boy dies after calling 999 from ward

[ohdobuckup]

I just cannot believe this appalling story, can't link but it was in most papers and headlined in Daily Mail.

Inquest being held into the case of a young man who appears to have suffered severe neglect at Tooting hospital, with 'lazy' nurses and indifferent doctors allowing him to die of thirst because he was confused following major operation.The poor sod even dialled 999 to get help, police arrived but were ushered off the ward

How the fuck has nursing become such a corrupted profession?
I am an ex-nurse, mostly Mental Health, and not that ancient either, and whilst not claiming any perfection on my part, and have had lapses of judgement and bad days too, I am truly appalled by this one.

Any other nurses/exes seen this?

Why couldn't his mother get him a drink?

Not excusing bad care or neglect. But hospitals do have taps.

Just saying

rubber glove, it seems to be more complex than that. Did you read the post at 20.25.28? And the article says he had to be sedated after becoming agitated and they left him without his drip, drugs etc.

Terrible story.

edam The problem is that they did hide, and reading the comments at the bottom of the piece, this is no isolated incident within the NHS.

There problem is that there is no real sanction that we the people can take to punish poor performance from the NHS. It is a monopoly and if your PCT gives you crap service, there is no way that you can vote with your feet (short of paying for private healthcare) to avoid crap service in the future. At least if you were dealing with a properly competitive system and healthcare provider 'A' treated you the way this poor lad had been treated, the next time around you could go to healthcare provider 'B' instead. If enough people do this, company 'A' has to raise their game or they go out of business.

It's exactly the same as if one of the big supermarkets, mobile phone providers or other genuinely competitive suppliers failed to meet your expectations you are free to shop around. Once word gets out, and customers desert them in droves they soon pull their fingers out and improve standards.

It's all very well saying that, in an ideal world, standards would be universally high across the NHS, and that in an emergency you'd take what you were given, but after 60-odd years of trying they haven't got it right yet, nor do they seem close to getting it right.

Personally, I'm not convinced that transient politicians are the best people to be running what is the fifth largest organisation on the planet with 1.7 million employees. I don't think politicians take managing the NHS seriously - there have been six different people in charge over the last ten years alone. The job of Secretary of State for Health is seen as a stepping stone to greater glory and, with the best will in the world, no politician is even vaguely qualified to run such a complex organisation. I would rather it was broken down into dozens of smaller companies, with rules in place saying no one company can own, run or manage the services of more than 49% of each former PCT and see the NHS reduced to a funding organisation which buys in services from whichever company the patient wants to use.

Can totally believe it, this is why I sit at hosp so long with Aillidh, we take shifts and wont leave her.

And when I was in hosp I had awful experience and left alone unable to breathe.

Some nurses are amazing, some are ok and some are shitty bullies

Horrible! And precisely why I refused to leave FIL alone at hospital in the past 2 weeks. Nurses forgot his medication, forgot his treatment and gave him something he did not need. Told him to eat before endoscopy.
Really!! I am putting a written complaint in. But what else can one do. It's a sad day when you can't trust a nurse to prove care and handle medication.

Good God that article speechless he died in torture and agony for no reason whatsoever.

I know this hospital v well.

This is tough reading. I work on an acute ward at the moment. I really don't think this would happen there, because we have some great staff, but I can't say I don't recognise the pattern of events.

That is a terrible story, that poor lad and his family. I am sadly not as surprised as I would have been- i had a fairly traumatic experience at hospital recently, I had fallen and needed to be x-rayed in case my spine was damaged, I was left alone for ages even though my DH had arrived and was asking to see me, I was in really bad pain as i couldn't wee lying flat on my back, so instead of hurrying along the x-ray , first a nurse tried to move me onto a bedpan (even though I was supposed to only be rolled, by four people), then two nurses tried to get a catheter in and when that failed they gave me morphine which made me sick and faint. I fell at 3.30, took 40 minutes to get an amubulance here even though I had passed out, and I wasn't x-rayed until 10.30, so only then could I sit up and wee, after an hour of crying with the pain (had bashed my kidney). It was like a nightmare. I was crying with pain and fright and a nurse said to my DH when he came (after she had left me, faint and then vomiting, in the front of A+E so he could pick me up) that I was "very emotional".

MrsMcEnroe's account of her mother not being supplied with water reminds me of last year when I was on a renal ward after a major kidney operation.

I was told - sternly, as if I was going to refuse! - by my consultant that I had to drink water constantly to flush my kidneys out.

Easier said than done. After I'd dutifully downed the first jug in ten minutes I just could not get a nurse to bring me more despite numerous increasingly desperate requests. I ended up having to stagger out of bed to the nurses' station despite the pain of my kidney stent digging into me at every step and my head still reeling from the anaesthetic.

I got my water eventually, but I could well believe all the stories (that were in the papers during my stay!) about patients being so thirsty they drank their flower water.

I had to go in again for another operation a couple of months later and made sure to take my own supplies of bottled water, and I'd advise anyone else to do the same.

Perhaps that consultant ought to have been speaking sternly to the nurses; I sometimes wonder if they are aware of the dire state of affairs on the wards.

These days I think we throw ourselves on the kindness of strangers when we enter a hospital - and by that I mean the kindness of other patients. I was very glad to find that there were some lovely ladies on my eighty-seven year old mother's ward who would keep an eye on her and firmly summon a nurse for her when she needed one.

It's awful it's come to this. That poor lad - and his poor mother. I could weep.

Yup number of times I have been in hosp and had to help another patient.

that poor young man, and his poor mother having to see him like that

This is a tragic story and sadly one not unfamiliar to me. My dad was shunted into a side ward when he was accused of disturbing other patients - in fact his oxygen levels were deteriorating to the point of causing confusion - he also asked for water and was repeatedly ignored.

In desperation he phoned the hospital switchboard and asked for the on-call doctor - he was was that scared! The nurse in charge of his care confronted him and said "what lies have you been telling about us now?" He died the following morning.

We were extremely upset about the lack of care and the way one particular nurse was so callous - we formally complained and eventually after 2 years of pursuing the case, the nurse was struck off. A minor victory as it won't bring my dad back, but at least the nurse concerned can't do the same to anyone else! Unfortunately nursing doesn't always mean caring.

I have been on many childrens wards over the past few years and some of what I have seen beggars belief. My child was in for a severe infection which required round the clock drugs to reduce her fever which was causing life threatening seizures (due to medical history), I had to go and chase her medication and on one visit the nurses gave her paracetamol despite the request by neuro for ibuprofen which is more effective - DD had another seizure on one occasion as they were two hours late with her meds.

I was asked also to do all her temperature obs and monitor her SATS. Given my child was brain damaged due to a lack of care at birth then nothing the NHS does surprises me anymore.

I was told today by a senior NHS paediatrician that the NHS is falling apart, that services will be harder to come by and that it is a case of the blind leading the blind.

I am very sorry for this mans family, it is heartbreaking to hear of the failings

This is so awful. The poor young man. And his poor family.

Apparently, there is PALS in hospital (is that right) which is supposed to speak for patients within the system.

Please, anyone who knows better, do post what you know.

I remember when my mother was in hospital, and her care perhaps less than ideal, even the route to accessing the information about the system to raise concerns - and thus access better care - was shockingly obscure.

It shouldn't be, really, should it?

The standard of nursing in this country is rubbish. Making it a degree profession has just attracted those that are there for the money, and don't have very much of a caring attitude at all.

I'm shocked by this story and by all the others you've shared in your posts

Just out of curiosity. Is not allowed to keep bottles of water by the bedside? Do people have to request water? Could families perhaps leave food and water or is it not allowed?

I was in hospital for 6 weeks, in a side room. I was very ill so visiting hours were waived for my family so they had someone with me 8am - 10pm (sometimes later - I had a dose of IV ABs every night at about 10pm which was terribly painful and my DDad would stay with me until they were done). Even when I started getting better my family would spend most of every day with me (because the staff were used to them being around and no-one dared suggest they go).

My family cleaned the room and bathed me. They collected my liquid food supplements from the fridge and made sure I ate. They refilled my jug. They recorded every drop of liquid I drank, and helped collect every drop of wee so that the state of my kidneys could be assessed. They brought in tiny treats, strawberries, peaches etc. to tempt my to start eating again. They pushed and pushed for me to get a new mattress when my air mattress developed a leak (so basically lying on a metal frame with a rubber sheet between me and it - no padding or support). Day after day they fought to get my bed sores dressed. They trimmed away the dead skin from my hands and feet and moisturised me, so that I could still use my hands. They took me for walks and got me moving as I relearned how to walk. They comforted me through the many painful procedures, the frustrations and the fear when my diagnosis seemed to be life-limiting.

The nurses were all lovely and were individually kind. But without my family I would have missed out on meals, drinks and medication. My room and I would have been dirty. I would have been much less active and much more unhappy. My recovery would have been much slower - and I may not have made such a good long term recovery. I owe them so very much.

It scares me to think that another time I may be on my own or that one of my family may be in a similar situation and I may not be able to help.

My heart goes out to the family in the article.

I know that I read a post on here from a nurse on a very high-dependency ward who described her day working when she was either the only qualified nurse or one of two, dealing with an incredible number of very ill patients. She was on the point of leaving. She said she knew the nursing she was providing was nothing like she would want to provide and I have no doubt that she would come across as uncaring sometimes.

In some wards, for some conditions, it's not safe for patients to have free access to water (though sometimes there are ways to improve even that, given more frequent care) but that clearly wasn't the case in most of these stories

This is horrific. I'm disgusted.

In every organisation things go wrong sometimes but this is systemic and there appears to be no clear path to complain or seek improvement.

My head is in my hands as despite the fact that we are all so saddened by this- there appears to be nothing we can do?

Horrible story made worse by it not being the only case like this.

Does this sort of thing happen in private hospitals?

Has the NHS got to think more about its 'customers' being at tge centre of what they do rather than an inconvenience?

In some wards, for some conditions, it's not safe for patients to have free access to water (though sometimes there are ways to improve even that, given more frequent care)

I fear it is more likely due to them knowing they will then have to deal with what goes in must come out.

Making it a degree profession hasn't increased salaries.