Wednesday 16 October 2013

Liverpool Care Pathway - When The Image Has More Substance Than The Word

When €ARE is just another word on a Mission Statement...
€onvenience and €ost focus €oncern.


 
The Corporate Culture -
Six Cs galvanise new NHS to do better for patients
04/12/2012
Commenting on the launch of the Chief Nursing Officer's new three-year vision and strategy, NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said it forms part of an attempt to galvanise the whole of the new NHS system to do better for patients
NHS Confederation
Margaret Walker was taken into Warwick Hospital following a fall in her home. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and a DNR was slipped onto her file.

They then 'disappeared' her hearing aids and her medication.

This is the Stratford upon Avon Herald –
David Walker, her son, told the coroner that the poor standards of care at the hospital led both “directly and indirectly” to his mother’s death. “Directly, I think if she had been responded to in that 15-20 minutes by another nurse she would not have died,” he said.

Margaret died in her room which contained suction equipment that could have been used to save her life.

“Indirectly, her general state of health deteriorated during her stay in hospital because she wasn’t particularly well looked after,” said Mr Walker.

In a statement on behalf of the family, he said: “We are very disappointed to find out the extent of the poor nursing care and lack of dignity and respect shown to Margaret.”
Mr. Walker expressed concern that staff did not appear to be aware of his mother's condition.
“We are not sure if she was assessed properly, most of the nurses did not understand that she had hearing difficulties,” he said.
My dear mum had her hearing aid, not 'disappeared', but put out of commission. From our own personal experience, therefore, we can assure David that staff will be able to confirm to him that they do 'know' and are 'schooled' in interpreting that expression, that nuance of voice, to mean a 'yes' or a 'no' as the case may be or as the case may warrant and convenience demands!

On Beaumont Ward, Margaret was given a spoonful of porridge. The nurse became concerned.
“I heard her swallow it, and as soon as she did she became pale and her breathing became irregular,” she said.
She sought out her colleague and returned with her to the room. Having satisfied themselves Margaret was not in any immediate danger, they both left the room. Well, the doctor was on the way...

By the time the doctor arrived, poor Margaret had died.
Ms Pettipher said she was told that Margaret’s cancer had spread, however a post-mortem examination revealed no signs of this. This inaccuracy concerned Mr Walker as his mother had been labelled a ‘do not resuscitate’(DNR) patient.

He said: “Ms Pettipher was told it had spread, and that must have contributed to any decision not to resuscitate.” He was surprised to hear that the nurses thought she was more poorly than she actually was, but both nurses confirmed that DNR orders do not apply to choking.
At the inquest, the nurse said she had previously found difficulties getting a doctor on Beaumont Ward. She also remarked that she was not shown where the crash trolley was.

Look, if you're at the top end of the Complete Lives curve, well into that final trough, diagnosed with a life-limiting condition for which you've had a DNR slapped onto your file, the doc isn't going to come in a hurry and they are not going to rush for the crash trolley!

Following the Coroner's Court Hearing, the Foundation Trust has been sentenced to take learnings.

Well, that's about right. They can kill people and they get sentenced to take learnings...

Poor Margaret...

She was expendable. In a court of law, they would have costed her life in pence!

Like a re-run of The Great Escape, Joanne Wakeley did a Wanda Maddocks and fled...
The wife of Metropolitan Police superintendent Clive Wakeley pushed his wheelchair and told their children to ‘run’.
This is the Mail Online –
Supt Wakeley, 52, who was praised for helping foil a terror plot on the London Eye, was left brain-damaged after a drunken skier crashed into him three years ago in the Italian Alps.

He made ‘huge progress’ towards recovery thanks to private physiotherapy paid for by donations.
Clive Wakeley is still within the 'curative' parameters of the Complete Lives curve. And in August, he went for an operation at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Edgware. However...
... in August this year he had a simple operation at the National Hospital for Neurology in Central London. Mrs Wakeley, 48, from Edgware, north London, claims it left him worse off than when he was first injured in April 2010.
‘The nursing care was poor,’ said his wife. ‘He vomited and because no one had been assigned to look after him he choked and developed a chest infection.

‘He was also given a feeding tube and drip because they couldn’t be bothered to take the time to give him food and water.’

She claimed her husband was left in soiled sheets and not given a shower or shave for 17 days. ‘It was heart-breaking,’ said Mrs Wakeley. ‘I went to visit him with my 11-year-old son Ben and we smelled him before we saw him.

‘We were so upset. I told the nurse but she said they were overworked.

‘Because they put a feeding tube in he lost his ability to swallow, then they said they couldn’t discharge him for rehab because his mood was too low.

‘Of course his mood was low – he’d been left alone in dirty sheets with nothing to do for more than two weeks. Anyone would be depressed.’

Gladys Burr had attained the age of respect. Why did she receive none...?

This is Mail Online again –

 Gladys ended her days drugged into a nightmarish, near-comatose haze with a 'chemical cosh' of sedatives and anti-psychotic drugs administered by care home staff more interested in an easy life for themselves than the welfare of their frail and vulnerable patients.

When a person is just a package to deliver...

This is good old Mail Online yet again –

Mr Taylor, 65, of Basildon, Essex, said: 'I still can't believe this happened to my poor old mother. It was a bizarre and terrifying episode - an absolute nightmare.'

The father-of-two and grandfather-of-two added: 'I'm just so relieved that my mother came out of her terrible ordeal unscathed.'

Mr Taylor said his mother was released by the hospital at about 12.30pm on September 25 - but hours later she still hadn't turned up at her home.

'I was worried sick and my mind was racing wondering where she'd got to.

'So I asked her ex-neighbour to check out her old home,' said Mr Taylor, a retired photographer and tailor.

'She went round and found her lying in this absent-minded elderly man's bed wearing just the light nightdress she'd been released in.

'I immediately called the hospital to tell them what had happened and they brought in the police.'

Mr Taylor said it was outrageous that his mum, who used to work for HM Customs & Excise in Holborn, north London, had been treated so badly.

'My mum's a typical born-and-bred East End girl - the salt of the earth.

'She grew up through the Blitz surviving German bombs in the Second World War, has worked incredibly hard all her life and been a first-class citizen,' he said.

'My dad Fred fought with the famous Desert Rats in North Africa.

'He died when he was 91 and I don't know what he'd make of this nonsense. If I had been on holiday, my mother, who has Alzheimer's, may well not be here today.

'She could have been anywhere on the planet and would not have been aware. She's so reliant on other people, even for doing her shoes up.'
These dear ladies - and thousands like them - come from a generation who gave their care for free because care was just something that you did.

These dear ladies come from a generation who risked their lives and gave their lives so we might not fall beneath the Jackboot's heel.

It is now their turn to receive that care and sacrifice their generation made for us.

For some, like Gladys, it is too late...

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