this is terrifying

[2shoes]

terrible

very sad. No one should ever be left in pain and distressed.

appalling.

I heard about this on radio 4. I'm afraid it only adds to my feelings of cynicism about how people with disabilities are treated. Why do they always report on these things when nobody does anything to stop them before they happen?

I can well believe this happens. Even if you are able bodied and able to state your case you can get treated like dirt. Some Nurses (not all, there are some incredible ones out there) just look at you as if to say, 'what do you know' or 'how dare you ask for that'. I realise the system is flawed, understaffed etc but patients are so vunerable and scared and alot of the medical proffession have lost sight of that.
And yes I speak from personal horrific experience across many different sectors of the NHS. So much so that on having a nasty fall on my neck last week I refused to go to hospital as I am too scared.
So if you are unable to speak for yourself or have bigger issues I dread to think how the individual must feel, abject terror... and this in a supposed first world country.

Agree with goignslowlyroundthebend regarding the way nurses look at people unfortunately. The elderly are also very vulnerable.

Not in the least surprised by the article
I work with disabled people and if they need to stay in hospital for anything, the hospital staff cannot be trusted to look after them.
And I mean the basic basic of care. Keeping patients clean etc. I went to check on a girl i hospital for a urine infection who can't feed herself or speak. Staff had only plonked a drink i front of her...then took it away later saying "oh you didn't want that then"
In fact if anyone is in a position where they perhaps cannot think/speak straight, due to being unwell or in pain, I would definately make sure you have someone on side looking out for you if you need to be in hospital.

this has profoundly saddened me

i was recently in hospital - i was mis-diagnosed firstly, then correctly diagnosed and still ended up on the wrong amount of medication

for someone with SN or LD to be left like this is harrowing

society seems to treat some sectors of it (older people included) with utter disdain

to paraphrase, you can judge how civilised a society is by how well it treats its most vulnerable members

and time and time again , the very young, teh old and infirm, those with LD/ SN are treated appalingly.

the NHS is overstretched, staff are demoralised and their hands are tied by policy,protocols and procedures.

that is no excuse.

my grandmother was in hospital last year, immobile and terminally ill and I had to beg an auxilliary to take her to the toilet. I insisted she helped her , rather than finish the mug of coffee in her hand, as i would not let my grandmother suffer the indignity of wetting the bed. My friend's elderly father is in hospital at the moment, his wallet has been stolen and he has been left sitting in urine soaked pyjamas and not brought drinks.

there are amazing nurses, doctors and staff within the NHS, but that has to be balanced against the terrible care illustrated in this story and in so many other cases.

Being in pain, unable to communicate and being dismissed by the medics must have been terrifying

I trained as a nurse in the 1980's and I cannot imagine a single one of the ward sisters with whom I worked allowing anything like this to happen on their wards. Even as a student nurse, I was expected to take responsibility for a group of patients, and had to ensure that all their basic needs (ie, food, fluids, hygiene, toileting etc) were properly met, as well as giving them the nursing treatments that they required.

I remember sitting and feeding patients who were unable to feed themselves, and we would have been hauled over the coals if such a patient had missed one meal, let alone weeks of meals!!

I don't know what has gone wrong in the nursing profession - I suspect that it's a combination of poor funding, understaffing, and a training system that makes students supernumerary and drastically reduces their time on the wards - which is, in my opinion, the only place to learn and perfect the practical skills of nursing.

I've had an almost identical experience with elderly relatives Lulumama.

Fortunately my father was still quite mentally sharp but he was physically neglected nonetheless. Until we got him transferred, the NHS managed to reduce a gentle, independent, kind, dignified man to the position where he was in pain, unwashed, hungry, thirsty and worst of all, felt utterly humiliated.

He also saved a fellow patient from being given the wrong medication by a junior doctor (the patient concerned had got in to the wrong bed).

God help you if you have a mental disability. You are so vulnerable.

Somehow - one expects health professionals working in the NHS to be the best, most informed individuals with the most appropriate skills to look after those with disabilities. How can this not be the case???

I was utterly appalled by that radio report this morning

Stayingsunnygirl - my experience is similar to yours and I agree with what you say. I think the whole process of selecting and training nurses over the last 10-15 years has gone to pot. I have lost count of the number of students I have supervised who have lacked the very basic empathy required. Too much emphasis placed on how soon they will be in management and don't dare ask them to clean the sluice. Tutors 'supervise' 100s of students - many of whom they don't even recognise when they come on ward visits. And they act with surprise and anger when I have refused to pass students placements. It is so sad. I love nursing. I love providing the basics and I manage to do that AND manage a ward. It makes me so sad and damn angry to hear about the horrific suffering that patients go through from lack of basic care but know that I AND plenty of other good nurses continue to do the very best that we can to provide comfort and care. Shame on those who neglect the vulnerable

my mother pretty much starved to death over a period of time in a care home. she had dementia and parkinsons. Her life was worth very little to the staff.

I left the profession 2 years ago to be a SAHM. I was a nurse for 17 years and was a sister and tbh, I am not sorry to leave it behind.

Nursing isn't what it was when I 1st started. There are fewer and fewer nurses on the wards, the training has become so academic that (most) qualified staff now think that they are above giving basic nursing care. Even the nurses that are willing find their time taken up by paperwork and meeting govt. objectives. It saddens me that it has becomes this way and those most vulnerable are just left. You're ok if you or your relatives jump up and down and make lots of noise as the threat of complaints/litigation has everyone scurrying but stay quiet and you're likely to be ignored.

My GFIL(in his 80's) was admitted to hospital, suffering from pernicious anaemia and bowel problems. He caught MRSA and C. difficile and was isolated on a ward, with no-one checking on him to check he was ok outside of visiting hours.
A nurse went to check on him and found him hanging from his belt in the bathroom just off the wardroom . My FIL was absolutely devastated - he had warned medical staff that is DF was depressed after losing his DW only 2 months previously . AFAIK there was NO investigation or much of inquiry into my GFIL's death - it was put down to an accident - he didn't mean to kill himself The family were just to heartbroken to pursue it further.
They should have looked after him better. And we lost a very lovely, dignified man.
We seriously need major improvements in how we care for the most vulnerable people in society.

my sister was seriously stressed at staff when she made a diagnosis on a patient on saturday morning, whilst doing a locum. wednesday evening, doing a different locum, she found out that the staff hadnt bothered listneing to her, the surgeon who was responsible for making the diagnosis. they had faffed around trying t osend him for a scan etcetcetc. meanwhile this guy was in pain, danger of seriously bad stuff happening, etc.

who do you blame?

I think the rot started when Thatcher got into power. The aim of the NHS became to save money rather than to care for society's sick and vulnerable. Blair continued the rot and this is where we are today.

I am a student nurse.

Far too much emphasis is placed on academic work.

I have had people on my course who are fantastic caring people, hands on, task orintated. Love caring for people- but they have been kicked out of uni for not writing a Reference list properly etc.

My clinical placement feedbacks always state that I have an excellent standard of practice. But my academic work is not so hot- so I have the uni breathing down my neck.

Its all wrong- you have an influx of nurses who can write a shit hot essay about individualised care, but can they deliver it? Can they diddley.

not on the least surprised unfortunately I worked for year in care and managed care homes for adults with SN and frankly hospital stays were a nightmare as I had to find ways to staff the house and keep one staff almost 24/7 with the person hospitalized, or otherwise risk basic care not being provided

this was always a huge strain on the budget and often counted on the good will of staff who worked long hours and sometimes covered visits in their own time

just wanted to add that any sort of care work is often seen as unworthy

if people in charge care about quality and are vigilante then good quality care can happen but look at the levels of pay

this is going to start being a huge issue with an ageing population

Totally agree QM. I have seen wonderful student nurses not complete their training due to the academic side of it. Likewise, I have had A+ students who don't give a toss about patient care and if you ask them to do something 'menial' like feed a patient, they refuse as they are "not a dogsbody".

True QM. They raise the profile of nursing and midwifery by making it a degree course, getting nurses and mw doing research etc... Do patients care about any of those things? No all they want is someone who listens to their needs and who makes sure they're cared for well in hospital and not left to starve, in pain or in dirty linen. These are not skills taught in the classroom or by getting a degree, but by hands on experience and good mentoring.

I meant: They want to raise the profile

God why does someone have to bring Thatcher into it. Labour have been in long enough to sort this, thrown billions at it, and made an even bigger mess.
Gengis Bloody Khan and his hordes could make a better job of it.
There is no culture of responsibility, everyone covering their arses while the needy suffer and die in horrendous circumstances. I have seen better hospitals in India and Africa than London.
I was speaking to my local NHS Trust today about some daft initiiitve they have about the public being members and couldn't actually understand a word they were saying!
Get rid of that sort of crap and put the money into caring for people.

And yes, it makes me so angry that I lose the ability to spell v

Like I said Thatcher started the rot and Labour (although they're not really labour so i shall say pseudolabour) continued it instead of reversing it.