North patients 'at risk of starvation'
Jul 30 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
Reports 'show we are dealing with this problem'
HEALTH bosses yesterday denied that the NHS was struggling to cope with vulnerable patients.
A spokeswoman for the North East Strategic Health Authority said: “The NHS in the North East takes patient nutrition very seriously.
“A number of initiatives are already under way to raise standards across the region. These include stepping up the focus on all elements of Essence of Care – a system to share and compare good practice – including food and nutrition, across the region to ensure that all hospitals achieve better standards.
“In addition, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is a pilot site for the Royal College of Nursing’s Nutrition Now campaign to raise standards of nutrition and hydration in hospitals and the community.
“The better care, safer care strategy to improve patient safety, including aspects relating to nutrition, has also recently been launched.”
Dr Kevin Cleary, medical director of the National Patient Safety Agency, said the increase was in line with a rise in the total number of patient safety incidents reported to the Agency.
“A growth in incident reporting reflects more NHS trusts connecting to the system and a greater willingness by NHS clinical staff to report incidents.”
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Families tell their horror stories
NURSES and hospital staff across England have been reporting daily cases of neglect, which in some cases could be life-threatening.
These cases are officially classed as any unintended or unexpected incident which could have or did lead to harm for one or more patients receiving NHS care.
Examples of serious safety errors include almost routine cases of elderly or mentally ill patients given covered meals which are placed out of reach and then removed without staff checking to see if the meal has been eaten.
Many patients who cannot feed themselves are left to struggle alone. Some family members have complained that elderly relatives only eat when sons and daughters visit and spoon-feed them.
In one case when a family complained to a ward sister about their mother’s condition, they were told “as she was not on a geriatric ward, there were no staff with the time to help her eat or drink”.
In another case relatives of some patients started a rota to ensure everyone was fed after realising that one hadn’t eaten for a day.
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Pain goes on
PATIENTS with learning disabilities are dying or suffering unnecessary pain across the country because laws designed to give them full access to healthcare are not being followed, an independent inquiry reported yesterday.
According to the report, new legislation is not required, but action needs to be taken to ensure that people are treated equally across the NHS.
It makes 10 recommendations including stronger leadership, systems for better regulation, inspections and information, and more staff training. People with learning disabilities and their carers should also be involved as partners in the delivery of care, the report suggested.
Sir Jonathan Michael, a former chief executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, said it was “shocking to discover that the experiences of the families described in Mencap’s report are by no means isolated, despite a clear framework of legislation against discrimination”.
“Witnesses described some appalling examples of discrimination, abuse and neglect across the range of health services,” according to the inquiry.
