Tag Archives: hospital
Cancer patient dies alone in hotel room after hospital sends him there to free up beds
Wife finds body when she goes to visit
- Hospital routinely sends chemotherapy patients to hotel between treatments
- Panic alarms had not been installed in hotel rooms for two years as they ‘weren’t used’
By Jenny Hope
Last updated at 2:11 AM on 25th February 2012
A cancer patient died alone after being sent to a hotel to recuperate from chemotherapy treatment on the NHS.
Ian Curtis, 39, died 200 yards away from University College Hospital, London, which rents out hotel rooms for patients who would otherwise stay in overnight.
It is the second death of a chemotherapy patient using the scheme since it was introduced in 2004.
The hospital stopped installing panic alarms in rooms at the four-star Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel last year because patients did not use them.
Mr Curtis was overwhelmed by a sudden ‘catastrophic infection’ that prevented him making a phone call for help.
The Health Bill – ‘outright Opposition’
NHS plans: Unions move to ‘outright opposition’
By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News
The unions representing nurses and midwives have joined others in stating their “outright opposition” to the government’s NHS plans in England.
The Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives had expressed concerns in the past, but said they were willing to work with ministers.
However, now they want the entire bill covering the changes to be dropped.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the unions wanted to “have a go” at government about “pay and pensions”.