHS.
The Stafford Hospital independent inquiry is also due to report on what can be learned from the case.

Regulators said last year at least 400 more people had died at the hospital between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected, due to "appalling" care...

The hospital, which is run by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, had been climbing the NHS ratings ladder during the period in question and was even given elite foundation trust status.

Source: BBC

Paediatric surgeon Pierina Kapur mistakenly removed a baby’s bladder

A surgeon mistakenly removed a baby's bladder in an operation that means she will need a catheter for the rest of her life, a disciplinary hearing has been told.

Pierina Kapur, 43, a consultant paediatric surgeon, was scheduled to remove a hernial sac on a seven-week-old baby at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. But she mistook the child's bladder for the hernia, removing 90 per cent of it. It was only after the operation, when the child was admitted to the intensive care unit with acute kidney failure, that the full extent of the blunder was realised.

Miss Kapur appeared before the General Medical Council fitness-to-practise panel in Manchester. She has admitted that her role in the surgery was inadequate and fell below the standard expected of a consultant paediatrician, but denies misconduct...

Source: The Times

NHS hospitals ignore patient safety orders

Watchdog says failure by trusts to comply with alerts is 'unacceptable'.

Hospitals were accused tonight of putting patients' lives at unnecessary risk after research revealed they were failing to comply with NHS orders designed to prevent deaths from mistakes involving drugs, surgery or equipment.

Information released by the Department of Health after a freedom of information request showed that hospitals were not complying with safety alerts issued by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).

The NPSA's chairman, Lord Patel of Dunkeld, told the Guardian that the behaviour of the trusts was unacceptable and endangered the health of patients.

"It's not good enough," he said. "What's the point of us developing these alerts if they don't pay any attention to them? Alerts are produced to reduce risk and hopefully avoid many deaths, so not to implement them to me is alarming. If they aren't implemented then they run the risk of harm occurring and the danger will continue."

The findings were from a FOI request submitted by patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA). It revealed that:

• 104 hospitals and other providers of NHS care in England have not confirmed they have implemented an NPSA alert issued in March 2007 to ensure that injectable medicines are used more safely – even though new systems are meant to be in place by March 2010. The alert came after 25 patients died and 28 others experienced serious harm in 18 months.

• 25 NHS organisations have not confirmed compliance with an NPSA safer-practice notice designed to reduce the risk of patients falling out of bed. It was issued after about 90 patients who rolled out of bed on to the floor in hospitals, mental health and learning disability units, fractured their neck or femur; 11 of them died.

• 81 hospitals and other care providers had not taken the "required actions" outlined in patient safety alerts covering opioid (painkilling) medicines. The alert was originally issued in July 2008 with a deadline of January 2009; the 81 had not complied by 29 December 2009.

• 10 NHS trusts have not said they have complied with a February 2005 alert on nasogastric feeding tubes, which can sometimes be wrongly placed into the lungs during insertion. Errors involving the feeding tubes caused at least 11 deaths before the alert came out, according to the NPSA...

Source: The Guardian.

Author's footnote: AFAIAA, that's the first time we've ever posted something from The Guardian. Is this because they don't show up on Google or because they don't like reporting this sort of thing?

Son sues hospital over mother’s death in botched surgery

The son of a woman who bled to death after a botched operation is suing the hospital which treated her.

Ray Swing's mother Jean, 86, suffered a haemorrhage at Kingston hospital following surgery to improve the blood supply to her ulcerated legs.

Mr Swing blames her death on “untrained” staff, who he claims failed to recognise his mother was seriously ill. The motor service manager is taking legal action against the hospital which admits there was an “unacceptable” lapse of care.

Mr Swing told the Standard: “They [the hospital] said this was a simple procedure — at no stage did they say it was dangerous. She bled to death.”

The mother of five from Putney died last July. An inquiry by the hospital revealed a catalogue of errors. A spokesman said staff were receiving training on how to document medical notes and on the proper use of observation charts. Chief executive Kate Grimes said they had apologised.

Source: Evening Standard

Patient dies in hospital after 'do not resuscitate' form is mistakenly put in his files

A patient who suffered a heart attack on a hospital ward died because clerical staff had mistakenly inserted a ‘Do Not Attempt Resuscitation’ form into his medical notes.

Peter Clarke was not treated by doctors after going into cardiac arrest as a nurse had spotted the form in his files and, even though it was blank and had not been filled in, told other ward staff he should not be revived. The blunder emerged at an inquest into the incident at Derby Hospitals NHS Trust, where bosses revealed staff had been ‘routinely’ placing the forms alongside medical records before they had been correctly signed and witnessed by senior doctors.

The errors go against the usual Trust policy on using the forms and mean the documents were inserted into files without the consent of patients. It has affected an unknown number of patients and it is not known how long the practice was going on...

Source: Daily Mail
Spotted by: JuliaM

Virus keeps wards closed at Royal Cornwall Hospital

Five wards at Royal Cornwall Hospital remain closed due to a vomiting bug.

Two other wards are affected at the hospital in Truro because of the norovirus outbreak but are not closed to new patients. Managers said outpatient appointments were not affected, although anyone who has been ill is asked to contact the hospital before going in.

Visiting restrictions are in place at Royal Cornwall, West Cornwall and St Michael's hospitals. People have been asked not to visit the hospitals unless it is to see a seriously-ill patient. Outpatient appointments are going ahead as normal and patients have been told to turn up provided they are not unwell or showing any symptoms themselves.

The symptoms of the infection include a sudden onset of nausea, followed by vomiting and diarrhoea. Norovirus is contagious from the moment a person begins to feel unwell until at least three days after symptoms have stopped.

Source: BBC

Hospital readmission rates increase

The number of patients readmitted as emergencies within 28 days of being discharged rose from 359,719 in 1998-1999 to 546,354 in 2007-08, the data showed.

Elderly patients made up a large proportion of those affected - with 159,134 over the age of 75 readmitted in 2007-8, compared to 94,283 in 1998-99. The Tories said the figures suggest patients are routinely being released before they are well enough. The party's health spokesman Andrew Lansley said a Conservative government would change NHS rules to stop hospitals being paid again for treating patients they recently discharged.

He said: "It's staggering that there has been such a huge increase in the number of patients having to be readmitted to hospital as emergencies almost as soon as they've been allowed home. It's also a deeply worrying sign that the quality of care in hospitals is being undermined. This raises real concerns that patients are routinely being discharged too soon. Hospitals should not have an incentive to discharge patients quickly and then get paid by the taxpayer a second when they have to be readmitted. I will ensure that through our payment for results approach, hospitals have to meet any costs arising from emergency readmissions themselves."

However, a Department of Health spokesman said: "Patients are only discharged from hospital if the clinicians involved consider it safe and in their best interests. Some patients might require readmission if their health deteriorates, but the numbers are small. Only about 5% of patients discharged from hospital are readmitted within seven days of their discharge. Rates of readmission can also be a sign of better care. More people with long term conditions are being offered the choice of being treated in the community, with readmission only if the condition worsens."

Source: The Metro

57% rise in patients waiting over 8 weeks!

NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times figures, 31 December 2009

The key points from the latest release are:

Inpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 26 weeks standard for inpatient admission at the end of December 2009 was 18 (compared to the total of 625,100).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 13 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 57,600, an increase of 12,300 (27.3%) from November 2009, and a rise of 18,000 (45.3%) from December 2008.

Outpatient Waiting times

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over the 13 weeks standard for a first outpatient appointment following GP referral at the end of December 2009 was 93 (compared to the total of 926,800).

• The number of patients, for whom English commissioners are responsible, waiting over 8 weeks at the end of December 2009 was 74,100, an increase of 11,700 (18.8%) from November 2009, but a rise of 26,900 (57.0%) from December 2008.

Comment: Labour has made a mess of GP services

The disclosure that just two GPs are available for out-of-hours duty in the county of Suffolk is the inevitable consequence of the contract with family doctors negotiated by the Health Department in 2004. Such sparse coverage is now commonplace throughout rural England, to the detriment of patient care. GP services have come under renewed scrutiny after the death of a 70-year-old man in Cambridgeshire who was given an overdose of diamorphine by a German doctor working for a group that arranges evening and weekend cover. In Suffolk, a baby died while its parents waited four hours for an over-stretched duty doctor to call back. A report by the Primary Care Foundation found that only 16 of the 80 primary care trusts it examined met the target of clinically assessing 90 per cent of urgent calls within 20 minutes.

A dangerous spiral of decline has taken place since the new contract was agreed. Some GPs have opted out altogether from out-of-hours services while others continue to offer them at higher rates. However, funding has been reduced, forcing trusts to look at cheaper contracts, which results in a cut in the number of doctors employed and their replacement by nurses, paramedics, help lines and walk-in centres. In many parts of the country, out-of-hours services are now disconnected from mainstream general practice and provided by doctors untrained in British primary care. Many people faced with uncertainty about GP cover are tempted to use hospital A&E services. However, these are overstretched as well. The European working time directive has forced Britain to cut the hours of junior hospital doctors to a maximum of 48 a week just as their workload is growing. As if this was not bad enough, we report today that the European Commission is stepping up the pressure for other British exemptions to the directive to be removed, despite the damage it has already caused to business and our public services.

Grandmother disgusted at filthy hospital nursed and bathed other patients on her ward

A grandmother was so disgusted by the filthy conditions and neglect on a hospital ward that she bathed and cared for the patients herself.

Janet Halsall, 74, was admitted to Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, for three days to have a scan on her liver, when she was shocked to see staff repeatedly ignore pleas for help and leave fellow elderly patients to ‘fend for themselves’.

The kind-hearted pensioner was so appalled by the conditions in the hospital that she bathed, washed and tucked in the frail elderly patients herself.

The grandmother-of-seven said fellow patients were distressed after being left without water, and when she went to the pantry to clean their glasses, she found it in a ‘disgusting state’.When one elderly lady got no help after repeatedly complaining to staff she was cold, Mrs Halsall was moved to search a store cupboard for a blanket.

The former hairdresser even washed and bathed one lady who needed help to clean herself and took another pensioner to the toilet after staff continually ignored her requests because they were ‘too busy’.When she was discharged on Monday afternoon, her fellow patients cheered and clapped her - branding her their 'guardian angel'.

Speaking from her home in Little Staughton, Beds., she said: ‘I was absolutely disgusted when I entered the ward. ‘At 7pm I arrived in the ward and was appalled to find the bed was unmade and the water jug and glass were on the floor. ‘There was no locker or table to put my things on or bag to dispose of rubbish.

‘The patient in the next bed to me kept asking staff if she could go to the bathroom to have a wash and clean her teeth before breakfast. The reply was always “in a minute”. ‘She was really upset so I found her a bowl and washed her from head to toe and made her feel better. She was so grateful.‘Never before have I seen so many people rushing around, working so hard but achieving nothing.’ Mrs Halsall, whose partner Eric died five years ago, blames the shoddy treatment on a shortage of staff.

She added: ‘There simply weren't enough staff looking after the ward. People were asking for help and it was falling on deaf ears. ‘The poor nurse was running around and didn't have time to help everyone. I couldn't just sit there and watch so, being quite agile, I got up and helped them myself. ‘When I left the ward on Monday they all cheered me out and said I was their guardian angel.’ Mrs Halsall was referred to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital at around 11am on Friday amid fears she was suffering a liver complaint. She was told she could not have the scan until Monday and was later transferred to the Appletree Ward for the weekend. But within minutes of arriving, she became angry after spotting a number of patients who were not being cared for. Pensioner Joyce Bates, who was also on the Appletree Ward as she underwent physiotherapy for rheumatoid arthritis in her legs, hailed Janet a 'heroine'. Widower Mrs Bates, from March, Cambs., said: ‘I don't know what we would have done without Janet. The place was an absolute disgrace and our treatment was even worse. ‘I've stayed in hospital 38 times and I've never watched as a patient is forced to give another a bed bath because the nurses won't.‘She truly was magnificent in what was a nightmare situation.’

Director of the Patients Association Katherine Murphy said: ‘Unfortunately we hear far too many examples of the kinds of things described by Janet Halsall.‘It is completely unacceptable for patients not to be treated with dignity and respect and not to receive the help they need with things like personal hygiene. ‘That should be fundamental to NHS care-whenever it's not it's an appalling indictment of our treatment of some of the most vulnerable users of our health services.’ A spokesman for Hinchingbrooke said: ‘Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust takes all complaints extremely seriously.‘We would ask Mrs Halsall to contact us directly so that a full investigation can be conducted into her experience on the ward.‘Until we can look into these incidents in more detail it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.’

Source

Misconduct doctor Jane Barton escapes being struck off

A doctor who prescribed "potentially hazardous" levels of drugs to elderly patients who later died has escaped being struck off. Dr Jane Barton will be allowed to continue working under certain conditions despite being found guilty of serious professional misconduct. She was accused of a series of failings in her care of 12 patients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in the 1990s.

Relatives and the General Medical Council criticised the panel's ruling. Family members of those who had died shouted at the fitness to practice panel when the decision was delivered in central London. Iain Wilson, the son of Robert Wilson, one of the patients who died, shouted: "You should hang your head in shame."

Source: BBC

185,000 leave NHS hospitals starved

THE NHS was last night accused of starving patients.

Shock figures show a record-breaking 185,000 left hospital last year suffering from malnutrition. The number of starved patients has rocketed from 75,431 to 185,446 over the last 12 years - a 146 PER CENT increase. And the problem is getting worse. The number of malnourished patients shot up 18 per cent last year alone - the biggest annual hike in more than a decade. The figures show that just over 175,000 patients went INTO hospital last year with malnutrition.

But 185,446 patients left with malnutrition - meaning an extra 10,443 developed problems while on the wards.
The revelations will fuel fears about the quality of care in hospitals. The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust discharged 4,766 patients last year suffering from malnutrition. Fifteen other hospitals recorded more than 2,000 patients leaving with nutritional problems.

Shadow Health Minister Stephen O'Brien said: "These figures are of serious concern. Labour have done very little to protect vulnerable people."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Many patients admitted to hospital are already malnourished. Malnutrition can be a consequence of serious illness or medication."

Source: The Sun

Girl, 19, left battling blindness after taking Tamiflu (and she didn't even have swine flu)

A teenage girl left disabled by the swine flu treatment Tamiflu did not even have the virus, it was revealed today.

Samantha Millard, 19, became critically ill after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the tablets, which she took on the advice of the controversial NHS helpline. Within 72 hours of taking three pills, doctors put her on life support. Samantha spent a month in hospital after developing the life-threatening Stevens Johnson syndrome, which causes the skin to peel off, and later developed toxic epidermal necrolysis syndrome, which has damaged her sight. But tests at the hospital have since revealed that she never even contracted the swine flu virus.

Her devastated mother Debbie Van Horenbeeck is now seeking legal advice about the information given out by the NHS swine flu helpline. She believes that Tamiflu has not been tested thoroughly enough.'They have disabled my daughter from that helpline,' said the 42-year-old, who is now her daughter's full-time carer. 'When they told her she had swine flu, they did not inform her of anything that could go wrong. The Government told us we should take this if we got swine flu.'

Source: Daily Mail

Birmingham GP in abortion row cost taxpayers £600,000

A Birmingham GP accused of sending her teenage daughter abroad for an illegal abortion has cost taxpayers a £600,000 NHS bill while she has been suspended.

Dr Saroj Adlakha, of Shilpa Medical Centre, in Kings Heath, has not been allowed to work for more than four-and-a-half years after she was suspended from the medical register by the General Medical Council.

But information disclosed to the Liberal Democrats under Freedom of Information Act requests shows that South Birmingham Primary Care Trust (PCT) has paid the doctor £600,000 while suspended – one of the highest amounts of those payments in the UK.

South Birmingham PCT has said Dr Adlakha’s payments included cover of two locum doctors for patients while the doctor was unable to work.

Dr Adlakha, of Somerset Road, Edgbaston, and her daughter Shilpa Abrol, were charged with conspiracy to commit child destruction abroad after the GP allegedly arranged for the then 18-year-old to have an illegal late abortion in Barcelona at 31 weeks into her pregnancy, although the legal limit is 22 in Spain.

Child drug errors 'too frequent'

Mistakes are being made in a high number of drug treatments given to children in hospital, experts warn. A snap-shot study by the University of London of five hospitals in the city found 13% of the 3,000 prescriptions they examined had an error. And a fifth of drugs given to children in these hospitals during 2004 and 2005 were administered incorrectly. Most errors were harmless but a small number were potentially fatal, Archives of Diseases in Childhood reports. On five occasions, one of the investigators intervened to prevent the patient suffering the consequences.

 

Over a period of two weeks, they watched how nurses gave drugs to children on 11 wards at the five hospitals. They picked up 429 administration errors among the 1,554 doses of medicine given to 265 children, giving an overall error rate of 19%. When pharmacists reviewed the drug charts of 444 children treated in the hospitals over the fortnight, they found and corrected errors in 13% of almost 3,000 prescriptions. The majority were incomplete prescriptions, but a third were dosing errors.

 

Although the study involved only five London hospitals, the authors believe the results would be similar in other UK hospitals. And despite the study being carried out five years ago, the researchers say the findings still stand today. Study author Professor Ian Wong, of The University of London, said: "It is highly unlikely that the situation has changed since our study was done. That is because prescribing for children is very difficult."

 

Source: BBC

Patients' inquest focuses on overseas locum care

An inquest into the deaths of two patients in Cambridgeshire treated by a German doctor on his first shift in the UK is due to start later in Wisbech.

 

David Gray, 70, died in 2008 from an overdose of the painkiller diamorphine after being seen by Dr Daniel Ubani, who arrived in the UK the previous day. Iris Edwards, 86 - Dr Ubani's next patient - later died of a heart attack. Mr Gray's family say the case raises questions over the use of overseas doctors for evening and weekend cover.

 

An agency had supplied him to Take Care Now, the company which was running the NHS out-of-hours service in Cambridgeshire. The contract was terminated at the end of last year.

 

In April 2009, the German authorities gave Dr Ubani a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and he was ordered to pay a £4,500 fine for causing death by negligence. He continues to practise as a cosmetic surgeon in the west German town of Witten...

 

Source: BBC

 

Doctor admits failure over death of Bupa boss at her own hospital

It's not just the NHS that kills people...

A doctor admitted incompetence after a woman died following surgery to remove a kidney stone at a private hospital.

Carmel Bloom, 54, developed septicaemia and suffered multiple organ failure after the operation at the Bupa (now Spire) Roding Hospital in Ilford, in August 2002.
Consultant John Hines and anaesthetist Dr Paul Timmis faced a General Medical Council hearing over the treatment they provided to Ms Bloom, who was employed as a health controller at the Roding.

Dr Timmis admitted he took a series of inappropriate steps which worsened Ms Bloom's condition....

Dr Timmis admitted that his level of care fell below the standard expected of a consultant of his experience. However, Mr Hines denied the care that he provided was inappropriate or incompetent. The hearing continues.

Source: The Evening Standard.

Happy BlogDay To Us

We've now been posting NHS horror stories as we spot them for a year. Heck knows how many we overlook; how many never make it to the papers in the first place; or how many cases there are where the victim's family allow themselves to be fobbed off with foul excuses.

Thanks to everybody who drops in, leaves a comment etc.

CARPE DIEM: Bypass the Doctor and Go Straight to the Lab

Some Private alternatives to the NHS rationing are emerging
CARPE DIEM: Bypass the Doctor and Go Straight to the Lab

Patients 'being force-fed with tubes in wards and care homes'

Patients are being effectively force-fed amid widespread poor practice in hospitals and care homes, according to a report. Some homes are even turning people away unless they have a nutrition tube fitted because staff do not have time to feed them.

More than 39,000 people in Britain who have swallowing difficulties are given food and drink "artificially" at home or in hospital. They include cancer sufferers, accident victims with head injuries and people who are dying. Increasingly, carers are using feeding tubes on dementia patients, despite a lack of evidence that this increases survival rates.

The study was carried out by a working party set up by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Society of Gastroenterology...

Source: The Evening Standard

Woman, 92, 'left to starve' in hospital

Mr Hudson, a civil servant from Lewisham, has filed an official complaint against the hospital, claiming nurses did not offer his mother, who suffers from dementia, help with eating or taking medication. He claims they left her meal tray lid on and the food wrapped in cling film, which she was unable to remove. Medication was put in little cups in front of Mrs Hudson, who is blind in one eye and severely impaired in the other. This meant she missed taking tablets on at least six occasions.

Nurses also took a week to put a note over her bed alerting staff to her blindness despite requests, he said.

Lewisham Hospital was recently rated the worst in the capital for patient safety in a guide by Dr Foster, a leading provider of health information. Father-of-three Mr Hudson, 61, said: "All staff had to do was ask if she needed anything."

The Patients Association, which has campaigned over care on NHS wards, today said the Hudsons' experience was "sadly familiar". The hospital has given Mr Hudson a verbal apology. Chief executive Tim Higginson said steps had been taken "to ensure that this rare occurrence cannot be repeated".

Source: The Evening Standard

Effective depression treatment not available in NHS despite high demand.

Three quarters of GPs have prescribed anti-depressants even though they think another treatment would have been more effective, a survey has found.

The Mental Health Foundation says meditation halves the risk of repeated depression and should be more readily available, but access is very limited.

...

The Mental Health Foundation says mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) halves the risk of further bouts of depression.

...

But the report finds 75% of GPs have prescribed medication to people with long-term depression believing that another treatment - often less readily available - would be more appropriate.

The National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended MBCT for recurrent depression since 2004.

But the latest report found that just one in five GPs say they can access the treatment for their patients, and only one in 20 prescribe it regularly.

Doctor accused of missing golf ball-sized tumour three times - diagnosing piles instead

AN angry patient has told how her doctor missed a golf ball sized tumour THREE TIMES – after telling her she had piles.

Rabin Apta failed to identify tell-tale signs of rectal cancer despite repeated visits from the middle-aged victim to his surgery in Cannock, Staffordshire. And instead of urgently referring her to a specialist, he prescribed haemorrhoid cream.

Dr Apta is still practising, but could be struck off when he appears before the General Medical Council tomorrow over the bungle and other patient complaints. The cancer victim, whose family had a history of the disease, said: “He’s left me with a death sentence. I kept going to see him and he kept patting me on the head and telling me everything was fine.’’

The medic saw the woman, known as Patient A, at three appointments between November 2007 and January 2008...

Source: Birmingham Mail

Hospitals 'fiddling' A&E waiting times

Data from 114 NHS trusts in England found many patients faced long waits in assessment units which did not count towards the waiting time.

Over a fifth of units reported keeping patients longer than the recommended 24 hours with the average wait being 17.

Doctors agreed the system was being abused in places

Woman's death was 'gross failure'

Gross failures and neglect contributed to the death of a grandmother-of-five after a routine procedure went wrong at a Birmingham hospital, a coroner ruled. Rosemary McFarlane, 64, died after being given a chemical that was 10 times the recommended concentration, which burned her lungs and killed her...

 

Source: BBC.

Given the changes that are about to happen in US health care, what do we think about the NHS?

Click here to comment

Doctors ‘sent flu girl home to die’

A GIRL of two died of suspected swine flu just a day after doctors said she had no illness, her parents have claimed.

 

Michelle Fernando began displaying swine flu symptoms a week after her mother Uthpala, 27, fell ill. The girl's father Rashid, 30, took her to Bristol Children's Hospital but claims doctors sent them home after telling him to give her plenty of water and Calpol to reduce her temperature. However, Michelle stopped breathing the following day. She was taken to hospital by ambulance from the family's home but was dead on arrival...

 

Source: The Metro

Baby ward shortages 'scandalous'

A coroner has branded midwife shortages at a hospital where a newborn baby died on an overstretched maternity ward as "nothing short of scandalous". Deputy coroner for Milton Keynes Thomas Osborne said "systems failures" led to the death of Ebony McCall.

An inquest heard the baby girl only had a faint heartbeat when she was born by Caesarean section at Milton Keynes General Hospital in May this year. Her mother, Amanda McCall, had medical conditions including cardiac disease.

A hospital spokesman said: "We are very sorry indeed for the distress and grief caused to them by the death of their daughter Ebony... Changes have already been made to the way we work to improve the safety of our maternity services..."

Source: BBC

Tim Worstall: Equality is all.

when you look at the WHO numbers for the ranking of health care systems (rather than this OECD one) you find that the egalitarianism of the system counts for the majority of the rating. The actual effectiveness of the care amounts to only 25% of it.

Which is why the NHS does so well in the WHO rankings.

Post Comments at Tims Site.

Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust pays £700,000 after breast blunders

Health chiefs have paid out almost £700,000 in compensation to 19 women who had botched breast surgery which left them 'feeling like freaks'.

 

The women, who were mostly cancer patients, suffered pain and disfigurement after Puvaneswary Markandoo performed surgery on them. Of the 19 settlements – each victim receiving about £35,000 on average – Barnsley Hospital Foundation Trust admitted negligence in 15 cases.

 

'She's left me a physical mess. Now I feel like a freak,' said patient Anne Bassett, who opted for reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy but ended up having nine operations which 'all went wrong'. 'Once she said, "I won't put you to sleep for this one". It was like something out of a horror film. I still keep having nightmares and wake up screaming,' added the 47-year-old from Barnsley.

 

Markandoo, 62, was suspended on full pay in July 2006. An inquiry by the General Medical Council later found her deficient in 11 areas, including basic surgery and working within regulations...

 

Source: The Metro.

250 DIE OF STARVATION IN HOSPITAL

A STAGGERING 250 people are dying of starvation a year in British hospitals - a national disgrace that costs the taxpayer a whopping £7 BILLION.

Official figures show that the number of patients suffering from malnutrition in NHS hospital beds has been getting worse since Labour came to power - with a 16 per cent rise in deaths since 1997.

Hospitals estimate around 30 per cent of all their patients are malnourished when admitted, making treatment more expensive because they end up staying in hospital longer.

Patients who don't get enough nutrition are less likely to recover from major surgery and more likely to pick up hospital superbugs than those who are well fed. This results in longer stays in hospital and additional treatment that pushes up the cost of care.

Chief Nurse Dame Christine Beasley claims that £7 billion of the £15 billion a year the health service needs to save could be clawed back by attacking malnutrition.

Labour Peer Resigns Amid Hospital Scandal

Baroness Young told the Health Secretary of her decision to leave the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on November 26 - the day it sent an emergency taskforce into scandal-hit Basildon hospital.

The watchdog was subsequently branded "toothless" after a report discovered a raft of underperforming hospitals and high death rates.

Dr Foster Intelligence rated a dozen hospitals as "significantly underperforming", despite nine of them being rated good or excellent by the CQC.

Seven hospitals were also found to have considerably higher mortality rates for the past five years.

Nearly one in 10 hospital prescriptions 'have mistakes'

Nearly one in 10 hospital prescriptions contain a mistake, ranging from the minor to the potentially lethal, research has found.

But the study, commissioned by the General Medical Council, found very few errors would have caused serious harm. It also found that, contrary to belief, novice doctors were no more responsible for mistakes than the more experienced. To eliminate one area of confusion, the GMC is calling for a UK-wide standard prescription chart as exists in Wales.

The research team led by Professor Tim Dornan of the University of Manchester, examined the issue amid rising fears inexperienced doctors were making prescription errors which could, at worst, result in a patient dying...

Source: BBC

Hospital wards break world health 'noise limits'

Hospital wards across the NHS are breaking recommended noise limits, disturbing patients' sleep, well-being and recovery, experts say.

Two separate studies found the din of chattering visitors and loud mobile phones pushed noise levels well over recommended limits.

The World Health Organization says patients should not be exposed to noise above 35 decibels or a loud whisper.

But the UK researchers frequently recorded levels of 60dB to 90bB.

Researchers at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, found noise levels on an average general medical ward exceeded 60dB most of the time, even at night.

Patient died after 30cm swab was left inside him

A cancer patient died after a 30cm (12in) medical swab was left inside him during surgery, an inquest heard.

Dennis Thompson was left with the large surgical ‘mop’ in his abdomen after an operation to remove a small tumour on his liver. It would have played a ‘significant part’ in the 73-year-old’s death, the inquest was told.

Staff knew a swab was missing but could not get an X-ray of Mr Thompson because the department was busy. Mr Thompson, from Okehampton, Devon, had more surgery to remove the swab, which would have contributed to his death, said Dr Christopher Mason, who carried out the autopsy...

Source: The Metro

Sick baby is examined in car park

A hospital in Norfolk is to review its procedures after a baby was assessed for more than an hour in its car park.
Nine-month-old Amy Cawley was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn when she fell ill.

Staff believed Amy might have been suffering from swine flu so was checked in her parents' car for 70 minutes, but in fact she had a viral infection.

Amy's father, Ashley Cawley, said he was going to make a formal complaint to the hospital. "We didn't know what was going on, everything came as such a shock," he said, "For anybody to be left in a car at any time of the year is questionable."

Hospital spokesman Noel Scanlon said examining a child in the car park on a winter's night was "not ideal practise." He said: "We will be looking very carefully at our procedures as a consequence of this child's experience."

The hospital said it would give the Cawleys a copy of their investigation.

Source; BBC

GPs 'should offer climate change advice to patients'

The Climate and Health Council, a collaboration of worldwide health organisations including the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Society of Medicine, believes there is a direct link between climate change and better health.

Their controversial plan would see GPs and nurses give out advice to their patients on how to lower their carbon footprint.

The Council believes that climate change “threatens to radically undermine the health of all peoples”.

It believes health professionals are ideally placed to promote change because “we have ethical responsibility…..as well as the capacity to influence people and our political representatives to take the necessary action”.

The Council has been recently formed to study the health benefits of tackling climate change and promotes a range of ideas from reducing your carbon footprint by driving less and walking more to eating local, less processed food.

Late cancer diagnosis 'costs up to 10,000 lives a year'

Failure to pick up cancer at an early stage costs the lives of up to 10,000 a year in England, the government's cancer tsar is reported to have said.

The Guardian quotes National Cancer Director Professor Mike Richards as saying the situation is "unacceptable". Currently, 90% of patients are diagnosed by symptoms, rather than through screening. Professor Richards' comments will feature in a forthcoming article in the British Journal of Cancer.

In an excerpt published in the Guardian, Professor Richards said: "These delays in the patient presenting with symptoms and cancer being diagnosed at a late stage inevitably costs lives. The situation is unacceptable so the first big step has been to understand why the delays occur."

Professor Richards said that if diagnosis in England was as good as in the best-performing European countries many lives could be saved...

Source: BBC.

Blood stain scandal hits two hospitals

An expert taskforce is to be sent into a hospital after inspectors uncovered a litany of grisly failings.

 

They have been called in by watchdogs who found floors and curtains stained with blood, blood-spattered trays used to carry implements, soiled mattresses and mouldy breathing machines. Inspectors also highlighted higher-than-expected death rates at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which operates two hospitals in Essex.

 

The findings emerged after a surprise visit, just weeks after another official report rated the trust as 'good'...

 

Source: The Metro

 

Bulimic teenager 'let down by useless NHS'

"A teenager who battled anorexia and bulimia was let down by health chiefs, an inquest heard yesterday.

 

Alice Rae's father, Peter, criticised the care given to his daughter a fortnight before she died. The 18-year-old was admitted to hospital on December 29 last year when her blood potassium levels were dangerously low. She was discharged within hours and was found dead in her bed by her mother two weeks later..."

 

Source: The Metro

Brain tumour boy dies after being shunted between three hospitals

"A 10-year-old boy suffering a burst brain tumour died after being taken to three hospitals and waiting for seven hours for an ambulance transfer.

 

The parents of Kieran Howard were left watching helplessly amid errors by NHS staff. An inquest today was due to hear how doctors initially failed to realise Kieran was fatally ill. There was a seven-hour delay transferring him from Pembury Hospital in Kent to St Thomas' Hospital in London because ambulance crews were "too busy".

 

Medical staff then searched desperately for a neurosurgical unit which could operate. He was finally taken to King's College Hospital, but never regained consciousness, dying on 2 April last year. In all, it took 15 hours for him to receive specialist treatment..."

 

Source: The Evening Standard

 

Brain damage victim wins £3.2m after doctors missed meningitis

A man who was left severely brain-damaged after doctors failed to diagnose he was suffering from meningitis for five days was today awarded £3.2million in compensation.

Mark Thomas, 20, is unable to work or live independently as a result of the brain injury sustained in 2002, when he was 12 years old. Doctors at Walsall Manor Hospital in the West Midlands did not link his symptoms to the potentially fatal illness...

Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents Mr Thomas, said he first attended Walsall Manor hospital on February 9 2002 following a series of ear infections. He complained of a stiff neck, an aversion to bright lights and extreme lethargy, the firm said. A blood test was taken but the results - which showed Mr Thomas to be suffering from a meningeal infection of the brain - were not reviewed and he was sent home.

A spokesman for Irwin Mitchell said: "These symptoms, together with the blood test results, if they had been reviewed, should have rung alarm bells with doctors. However, rather than admitting Mark into hospital, he was instead sent home and the blood test was not acted upon for five days."

On February 14 Mr Thomas's parents took him back to the hospital where they were told by a nurse that his condition was not sufficiently serious and they were "using emergency A&E services inappropriately". When the couple demanded a second opinion the blood test results were analysed and meningitis was diagnosed...

Source: The Metro

Inquiry into finger operation death opens

From The BBC:

 

A man died during a routine operation on his pinkie finger, a fatal accident inquiry has heard.

 

Gordon Ewing, 44, from Cambuslang, suffered a cardiac arrest while being treated at the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow in May 2006. A pathologist told the hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court the death was "intrinsically linked" to lung puncture which happened during his operation...

 

The FAI heard that the 44-year-old initially broke his finger while playing with his son. He was treated at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride, but the injury did not set properly and he required a further operation. The petrol station owner then went to the Victoria Infirmary in May 2006. After being given a drug to relax the muscles, Mr Ewing began to show signs of swelling and it was initially felt he had suffered an adverse reaction.

 

Both lungs eventually collapsed and, despite efforts to revive him, the father-of-two died in the hospital's anaesthetic room...

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary told to improve swiftly

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has demanded "urgent improvements" at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

It follows a Healthcare Environment Inspectorate report highlighting issues needing to be addressed, including cleanliness and infection control. Ms Sturgeon said: "This report makes difficult reading. I am disappointed that so much room for improvement has been identified."

A follow-up inspection was said to already have found some progress. Inspectors had found patients who should be in isolation being treated in general wards, and stains and spillages that had not been cleaned up...

Source: BBC

GPs too slow to save girl, five, from swine flu, say family

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl suffering from swine flu died after doctors took two weeks to diagnose her illness, according to her family.

Nida Qureshi, from Slough, was seen by three GPs and a hospital doctor who told her parents she may have had tonsillitis. By the time doctors discovered she had the H1N1 virus, Nida was on a life support machine. She died eight days later on 11 November at St Mary's hospital in Paddington.

The girl's uncle said her parents Zubair, 28, and Raheela, 30, who is pregnant with their second child, believe Nida may have lived if swine flu had been diagnosed earlier. Jawaid Qureshi, said: "Her mum, a child carer, and dad are very angry. Nobody picked it up - it's just devastating. We asked lots of questions and got no answers." Mr Qureshi said Nida, who he described as a "bright girl who loved school" did not have any underlying health problems but this has not been confirmed.

Nida also had a lung infection as well as swine flu.

This is number six in our occasional series of people dying from swine flu after being misdiagnosed.

Source: Evening Standard.

Liver cancer drug 'too expensive'

A drug that can prolong the lives of patients with advanced liver cancer has been rejected for use in the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said the cost of Nexavar - about £3,000 a month - was "simply too high".

But Macmillan Cancer Support said the decision was "a scandal".

More than 3,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer every year in the UK and their prognosis is generally poor.

Only about 20% of patients are alive one year after diagnosis, dropping to just 5% after five years.

'Disappointed'

Campaigner Kate Spall, who won the right to have two months of treatment for her mother, Pamela Northcott, in 2007, said it had prolonged her life by four-and-a-half "precious" months.

It had allowed her 58-year-old mother, from Dyserth in Denbighshire, "closure" and "peace", she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The problem in Mum's case is it took a year for me to fight for the treatment, so we'll never know how well she could have done," she said.

"We had extra time, which was very precious to us all, her symptoms were helped greatly. And, more importantly, for Mum it was a case of getting some closure and peace.

"The psychological feeling when a group of people decide that you cannot have a treatment that can help you is really devastating."

Mother death hospital prosecuted

A hospital in Swindon is to be prosecuted on health and safety charges over the death of a nurse shortly after she gave birth. Mayra Cabrera, a 30-year-old theatre nurse, had a drug used in epidurals pumped into her arm at the Great Western Hospital on 11 May, 2004. She died of a heart attack after giving birth to her son, Zac, who survived.

The Health and Safety Executive has told the hospital it is prosecuting over alleged "safety breaches". Sue Rowley, director of nursing at the Great Western Hospital NHS Trust, said: "The Trust have been summoned to appear at the magistrates court at a future date. We regret the additional distress this case causes Mayra's family and friends and we will minimise this as much as possible by seeking a swift resolution to the case."

The whole exercise seems like tokenism at its worst, but hey.

Source: BBC.

1,800 Deaths A Year Linked To Dementia Drug

Up to 1,800 elderly dementia patients are dying each year from wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, a Government report has found.

Only around 36,000 of the 180,000 people currently on the drugs in the UK need them, the report said, leaving 144,000 people taking them unnecessarily.

Anti-psychotic medicines are licensed to treat people with schizophrenia and are used off-licence for dementia patients in care homes and hospitals.

In his review, Sube Banerjee, professor of mental health and ageing at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said the rate of use of anti-psychotic drugs could be cut to one third of its current level with appropriate action.

Hospital slated over cobwebs, dusty floors and dirty toilets

A SCOTTISH hospital has been told to make improvements in its infection control after inspectors found dusty floors, dirty toilets and other areas of concern.

The report said: "In the outpatient reception area, the inspection team found evidence of poor cleanliness in all the inspected public toilets with these areas being generally dusty, dirty under the paper towel holder and in the sink areas.

"The carpet within the outpatients department was heavily stained in several public areas."

In ward six, the report said there were several areas of concern: "The floors were dusty particularly in the corner areas, there was no domestic waste bin in the patient toilets, cobwebs were present in a number of high spaces and a dirty toilet seat and bowl were observed."

The inspectors also found that the patient day room was being used to store equipment, while a patient bathroom was being used as a staff toilet.

They said furniture in the day room was "of an unsatisfactory standard and in need of repair".

Source: The Scotsman

The Human Cost of Government Controlled Health Care

Government targets increase superbug risks, say NHS infection chiefs

While rates of MRSA and Clostridium difficile are falling, after scandals over major outbreaks, other potentially fatal infections which receive less attention appear to be soaring, the Commons public accounts committee will say.

Around 300,000 infections are diagnosed in English hospitals every year – but many more potentially fatal bugs may be going undetected, because of a lack of surveillance, research has found.

A voluntary scheme charting all bloodstream infections found numbers increased by 30 per cent between 2003 and 2007, in what the committee's chairman Edward Leigh described as a "rising tide" of infections threatening all hospital patients.

The report is expected to show increasing numbers of cases of E-coli, linked to surgical site infections and urinary tract problems, and in cases of the bacterial infection Klebsiella.

The Sunday Telegraph has established that the NHS' most senior doctors and scientists responsible for infection control believe their efforts are being hindered by Government waiting targets.

An anonymous survey of 170 NHS directors of infection control found that 59 per cent had experienced a clash between their efforts to block the spread of disease and rules which say new patients must be found a bed within four hours.

Man sent home from hospital died after being given wrong diagnosis

A man who was sent home from hospital by doctors who thought he had a virus died hours later, an inquest heard.

Doctors believed Nitesh Sharma's symptoms were the result of a winter bug, but in fact he had a twist in his bowel which caused a heart attack and multiple organ failure.

The 29-year-old had been taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary by his wife, Hiral, on November 21, 2007, after he had complained of chest pains, vomiting and diarrhoea.

He underwent tests and was discharged by doctors, who told the inquest they believed he had the norovirus.

His wife was so concerned after seeing him double-up in pain in the hospital car park she insisted he was checked again, and the second doctor came to the same conclusion.

At 6am the next day, he was re-admitted to hospital and minutes later suffered a heart attack. It was then that doctors discovered he had a kink in his bowel, which it is believed would have caused his vomiting and diarrhoea.

Mr Sharma underwent emergency surgery but died later that day as a result of multiple organ failure, the inquest at Leicester Town Hall heard.

Consultant general surgeon David Hemingway carried out the emergency surgery. He told the coroner that Mr Sharma would have had a less than 5% chance of dying if the operation had been carried before the heart attack.

Or, to put it another way, if one of the two doctors who had examined him had noticed the problem, there is a 95% chance he would still be alive today. Because ...

The inquest heard that other than having Type 1 diabetes, Mr Sharma had been in good health.

The pathologist, it would seem, was careful not to upset her NHS chums.

Pathologist Dr Catherine Richards told the inquest ... "It is possible he could have survived if surgery had been carried out before."

Possible? 95% is a darn site more than 'possible'.

Source: Leicester Mercury

'Whitewash' claim over Lisa Norris radiation overdose ruling

The family of a teenager wrongly given massive doses of radiation has branded a decision not to punish the doctor responsible a “whitewash”.

The Health Professions Council (HPC) upheld charges against Dr Stuart McNee at a disciplinary hearing in Edinburgh but decided he should not be struck off.

Speaking afterwards, the parents of Lisa Norris said the decision was a “travesty” and said no one had taken responsibility for administering 19 radiation overdoses.

The 16-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumour in October 2005, and was given radiation 58 per cent higher than prescribed in January 2006.

This left her with burns on her head and neck. She died from the tumour at her home in Ayrshire later that year.

The conduct and competence hearing was attended by Lisa’s parents Ken and Liz, who said they would continue with legal action against Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board.

Mr Norris, 53, said: “I'm very disappointed that a man can do what he did and walk away from it. I was expecting him to at least get reprimanded for it.

“I expected him to be here so we could come face to face with him. No one has taken responsibility for overdosing Lisa and as far as I'm concerned they have just whitewashed it.

“It doesn't matter that he had a good, impeccable record. What he did, he shouldn't have done. It's a travesty.”

The HPC disciplinary panel found Dr McNee had been responsible for planning the botched course of radiotherapy at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow.

But they concluded his biggest failing had been not speaking out over staffing pressures in his department.

This had led to his failure to ensure that standing operating procedures were up to date or even followed, or to make sure that systems were in place to ensure his trainee practitioners were supported.

Alistair Forsyth, representing Dr McNee, argued his client had “simply reached a breaking point where too much was being expected of him”.

The doctor had to deal with 80 to 100 cases at any one time and was the only senior radiotherapy physicist involved in treatment planning at one of the busiest centres of its kind in the UK.

Baby died after 'massive overdose' of glucose

A premature baby, Poppy Davies, died after being given a ''massive overdose'' of glucose following a series of blunders at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Poppy was transferred to the leading children's hospital in London for specialist care after she was born three months early on Christmas Eve last year, in Basildon, Essex.

But she died after a "domino effect" of mistakes, an inquest was told.

Rebecca Tite, a trainee nurse, who had spent just three weeks in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, set up a machine supplying her with glucose incorrectly, flooding her body with the solution.

The levels of glucose in Poppy's blood rose to 20 times the maximum level they should have been, causing ''devastating effects'' to her body, St Pancras Coroner's Court in central London heard.

The machine that nurses would have preferred to use to give Poppy glucose would have prevented an accidental overdose being given to her, the inquest heard.

But the equipment was not available after being taken away to help threat a five-year-old boy suffering from meningitis who had needed it urgently.

Both Mrs Tite and Claire Kirk, the senior nurse on duty on January 11, the day of the overdose, failed to check the safety clamp on the syringe that was then used to provide glucose.

As as result, instead of being carefully measured, a free flow of glucose entered Poppy's bloodstream and circulated for over an hour.

The nurses then failed to respond to alarms that sounded in the baby's cubicle which could have alerted them to the fatal error, as they were treating her for breathing problems instead.

Doctors eventually tried to save Poppy's life by giving her insulin but she died on February 1.

Patient left locked in ambulance

NHS bosses have apologised to a patient in Manchester who was locked in an ambulance for five hours after the driver went home and forgot about him.

The man, 65, was stranded at Sharston ambulance station, Wythenshawe, after being collected by an ambulance from Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The alarm was raised when he failed to return to the care home where he lives.

The North West Ambulance Service said an inquiry had begun and a staff member "was suspended with immediate effect".

The incident happened on Tuesday when the patient was collected from the hospital at 1915 GMT.

Instead of being returned to the care home, he was driven back to the ambulance station where he was left until 0100 GMT.