Healthcare - Nocare

A young [30] relative was in a large teaching hospital dying of cancer, he had been admitted unconscious. After 2 days no treatment was being administered, no liquids, no drugs, no food. He was in a side room with only 2 relatives allowed at one time - he became more and more distressed until his aunt [a nurse herself] went to the nurses station and had to get almost hysterical before they would agree to call the night staff to come and administer some sedation/pain relief.

Did they complain after, certainly not. They were having to deal with his death, funeral etc.

A blip in an otherwise blameless record, I doubt it. Misinterpretation on the part of the people involved, no.

I'm not knocking the NHS at all, more having a go at the government policies that are slowly but surely demolishing our health safety net.

Today's Telegraph has an article by (Dr) Max Pemberton on the massive increase in paperwork - 30 minutes with a patient = at least one hour's letter writing/box ticking/report filling in etc.( Sorry no idea how to do the link but it is in the section "The Doctor Will See You Now") The point is also made that the nurse/patient staffing ratio is now available on line for any particular hospital so instead of actually doing something to remedy this, we have a (no doubt expensive) useless PR exercise.

Nanban - no I don't work for them but calling the NHS the sickest organisation in our country is neither rational nor logical and blanket condemnations are neither fair nor helpful

Also Nanban I think you should be prepared to come up with some ideas for improvement - gracesmum has mentioned the excessive paperwork for example but that's a double edged sword - I'm aware of real harm being done to patients when there was not enough paperwork completed. A healthcare system is very complex to administer and we are not helped with the social/health care divide with patients with complex needs - many of whom are older. The social, demographic, economic, technological changes in society have all impacted on the health care system which is always playing catch up. Being a political football certainly doesn't help and I am certain that privatisation is making matters worse. I do not have a rosy view of the health service of my younger years either

I think there is a postcode lottery in the NHS. When my DH was in hospital I actually complained about one nurse who was off hand and dismissive, everything was too much trouble (I stayed with him and changed his pyjamas, changed his sheets, fed him and helped him to the toilet. Some of the other nurses were excellent, but when I complained about this particular nurse the ward manager told me she was the one who decided which nurse treated which patient and my complaint was dismissed. This was the main hospital in Bristol

I was then able to get him home, I live just outside Bristol, and his care by the District Nurses was wonderful. They turned up on time to change his pain relief, took time to answer my queries and treated him with care and respect. After he died I went to the doctors surgery to see my doctor and one of the District Nurses saw me and came to sit with me and offered condolences, asking if there was anything I needed.

I wonder if, with your examples sunseeker, that isn't a post code lottery but about differences in staff attitudes and management. In the last year her life, my mother was in and out of the same hospital many times but different wards. It was like being on different planets - one was superb! The sister in charge was clearly that - in charge- but nurses apparently queued up to work on that ward because they got huge satisfaction from working in such a professional environment. When my mother died, I wrote a long letter to the hospital detailing what had been good and bad about her care. It could have been a good learning exercise but doubt it was used in that way. If I could bring in one change to the NHS to start with it would be a PALs desk on every ward and a mandatory system of dealing with complaints that ensured any lessons to be learned were implemented and monitored. I would make feedback on complaints the first item on board meetings and invite relatives/complainants along to discuss the issues with senior management and take part in training with staff at all levels.

Oh how wonderful it would be to actually have a sister in charge of every ward. Sadly that's not the case any more.

I went into a hospital in France - A&E - and wasn't allowed to pass 'go' until I'd produced my E Hick[?]. I couldn't leave until I'd paid for drugs - in fact the drugs were not passed across before I paid. I also had to speak French. Here each GPs surgery must have access to some 40 plus translators should a non-English speaker turfs up. Just two examples of waste that the NHS has to cope with at the price of essential staff.

Am I knocking the Health Service - absolutely for sure I am. Do I personally use it, nope. Am I concerned that people need to have absolute confidence in getting the right treatment when using it, absolutely.

Not sure what you are saying Nan - we should all pay for our drugs?

Or are you saying people visiting here should pay?

For sure, people visiting here are greeted with someone to translate - at a cost to us - and of course they should pay.

Changes - abandon GPs; set up 24/7 drop-in GP centres as an adjunct to A&E or in more rural areas drop-in centres with X-ray facilities. Triage at the point of entry to direct to the GP drop-in and clear the floor of all those people who no longer can be bothered to either phone their GP, or wait 2 weeks for an appointment, or are not official residents here, need a translator and don't get asked to pay first.

That should free up plenty of cash to address some of the problems on the wards. GPs used to go onto wards to care for patients they had referred and from drop-in centres, that too could happen. But for sure, the god whose name is printed above each hospital bed should be responsible for the total care of that patient.

And so much more!

I do realise I've been having a bit of a rant, but it makes me angry that something so precious and wonderful as the NHS is no longer either of those things and I can see that it is going so far in the wrong direction that we will all eventually have private health care and those that can't afford it will suffer beyond acceptable.

There are now 3 threads on the NHS topic and all along the same 'how awful it all is' lines - so I'm posting this to put it back up top with the other two!

gracesmum - sorry, I haven't looked at this thread for a while, so haven't answered your question (didn't mean to be rude). No, my mother went from the BGH to Kelso as she didn't need any acute care, just a lot of TLC. It's a small hospital run by GPs with visiting consultants. The sort which used to be called a cottage hospital. I'm glad you had such a good experience in the BGH (if the circumstances allow for the use of the term "good experience"!)

I've just heard of someone [the mother of a friend] who is in hospital after having a stroke. they are withholding food, which I understand, but her son says she is desperately thirsty whenever he visits. Surely this is wrong?