Complaints to NHS top 100,000 for the first time

The figures for 2009/2010 show a 13 per cent increase on the previous year - the largest ever increase .

The rise has been fuelled by growing dissatisfaction over the treatment of the elderly in hospitals, according to The Patients’ Association, which today launches a campign to improve NHS care for older people.

The charity wants matrons appointed within hospitals whose sole role is to look after elderly patients and ensure they are treated with dignity.

It is calling for fundamental change to the complaints system and the creation of an independent complaints body.

At present people must complain to the hospitals they feel have failed them.

The campaign would have met with the approval of their former president Claire Rayner who died in October.

She promised to haunt David Cameron if he failed to improve the NHS.

Her widower Des said: “Let the haunting begin.”

The charity campaign also aims to raise £100,000 to boost its dedicated helpline which helps NHS patients to submit complaints.

According to the NHS Information Centre 101,077 people made written complaints to hospitals compared with 89,139 in 2008/09.

Source: Telegraph

Patients get worse care out of hours due to staff shortages, report claims

Patients being admitted to hospitals outside office hours and at weekends receive poorer care due to a lack of consultants, the Royal College of Physicians has warned.

An audit conducted by the College has found that many hospitals do not have senior specialist doctors looking after patients admitted with serious illnesses outside normal working hours.

Consultants are already working 50 hours a week, more than they are contracted for, so the solution can only be to increase their numbers and work their rotas more effectively, the report said.


Studies by the College have already found that junior doctors look after an average of 61 patients in hospital overnight and one doctor was looking after 400 people.

Others have found babies born outside working hours are 70 per cent more likely to die and patients attending A&E departments at the weekend have higher death rates.

The College is asking for an urgent meeting with Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary, to discuss the problem.

Sir Richard Thompson, president of the Royal College of Physicians said: “Despite major improvements in the care of acutely ill patients which were led by the RCP following our major report in 2007, patients are still not getting the care they deserve at night and at weekends. “Too many junior doctors are covering too many very ill patients, and this has to change.

“Our evidence shows that a predominantly consultant-delivered medical service is the best way to improve patient care.”

A representative survey of 126 hospitals from around the country examined working patterns and patient care in acute admissions units, which are used to care for patients who need to be admitted urgently either from A&E or who have been sent by their GP.

Few hospitals had sufficient cover from consultants specialising in acute medicine staffing these units round the clock.

The report found:

– Almost three quarters of acute physicians do not work at weekends and only two thirds contribute to the on-call rota.

– All patients are not routinely seen by a consultant twice per day throughout the seven day week.

– Almost half of hospitals do not have the recommended three consultants specialising in acute medicine.

– In just under half of hospitals the on-call consultant has other routine clinics and tasks to complete while on call and do not cancel them in line with recommendations.

– Many patients are only seen once per day in a formal ward round in the acute phase of their illness.

– A small number of units appear to a have poor monitoring or staffing facilities to manage acutely unwell medical patients.

– In three quarters of the acute medical admissions units accepting patients directly from GPs, the unit runs out of beds.

– Nearly three-quarters of hospitals in the survey had no cover from consultant physicians specialising in acute medicine over the weekend.

Dr Jonathan Potter, Clinical Director of the RCP’s Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, said: “Despite improvements in facilities and staffing, hospitals still need to address working arrangements to ensure that senior doctors are readily available to provide a consultant led service in acute medical admissions units seven days a week.”

Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley said: "Sir Richard Thompson is right, patients do deserve better care at night and weekends and senior doctors should be available to provide acute medical care as needed.

“I have already asked Medical Education England to consider with the profession, the service and medical Royal Colleges, how best to secure better patient outcomes and the right level of supervision for trainees through greater consultant involvement in direct clinical care at night and at weekends."

Source : Telegraph

'Alarmingly high death rates' at two London hospital trusts

Patients are dying in higher numbers than expected at two London hospital trusts, a report reveals.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS trust and South London Healthcare NHS trust are shown to have alarmingly high death rates.

They are among 19 hospital trusts out of 147 in England which have been singled out for worrying mortality levels.

The influential Dr Foster Hospital Guide, which Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has applauded for allowing patients to make better choices about their treatment, said Barking, Havering and Redbridge was one of the poorest performing, with only three trusts having higher death rates. It also fares badly for care of stroke patients.

Source:Evening Standard

Inquiry Hears Of 'Utter Neglect' At Hospital

A woman has told how a "callous" doctor said her sick mother would not be resuscitated and suffer a painful death at Stafford Hospital.

The families of people who died at the hospital have started giving evidence at the public inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire Trust.

The inquiry is looking into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of up to 1,200 people.

An earlier independent inquiry accused management of putting cost-cutting above patient care.

Julie Bailey described conditions on her mother's ward as "bedlam" and "utter chaos".

"People were screaming in pain: 'Nurse, nurse'," she said.

"It was just total and utter neglect of vulnerable people, night after night people crying out.

"Some with eyes crusted up, mouths bleeding. My mum asked me to call the police."


Ms Bailey's mother Bella died at the hospital in 2007 at the age of 86.

At one stage, Ms Bailey was taken aside by a doctor and told: "It is likely she will die over the weekend.

"He said, 'It will be a painful death and she will die just like that', and snapped his fingers. There would be no resuscitation."

Ms Bailey went on: "I couldn't believe how callous he was and how he was speaking.

"It was such chaos that I feared for my own life as well as my mother's. There was no control."

It was just total and utter neglect of vulnerable people, night after night people crying out.


Ms Bailey described how conditions were worse at weekends and on several occasions she saw people drinking out of flower vases.

She complained about it and was told that water jugs had to be taken away and washed overnight for health and safety reasons.

Ms Bailey was one of the leading campaigners in bringing about the public inquiry, which could sit well into the middle of next year.

A previous report concluded that between 2005 and 2008 at least 400 patients died unnecessarily - but it could have been as many as 1,200.

The main aim of the inquiry is to examine why regulatory and supervisory agencies allowed "appalling" care to go on for so long.

Source: Sky News

Stafford Hospital: Investigation Launched As Twin Babies Die After Treatment At Scandal-Hit Hospital

An investigation has been launched after newborn twins died following an apparent mistake involving a drug at a scandal-hit NHS hospital.

The baby boys died 11 days ago at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust.

They had been transferred from Stafford Hospital, which is run by the separate Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Bosses there told The Guardian newspaper a report into the incident concluded it involved "wrong rate of infusion".

The trust said a member of staff had been suspended following the deaths.

It is impossible to say whether it has got anything to do with systemic problems at the trust or whether it is a tragic one-off

Chief executive Antony Sumara added: "We have commissioned a full external investigation into the events while the twins were at our hospital.

"This is under way and is being led by an independent paediatric doctor.

"At present we have suspended one member of staff."

A spokeswoman for the hospital would not comment on the exact circumstances surrounding the boys' deaths.

Campaigners had fought a lengthy battle for a public inquiry into Stafford Hospital

Stafford Hospital is at the centre of a public inquiry into substandard care and practices that led to hundreds of deaths.

There is no suggestion the latest tragedy is linked to previous failings at the hospital.

Peter Walsh, chief executive of patient safety charity Action Against Medical Accidents, said of the babies' deaths: "It is impossible to say whether it has got anything to do with systemic problems at the trust or whether it is a tragic one-off."

The public inquiry into care provided by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 was opened in Stafford on Monday.

Chaired by Robert Francis QC, it follows an earlier independent investigation which disclosed a catalogue of failings at the trust, which also runs Cannock Chase Hospital.

Source: Sky News

Spending Other People’s Money On Other People….

The Fryatt Hospital and Mayflower Medical Centre in Harwich, Essex, opened in December 2005, having been built using a scheme similar to the private finance initiative (PFI).

Yay!

Oh:

But since its opening, the hospital has been dogged by problems.

There was a three-year delay in getting GPs to move into the centre, half the floor had to be replaced, people were unhappy with the fact that its minor injuries unit was not open at night, and its x-ray department was cut to three days a week.

However, most complaints centred on the fact that its operating theatre was not being used. It was intended for minor procedures including foot operations.

Now North East Essex Primary Care Trust, which runs the hospital, has admitted it never will be.

Don’t panic, though! No-one’s been sacked or demoted for this. You see, it’s all the fault of…unforeseen changes.

Well, the lack of use of the theatre part, anyway. The report doesn’t say what amazing, innovative excuse the Trust came up with for all the other complaints…

Matt Bushell, acting chief executive, said changes in patient safety regulations regarding anaesthetics since its opening meant the operating theatre was now no longer "viable".

It’s impossible to renovate it, then?

A spokesman for the trust added that it had been "the victim of unfortunate timing" regarding changes in legislation.

Or the victim of utterly incompetent management…

Mr Bushell stressed that the theatre only took up about five per cent of the space of the hospital, which offered more than 60 health services.

John Brown from Harwich Town Council described the new hospital as a "white elephant" and said: "It has been a waste of money."

"For the millions it cost to build the new hospital they should have spent a fraction of that renovating the old hospital," he said.

Quite…

"Ah, my children of the NHS. What beautiful music they make..."

A pensioner died after his chest was bled 'empty' when he was wrongly connected to a blood pumping machine and a hospital worker left the room.

NHS staff failed to use enough clamps to disconnect 76-year-old Dr John Baines from the device after a gruelling six-hour bypass operation, on January 29.

This meant his blood was pumped into the machine, which was filling in for his heart and lungs during the surgery, but not pumped back into his body.

Someone will swing for this, surely?

Deputy Assistant Coroner Mairin Casey ruled that no one member of staff was to blame and his death was caused by a 'series of collective errors'.

Wha..?

In a bypass operation, the pumps are operated by specially trained health professionals known as 'perfusionists', who work with the surgical team in connecting and disconnecting the machine to the patient.

However, the perfusionist who had been involved in the discussions about the complex operation was replaced before it began by two others, who oversaw the machine during the surgery.

One of them, Andrew Sutcliffe, said they clamped the line from the patient's neck and assumed two other clamps required had been attached by other members of the team.

He said: 'I think the issue is that we had clamped the common line. But clamps hadn't been applied where we would have expected them to.'

And you didn't think to check? Somehow, 'professional' isn't the word I'd have used...

Miss Casey recorded a narrative verdict and said the mistake was the result of collective rather than individual error.

She said: 'I'm confident that from the earliest point the human error was acknowledged to the family and to all who needed to subsequently investigate this matter.

'I'm also satisfied that there's no culpability in respect of an individual in this case.'

Nice! In effect, so many of you screwed up it'd be 'unfair' to hold any one of you responsible, so you get off with a massive fine (paid for by us taxpayers, of course) and a 'lessons have been learned' statement.

Pass The Parcel With Real Lives…

A dying teenager was "lost" for an hour in an NHS hospital after a bed manager asked nursing staff to move her to an inappropriate ward, an inquest heard today.

Doctors caring for 17-year-old Clementine Nicholson were "astonished" that she had been taken from a resuscitation unit without their consent, Coventry Coroner's Court heard.

And how did this happen?

Computer said ‘Yes’, innit?

Dr Mair Edmunds, associate director for clinical performance at the hospital, expressed her regret that Clementine had been moved by an electronic bed management system.

Well, no.

She might have been incorrectly marked for movement by a computer system, but real live people – supposedly, professional NHS staff – would have done the actual moving.

I mean, surely they check that someone’s well enough to be moved before they…

Oh:

Dr Edmunds said the hospital now had a nurse controller to oversee such moves and that more robust procedures were now in place to ensure patients were well enough to be transferred.

Before, no one checked?

/facepalm

Take Your Medicine Like Good Boys And Girls!

The government has more than 30 million swine flu vaccines left over after responding to the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic last year.

Hmmm, what to do, what to do....

I know! *snaps fingers*

Combining immunisation against the flu with the swine flu vaccine would prevent people from being able to turn down the swine flu jab without also missing out on the usual protection against winter flu viruses.

Capital idea! If they won't take their medicine, Nanny NHS will hold their nose until they do!

She said: "By March this year, that vaccine had been given out 5.5million times and there have been no reported cases of narcolepsy in Britain. There is very little change to the seasonal flu vaccination which will still protect against a large number of flu viruses. It is simply that the swine flu vaccine has been added. People will be notified of this when they receive their invitation letters to get the jab so it won't be a surprise."

This sort of breathtaking audacity still comes as a surprise, love, even to me....

Bogus NHS dentist with fake qualifications earned £230,000 over nine years

A bogus dentist with no qualifications managed to fool her employers at NHS hospitals for nine years before being discovered.

Vinisha Sharma used a fake degree certificate to register with the General Dental Council (GDC) and was employed by seven different hospitals where she operated on patients under supervision.

Despite having been investigated by the GDC in 2003, her deception was only discovered after a colleague raised concerns about her skills and knowledge of the job, prompting the Council to take another look at the case.

Sharma, who claimed she had a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree in India, earned roughly £230,000 as a senior house officer on annual contracts over the period.

The 37-year-old said that she had studied at the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Amritsar, but the university had no record of her ever attending or graduating.

Such was her self-delusion that she even had the letters BDS – Bachelor of Dental Surgery – as part of her personalised Mercedes numberplate.

Source: DailyMail

.Doctors ‘ping-ponged’ Clementine Nicholson, 17, dying of meningitis

A student at one of Britain’s top independent schools was ‘lost’ for hours by hospital doctors as she lay dying of meningitis-related blood poisoning, an inquest heard.

Clementine Nicholson collapsed in agony at £24,000-a-year Rugby School in Warwickshire. The 17-year-old eventually died of meningococcal septicaemia, blood poisoning caused by the same type of bacteria that causes meningitis, on May 6, 2009.

An inquest heard the condition, which causes severe joint pain and fever, needs to be treated within six hours. But Dr Patodi, who was treating her at Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry, sent Miss Nicholson for an unnecessary CT scan and then took a 30-minute break.

She was then ‘ping-ponged’ between two wards before eventually being sent to intensive care...

Source: The Metro.

Mum left with surgical pin sticking out of her elbow

Mum Mary Goodswen has been left in agony after a two-inch surgical pin slid out of her elbow following an operation.

To make matters worse for the 59-year-old mum of four, medics have told her she’ll have to wait a whole month before the problem is put right. In the meantime, doctors suggested that a cork is placed over the spike to stop it injuring someone.

Doctors inserted metal pins in Mrs Goodswen’s arm after it was left badly broken by a brutal street attack close to her home in Bromford, Birmingham. The operation at Heartlands Hospital to correct the broken bone seemed to have been a success – but two days later, one of the pins burst through the skin, to Mrs Goodswen’s horror.

She told the Sunday Mercury: ‘This has made my life hell. I can’t sleep at night and I’m in constant pain. With the pole jutting out of my elbow, I could be a danger to my boyfriend or other people. The pain was indescribable when it ripped through my flesh.’

Source; The Metro

Girl’s fatal tumour mistaken for ‘growing pains’

Courtney Runciman, 11, died on her first day of secondary school after waking up paralysed and doctors discovering a tumour running up her spine.

Tragic Courtney had complained of back and neck ache over the summer holidays, but a doctor was convinced they were merely the result of growing pains. Courtney enjoyed her first day at Blatchington Mill School in Hove and took part in activities with all the other children

The following morning, though, she woke up unable to move her legs. She was rushed to London's King's College Hospital where scans revealed a tumour running from the base of her spine to just below the neck. Her condition worsened considerably after emergency surgery and her parents took the heartbreaking decision to turn off her life support machine...

Source: The Metro

Mother-of-three given just months to live after bungling doctors missed her cancer 20 times

A mother-of-three has been given just months to live after doctors failed to diagnose her cancer during 20 examinations. Catherine Watkins was failed repeatedly by medical staff in Southend, Essex, despite losing two stone and being in so much pain she could barely move.

 

The 55-year-old started suffering severe abdominal pain in December and has been rushed to the A&E department of Southend Hospital four times in the past nine months. Doctors insisted Mrs Watkins, who also suffers from diabetes, simply had gallstones and refused to give her a CT scan.

 

Last month the foster carer was finally given a scan after her daughter forcefully argued her case.  Medical staff then discovered Catherine had advanced liver and pancreatic cancer...

 

Source: Daily Mail.

Father-of-four left disabled after blundering NHS fails to remove brain tumour which grew to the size of a lemon for four years

A father-of-four was left permanently disabled after doctors failed to diagnose a brain tumour which grew to the size of a large lemon for four years.

Former church minister Adrian Underwood was told he was suffering from migraines when he first complained of severe headaches and weakness on his left side.

But though a CT brain scan later revealed a tumour on the right-hand side of his brain, it was left untreated because a senior consultant failed to check the results.

Today the 42-year-old received a substantial out of court settlement after Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust admitted liability - nearly a decade later.


Read more: Daily Wail

NHS fails to remove brain tumour which grew to the size of a lemon for four years

A father-of-four was left permanently disabled after doctors failed to diagnose a brain tumour which grew to the size of a large lemon for four years.

Former church minister Adrian Underwood was told he was suffering from migraines when he first complained of severe headaches and weakness on his left side. But though a CT brain scan later revealed a tumour on the right-hand side of his brain, it was left untreated because a senior consultant failed to check the results.
Today the 42-year-old received a substantial out of court settlement after Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust admitted liability - nearly a decade later...

Source: Daily Mail.

Eleven Doctors missed cancer diagnosis Now 43 year has only weeks to live

A mother-of-three has been given weeks to live after ten hospital doctors and her own GP allegedly missed tell-tale signs of cancer.

Distraught Angela Skeffington said blundering medics continually misdiagnosed her stomach cancer as period pains, depression and even indigestion.

She also claims one A&E doctor told her to 'eat more bananas' during her continued cries for help, which went on for five months.

The 43-year-old has now been told her cancer is so advanced that doctors cannot operate - meaning she is likely to miss the birth of her sixth grandchild.

The terminally-ill grandmother of five said she was treated like a 'nuisance' after making cries for help with medics at Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham and her own GP since April.


Editorial comment Im 40 and I feel like a teenager, This woman is 43 and has 5 grandchildren? The mind boggles at how fecund the population is.

Source Daily Wail

Mother of three given weeks to live after cancer was missed by ELEVEN doctors

Distraught Angela Skeffington said blundering medics continually misdiagnosed her stomach cancer as period pains, depression and even indigestion.

She also claims one A&E doctor told her to 'eat more bananas' during her continued cries for help, which went on for five months. The 43-year-old has now been told her cancer is so advanced that doctors cannot operate - meaning she is likely to miss the birth of her sixth grandchild.

The terminally-ill grandmother of five said she was treated like a 'nuisance' after making cries for help with medics at Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham and her own GP since April. She said was suffering with severe stabbing pains to the stomach, blood in her vomit and stools, plus a loss of appetite. Mrs Skeffington claimed she was not given a specialist CT scan until a week ago, when the killer disease was finally discovered.

Her stomach cancer has now spread to her liver and lymph nodes, and she has been told there was little hope of recovery.
Medical records show she was seen by ten doctors during 12 visits to Heartlands Hospital A&E, but suffered repeated misdiagnoses including anorexia, depression and indigestion.

Source: Daily Mail

Busy A&E doctors fail to spot broken bones in children

Children and babies are at risk because overstretched hospital doctors are failing to spot breaks and fractures, it was claimed today.

The number of cases where there has been a delay in diagnosing children's bone injuries, or where breaks have been missed altogether, has risen by nearly a third in two years, according to new figures. The findings raise serious concerns about how under-fives are dealt with in understaffed casualty departments. Patient groups claim NHS cutbacks are partly to blame, along with a national shortage of paediatricians.

The Patients Association said: “It's really important that when children are admitted to A&E they are seen by the most appropriate and skilled individuals. If there is a shortage of specialist paediatricians, then clinical need must outweigh cost.”

The National Patient Safety Agency health watchdog received 19 reports from NHS trusts last year of missed fractures in young children, compared with 14 from 2008 to 2009.

In London, a total of nine blunders at seven hospitals was recorded in the past two years. But the agency says this is likely to be an underestimate as it is not compulsory for trusts to report such incidents...

Source: The Evening Standard

NWA*

Wearing hoodies and baseball caps, and festooned with 'bling' jewellery, they are doing their best to look like American rappers.

Sadly, the fact that they are middle-aged British nurses is all too apparent.

Well, it's crazy, sure, but what they get up to in their own time is no business of...

Oh:

This is how one health care trust has decided to spend public money - by producing an £1,800 rap video about how to clean your hands.

It is available to watch on NHS Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust's own channel on the YouTube website. It can also be bought in DVD form for £25.

Must be selling like hot cakes, I bet?

Yet in the month the DVD has been available, not a single copy has been sold.

Shocker...

* Nurses With Attitude