15.02.11
Complete failure in elderly care on the NHS, says Ombudsman
Shocking failures in care for the elderly highlighted by the Health Service Ombudsman have been condemned as “completely unacceptable”.
The in-depth review of ten cases concludes that the NHS is failing to treat elderly patients in England with care, dignity and respect.
The cases featured common themes, including a lack of adequate food and water, and elderly people being ignored when they could not ask for help.
Ann Abraham, the Health Service Ombudsman, said: “These often harrowing accounts should cause every member of staff who reads this report to pause and ask themselves if any of their patients could suffer in the same way.”
One of the cases investigated involved a man who wanted to die at home, but when his daughter arrived to collect him, she found him alone and in pain, desperate for the toilet, unable to speak or swallow to ask for help and out of reach of the emergency button. His drip was leaking on the floor and it was later found he had not been given the correct pain relief.
The daughter said it was ‘as if he didn’t exist’.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the cases highlighted were “completely unacceptable”, but denied they painted a picture of a lack of care throughout the wider NHS.
He said: “The NHS sees over a million people every 36 hours and the overwhelming majority say they receive good care.”
Age UK called the examples “sickening” and charity director Michelle Mitchell said: “This is not only a damning indictment of our health service, but of our society in general, where older people count for less and damaging discriminatory attitudes against older people remain rife.”
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