Patient 'lay Dead' In London A&e For 'hours' Before Being Found

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-36716248

This is almost unbelievable !

[ummmm]

No it's not, sadly. Doesn't surprise me at all.

[mikey4444]

Ummm...you are probably correct, but despite reports like this, they just keep coming. There will be another very soon, and another one soon after.
Reading between the lines, its seems to me that some very basic nursing practise mistakes were being made.

I have a brother who is going in for a serious brain operation soon and the whole family is worried for his welfare....not the operation itself, but the aftercare, which was pretty awful in a previous stay in Hospital. We shall be taking antiseptic wipes with us when we visit and will surreptitiously clean everything we find around his bed !

[Old_Geezer]

They need to work out why they have insufficient resources and push for correcting whatever wrong turn has been made over the years.

[ummmm]

My uncle was in hospital for 3 months. If it wasn't for my sister and I he would have starved.

He was left on the toilet for over an hour even though he pulled the red cord numerous times.

The man in the bed next to him had wet himself and informed the nurse over and over again.

My uncle got body lice whilst in hospital...

[mikey4444]

Ummm....I have every sympathy !

[naomi24]

//We shall be taking antiseptic wipes with us when we visit and will surreptitiously clean everything we find around his bed ! //

I did that when my husband went in overnight for a fairly minor operation. It didn't stop him contracting MRSA, resulting in several more operations over the following year and leaving him with a disability.

[ummmm]

Always plenty of nurses at the nurses station though. It seems that it's below them to make basic checks and they leave it for the assistants.

[naomi24]

//They need to work out why they have insufficient resources //

They don't have insufficient resources. Their resources are mismanaged and misplaced.

[Old_Geezer]

They all seem to be running up huge debts then for what should be a timetable and prioritisation change. I'm unconvinced it is just an efficiency issue. Seems to me something had gone wrong "big time" somewhere along the way.

[youngmafbog]

Very poor management.

The Management in much of the NHS has ballooned to become mini empires in which car is bottom of the list. By and large they are not medical people as such and so do not have the ethics many doctors/Nurses have.

May I also throw into the pot that with so many 'foreign' nurses on wards their training and previous experience may not be anywhere near the standards we expect in this country?

[ummmm]

Or their standards could be a lot higher.

[mikey4444]

OG...leaving someone dead for hours, in a Hospital, of all places, stinks of something serious going wrong. There must have been procedures in place but these procedures were clearly ignored. Its a ruddy shambles.

[naomi24]

youngmafbog, // May I also throw into the pot that with so many 'foreign' nurses on wards their training and previous experience may not be anywhere near the standards we expect in this country? //

I agree - and that applies to the cleaning staff too.

[mikey4444]

So its all the fault of immigrants !

I could have guessed !

[ummmm]

Mikey...I wouldn't say so.

[NoMercy]

"They don't have insufficient resources. Their resources are mismanaged and misplaced."

What's an utter load of codswallop! Tell that to any NHS employee who is doing the job of 3 people.

[naomi24]

//What's an utter load of codswallop! Tell that to any NHS employee who is doing the job of 3 people.//

That’s the point. Some are doing the job of three people (usually front-line nursing staff), whereas others in other areas are doing only half a job. Not codswallop at all.

[NoMercy]

Who specifically do you think is doing half a job?

[naomi24]

People in management, cleaning staff specifically, and ambulance staff to name a few. (Waits for howls of protest at the latter suggestion).

[Togo]

Mikey you re very wise to take the steps you outlined at 8:13. When I was in Hospital my lovely lady and my daughter when they visited (and not just at regulation "visiting" times) used to wipe down all around my bed the near by fittings and furnishings, change my bedwear, wash me, make sure I had toilet facilities, check my medication regime and make sure they knew where my medical notes were. They also used to bring me food that I could actually eat and ask questions regarding every thing that was being done. I would advise you to adopt a similar approach. I do hope your brother fully recovers from his op. Just as an aside, some of the staff are brilliant but are let down badly by the system. Beware the non medical "managers" including what they now call bed managers. They will discharge your brother before he is fit unless you do your own monitoring of his well being.