Daily View: Older people's care
Commentators react to the which showed neglect of even the "most basic" human needs in elderly care and a failure in treating elderly patients in England with care, dignity and respect.
After being impressed with the care given during her stay at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, Jenni Murray has become a non-executive director there. for what to focus on with elderly care:
"Good care works not from the bottom up, but from the top down. When we look at hospitals that have been conspicuous failures, it's been management's inability to cope with the organisation and monitoring needed to meet waiting list targets or spend money wisely that's put patients at risk."
the standard of average nurses:
"My fear is that the standard is nowhere near as high as our 'angel' stereotype leads us to believe.
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"I think that offhand nurses, brisk rudeness to patients, lack of grip as one shift moves to another, a feeling of contempt for visitors who get in the way, patronising language and leaving people for hours without follow up, treatment or explanation is totally standard."
The deacon of the Diocese of Lancaster Rev about the level of care:
"Of course not all doctors and nurses involved in care of the elderly are callous and ageist, many are professional and caring. However, the cuts in funding to the NHS and the reduction in nurses will put the elderly more at risk. Will the staff ensure that their elderly patients drink enough or will more die of dehydration in hospital? Will the staff make sure that dozing patients wake up in time to eat their meals, or will their food be whipped away without the patients knowing they've missed another meal?"
Former government "Voice of Older People" that the findings come as no surprise. She says we need to radically rethink they way we care for older people:
"What, in many cases, made things far worse was the second of our modern evils: isolation. This compounds the effects of the other four giants, because it means there is no one to share your story, to relieve your misery, to call in doctors, carers or neighbours when things get bad."
that the root of the problem is that The NHS is overly focused on the interests of the staff:
"Despite the efforts of the last government to modernise the NHS and the injection of billions of pounds of extra resources, the problem persists. It is hardly surprising then that demands for further reform are heard.
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"An NHS that cannot feed and wash and relieve the pain of the patients it cares for is not worthy of the name.
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"Thirty years after Sir Roy Griffiths was drafted in from Sainsbury's to reform the NHS, it remains an institution overly focused on the interests of the providers - the staff. In a million ways - from making an appointment to see a GP to getting help with eating on a hospital ward - its lack of focus on the patient is evident."
