Britain is no country for old men in hospital and shunted between wards like parcels

 

 

 

A Royal College of Physicians Report entitled :

Hospitals on the edge? The time for action

has claimed that although the number of hospital beds has fallen by 33% in the last 25 years, the number of seriously ill patients being admitted through accident and emergency departments has risen by more than 37%.

How has the Health Service 'managed' this discrepancy ? The Royal College has the answer :

by reducing the quality of care of old men and women who are :

* being shunted between hospital wards ‘like parcels’ because of the shortage of beds.

* when moved and often confused, placed under the care of a new team of doctors and nurses, who are unfamiliar to their condition and needs.

* frequently woken up in the night and made to walk to another department in their pyjamas because someone else needs their bed.

* on occasions, discharged in the middle of the night and sent home in taxis to make space on wards.

* are often seen by hospital staff as ‘unwelcome’ with a belief that they ‘shouldn’t be there’, even though they comprise two thirds of patients.                      

The College’s President, Sir Richard Thompson, said :

that it was not uncommon for elderly patients to be moved between wards five times during their stay because their beds were needed by more urgent cases and often the elderly patients, many of whom have dementia, may initially be put on a specialist ward, for example treating liver problems or strokes, even if they do not suffer from that illness.

Being perceived by hospital staff as the ‘wrong patient on the wrong ward’ has been shown to reduce the quality of care, building attitudes of resentment from both medical and nursing staff.
 

Professor Tim Evans, one of the report’s authors who is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital, in London, said:

" This evidence is very distressing. All hospital inpatients deserve to receive safe, high-quality, sustainable care centred around their needs and delivered in an appropriate setting by respectful, compassionate, expert health professionals. Yet it is increasingly clear that our hospitals are struggling to cope with the challenge of an ageing population who increasingly present to our hospitals with multiple, complex diseases. We must act now to make the drastic changes required to provide the care they deserve."
 

A spokesman for the 'Alzheimer’s Society' said:
"People with dementia occupy a quarter of hospital beds, yet constantly we hear that they face poor quality care from staff not trained in dementia care. Bearing this in mind, these latest findings are alarming but, unfortunately, not surprising."

PS.
The Royal College of Physicians is an independent body representing over 27,500 fellows and members worldwide which provides advice and works with Government, the public, patients and other professions to improve health and healthcare and together to examine better processes and standards for treating medical inpatients.  
                                                                                                                                                                                    

PPS.

Earlier posts about old men in hospital ;

 

Monday, 5 March 2012

Britain is no country for old men in hospital with dementia

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/britain-is-no-country-for-old-men-in.html

 

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Britain is no country for sick old men in hospital : confirmed

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/britain-is-no-country-for-sick-old-men.html

 

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Britain is a country where poor, hungry old men go to hospital and rich, well fed kings and queens go to banquets

http://britainisnocountryforoldmen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/britain-is-country-where-poor-hungry.html