Report shows NHS staff ‘indifferent’ towards the elderly – 13th October 2011
The Care Quality Commission today has revealed a culture of indifference among NHS staff towards the elderly, a recent report reveals. They also uncovered numerous examples of lack of care and concern in NHS Hospitals across the country.
But how many elderly people are already at ‘death’s door’ by the time they are admitted into Hospital, and does this lack of concern extend to Care in the Community? Mary Morris, 85, died this year inTameside and Glossop NHS Hospital. Her daughter, Mrs.Margaret Gordon, said:
“I watched my mother pass away in awful discomfort and anguish.Despite my pleas for help, the Health visitors, Doctors and Nurses passed the responsibility of dealing with my mothers case like a game of ‘pass the parcel ‘to each other.Her prize was an undignified and painful death and I am both outraged and ashamed of the behaviour of the so called caring professionals who attended her”
Jane Radcliffe of Pattinson & Brewer, a specialist law firm which acts on behalf of patients who have suffered at the hands of the NHS, related the details of this story:
“Mary was admitted to hospital initially in December 2009 with a chest infection, and discharged with red marks on her heel and her lower spine, indicating the start of pressure sores. District nurses visited her at home but, after several weeks, the sores started breaking down and by end of Jan 2010 had developed to a serious ‘stage 4 ‘level. Dressing changes were intermittent with a 14-day gap on one occasion! During her last week of life 5 different nurses tended to Mrs Morrice, but lack of communication between them and her GP regarding pain relief and emergency treatment for her terrible sores delayed her referral back to hospital. It is unforgivable that someone should die in pain while under nursing care, entirely due to neglect.”
Margaret Gordon and her solicitor, Jane Radcliffe of Pattinson & Brewer, York are available for interview by arrangement.
Contacts
Pattinson & Brewer media relations: Denise Kitchener
(W): 020 7400 5135
(M): 07901050902
(F): 020 7400 5101
(E): dkitchener@pattinsonbrewer.co.uk
If Denise is unavailable: Chris Theobald
(W): 0115 9140331
(M): 07977586608
(E): chris.airtime@googlemail.com
Editors Notes:
Mrs Morrice’s pressure sores were not packed as they should have been by district nursing staff and the pressure sores were so infected that her bone was actually exposed under her dressings. She was in agony but this did not speed up her re-admission into hospital until the 11 February, where treament was inadequate to prevent her eventual death from septicaemia four days later.
Pattinson & Brewer, “The Claimants Champion”, is a leading UK law firm with offices in London, Bristol and York. Since its foundation in 1891 the firm has built a proud heritage of winning compensation for ordinary working people and now acts on behalf of members of the public and union members in Employment disputes,Personal Injury, Accident & Occupational Disease actions.It also has a remarkable record in successfully handling complex Medical Negligence and Catastrophic Injury cases and all it’s partners are committed to working passionately in accessing justice and fairness for their individual clients.