28th January, 2002

PATIENT BASHING REACHES NEW DEPTHS

*  Subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment . Why have Amnesty International not taken up her case -  Too busy with the Taliban prisoners? Think of the public outcry if  ill  prisoners had remained unwashed for three days without a change of clothes?Denial of Human Rights.

This of course, refers to the confused, frail and elderly 94 yr. old at Whittington Hospital, Islington North London.  SIN is sure that many people, like us, were appalled that in all the political point scoring over the alleged abuse of this lady, there have been few words  of compassion expressed for the patient. We believe that a wave of revulsion swept the country as the full facts became known.

We understand that she was admitted to the A E dept. after suffering a fall resulting in a bleeding head wound which was stitched. She was kept for 3 days on the A E ward. The reason given was that she required monitoring. Surely there is monitoring on the wards? If not Whittinghton must be the  only hospital in the country not to do so, and would be breaking the law. How can it have been "appropriate" to have kept this vulnerable and confused 94 yr. old on a busy A & E for 72 hours? Furthermore, she was subjected to the added humiliation of being put into a small 4 bedded cubicle with two men! What embarrassment she must have felt, pariclularly since she was unwashed and had had no change of clothes. This would have been particularly cruel  for a woman of her  generation and  would have added to her confusion and  taken her into deeper  shock.. SIN hopes that she will suffer no permanent scars from this experience. She is obviously a woman of great spirit, having retained her independence at home at the great age of  94 ..

The undisputed claim by the family is that they discovered their relative after 3 days with blood caked on her legs and with her clothes unchanged. The astonishing excuse from the hospital was that she had been "difficult". Have these nurses received no training in how to deal with the elderly? This hospital is surely not saying that truculent ,confused and above all frightened elderly patients are a rarity in our hospitals? Just how long would this patient have been left with blood caked legs and without a change of clothes, if her daughter and grandson had not arrived?

Gullible Politicians:
Mr Milburn dismissed the account of the patinet's ordeal as "fiction"!,.Was this before or after he dashed to the hospital? Why did he not seek an urgent meeting with the patient's relatives? Why did Mr. Blair demonstrate unbelievable naivety when claiming in parliament that his written statement from the hospital contained the true facts? Patients who fall victim to substandard care are only too aware of the gross distortions and pure fabrications ( i.e.. lies) which are issued by the NHS administrators, thus perpetuating the disgraceful and unethical culture of denial and cover - up which has bedevilled our NHS for the last 50 years

Untrue Denigrating statements by Hospital:
Prof. Malone-Lee, Medical Director of the hospital, seems to have had the usual knee jerk reaction to another" tired old cock-up": lets issue misleading statements ; disparage and denigrate the patient. lets do a bit of patient bashing - lets put the boot in good and proper! After all , just as long as a doctor says it is true and signs a statement to that effect, , everyone will believe it. It is obvious that just because someone calls himself/herself a "doctor"; hangs a stethoscope around their neck and wears a white coat - does not mean that they are necessarily honourable, honest or even competent. Doctors come from a cross-section of the community.

The public is not now so gullible- well, that is except for the D.o.H It makes life so much more simple if the patient's voice can be ignored! What appalled us was that Mr. Blair was quite willing to believe the hospital rather than the patient. What makes him think that patients and their families lie? Up until midday on Saturday, he had not asked to meet the family. Mr Blair has been badly advised.

It will be difficult to forget the sight of Prof. Malone-Lee on the steps of the Hospital, quivering with ( fake?) rage and indignation claiming that the patient had received "appropriate care" and complaining about  the "brutal" attacks on his staff! Really, Prof. Malone-Lee, pull the other one!I Is it not the staff who gave the "brutal" , insensitive treatment and the hospital which has issued misleading and indeed  untrue statements? Is it not  the hospital which claimed, immoderately, that this elderly, bewildered 94yr old was a "Racist"? Thankfully this allegation was retracted. Was it not the hospital which insinuated that the family did not care for the lady because she had not received any visits? Are not the facts that this lady's daughter at over 70 yrs can herself be classified as elderly, and who had no means of transport, but who rang the hospital daily, being assured that her mother was being well looked after? Was it not your hospital that gave the feeble explanation that the reason that her hair had not been washed was because her wound was bleeding - ignoring altogether that she had received no body wash, no change of clothes  and her hands and legs were still blood stained?

Trust should publicly apologise
In the good old tradition of British Hospital Trusts the usual disdain and cruel disregard to the genuine concerns of the patient was apparent. Fortunately the family had a champion in Mr Iain Duncan Smith - in fact he has shown himself to be a man of compassion.
This case proves what victims of poor medical care have alwys known: that Trusts are totally amoral and lie and lie and lie..... and lie. Never is anything verified with the patient! It is a disgraceful injustice. How else are the cover-ups to be maintained?
To what new depths have the medical profession descended? This Trust has deceived the public and most seriously it has deceived quite deliberately the Secretary of State for Health and the Prime Minister. SIN believes that the Trust should make a public apology for the behaviour of its staff to the family. It shoudl apologise in public for misleading the public and the government. Perhaps the Chief Executive, who is legally responsible,  and the Medical Director should reconsider their positions? Surely anyone in public office and who is found guilty of deception, should resign?

Photographic evidence
Thankfully the family had the good sense to take photographs of evidence. We urge all patients who believe that they are being denied medical care and have been subjected to patient abuse to carry tape recorders and cameras with them. What a hideous piece of advice to have to give to British citizens. However, without this evidence the family would be in a very weak position. Beause of all the publicity they will probably obtain redress and satisfaction - unlike most other patients who have suffered medical abuse and sub-standard care.
FINAL EMBARRASSMENT; THE TRUST HAS JUST BEEN THROUGH A CHI REVIEW!
And the hospital seems to have learnt very little. We suspect this is why Mr.Blair was so angry. His speech last Friday ( Jan. 25th) on public services ,was to draw a line in the sand and to declare that all that has been wrong with the NHS had now been rectified - Agencies were in operation to protect the patient.
A CHI review was announced on June 22nd 2001 and Local Opinion was sought on 5th July 2001 (We do hope that there was extensive advertising of this on the part of CHI). The finished Report was issued on 17th January  2002 This Report would have been previously discussed with the Trust. About a week later the disgraceful facts of the case of this elderly lady became known.

WHAT DID The Commission for Health Improvements (CHI) SAY ABOUT THE TRUST?

PATIENT EXPERIENCE: "However, on a regular basis some patients experience long waits in the accident and emergency department....
a very apt observation, but in this lady's case she could have been sent to the ward since there were beds available. A clinical decision was made to leave her in A& E)

" Facilities .. ...in some areas the unsuitability of the environment makes it difficult to ensure  patient privacy and dignity". (this is certainly true for any patient who is retained in the A& E and put in a mixed sex cubicle)

CONSULTATION PATIENT INVOLVEMENT
The Trust has a strategy for consultation and patient involvement, which is being revised" ( this appears to be very necessary)

SOME AREAS WHERE ACTION IS NEEDED

• Strengthening of clinical governance systems
• Enhancing feedback to staff about complaints, risk and audit (what about feed-back to patients ?)
• Visit CHI website: www.chi.nhs.uk

January 30th, 2002

SIN refutes that resources are always the cause of the NHS scandals which have been hitting the headlines with such frequency over the last few years.  This is an old chestnut which is always brought up by the medical profession to excuse their own inadequacies and certain politicians for their own purposes.

Take, for example the case of Mrs Rose Addis at the Whittingdton Hospital. This patient was kept on a busy A& E ward for three days although there were  no shortage of ward beds. A consultant took a clinical decision. She was kept unwashed and in soiled cloth , not because there were insufficient  nurses to look after her, but because these nurse apparently did not know how to, or were unwilling to cope with a confused, truculent  and frightened old lady.

Her experiences, and those of many other patients are the result of perverse and sometimes bizarre clinical decisions and inappropriate, offensive  staff attitudes.  Prof. Ian Kennedy of the BRI Inquiry stated at the Press Conference that no one could force doctors to be pleasant to patients or to behave properly. He could have added that no one seems able to  force doctors to give medical care to sick patients, although this is mandatory.

The dreadful story of the premature baby who was disposed into the laundry basket at Sidcup Hospital in Kent, is another current example. Obviously, there are strict regulations for the care and disposal of  a dead body and this tragedy should never have happened. If these regulations were not all ready in place, dead bodies would be appearing throughout the system. Since this does not happen, or at least it has never received publicity before, it implies that someone was being very careless in the discharge of his or her duties. It is most certainly not a case of "lessons  will be learnt": rules  were  already in place and should have been  implemented!  Someone was simply not doing their job!

 Staff attitudes in the NHS, can be very poor and there is widespread patient abuse going on, because there is no , and never has been,  any  quality control.. More money will not stop  this. Only  when stringent accountability and sensible sanctions, are  rigorously applied by management  throughout the system,  regardless of  the status of the individual  health professional, will  standards of NHS  medical  care improve.