NHS hospital allows over 400 patients to die to cut costs

[Bitter Ashes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7948293.stm



Failing hospital 'caused deaths'


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45575000/jpg/_45575035_hospb226_body_getty.jpg The hospital was investigated after residents complained

A hospital's "appalling" emergency care resulted in patients dying needlessly, the NHS watchdog has said.
About 400 more people died at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2008 than would be expected, the Healthcare Commission said.
It said there were deficiencies at "virtually every stage" of emergency care and managers pursued targets to the detriment of patient care.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has apologised and launched an inquiry.
One of the worst examples of care cited in the watchdog's report was the use of receptionists to carry out initial checks on patients.
'Complete failure'
Despite the trust stating chief executive Martin Yeates had resigned earlier this month, it has now been revealed he is suspended on full pay while an independent inquiry takes place.
Chairman Toni Brisby resigned earlier this month and has not received further remuneration, the trust said.
Mr Johnson said a review of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, would be carried out, focusing on the years 2002 to 2007.
He said there would also be an independent review of the trust's emergency care and he had asked the National Quality Board to ensure the early warning systems for underperformance across the whole NHS were working properly.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif It is unacceptable that the pursuit of targets - not the safety of patients - was repeatedly prioritised http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/inline_dashed_line.gif

What are the lessons for the NHS? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7948162.stm)
Key problems at the hospital (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7948943.stm)


Mr Johnson said: "On behalf of the government and the NHS I would like to apologise to the patients and families of patients who have suffered because of the poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital.
"There was a complete failure of management to address serious problems and monitor performance. This led to a totally unacceptable failure to treat emergency patients safely and with dignity.
"Local patients will want absolute certainty that Stafford Hospital has been transformed since this investigation began."
The commission said that, while it was impossible to blame all of the the 400 extra deaths on the hospital's care, some patients would have died as a result.

Julie Bailiey: "Our relatives didn't stand a chance"

The investigation into the hospital, in Stafford, began in May 2008 after complaints from residents were backed up by statistics showing a high death rate.
The trust's initial claim that its method of collecting data was to blame was rejected by the watchdog.
Its report cited low staffing levels, inadequate nursing, lack of equipment, lack of leadership, poor training and ineffective systems for identifying when things went wrong.
It said that:



Unqualified receptionists carried out initial checks on patients arriving at the accident and emergency department
Heart monitors were turned off in the emergency assessment unit because nurses did not know how to use them
There were not enough nurses to provide proper care
The trust's management board did not routinely discuss the quality of care
Patients were "dumped" into a ward near A&E without nursing care so the four-hour A&E waiting time could be met
There was often no experienced surgeon in the hospital during the night


Eric Morton, interim chief executive, said lessons had been learned and that staffing levels had been increased.


Hospital boss Eric Morton: "I very much welcome the report"

The health secretary added: "The new leadership of the trust will respond to every request from relatives and carry out an independent review of their case notes. This will be an essential step to put relatives' minds at rest and to close this regrettable chapter in the hospital's past."
The commission's chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said: "This is a story of appalling standards of care and chaotic systems for looking after patients.
"There were inadequacies at almost every stage in the care of emergency patients.
"There is no doubt that patients will have suffered and some of them will have died as a result.
"Trusts must always put the safety of patients first. Targets or an application for foundation trust status do not lessen a board's responsibility to its patients' safety."
Sir Ian added that a surprise inspection of the hospital in recent weeks found the trust had improved but it would continue to be monitored.
'Definitive and damning'
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The public will be rightly shocked by the poor standards of care exposed at this hospital.
"It is unacceptable that the pursuit of targets - not the safety of patients - was repeatedly prioritised, alongside endless managerial change and a 'closed' culture, which failed to admit and deal with things going wrong."
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif It is galling for patients and patients' relatives and carers that their complaints were not believed http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


David Kidney, Stafford MP

Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb, called for a "cultural change so that every part of this trust has open and transparent systems in place to ensure patient safety".
A spokesperson for The Patients Association said: "How can any patient have trust in the managers and systems that have allowed this disaster to run and run?
"It is not enough for the chairman and chief executive to take the fall for this."
David Kidney, Labour MP for Stafford, said the report was "both definitive and damning".
He added: "It is galling for patients and patients' relatives and carers that their complaints were not believed or were fobbed off with excuses and promises that the report shows were worthless.
"The commission's report shows that their testimony is verified, their judgements of what was wrong vindicated."
Bill Cash, Conservative MP for Stone, said: "There have been systemic failures in the organisation and I have asked for resolute action to be taken."

[Bitter Ashes]

Channel 4 news is reporting about this right now. They are saying that the NHS managers are to blame for the deaths. They were pushing goverment targets on spending, sacked over 140 staff and cut costs by millions in order to get a "Foundation Hospital" award from the goverment.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Wow! So even hospitals are getting cheap now.

I'm not sure how the UK health care system works. Is it privatized?

[revolution inaction]

No it is nationalized and funded through taxes.

[Bitter Ashes]

Wow! So even hospitals are getting cheap now.

I'm not sure how the UK health care system works. Is it privatized?
No. It's a public service here paid with tax payers money.
Also in news today, the ex-CEO of RBS has been given a £700k a year retirment and a large cash free sum from the bank... which was just bailed out and is now publicly owned. That means, he's taking £700k a year tax money.
I'm sure everyone can see what this is suggesting.

[LOLseph Stalin]

No. It's a public service here paid with tax payers money.


Ok, the same as our system in Canada.

[cyu]

Is it democratically run - either by employees or the communities the hospitals operate in? When the decision making for policies like this happen in the hospital, is the process open to the public?

[Bitter Ashes]

There is a health minister who makes all thier policies. They're a MP, although the position is given by the PM. That power is then delegated to PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) who are given a budget and targets by health minister. They then give the hospital managers thier own budgets and targets and individual policies to try achieve these things. At the bottom of it all is the doctors who may be given/refused drugs depending on the PCT's policies, or find that thier patient's waiting lists are not dictated by need, but by which departments have thier budgets allocated where.
So, most definatly NOT democratically run

[Klepto]

I'm not sure how the UK health care system works. Is it privatized?
At one time the NHS was the envy of the world. Atlee was IMO the best post war prime minister, although he may have made too many concessions to the capitalist elite. Subsequent governments continued to make the NHS a high priority until Thatcher was elected in 1979. Since then governments have been running down the NHS and privatising parts of it by the back door. There's also been much more focus on 'management'. When I was young virtually no one paid extra for private healthcare but it's commonplace now.

[RebelDog]

I wonder how a story like this would be reported had it happened in Cuba or Iran? They are trying to run the NHS like a business, and they would indeed like it to be fully privatised, but the bastards know it would be hugely unpopular among the public. The hospital in question was cutting back to reach government targets and shed 150 staff and 100 beds. The government and their NHS managers are directly responsible for the deaths and suffering that occured due to these cuts. You must know that people are going to die when such savage (or indeed any cuts) are made to NHS services. An institution such as the NHS and the idea of high-quality socialised health-care doesn't fit in with the New Labour/free-market love affair. The local population should lynch the managers and Alan Johnson and Gordon Brown should go up against a wall.

Relatives stories: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7948428.stm


Pete Basford's father-in-law George Dalziel died in Staffordshire General Hospital after surgery for bowel cancer. He was 64.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/66a.gif The surgery was a success; they removed all the cancer and he was reported to be improving.
Then he very quickly went downhill. He couldn't take any fluids or food - he basically starved to death. We watched him waste away.
You could see him wasting away and no-one took any action. We weren't given any information.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif We think the nurse and doctor know best. They say, 'We are doing tests, everything is under control,' and you believe them. But it wasn't http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif


There was not enough nurses there to actually help and support him. No-one had the time or the care to ask if he was all right. My father messed himself in his bed; he had to sit in that for a long time before he was cleaned up. That was the last thing that broke his spirit actually.
He had been a very strong, proud man. Now he was just a broken man. It was horrible to see it.
The guilt we feel now in letting him waste away. We think the nurse and doctor know best. In the back of your mind is, 'They must know what they are doing. They are the professionals.'
They say, 'We are doing tests, everything is under control,' and you believe them. But it wasn't.
Certainly the main problem is lack of staff, and the staff that are there are severely overworked, totally demoralised and can't cope. http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/99a.gif

[Charles Xavier]

In Ontario there is massive cuts to hospitals, staff are being laid off hospitals being closed, cleaning services are being contracted to the lowest bidder. The things you just reported are only the beginning.