Not directly dementia related but this drama is about the Mid Staffs hospital scandal and Julie Bailey's fight to 'Cure the NHS' after her mother's death in hospital. It won't be comfortable viewing, particularly for those of us who have directly experienced neglect, incompetence and safe guarding issues in hospital, but will resonate with anyone who has had to battle against the system to get justice for a loved one and attempt to keep others safe. It's not anti-NHS but highlights what happens when budget cuts become more important than care standards.
The Cure - Channel 4 9pm tonight
- Thread starter Louise7
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Hmm a very toxic culture developed at Mid Staffs, not one manager was ever prosecuted for what happened. The Chief Nurse who originally retired was re-registered by the NMC so she could be struck off the register, but as much as she deserved this treatment many other non-clinical executives (the people penultimate;y responsible for pushing for Foundation status), including the Chief Exec were never held to account.
The Francis Inquiry makes for some disturbing reading, but have managers and politicians learned from the events of Mid Staffs???
The Francis Inquiry makes for some disturbing reading, but have managers and politicians learned from the events of Mid Staffs???
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I am taping this, as my lovely mum who is living with dementia is refusing to go to bed, and does not want to watch this (which I understand).
I work with PWD full time, as well as caring for my mum, we have had at least two decades experience of poor care, lack of diagnosis, inappropriate inpatient care, etc, and this is extra hard for me to take as given my role as a dedicated NHS worker with nearly 30 years experience. This inadequacy is due to lack of training and supervision stemming from lack of investment which has occurred over several years.
I hope people watch this, as patients and carers are the only people to have the power to bring about real change, with their stories that make others think -!”I hope that doesn’t happen to me”
Take care friends, c
I did watch it and it was a very tough watch. However, also on the list of urgent for the government are care homes, nursing homes, dementia homes, EMI etc. After visiting a good number lately looking for nursing care/dementia care for my husband I am absolutely horrified at the lack of safety, all the mats, safety devices etc,. are not going to keep him from trying to get out of bed, by the time carers arrive he will be dead on the floor. Call bells being left ringing for some considerable time and care staff being completely overwhelmed trying to deal with everyone, and this is day time God help the residents at night. The swan likes to give the appearance of gliding but look underneath and it is paddling furiously!
Everyone is paying so much, and I will leave trying to get NHS fully funding for another time!
Our NHS and Social care - it needs someone with more brain cells than me to sort it! Is there anyone out there ?
Everyone is paying so much, and I will leave trying to get NHS fully funding for another time!
Our NHS and Social care - it needs someone with more brain cells than me to sort it! Is there anyone out there ?
I forgot to record this so will watch it on catch up. Why did I forget? Well, my Mum, pwd, has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and I have been at the hospital today discussing her treatment options with her oncology consultant.
I might find the programme very upsetting as I suspect this diagnosis might soon mean mum can no longer live on her own with just daily visits from family. The future all of a sudden has got much bleaker, as if dementia is not enough, she now has cancer to deal with.
I might find the programme very upsetting as I suspect this diagnosis might soon mean mum can no longer live on her own with just daily visits from family. The future all of a sudden has got much bleaker, as if dementia is not enough, she now has cancer to deal with.
What a difficult programme to watch, as an NHS employee I know how much training and legislation had resulted from the Mid Staffs enquiry quite rightly, but this will keep happening unless we look after our nurses and other health professionals who are burnt out. Don’t let this put you off accessing healthcare, because the vast majority of us care deeply and do our utmost, keys keep campaigning. With my carer hat on though, this is so brutally painful to watch.
The problem is though that patients and carers need someone to actually listen to them and the Mid Staffs case had a whistle blower from the hospital. The complaints systems, whether in hospitals or other care related organisations, are designed to work against those making the complaints as they are rarely independent and the investigations, such as they are, are delayed for as long as possible in the hope that people will just 'go away'. There was a line in last night's programme where a member of staff who has altered some records is being told off by a senior manager - "If you're going to fiddle things at least do it properly". I can't say too much about my Mum's specific case at the moment but 14 pages of her hospital notes were 'missing' and were produced later, having clearly been re-written, and other entries had been over-written. Real change will not come whilst there is still a culture of covering things up and closing ranks rather than accepting responsibility for failings which are placing people at risk of harm, whether in hospitals or care homes.
Hi @Lynmax I hope the visit went well. Dad's oncologist has decided that she doesn't need to see him anymore unless something changes like him being unable to swallow food again. I think she just saw how difficult it is for us to get him there now as he has become very frail and needs a wheelchair to get him in the hospital. I agreed with her because it is a struggle to get him over his doorstep let alone in the car.
Dad lived on his own for almost a year after his cancer diagnosis then he had pneumonia almost a year ago and it became evident evident that he would not be able to live alone anymore so now there is always one of us there with him (mostly me) We can leave him during the day to pop to the shops because he sleeps in his chair all day but once it is dark he has to have someone there.
I have said more than a few times that dads cancer has paled into insignificance compared to the dementia and yes it is bleak at the moment. I just never imagined that dad would still be here now. I just keep telling myself that this will end at some point but at the same time take each day at a time.
In Australia we are currently having a Royal Commission into care homes. There have been numerous investigations before about this and I have no idea why they need to spend huge amounts of money on a commission when we all know what needs to be done.
Our hospitals have an annual review system and that doesn't seem to achieve anything either. Waiting times for elective surgery (which can include hip replacements) has blown out and there are massive inefficiencies throughout the whole system.
As I have said elsewhere on TP, when it comes to national defence, it is a bottomless pit and governments are happy to keep tipping money down that drain. When it comes to health and education, suddenly there are budgets which have to be met, regardless of how that affects the care and well being of the clients. I feel certain that this has a huge impact on mistakes and cover ups that happen and that essential supervision is seriously neglected. And overwork must have a part in why mistakes occur. Money alone can't solve the problems but it can go a long way to reorganizing the administrative structures that allow things to go so badly wrong.
Always worrying when what are legal documents (patients notes) are tampered with. I once witnessed a serious incident concerning a gentleman who had been operated on and suffered a cardiac arrest during the procedure. Turned out the anaesthetist hadn't looked at his ECG before the op which showed he'd had a heart attack. The anaesthetist in attempt to hide the mistake tried to remove the ECG from the notes, but luckily I stopped her. The notes had to be removed to a place of safe keeping for the incident to be investigated. This unveiled a chain of errors, the ECG had been taken sometime before the anaesthetist assessed the patient, which begs the question, had anyone looked at it, if they had it would have been spotted and treated considerably earlier?
I hope you get answers @Louise7
Its important if there are problems to keep a diary of events including names, dates and times
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