Big wow
A(nother) senior civil servant bemoaned the way the machine was run “at full pelt†while the election decision was pending. “What was the point of bringing Ara Darzi’s report forward? We all thought No 10 was taking a serious look at the NHS and Darzi was sincere,†she said.“But look what happened.
It was all brought forward and Darzi recommends that GP surgeries open at weekends. Big wow! It’s hardly ground-breaking research into how healthcare should be structured for the next generation, is it?â€
I’m glad to see the civil service paying attention. Now if they would actually do something useful …
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the NHS:
Cases of C diff began to rise at the trust in 2004, and in the three months between October and December 2005 alone, 144 patients were infected. The trust, ……, did not declare the outbreak of infection. They did not even take any measures to contain it.
Instead they concentrated on saving money on patient care, cramming in beds inches apart - thus increasing the chances of the infection spreading - and cutting the workforce. While patients were dying, the trust spent almost £700,000 on “turnaround†consultants, to advise them on how to cut costs.
The Healthcare Commission also reported that too much management time was concentrated on plans to build a new hospital under the private finance initiative.
Its more telling criticisms were practical, however. Bedpans were left covered in faeces; bins of dirty needles were left overflowing on wards; patients were “hot-bedded†in as soon as a previous occupant left, allowing no time for cleaning. Nurses told patients to “go in their bedsâ€, rather than finding them a bedpan.
Experts, however, point out that, while politically eye-catching, the benefits of such cleaning programmes last only until the next contact with infection, which can be at the next human touch. Their solution is simpler.
“You wash your hands, you wash the beds after the patients have been there, you have the laundry services working and everything should be okay,†said Mark Enright, a specialist in hospital-acquired infections at Imperial College, London.
Not much for me to say, is there? Start with the basics & the rest will follow. And for people tempted to use this as an example of the failings of “socialised medicine” there has been enough from the care home sector both here & in the US to demonstrate that the NHS does not have a monopoly on sweating assets & neglecting patients.
And in NHS dentistry
Almost a fifth (19%) of those questioned in the biggest patient survey of its kind revealed that they had missed out on dental work they needed because of the cost.
Almost three fifths (58%) of dentists themselves said new contracts brought in last year had made the quality of care worse and as many as 84% thought the changes had failed to make it easier for patients to get an appointment.
The stark findings came in research carried out by the members of England’s Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Forums - special feedback bodies covering every NHS trust in the country.
This isn’t a compendium of bad news. It is about it being time for the DoH to accept that it has made quite a few mistakes & that its pet policies do not work. Given the reputed state of British teeth & the increasingly poor reputation of the NHS, perhaps sooner rather than later.