The disgraceful situations in our hospitals with patients being literally starved to death or left unattended in thier own faeces has shocked the nation.
To our shame two of the hospitals are local to us, Whiston and Ormskirk.
The usual excuse is "lessons will be learnt" is just not good enough. What lesson needs to be learnt that patients need good nutrition and the ability to get to it if bed ridden?
What lessons need to be learnt that patients often need to be taken to the toilet and not left in their own excrement?
What lesson needs to be learnt that a bit of compassion and privacy is needed for patients?
Now I am a bit ashamed about this as I did my medical housejobs at Whiston. Then it was old fashioned and of course lacked modern diagnostic equipment and patients were in large wards of thirty patients.
Then they were well nursed, even in the geriatric block housing altogether 180 patients all those patients were well looked after and measures to prevent pressure sores strictly observed.
What has gone wrong?
Well we all know that with the demise of the Matron standards have gone downhill and hospitals are run from the office.
We, doctors and nurses were in fear of the wrath of the matron and that ensured standards were high wards were clean and patients attended to.
There was no central station where all the qualified staff sat behind computers as they do now. The trained nurses were all on the ward observing the patients.
Possibly a cause of hospital acquired infections has something to do with the present slack standards.
I know nowadays boxes have to be ticked and reports made but if that is all nursing is about, why not just have an office and let the relatives do the work.
OH THAT IS THE LATEST SUGGESTION. Families coming into hospital to feed their sick relatives, presumably so that the nurses can remain behind their computers and tick all the boxes.
That is going to do wonders for infection control with many family members carrying who knows what infection into the wards each mealtime.
So what is to be done to ensure proper care? In the past hospitals have been fined, but that is just fining the taxpayer and denuding the hospital of funds.
Chief executives have been removed but given generous severance payments and pensions and sometimes been employed in other NHS establishments, but it seems this is to no avail.
I believe it rests with the boss. In the NHS the buck stops with no one.
In business if the boss makes mistakes it hits him in the pocket and can bankrupt him.
This is what should happen in hospitals (and councils).
There should a financial penalty for deficiencies, severe enough to ensure those in charge do what they should. They have remunerations far in excess of what they had in the past.
We should insist that they earn it and if they fail, hit them in the pocket.
SO TO SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS, MAKE SURE THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE BOSS.
P.S I don't know about the wards but the staff in outpatients at Wigan Infirmary could not be more helpful, a contrast with other establishments I have visited recently, but then they are Wiganers and we have avoided so far the worst hospital infection of all, multiculturalism.
I just wish they could improve car parking facilities.
1 comment:
The first thing to do when visiting relatives in hospital,is to evaluate the current standard of care that your loved one is recieving,if it is not up to scratch,make the wogs jump until they do something to remedy the deficiency,i have found this to be a good way to get, what after all we are paying for,complain,be ruthless,keep on,criticise them ,embarras them,everything from thier lack of any kind of recognisable English,to thier slothfull attitude,the invader is conditioned to respond to a superiour whitemans attitude,as anyone knows,who has travelled amongst them,they expect you to organise them,and like dogs they are much better for it.
Post a Comment