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UK NHS Hospitals Turning into Killing Fields Due to Super Bug and Patient Neglect

Politics / NHS Oct 11, 2007 - 12:36 AM

By: Nadeem_Walayat

Despite spin by Doctors and NHS Management, a shocking report by the Healthcare Commission reveals that hundreds of patients continue to die unnecessary deaths in further super bug outbreaks.

A tripling in the NHS budget has mostly been wasted on management and consultant / doctor pay hikes of similar amounts with accompanying criminal neglect in the care of patients which continues to result in outbreaks of the so called super bug, Clostridium difficile. Which in many European countries is hardly ever mentioned as a cause of death.

The primary reason is the failure of the most basic of hygiene care such as washing hands and routine cleanliness which shows the inherent problem with the NHS and systematic disregard for the patient. As I have reiterated for over a year now, the fundamental problem with the NHS is that it is free at the point of delivery. This results in the patient increasingly treated as an inconvenience to the NHS staff as there is no perceived value towards the treatment of the patient by the practitioner. NHS staff apparently endeavor to do the minimum amount of work, whilst seeking to shout the loudest for further tax payer resources that New Labour has shown itself blindly willing to deliver without any regard for competency in delivery of patient care.

The consequence is that thousands of patients die needless deaths every year, and many that do survive the NHS receive sub standard healthcare as evident by the UK even trailing behind Eastern European countries that spend barely a third on health in areas such as cancer care.

There has been systematic abuse of power in the NHS right from GP's who have taken funding meant for patient care to award themselves obcene 30% annual pay rises over several years, right into hospitals that neglect patients even at the most basic level resulting in manipulation of the waiting list system to cancel operations without impacting on the waiting list statistics, and even when operations are conducted there is failure to follow the most basic of hygiene standards which results in hundreds if not thousands of unnecessary deaths every year.

Instead of facing up to their responsibilities, the usual response by smooth talking doctors and management staff on breakfast tv shows is to repeatedly turn around and blame the government for lack of funding or the targets set. Despite the fact that Labour has tripled the NHS budget over the last 10 years for which the NHS has produced barely a 30% increase in output.

An estimated 3000 patients die annually in badly run hospitals throughout the UK. Drastic action has to be taken to what is tantamount to manslaughter due to deliberate neglect of patients before thousands more die unnecessary deaths. Firm action should include closure of hospitals responsible for the slaughter of patients and criminal prosecutions of staff on charge of manslaughter.

By Nadeem Walayat
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Comments

A W 11 Oct 07, 02:20

Shameful NHS This is absolutely shameful but I would like to make a few points. 1. As a student nurse (not that long ago), I it was drummed into me that the simplest and most effective way to stop/control the spread of infection was handwashing and we were all taught standard precautions to protect ourselves and our patients. 2. It's easy to point the finger at nurses whenever something like this happens but that's not the whole story. Whilst the nurses in this dreadful incident must bear their share of the blame, it is true that many wards are woefully understaffed and, due to managerial obsession with 'turnover', increasingly full of more acutely ill patients thereby adding greatly to the workload. Infected patients tie up nurses' time even more which is why, at the very least, it's in our own best interests not to spread infection. Lack of trained staff on wards also means that the correct procedures may often not be followed. 3. It's not just nurses who have contact with patients and of those others (medical, ancillary staff, visitors etc), there are always those who do not/will not follow the instructions given to them about washing their hands, wearing/disposing of aprons etc when they come into contact with an infected patient. Doctors are the worst culprits. They frequently do not wash their hands between patients, rarely wear gloves and often have to be nagged to wear protective clothing when it is deemed necessary. Plus they carry the patient's notes to and from the bedside area, not to mention their own equipment such as stethoscopes, which are then taken into other areas. They, of all people, should know better and nurses have other things to do besides chivvying them to follow standard precautions. 5. Bedpan washers exist on every ward. The manufacturers claim they clean and disinfect bedpans so what's the excuse here? 6. C.Diff is not a 'superbug'. It's danger lies in the fact that it is hospital acquired and highly infectious. Any outbreak should be stamped on immediately. This is basic medical/nursing knowledge. It is also a by product of the overuse of antibiotics in general and vancomycin, used to treat MRSA, in particular which is another story altogether and has to do with the modern day approach to the treatment of infection as a whole. 6. I once worked on a ward with a martinet of a sister who made it her life's work to ensure that MRSA was eradicated in her patients and on her ward. She achieved this by nagging and harrying all of us, doctors and other staff inclusive, until we did exactly what she wanted to do which, in effect, was nothing more than a combination of common sense, basic hygiene and and strict adherence to isolation procedures. Nor was any case of C.Diff ever given a chance to spread from that one patient to any of the others. And she managed all this on an open ward. The NHS needs more people like her.

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