Tag Archives: hospital

Carers Emergency Scheme

Carers Emergency Scheme

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2XmeTSSGkE]

Half of hospitals still treating patients in mixed wards

Half of hospitals still treating patients in mixed wards

Half of hospitals are still treating patients in mixed-sex wards as managers struggle to eradicate the practice before they start receiving fines.

By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 6:30AM GMT 18 Feb 2011

Official data show that 72 out of 144 acute trusts that provided figures treated men and women in the same wards in January, up from 70 out of 147 the previous month.

In total there were 8,160 incidences of patients of different sexes sharing wards last month.

Although this represents a fall on December’s figure of 11,362, it means managers are still battling to end the practice before a tough new regime is introduced.

From April, hospitals in England will face fines of £250 for each breach of the rules, which will be recorded on wards by computers and sent through the NHS management system.

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: “It is incredibly alarming that 50 per cent of hospitals are still providing mixed sex accommodation despite the Government’s commitment for this practice to stop by April.

NHS elderly care: sole carer coughing blood sent home

NHS elderly care: sole carer coughing blood sent home

Hundreds of Daily Telegraph readers have contacted the newspaper, offering examples of just how badly the NHS is failing elderly people. Here is one:

 By Andy Bloxham 8:00AM GMT 16 Feb 2011

Retired accountant John Williams, 80, is the sole carer for his wife Grace, 71, who suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Last Saturday, Mr Williams, a former football referee and cricket umpire, began coughing up blood and mucus and was taken to West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen.

He was given an X-ray which showed “shadows” on his lungs but was told to wait overnight to be seen by a specialist.

By this time, Mr Williams had developed constipation which became increasingly uncomfortable. When, at around 4am on Sunday he requested a suppository, it did not arrive until around 11am, seven hours later.

The specialist, who Mr Williams said claimed to have already seen 50 patients during the weekend, told him he needed further tests but would have to wait three weeks, and he was discharged

Fighting back tears, Mr Williams told the Daily Telegraph: “I’m 80 years old and I’m coughing up blood every day. It’s getting worse not better. I was told to wait three weeks but I might not last three weeks.

“I’m going to be dead before long. Then my wife won’t have anybody to look after her.

“I’m the only person she’s got. I sort out all her pills. If I’m not there, she gets confused and takes the wrong ones. Last time, she ended up in hospital.

“I just feel that I’m dying and no one cares. I’m sure I’ve got pneumonia – I’ve had it before.

“Not everyone’s bad at the hospital: some of the girls are nice but you ask some of them to do something and they just walk away.

“I don’t want to die – I just want to be treated.”

No one from Carmarthenshire NHS Trust, which runs the West Wales hospital, was available for comment.

http://goo.gl/MnWjT