FURIOUS with the negligent, incompetent NHS

zztopgirl

tryharder wrote: »

Targets for treating someone with cancer within 2 weeks is pointless if it takes 18 months or more to get that diagnosis in the first place, and once the 2 week target is met, you get put on the back burner.

I have a serious illness and when i became ill 2 years ago, i was rushed in to see the consultants as priority. Last year i had a bad spell, the emergency gp wanted to admit me onto a ward but i wanted to stay at home. The next day i called my consultant for advice and he didnt want to know.

Now i am shocked at the lack of care, my illness isnt going away but its a massive difference to those early days. Im definately on the back burner. I was back in hospital last week and had to demand that they do some tests on me, they simply arent bothered anymore. It is all about targets, the newly diagnosed get to see the consultant quickly, and push all the other patients further down the line, i know im not the only one but they need to employ more consultants instead of just ignoring their current patients.

deez99

KittyKate wrote: »

I am so, so ANGRY with the NHS. Not one person in particular, but the system. Yes, the staff are overworked and underpaid. The NHS is under-funded. But the list of utter negligence I've collected over the past 2 month beggars belief. Surely the buck must stop somewhere.

Now, both my parents are sick. My mum is in treatment for cancer, and my dad had a stroke almost 3 weeks ago.

Mistakes made with mum
Her initial breast examination sheet, marked 'urgent', was 'faxed to the wrong number' (even though as a telecoms engineer, I know that is extremely unlikely), causing a 9 week delay. The tumour grew, resulting in a larger area being removed (inc lymph nodes) and has resulted in her needing chemo and probably losing her hair. Her GP has advised her to sue, she is too sick at the moment to properly consider it.

The hospital put the wrong person's notes on her bed, and almost gave her insulin (she doesn't have diabetes). This could have killed her.

The ward was filthy. She was put on a general ward for her op, next to a male ward. Elderly male patients would use the (cleaner) ladies loos, often leaving them smeared with faeces. Nurses don't clean, so the mess would be left for hours whilst a cleaner was sourced. (Understandable if the nurses were busy but often they'd be reading magazines).

Repeatedly, nurses have tried to inject into/take blood from the arm she's had her lymph nodes from (a huge no no). They have also tried to take blood from a healing canula site (bad). Her arm is black and blue. They have even turned her away as they 'couldn't find a vein' and asked her to come back later when someone 'more experienced' was in (my mum is a nurse, and in no way does she have impenetrable arms/a lack of decent veins!)

Mistakes with Dad
Left with no medication for four days (Thurs night - Mon) and totally un-diagnosed (though it was obvious he'd had a stroke) because 'the doctor went home early on Friday, didn't see him, and doesn't work weekends'.

The nurses SEDATED my dad (after a stroke!) because they found some 2 YEAR OLD sleeping pills in his cupboard (the paramedics had picked them up with his regular medication when my dad called 999). They did not check with me or his doctor. They also 'forgot' to give him his thyroid medication for three days (which leaves you sleepy if not taken) meaning my dad was in a slurry, sleepy, confused state during a time his brain should have been healing.

Urine spilled on the floor and left for over 6 hours. (And the alcohol gel being empty. No nurses ever around to fix it - they ran on a skeleton staff of 2 for 32 patients after 5pm and on weekends.)

An old computer system being used to pull his records, with a 14 YEAR OUT OF DATE address on them. When his notes, walking stick and speech therapy all had the wrong address on, I corrected each, and asked the nurse to correct the system. 'I can't work it, I'll leave a note'. I also asked his consultant to change the system which he swore he would do 'right away'.
WHY THEN did I get a phonecall from my dad saying his physio hadn't turned up, and why did I get a call from my mum (who still lives in my dad's old house - divorced 14 years!) saying a physio had turned up at her door (6 miles away!).

I am so mad at the stupid, damaging mistakes being made. It makes me feel sick to my stomach. If these are the ones I can see, what's going wrong behind the scenes?

(With no offence meant to any nurses. Like my mum you all work hard no doubt about it. It's a shame the system lets down you, and the people of GB.)

Hi

this must be such a nightmare for you.

I hope and wish that things improve for your family

If and when you ever think of legal action try IRWIN MITCHELL Solicitors.

They have helped my partner with a pharmacy problem( wrong drugs prescribed) and they are one of the largest and best firms dealing with medical cases.

Pennywise

Noctu wrote: »

My OH had to go in for an operation on his nose - he's type 1 diabetic, and in his pre op assessment with the matron he was told he'd be first that day for surgery (to get him back on his insulin regime ASAP) - on the day of surgery, the consultant waltzed in late.. didn't bother to check his notes, and put him down as last on the list to be operated on......... but the majority of nurses on the ward had no idea how to deal with diabetes.

Similar has happened to my mother on three occasions now. Luckily, despite being 83, she has all her faculties and keeps control of her own diabetes. Each time, she was told to eat nothing before admission and not to take her insulin, as she was first on the list. Each time, she was delayed for several hours - once till about 1pm, but the other two times, it was late afternoon. Now anyone with the slightest bit of common sense would think about the implications of not eating, nor any insulin, for a diabetic for several hours. But whenever she asked them, all the nurses could do was tell her it wouldn't be much longer - they seemed to have no idea at all just how serious it could have been. After each op, again, she had no "care" whatsoever about the diabetes - she was offered normal food at mealtimes but she couldn't risk eating it all as they had taken away her insulin and wouldn't give it back to her "as they weren't trained to administer it". For goodness sake, even children can learn to look after their own diabetes - what are the nurses trained in if they don't understand what can happen with diabetics?

On another occasion, she had a steroid injection for arthritis. Simple procedure, in and out within a couple of hours. She told them she had diabetes and the consultant told her it didn't matter. That night and the next day, her blood sugar levels were through the roof. She self-administered more insulin than normal to try to get it down, ate virtually nothing, but it kept going up. She phoned the GP, her diabetic nurse, the consultant, none of whom showed even the remotest of interest. She had a very worrying couple of days - her stress and anxiety were painful to see. Then on day 3, she went into a hypo (because blood sugars are too low) - it turned out that it is well known that steroid injections cause crazy blood sugar readings and that, if anything, she should have just ignored it and carried on as normal instead of trying to control it herself. If the so-called professionals had actually told her she would have left it alone and not suffered the stress and anxiety, not to mention the hypo.

Under-resourcing etc is just an excuse. Too many staff are simply not upto it and they are getting away with it using the "underresourcing" trumpcard. What I can't understand is why the majority of the staff, the ones who are good enough and do care, don't do anything about it. The good ones must know who is making mistakes and not doing their job properly and are just as guilty by keeping quiet.

chipmunk

My 84 year old Mum has had many stays in hospital over the years. For 40-odd years she has suffered from a disease of the bowel called Crohn's disease which periodically flares up causing severe pain. She has had three operations where large parts of her bowel have had to be removed which means that food passes very quickly through her body, and consequently this has resulted in her being very "toilet-dependant". She usually goes to the loo around 5 or 6 times a day which as you can imagine is very restricting to her daily life. However, she manages to cope fairly well but her diet is quite restricted as you can imagine as she cannot tolerate many types of food.

One day last year I telephoned her first thing in the morning as I always do and got no reply. I went round to her house and found her slumped on the living room floor in her nightie and in a state of total confusion. She didn't know who I was, where she was and it was very frightening. She had got up in the night to go to the toilet but she collapsed and didn't make it which was an added indignity for her. She was admitted to hospital where they carried out lots of tests and eventually discovered that her magnesium and potassium levels were so low (caused by her body not absorbing these 'cos of her Crohn's) that she had collapsed. She was on a general medical ward which to be honest had mostly elderly people in there and I'm sorry to say, some of the things I saw there were shocking. One day I helped Mum to the toilet and when we went into the cubicle, I was disgusted to see a soiled incontinence pad on the floor behind the toilet but even more disgusted when I went again in the evening and it was still there. I removed it myself and complained to the nurses who just tutted.:rolleyes:

Mum's mental state was severely altered by the mineral deficiencies and she was behaving very oddly. She is normally very coherent and is always polite to people. Because she could not fill out her menu card, the nurses told the auxiliary staff to just give her what was left on the trolley and she used to end up with things like curry! Not a good choice with her condition. Many times when I went to visit her, her lunch was still on the table, cold and untouched and they would just come and take it away so she had nothing to eat. The nurses had very little patience with her and despite me trying to explain that she was not normally difficult and had not eaten it because she knew it would upset her, they said "old people can be cantankerous and difficult. She'll eat when she's hungry." I went to the shop and bought her sandwiches so she had at least something.

However, the most worrying thing was the mineral supplements and other medication the Consultant had prescribed to make her better was just left on her table with a glass of water. No-one checked to make sure she had actually taken them and a few times I found her tablets still on the table, sometimes in a pool of water which she had spilled or on the floor and when I confronted the Sister, she said that she couldn't have them now because "they could be anyone's tablets" and that Mum would have to wait until it was time for her next dose. :mad:

Over the next few weeks I had many heated conversations with nursing staff about the level of basic care they were giving her but nothing I said seemed to make much of an impact and I have to agree with the comments made by balmaiden that, yes the NHS is overstretched and staff are sometimes under pressure but in my experience "some" nurses often seem to be just passing the time of day.

Mum did eventually recover after about 6 weeks and was discharged but even on that day, when the hospital pharmacy delivered her medication to the ward, we went through all the different items with the nurse and there was one item that we queried as Mum said she had not been taking it whilst in hospital. The nurse said that the Consultant must have prescribed it for her to take at home but when I insisted they find out for sure, they discovered she was not meant to have it and it was in fact a laxative.:eek:

KittyKate, I feel for you and wish the best for your Mum and Dad.:grouphug:

Uniscots97

KittyKate, all the best for your Mum and Dad.


My Grandfather has been in hospital recently. The day staff (too busy they claimed) would take out my grandfather's hearing aid and hide it as if he couldn't hear anyone he'd stay quiet and wouldn't get out of bed at all. Nice eh? He was also bullied by a male nurse who struck him because the nurse hadn't explained what was happening and my grandfather was frightened. My partner is due to go into hospital soon for a major op and I'm dreading it as the hospital is filthy and that was the intensive care ward! I got a tip from another person on here about Sleep-Safe pj's from M&S which kills off MRSA etc so I'll be getting him them as well as stocking up on hand gel (never enough about in the hospital and the nurses don't seem to care), antibacterial wipes (the showers and toilets were vile!!!!!). Bring back the matrons to sort out the NHS at least back then the wards were clean and MRSA and infection weren't heard of!

myrnahaz

We should all go to Ireland -I was in a tiny village in the far west of Ireland (in the back of beyond) a few weeks ago when I developed severe abdominal pain and had to go to the local Gp's in the middle of the night. The Gp whipped out his ULTRASOUND SCANNER , diagnosed gallstones and gave me enough pain relief to get me home. He handed me the scan photos with a big grin on his face and said that my visit had saved me months of waiting for a scan on the NHS back home. He was dead right.

madmalteaser

Do you know what really gets me? The fact that people seem to put up with this terrible treatment because they think the NHS is free. It's not free at all. We pay for it every month with our taxes.

As an NHS worker myself, it disgusts me that people are being treated this way, it disgusts me that the money we pay out of our wages every month is not being used properly - it's not being spent on the correct equipment, the wages of the staff or a thousand other things I could think of. The real cogs of the NHS (the workers) are expected to treat people in inadequate places, with a lack of proper equipment and generally on double shifts to try and bump up the low wages they receive for the job they do. And yet the consultants, surgeons and others of that ilk swagger in when they feel like it and wander back out again when they've had enough.

My job has shown me too how much the NHS is taken for granted by people visiting from other countries. I happen to work in a trust that covers a large international airport and one of the more frequent things we deal with is people flying in from other countries expecting to receive healthcare from our hospitals because "it is free". These people are a major drain on our resources so is it any wonder so many locals are receiving such poor treatment? Grrr, this gets me so riled up!

KittyKate

I'm reading these awful, awful stories and getting upset - sadly, I suspected that the poor level of service for my parents wasn't unusual and I was right. I feel so much for all of you who have experienced similar problems.

I want to thank you all also for not 'having a go' because in the past I've been told 'well if you don't like it you know what you can do' and 'if the government put more money into the NHS' etc.

YES there are nurses that work hard, and are a credit to the role. But sadly for whatever reasons 90% of the nurses I met were fairly lazy, extremely rude, and lax. Now, at the end of the day if they are tired, poor, the hospital's facilities are bad etc YOU DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE PATIENTS. Or the visitors, for that matter. I cannot describe the sheer heartache of leaving my mum in the radiotherapy dept to visit my dad on the general ward. Or seeing my dad in tears at the frustration of being left in a chair all day, every day (he is doing much better now he's at home).

I can't properly describe the sheer wave of sickening, urine laden, faeces stink that would hit you when you entered that ward. It shouldn't have been that way. It should have smelt clean, it should have BEEN clean. The ward was never closed to fumigate, or deep clean. The sluice bin was right next to the entrance to the ward. Lovely.

When my dad left the ward with me, not one nurse said 'bye' or 'hope you get better at home' they just all kept their backs turned, chatting with the doctors at the nurses' station. I couldn't bear to say thanks because they did nothing for him. I washed him, I clothed him and I fed him. I worked out what he needed and I got it for him. I did physio with him and I did his speech therapy with him. The nurses? They changed his bed every other day, brought him a jug of water a day, a bad meal, and his meds (simple pills he can take at home). They left the wards dirty, they let senile patients roam the wards and steal, and go through the medical records (which were kept in an open topped file in the corridor - yes I saw the senile patient going through them and no could I heck as like find a nurse to warn her).

The only 'human' activities like bringing round books to read and a cart from which you could purchase snacks, even the cafe, were run by volunteers.
I would make a complaint about my father, but in all honestly I think I am wasting my time. The nurses would deny it, call me a troublemaker, say I'm after compensation. I'm not. I just can't bear the thought that on the ward my dad was on, right now, it's still happening.

jackieb

My husband was in hospital 2 years ago with stomach and bowel problems. The staff were very good, but he was given an enema one day - and when you've got to go you've got to go. Just after he was given it he went out to the corridor to the shared toilet(s). He was sitting, waiting, when a nurse knocked on the door asking him to get out as their was an elderly patient needing the toilet. The other toilet wasn't working. Dh refused. Why give someone an enema and not have a toilet available to them? There was one toilet between 2 rooms - about 8 patients. And it was a ward where people had stomach and bowel problems. That's just ridiculous. No wonder there's faeces spread on some toilet walls!

hnswst

I'm not claiming this will solve all of the problems discussed in this thread, but it really is worth making a formal complaint. Write a one page letter (including the word 'complaint'), detailing what happened. Try to be objective ; you'll be taken more seriously. Send it to the Chief Executive of the NHS Trust involved ; they are legally obliged to acknowledge your letter and respond to you within a set time limit. Copy it to your MP. These are the two effective recipients ; copying your letter to Gordon Brown, HM The Queen, and a long list of other people is a waste of stamps. If you think a professional is incompetent or negligent then complain to their professional body (i.e. GMC for doctors, NMC for nurses etc.)