Serious concerns have been raised by the NHS care regulator about the way some hospitals in England look after elderly patients. The Care Quality Commission said three had failed to meet legal standards for giving patients enough food and drink and treating them in a dignified way. They were Worcestershire Acute, the Royal Free, in London, and Ipswich. The CQC, which carried out unannounced inspections, also raised concerns about three other NHS hospitals. The commission has published the first 12 results of 100 such inspections. While its inspectors said there had been many examples of people being treated with respect and given excellent care, in other cases people had not been helped to eat and drink, "with their care needs not assessed and their dignity not respected". All six hospitals about which concerns were raised must now say how and when they will improve. The worst three offenders will have to improve or face action from the regulator. Prescribing water The inspections looked at nutrition and found cases of patients not being helped to eat, poor monitoring of patients' weight and people not being given enough to drink, with water being out of reach for long periods of time. In one case, a member of staff at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said they had to prescribe water on medical charts to ensure patients got enough to drink. Inspectors also looked at dignity and respect, noting that elderly patients were sometimes not involved in their own care and were given no explanation of the treatment they were to receive or asked for consent. Staff also treated people in a disrespectful way, spooning food into their mouths without engaging them. One man told inspectors that staff "talk to me as if I'm daft". The reports acknowledge examples of excellent care where treatment was explained in a way patients could understand and they were treated with respect and dignity. Jo Williams, chair of the CQC, said the inspections had built a detailed picture of the care being received by elderly patients in NHS hospitals in England. "Many of these reports describe people being 'cared for' in the truest sense. Sadly, however, some detail omissions which add up to a failure to meet basic needs - people not spoken to with respect, not treated with dignity, and not receiving the help they need to eat or drink. "These are not difficult things to get right - and the fact that staff are still failing to do so is a real concern. These are the basics that help ensure every patient is treated like an individual - not a nuisance to be ignored or a task that must be completed. "This is what we expect for ourselves and for our own families, and what every patient should expect from the people who care for them." Source:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13545780
From my own experience this is not a new situation, and probably hasn't gotten any worse during the past 10 years. This was the reason that we gave up our life in Japan and came to UK, so that we could be sure that my parents received some decent care as their health and capabilities decreased and their age and needs increased. Sadly my mum passed away 3 years ago, but my dad is still going strong at 90 years young. Amazing really considering the life he had.
I witnessed this first hand when my ex wife was seriously ill in Nov last year. She was left all day without drinks and it was only when we visited at night we saw the situation and our daughter insisted she was put on a drip. This was despite being on medication that needs the patient to be hydrated. My Daughter and her Aunt then made sure one of them was there everyday for the 8 weeks she was in Hospital. This was one of the biggest hospitals in London and a high percentage of the ward nursing staff were Filipino`s.
