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]

Togo - that's my experience...he who shouts loudest.

[NoMercy]

A lot of ambulance staff aren't even NHS employees so I've no protest to launch on that score.

Management.... why do we even need them? Well, with the modern proliferation of litigation I guess we needed to take drastic measures before the ambulance chasers drained the pot dry. I'm not saying it was the right or wrong measure, but simply a reactive one.

How much do you think PALS costs the NHS? I've known people make a formal complaint because they didn't like their Doctor's tone of voice. When someone has to sit on the end of the phone and deal with a ridiculous complaint, that costs money. But what choice do we have?

Don't blame the NHS, Naomi, blame those who think it's okay to squander our insufficient resources.

[ummmm]

Sometimes complaints are valid though.

[Togo]

I wouldn't say they did any shouting as such Ummmm, bit they did let it be known that they were eagle eyed. It was even more fun when my 5 brothers all used to turn up together, the looks on the faces of the ward managers varied between blind panic and confusion. The nurses and medics loved it.

[naomi24]

//blame those who think it's okay to squander our insufficient resources. //

That's precisely who I am blaming - those working within the NHS who are squandering resources - which without the appalling waste wouldn't be insufficient.

[ummmm]

Togo - I had a nurse moan at me for visiting outside visiting hours. I replied that I wasn't visiting, I was here to feed him!!! Two days he went without food before he told us.

[NoMercy]

I agree, Ummmm, but it's the sheer volume of complaints that's creating such a problem. If people only complained where good grounds for complaint existed, it could be dealt with by senior Doctors and Matrons. When you receive a plethora of unfounded and, frankly, incongruous complaints day in, day out, you need to start paying people to deal solely with processing complaints.

[NoMercy]

Naomi, without wishing to offend, you are starting to sound like a cracked record. A lot of NHS expenditure may seem like appalling waste, but sometimes the money is spent to prevent further crippling loss, as outlined in my previous posts.

[naomi24]

NoMercy, // without wishing to offend, you are starting to sound like a cracked record.//

If you don’t wish to offend, why say it? The fact is there is enormous waste within the NHS. That cannot be denied – and if saying that makes me sound, to your ears like a cracked record, so be it. Truth isn’t always pretty.

[youngmafbog]

I have to agree with Naomi, and comments like 'an old cracked record' rather make any of your arguments disappear.

[NoMercy]

Agree with Naomi all you wish, YMB. Who am I, as an NHS employee, to have an opinion?

Naomi, you keep citing "appalling waste" but could you please give me a specific example?

[-Talbot-]

Who do you blame then mikey ... everyone but the immigrants?

[jno]

NoMercy, as I understand previous posts, it's time to get the cleaning staff to carry out more operations.

[NoMercy]

JNO, it's time in my opinion to outlaw litigation against the NHS by private law firms. Compensation claims should be dealt with by an independent body, like an "adjudicator."

It's time to get rid of managers after carefully reviewing the complaints procedure and start spending the money on much needed staff.

[ummmm]

But NoM...how to you explain why I was sitting there feeding my uncle while there were 5 nurses chatting at the nurse station?

It really does seem that some jobs are below them.

[Peter Pedant]

well at least an MP got shafted there last year
so it is likely that lessons really will be learnt

why did the CQC wait for two or three months before acting ?

The Royal Colleges used to visit and achieve change until the mgt successfully lobbied to make their visits unlawful ( yup)
and light touch regulation by the CQC "took over"

[NoMercy]

Ummmm....do you know whether your uncle requested food during your periods of absence or was offered food and refused it. There are times when a patient refuses food from strangers due to mistrust and paranoia. It is more common than you might think. The same goes for toilet assistance and administration of drugs, checking stats, canulation, etc.

I'm not saying every NHS employee is a paragon of virtue and there have been appalling cases of neglect along the way but the vast majority of criticism is unfounded and unnecessary.

[Old_Geezer]

I don't know about immigrants, but hiving off tasks to the lowest bidder doesn't leave one with the same level of control. And one can not expect the same standard doing things on a shoestring and the subcontract staff being paid as low a wage as possible.

And I understood a few decades ago the level of management expanded, is that no still the case ? So I suspect they see it as a management career choice now and "building empires" part of what they need to do to make sure their bit is important. Probably doesn't help.

It's also possible that paying for degree level nursing staff isn't as useful as one might hope, since who wants to educate themselves to that level to do a tending job ?

That something has gone seriously wrong isn't really under dispute, it's trying to pinpoint what it is. I know staff numbers have reduced as I know folk who work in the 'industry' and say they see people going and not being replaced and those left expected to still cover. I know functions have been passed to other external groups too. I think they need a good drains up on funding and practice across the board, not just in one hospital.

[NoMercy]

I won't argue with that, OG.

[ummmm]

NoM the nurses couldn't actually understand him. The assistants would put his food down and then and come and take it away. I told them it was happening. Once he told us and we were there he ate every single meal. He had to be physically fed because he couldn't move his arms.

He told us not to complain, but we did, and insisted he moved wards.