Introduction: Postcode Lottery

The purpose of this website is to help raise awareness of the plight of people who are victims of the Postcode Lottery.

My own story of a near-death experience of the postcode lottery can be found here.

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On 29th June, 2008, Gordon Brown promised to end the NHS Postcode Lottery.

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NHS advice to school children: "An orgasm a day keeps the doctor away"

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 11:10 PM on 12th July 2009

The NHS is telling school pupils they have a 'right' to an enjoyable sex life and that it is good for their health.
A Health Service leaflet says experts concentrate too much on the need for safe sex and loving relationships, and not enough on the pleasure it can bring.
But family campaigners last night condemned the guidance, saying it encouraged underage sex and could increase rates of sexually-transmitted diseases.
Under the heading 'an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away', the leaflet says: 'Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and veg a day and 30 minutes physical activity three times a week. What about sex or masturbation twice a week?'

The advice, which also claims regular sex is good for cardiovascular health, has been circulated to parents, teachers and youth workers.
It came to light just a week after it emerged that teenagers who took part in a £6million Government initiative to reduce teenage pregnancies were more than twice as likely to fall pregnant as other girls.
The scheme tried to persuade girls not to get pregnant by handing out condoms and teaching them about sex.
The NHS leaflet has been drawn up by Sheffield primary care trust and is entitled Pleasure.

About 40,000 teenagers become pregnant every year in the UK - the highest level in western Europe. More than half end in abortion.

Full article can be read in: Daily Mail

Cruelty, neglect and a catalogue of blunders: stories from today's NHS

Hospital patients are repeatedly being exposed to cruelty, neglect and blunders at the hands of the health service, a report has warned.

By Laura Donnelly and Ian Johnston
Published: 9:00PM BST 04 Jul 2009

Britain's leading patient charity has drawn up a dossier detailing failings in health care which it says are suffered by thousands of people each year, with many left to die in pain or stripped of their basic dignity.

More than 5,000 people contacted the Patients Association's helplines last year because they or a relative had experienced poor medical care.

Medication errors and failures to act on vital information in medical records were also repeated.

The charity said it decided to draw up the report, detailing the experiences of more than a dozen patients, in order to highlight problems which have now become "endemic" across the NHS, as compassion is sacrificed to a targets culture.

Cases include:

– A woman who survived cancer for 40 years, who died from an infected bedsore which the hospital failed to treat;

– a dying leukaemia victim refused pain relief despite his cries;

– a former nurse who was mocked by hospital staff for being a "drama queen" when their rough handling opened painful wounds;

– a cancer sufferer who lost the will to live after being given a drug overdose.

The Sunday Telegraph is highlighting the cases as part of its campaign, Heal Our Hospitals, which is demanding an overhaul of NHS targets to ensure they improve the quality of patient care.

More than 4,950 people have signed a petition backing the campaign. Last week the Government promised to reform the target regime – but has so far only committed to discarding diktats which have already been met.

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients Association, said: "Our concern is that the very basics of dignity, care and compassion that should be at the heart of care are being forgotten, in a culture which is focused on targets, and bureaucracy.

"Each of these stories is desperately sad; every week we hear more tales of needless suffering, pain and anxiety and in many cases needless death.

"It is desperately urgent that those running hospitals, and those in Government, listen and learn from these experiences".

Dr Peter Carter, General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said some of the incidents described in the dossier were indefensible.

He said: "We will not defend nurses who behave in ways that are contrary to the principles and ethics on which nursing is founded.

"I do believe the vast majority of nurses are decent, highly skilled individuals, and most surveys of patient satisfaction back that up, but we have to face up to the fact that there are some who become inured to what patients are going through".

While individual nurses had to take personal responsibility for cruel comments, and a lack of sensitivity to patients, he warned that "a target-driven culture" had increased pressure on staff to deal with higher numbers of patients more quickly.

The Patient Association's report, Patients Not Numbers, will be published later this month.

To sign The Sunday Telegraph 'Heal our Hospitals' petition, click here.

Baby P's doctor, Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat, to sue for £100,000

By Daily Mail Reporter

The doctor who was sacked from Great Ormond Street after she failed to spot Baby P's broken back is demanding compensation from the hospital.

Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat, a paediatric consultant who was the first person sacked in the wake of the scandal, has launched legal action against the hospital following her dismissal nine months after Baby Peter's death.

The 17-month-old could be alive today but Dr Al-Zayyat decided against conducting a full medical examination two days before he died in August 2007 because he was 'miserable and cranky'.

A source close to the case told the London Evening Standard that Dr Al-Zayyat, who lives in Ilford, had launched legal action for unfair dismissal.

The claim could be worth a six-figure sum, the minimum which would be £100,000.
The action will spark anger that a doctor roundly blamed for her part in Baby P's death should seek compensation.

It is understood Dr Al-Zayyat, who trained in Pakistan and Ireland, will argue she has been made a scapegoat for wider failures.

She was employed on a rolling six-month contract by Great Ormond Street on a salary of more than £75,000.

Dr Al-Zayyat is expected to claim she was never shown the child's full medical history and so didn't realise he was the long-term victim of abuse.

An official report recently criticised the hospital for failing to employ enough consultants to run the clinic. Dr Al-Zayyat's case may focus on a shortage of doctors which put her under huge pressure.

She is represented by lawyers working for the Medical Protection Society, the body which provides professional indemnity for doctors.

A Great Ormond Street spokesman said: 'We can confirm we have received notice of legal action. The trust will vigorously defend its position.

'We believe we acted fairly and in the interests of patients. Detailed rebuttal of Dr Al-Zayyat's claims will have to wait for any hearing.'

The spokesman added: 'We didn't scapegoat her. The case surrounds her dismissal from GOSH following the decision not to renew her fixed-term contract. The trust denies that the issue in the case is systematic failures.

'Even a junior doctor should have recognised the risks in a situation where there was a letter on file clearly stating that there were child protection concerns, and the child had visible bruises.

'This should have prompted any doctor to contact the social worker. It is also basic training to strip a child in order to carry out a full investigation.

'Two serious case reviews have questioned her practice.'

A source told the Evening Standard: 'Dr Al-Zayyat is claiming Great Ormond Street unfairly ended the contract and she is entitled to damages because of that.'

Baby P's body was found in a blood-spattered cot at his Tottenham home.

His mother was later jailed for a minimum five years for allowing or causing the death; her boyfriend received 12 years for his 'major role' while their lodger, Jason Owen, was sentenced to a minimum three years.
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Source: Daily Mail
BABY Peter Forum

Stroke patient dies after ambulance driver clocks off

A stroke patient has died after an ambulance driver allegedly refused to work beyond his shift and clocked off part-way through a 999 journey.

By Nigel Bunyan
Published: 4:57PM BST 07 Jun 2009

The driver was 15 minutes over time when he diverted to his depot instead of carrying on direct to the hospital.

The patient deteriorated during the drive and died of a suspected heart attack soon after arriving at North Tees hospital's accident and emergency unit.

Both the driver and the medic travelling with him have now been suspended as officials at the North East Ambulance Services investigate the delay on May 18.

His replacement took the patient on to hospital, but the detour had added half a mile and four minutes to the journey.

The patient was named as 69-year-old Ali Asghar, a father of four, from Stockton on Tees, Cleveland.

Mr Asghar's youngest son, Mohammed, 33, said he was not aware of the delay in the ambulance arriving at hospital but told the Daily Mail: "If that has happened it shouldn't have.

"If you have a patient in an ambulance you don't worry about your bloody shift finishing.

"The driver should not get away with it. He should have to pay for it. He is responsible for the death.

"The time he took to detour could have saved my father's life."

An NHS source said that if the case against the driver was proven his actions had been "absolutely abhorrent".

"Paramedics pride themselves on the public being able to feel they are in the best hands when they are called out to an emergency.

"If this person wanted a nine to five job he should not have become a paramedic."

The source added: "A couple of miniutes in a life or death situation is a very long time. Skimming off just a few seconds from an emergency call-out can save lives - that's why amublances are fitted with blue lights and sirens."

A spokesman for North East Ambulance Service said: "This incident was immediately reported to us by another member of staff and, as soon as we were notified, we acted to suspend a paramedic and an advanced technician from duty.

"We appointed a senior officer to carry out a full investigation of the incident and have notified the North East Strategic Health Authority, Stockton-on-Tees Teaching Primary Care Trust and the Health Professions Council of our actions.

"We have also been in touch with the family of the patient to give them our condolences and to keep them updated on developments.

"Patient care is our number one priority and we treat any action which falls short of the high standard expected of our staff extremely seriously."

Source: Telegraph
See all stories on this topic here

NHS pays for cosmetic surgery for 'road rage' killer Tracie Andrews

EXCLUSIVE by Justin Penrose, Crime Correspondent 6/06/2009

Jailed murderer's chin job costs the taxpayer £5,000

Road rage killer Tracie Andrews was let out of jail for four days – for thousands of pounds worth of cosmetic surgery.

Andrews, 40, tasted freedom when she had an operation to realign her protruding jaw and improve her looks.

News of the surgery and hospital stay has infuriated her victim’s family. The treatment would have cost the NHS about £5,000.

The killer – jailed for life for stabbing fiancé Lee Harvey to death then claiming he was killed by a road rage attacker – was taken by taxi to Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford on Tuesday.

Two days later she was spotted outside in a wheelchair. As our exclusive photos show, her once-blonde hair is now red and she has piled on the pounds.

She was with a prison officer but he used a mobile phone and walked 100 yards away from Andrews – who was not handcuffed – leaving her for about six minutes.

Andrews had the three-hour op to break and reset her lower jaw on Wednesday.

Next day she was wheeled to a surgeon at the unit who examined her for 20 minutes. She was then taken in to the car park while the prison warder answered his phone. She was staying in a private room at the hospital under the name Stacey Carter.

Andrews, who now calls herself Tia Carter and could be eligible for release in 2011, repeatedly stabbed 25-year-old Lee to death in his car in December 1996. They had stopped after an argument on the way to their flat in Worcester.

After his death she concocted a story that he had been murdered by a road rage maniac. Her moving appeal at a Press conference triggered a massive manhunt.

But it soon became obvious there was no “staring-eyed fat man” – it was Andrews who cut her fiancé’s throat and stabbed him 37 times.

She used a penknife believed to have been in the glove compartment of Mr Harvey’s car.

She was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years but has already started the process of being moved to an open prison.

The Sunday Mirror revealed last month that she has won a parole hearing that could downgrade her security status.

Lee Harvey’s mum Maureen said last night: “I am outraged that cosmetic surgery has been arranged for her.

“She might be able to change her looks to disguise herself but she will never be able to change the way she is inside. She is evil.”

A prison source said: “Questions have been asked as to why she has been allowed to have so much taxpayers’ cash to make her look better.

“She may be nearing release but that does not mean she should be allowed cosmetic surgery on the NHS.”

justin.penrose@sundaymirror.co.uk
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Full article here

NHS TELLS BOURNEMOUTH WAR VETERAN HE CAN'T HAVE £30K OPERATION

By Joanna Codd

He worked hard for most of his life and spent six years fighting for his country in World War Two. Only now, aged 96, has Charles Coutts asked for anything in return.

The Burma campaign veteran needs a life-saving heart operation, and although doctors in London say he is a perfect candidate for a new procedure to replace a faulty valve, NHS Bournemouth and Poole has refused to foot the £30,000 bill.

“I’m not a moaner or whiner or a grabber. I’ve always been active, I’ve never had a major illness or operation, and I’m in generally good health apart from this valve,” said Mr Coutts, of Queens Park, Bournemouth.

“For the last six months I’ve been existing on tenterhooks thinking I’m going to have the operation, then being told I’m not because they’re not paying the money.

“I have deteriorated. I have no strength. I have to struggle to get off the chair and I have falls. It’s depressing not to be able to do anything unless somebody helps you. I don’t want to continue my life like this.”

Widower Mr Coutts was diagnosed as having a narrowing of his aortic valve after suffering an angina attack in Spain last year. When he returned home, he was referred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

After several days of scans and tests, he was assessed as ideal for transcatheter aortic valve implantation. The procedure involves inserting a replacement valve through a tube instead of undergoing open heart surgery.

Mr Coutts’ son Douglas pointed out that the procedure had been successfully carried out on people of 99 and 100. “It’s not a question of age. If my father lived in London or Kent, there’s a blanket go-ahead.”

And friend Jane Arnold said: “It’s a death sentence if he doesn’t have this done.”

Mr Coutts was born in the slums of the East End of London, the tenth surviving child in his family. After joining the Hampshire Regiment, he was commissioned into the Somerset Light Infantry, rising to the rank of Major. He spent most of his working life in the drapery trade, ending up as a director of the House of Fraser. He still lives independently.

A spokesperson for NHS Bournemouth and Poole said: “This is a highly specialised, complex and evolving procedure that is not currently routinely available in Bournemouth and Poole and is only considered for those too ill or frail to undergo open heart surgery.

“National guidance makes clear that although there is some evidence of short-term efficacy, there is little evidence about long-term outcomes.

“There is the potential for serious complications, which include the need for emergency cardiac surgery.

“Individuals may request specific funding through demonstrating to the primary care trust that they have good clinical reasons for being treated as an exceptional case. The PCT has not supported any such applications.”

Factfile

NHS trusts have a legal obligation to provide treatments that have been approved by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

But the one recommended for Mr Coutts is classed as an “interventional procedure”.

NICE makes no ruling on whether or not these should be funded.

This is an apparent loophole in attempts to end the so-called “postcode lottery” of access to new drugs or treatment varying according to where you live. A Department of Health spokesperson explained: “In the absence of NICE guidance, primary care trusts have to make decisions locally on the basis of the available evidence. The fact that there is no NICE guidance is not an excuse to refuse funding for a drug or treatment.

“For the first time, the NHS Constitution gives patients an explicit right to expect, where NICE guidance is not available, local decisions on the funding of treatments for individual patients to be made rationally, following a proper consideration of the evidence.

“If the local PCT decides not to fund, then it should explain that decision. To underpin this right, we have issued directions that require NHS organisations to put in place clear and transparent arrangements for local decision-making on exceptional funding requests. The directions came into force on April 1.”

Source: Daily Echo
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Articles here about the NHS £1.8bn cash surplus

'We demand justice': The families at the heart of Gosport's hospital scandal

Nearly 100 deaths at a hospital in Gosport have provoked an outcry from many of the patients' families, who believe the cases are suspicious. Official investigations have established little. The Independent on Sunday was the first to make arguments for a public inquiry and continues to pressurise the authorities to find out what really happened. Beyond the headlines, the relatives are struggling to uncover the whole truth behind their parents' final days... Nina Lakhani hears their stories

In 1991, nurses working night shifts at Gosport War Memorial Hospital in Hampshire were troubled. Over the previous few months, the number of elderly patients dying under their care had been mounting. Two nurses at the community hospital (which treats elderly patients in need of rehabilitation or sometimes terminal care, in collaboration with GPs) raised the alarm to senior hospital staff and the Royal College of Nursing. They believed the deaths started after patients were given diamorphine (a powerful painkiller) via a syringe driver (which delivers drugs via a tube and needle, and is traditionally used for very sick patients who need constant medication but find it difficult to swallow tablets). Giving these drugs, while sometimes necessary for chronic pain, can cause serious side-effects, such as difficulty with breathing. These are more likely to occur in those patients not in pain: breathing can stop altogether.

Letters were written, internal meetings were held, but eventually the matter was closed by the hospital trust. A GP attached to Gosport, Dr Jane Barton, was responsible for prescribing drugs to many of the elderly patients. She continued working in the rehabilitation and terminal care wards.

The death at the hospital of 91-year-old Gladys Richards in 1998 triggered the first NHS, and two police, investigations after her daughter, Gillian Mackenzie, refused to accept she had died from natural causes. The police investigations were later found to have been incompetent and led to a third – lasting four years – into at least 92 deaths at the hospital. Thirteen were categorised as the "most serious" by an eminent team of medical experts led by Professor Robert ' Forrest, the forensic toxicologist who gave evidence at the Harold Shipman trial, but no charges were brought.

Full article here

Also from The Independent: NHS 'loses' thousands of medical records

The personal medical records of tens of thousands of people have been lost by the NHS in a series of grave data security leaks. Between January and April this year, 140 security breaches were reported within the NHS – more than the total number from inside central Government and all local authorities combined.

Why is the NHS killing so many with drugs?

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 12:50 AM on 20th May 2009

An extraordinary rise in the number of patients killed by drugs given out by the Health Service has led to calls for an investigation.

The figure has more than doubled since Labour came to power, rising from 520 in 1998 to 1,299 last year.

Official figures also show that the number of such deaths last year was up by more than a quarter on the figure of 1,030 recorded in 2007.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb, who obtained the statistics following a parliamentary question, said: 'The Government needs to urgently investigate this extraordinary rise.

'The public needs to know why these adverse reactions are happening more frequently and why the trend appears to be increasing so much.

'Patient safety is being compromised. Ministers must ensure that better information on prescription drugs is available for patients and doctors.'

Some experts blamed the increase on failures in the training of hospital doctors and Labour's decision to hand greater prescribing powers to nurses.

The figures show that in 2008, a total of 25,424 reports of adverse reactions to drugs - both fatal and non-fatal - were made to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the government organisation in charge of drug safety.

They were up by 17 per cent on 2007 and by 41 per cent in a decade.

Of these patients, 4,487 had to stay in hospital for several days following side effects from medication - around the same as in 2007 but up by more than 50 per cent on 1998.

The figures mainly cover drugs handed out on prescription, but they also relate to over-the-counter and herbal medicines.

Peter Walsh, of pressure group Action Against Medical Accidents, said: 'There are far too many complications resulting in harm or death. These numbers must be reduced, and it must be in the gift of a modern NHS to get them down.

'The true figure will undoubtedly be much higher, because not all incidents are reported [by hospitals and GPs]. And in many cases doctors simply do not know what caused a sudden deterioration or a death - the drugs or another cause.
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Full article in Daily Mail

Dying girl 'called a drama queen by medics' - inquest

Apr 21 2009 by Andy Richards, Birmingham Mail

A TEENAGE girl who died in agonising pain a week after being admitted to hospital was accused of being a “drama queen” by medical staff, an inquest was told.

Sian Jones, aged 15, was admitted to a children’s ward at Birmingham’s Heartlands Hospital with stomach pains on August 6, 2007.

The teenager, from Stirchley. died of perienteritis – a serious infection that inflames the lining of the stomach and intestines – on August 13. Her sister Sarah Jones, aged 22, claimed: “The staff told my father on August 9 that there was nothing physically wrong with her and that it was all psychological, that she was a drama queen.”

Sian’s family claimed she was in “agonising pain”, unable to walk and was being fed and wheeled around in a chair by family members.

They alleged that they were told by medical staff that the pain from the undiagnosed perienteritis was brought on by problems at home.

Sian’s father Andrew had been fighting leukaemia for 18 months when his daughter was admitted to hospital, and has since died from the illness.

The inquest heard that when Sian was admitted doctors suspected that she was suffering from appendicitis.

They removed her appendix on August 7, but her pain grew steadily worse.

She was sent for scans and given pain relief, but doctors missed a number of tell-tale signs of her deteriorating condition, the inquest was told.

They attributed the discomfort to post-operation pain and failed to connect the signs of swelling in her stomach, problems with her urine, irregular blood sample results and problems with her temperature, heart rate and blood pressure.

She was finally sent to intensive care on August 11 when her condition worsened and she died in the early hours of August 13 of multi-organ failure, which was brought on by the infection.

Sarah Jones and her aunt, Susan, gave evidence yesterday at the inquest in Sutton Coldfield, which will hear from 26 witnesses.

She said: “I was very close to my sister and it became more and more difficult to see her in the latter half of the week. She was in agonising pain and would scream and cry constantly.

“My father had spent a long time in hospital and had given lots of blood samples. He kept asking about the results.

“She was only showered once whilst she was in the ward and her sheets were not changed once. It was up to me and my dad to clean her, to brush her teeth and to feed her because she was not able to do it herself.

“She even rang me at 3am begging me to go and see her. She would just want me to stroke her hair, she was in so much pain.

“I even had to ask for a wheelchair to take her to the toilet on two occasions, because by now she could not walk or even stand up.

“On the second occasion we came out to find that the chair had gone, so I had to wheel her back in weighing scales.

“My parents had split up some time before and our father was terminally ill, but Sian and I had no problems.”

Dr Ahmad had the most contact with Sian before her death. She had been a junior doctor at the hospital for two years and had started her surgical training at Heartlands just three days before Sian was admitted.

Under questioning from coroner Aidan Cotter she said she had not been made aware of any wheelchair use or calls to relatives in the middle of the night.

She said the surgical team, including two more senior surgeons who are now both working in Australia, attributed the continuing pain to post operation pain from the appendix procedure.

She added: “With the benefit of hindsight I can see that she was getting worse, but at the time it was not so obvious.

“In hindsight all the factors were viewed independently and not together.

“The team thought there was nothing amiss surgically and had been falsely reassured by a CT (x-ray) scan and a review from a paediatric doctor.

“The emotional aspect had been raised to me by my seniors and psychological issues were raised in a conversation with her father.”

(Proceeding)

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Source: Birmingham Mail

The NHS killed my mother: MP Nigel Evans reveals how a routine operation ended in horror

The last, harrowing moments of my mother's life will live for ever in the collective memory of my family. An 86-year-old lady of infinite grace and dignity, she had the most agonising of deaths.

Lying bewildered and distressed in an NHS hospital bed, her body racked with pain, she kept desperately grabbing at the air with her hands as if she was drowning, while all the time being violently ill.

'It was torture, worse than a horror film. We felt so helpless,' says my sister, Louise, who witnessed the tragic scene. But it should never have been like this. My dear mother should have been able to depart this earth in serenity and peace, not forced to go through such a traumatic experience.

The reasons for her ordeal can, I believe, be found in a mixture of neglect, incompetence and indifference shown by the NHS.

For my mother died of the notorious superbug Clostridium difficile, known as C.diff, which she must have contracted while undergoing hospital treatment in Swansea. If she had been cared for properly, if the ward had been cleaner or greater urgency had been shown in handling her case, then this tragedy might never have happened.

The NHS is often a saviour, but it can also be a killer. What happened to my mother is all too common in the health service. There were 8,324 deaths from C.diff in 2007, with most of the victims elderly people.

That statistic is too high for a 21stcentury healthcare system in an advanced industrialised country. Moreover, an estimated 59,000 people in this country are disabled or die because of poor hygiene or care in our hospitals.

Even the essentials, such as providing patients with sufficient fluids or cleaning bathrooms properly, are neglected. That is why I am campaigning for drastic improvements in the basics of healthcare in the NHS, so deaths from C.diff and other superbugs can be eliminated.

I have demanded an investigation into the circumstances surrounding my mother's death at the Singleton Hospital in Swansea, but I also want the lessons of this episode to be learned much more widely, so that Britain has a health service that meets the needs of its users, not one that carries the risk of killing them.

My mother's case encapsulates the best and worst of the NHS. On one hand, she had the highest quality treatment from a leading surgeon after she was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. On the other, when she returned to hospital for a routine operation - unconnected with the cancer - she received nothing like the same expert, attentive care.

That is almost certainly why she contracted C.diff and why medical staff were too slow in responding to symptoms. It seems as if there is a deep contradiction within the NHS, pulling the service in two directions.

We have phenomenal advances in drugs, medical technology and surgery, which can conquer-disease and prolong life in a way that would have been revolutionary only two decades ago. Yet, at the same time, we have abandoned the most basic standards of hygiene and care.

My mother deserved better from the NHS. Determined, kind and diligent, she was a pillar of strength, not just to my family but to the community in her area of Swansea, where she and my late father ran a newsagent's shop.

Full article can be read on Daily Mail

Teresa Cooper, 41, who blames drugging at Kendall House for the fact her three children born with defects

Jenny Booth

The practice of sedating troublesome teenagers in care homes was today being linked to birth defects after ten women came forward to complain that their children had been born damaged.

As teenagers at the Church of England-run Kendall House in Gravesend, Kent, the ten were routinely restrained with huge doses of tranquillisers and other drugs.

Sedating children was allegedly commonplace in care homes during the 1970s and 1980s, although the levels of drugging at Kendall House,a home for girls with problems, appear to have been unusual.

Now fears are surfacing that the drugging may have impaired the girls' chances of having healthy babies. The alarm was raised by Teresa Cooper, who left the home in 1984 at 16, and has since written Trust No One - a book about her experiences.

Ms Cooper's three children all have birth defects. Her eldest son was born with respiratory difficulties, her second son is blind and has learning difficulties, and her daughter was born with a cleft palate and a short lower jaw.

Files from Kendall House show that she was given medication at least 1,248 times over a 32-month period, including anti-psychotic drugs intended for schizophrenics, drugs to counter side-effects, sedatives and anti-depressants, the BBC reported today. The dosages were high - she was given up to 10 times the current recommended dose of Valium.

Since her book was published, Ms Cooper says, nine further former residents of Kendall House, who all underwent similar drugging, have been in touch with her to report having children with brain tumours, learning difficulties and cleft palate.

Ofsted, the schools and childcare inspectorate, says that hundreds of children may have been drugged in the care system throughout the 70s and 80s, subjecting them to possible health risks.

Mike Lindsay, national co-ordinator for Children’s Rights Alliance for England, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Using drugs to control the behaviour of children was perfectly acceptable as far as their own professional understanding at that time went."

In 1980, Kendall House became the focus of national controversy when the levels of drugs being prescribed by psychiatrist Dr Mahenthiran Perinpanayagam were revealed in a TV documentary.

Healthy girls in his care were given pills designed for schizophrenics, psychotics and Parkinson's sufferers, and the teenagers were often held down and forced to take them, the documentary said.

By 1984 a report into the home by the Department of Health and Social Security was scathing about the drugs given to the girls. Inspector Dr Dorothy Black said she was extremely concerned about "storage, monitoring and administration of psychotropic drugs", adding: "The home needs close and urgent attention."

Full article here: Times Online

Review into allegations that Jersey's version of Harold Shipman killed patients ten years ago

Jersey Police said it will review an investigation into allegations that a former nurse killed more than a dozen severely ill patients.

Allegations were first made against the staff nurse, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at Jersey General Hospital a decade ago and a police investigation was triggered, but it was later dropped on legal advice.

Today, States of Jersey Police said the case files will be reviewed and key people involved will be interviewed.

The allegations include evidence from a colleague who believed the nurse was determined to end the lives of severely ill patients by adjusting their drug intake.

According to the leaked report, the average death rate between 1998 and 1999 on the ward concerned was 4.5 deaths per month.

But in February 1999 there were eight deaths in four nights when the nurse was on duty, and a further five deaths in March also when the nurse was on shift.

The nurse is no longer employed at the hospital.
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Source: Belfast Telegraph
BBC News: Nurse 'gave patient suicide tip'
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Full 'leaked' report here: Senator Stuart Syvret

Jersey's version of Harold Shipman: Mass murder in NHS gets covered up the Jersey way

The following post is written by Senator Stuart Syvret

IN THE JERSEY HOSPITAL.

A Death-Delivering Maniac?

Jersey’s Then Attorney General Michael Birt Pulls the Plug On The Police Investigation.

So it begins.

It is with trepidation I publish the material below – for reasons which will become plain within the first few paragraphs.

The document I publish here was tabled before the court in London, as one item of evidence in the Applicant’s bundles.

To be clear – this went before the two judges – and even then, they chose to disregard the public interest – instead asserting that we should take up these matters with the Jersey justice apparatus.

Notwithstanding the fact that the same administration of justice apparatus was responsible for covering-up what is revealed.

The document I publish is a secret Police report from 1999.

It is self-explanatory.

The subject of this report – one Andrew Charles Marolia – came to the attention of the Police because of – comparatively – minor offences involving the stealing of drugs from the Jersey General Hospital.

He was charged with these comparatively minor offences, pleaded guilty – and was sentenced to two years unsupervised probation.

I was a member of the then Health & Social Services Committee, and later became President of the Committee in December, 1999.

Marolia was sacked from the General Hospital in response to the comparatively minor offences.

However, being a former military Nurse, who has served in the first Gulf war – he found a ready stream of politicians and others to lobby on his behalf to be allowed to be re-employed in the Hospital.

On one occasion he appeared before the H & SS Committee to make a formal appeal.

It was rejected because of the conviction for the minor offences.

Still, I continued to be lobbied by politicians and others, who wanted the Committee to employ Marolia again.

I raised the issue of this lobbying in a face-to-face meeting with the then Chief executive of Health & Social Services, Graham Jennings.

I did not want Marolia to be re-employed, and Jennings was certainly of the same opinion.

He explained that Marolia was obviously a wholly unsuitable individual to be in health care. Jennings went on to say that, in any event, we couldn’t be expected to take Marolia back even if we wanted to – as he was deeply unpopular with other staff – who were “mounting a vendetta against him”. To illustrate the extremity and unreasonableness of the “personality clash”, Jennings said to me, “a member of staff has even suggested that he killed people. It’s utter rubbish. But don’t worry – the Police have investigated the matter, and whilst they were too gung-ho and wanted to start exhuming the non-cremated bodies, the Attorney General Michael Birt has told them to drop it, because he doesn’t believe their are any grounds for securing a conviction.”

At the time, I took this at face value. After all, if your professional Health Chief Executive tells you this – and relays to you the fact that no less an authority than the Attorney General has dismissed the allegations – who is a mere politician to doubt them?

But – some years later – around 2005, perhaps – a conscientious member of staff at H & SS leaked this Police report to me.

As is clear from the Report, Jennings had a copy – but he never told my Committee or me of its existence.

It took a whistle-blower to reveal it.

When I read the report you are about to read, I was speechless.

-----

Read the full report here
-----
Related links:
Jersey: Corrupt cesspit
AC Associated Content
Allit, Shipman and...?

Cure the NHS

'Cure the NHS' group was created by people who have lost relatives or were victims of poor care and support within mid Staffordshire Foundation trust Hospitals at Stafford and Cannock. Poor management and lack of suitably trained and dedicated staff are to blame and we are committed to change the management and ethos of the trust so we may all feel safe and secure if admitted to the Hospitals.

Cure the NHS

'Shocking' treatment at Staffordshire hospital

Patients admitted for emergency treatment at an NHS Trust were subjected to “shocking and appalling” care that included untrained receptionists carrying out medical checks and heart monitors being switched off, a report concluded today.

The Healthcare Commission, the NHS standards watchdog, said that evidence suggested that as many as 400 deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust could have been prevented and may have been the result of poor care.

The commission’s investigation, based on more than 300 interviews and an examination of more than 1,000 documents, uncovered inadequately trained staff who were too few in number, junior doctors left in charge at night, and patients left without food, drink or medication as their operations were repeatedly cancelled.

Some patients were in pain or needed the toilet, sat in soiled bedding for several hours at a time and were not given their regular medication, the commission heard.

Receptionists with no medical training were expected to assess patients coming into A&E.

Describing the episodes as a “gross and terrible breach of trust of the patients the NHS seeks to serve”, Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, said the report showed there had been a “complete failure of leadership” at the trust.

He added: “I’m proud of the NHS but actually I’m really saddened by this report.”

Patients accepted there were risks involved in treatments and procedures, but they did not accept that those people who should be helping them would let them down and that the system caring for them would be faulty, he said.

Earlier this month the trust’s chief executive, Martin Yeates, and chairman, Toni Brisby, resigned.

The Healthcare Commission’s chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, said the investigation followed concerns about unusually high death rates at the trust.

Although it is not clear how many deaths could have been avoided, the Healthcare Commission said that patients undoubtedly suffered as a result of lapses in the standard of care.

Those in charge of the trust, which runs Stafford Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, failed to give an adequate explanation of these figures, prompting the commission to launch a full investigation.

“The resulting report is a shocking story,” Sir Ian said. “Our report tells a story of appalling standards of care and chaotic systems for looking after patients.

“These are words I have not previously used in any report.

“There were inadequacies in almost every stage of caring for patients. There was no doubt that patients will have suffered and some of them will have died as a result.”

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, said he had requested a further full independent review of the Stafford Hospital by Sir George Alberti, national clinical director for Emergency Care, to ensure all lessons had been learnt.

“On behalf of the Government and the NHS I would like to apologise to the patients and families of patients who have suffered because of the poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital.

“There was a complete failure of management to address serious problems and monitor performance. This led to a totally unacceptable failure to treat emergency patients safely and with dignity.”

David Kidney, the MP for Stafford, in whose constituency the hospital is based, told The Times that management were likely to have cut services to deal with its budget deficit.

"Clearly, the hospital was too enthusiastic in cutting back," he said. "People have died because they did not get the care that they should have done in their local hospital.

"Now the chief executive has stepped down and the chair of the trust resigned, we have to make sure that we change the culture of the place."

Julie Bailey was so concerned about the care being given to her 86-year-old mother Bella that she and her relatives slept in a chair at her hospital bedside for eight weeks.

“What we saw in those eight weeks will haunt us for the rest of our lives,” she said. “We saw patients drinking out of flower vases, they were so thirsty.

“There were patients wandering around the hospital and patients fighting. It was continuous through the night.

“Patients were screaming out in pain because you just could not get pain relief.

“Patients would fall out of bed and we would have to go hunting for staff. There was such a lack of staff.

“It was like a Third World country hospital. It was an absolute disgrace.”

Ms Bailey, from Stafford, launched a campaign group, called Cure the NHS, following her mother’s death to encourage a full inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

“We had to stand outside the hospital for 14 months to get to this point,” she said.

“The neglect is still happening. We are still taking calls from patients on wards.”

-----
Source: Times Online

'Grandma came out of hospital weighing six stone'

'Shocking' treatment at hospital may have killed 400
Prince Charles: Britain faces dementia catastrophe

Staffordshire hospital: What went wrong? Criticisms and recommendations in full

NHS children's staff lack training

Many health professionals treating children in the NHS do not have the latest training and information on a number of vital issues, a report has warned.

According to the Healthcare Commission, trusts are failing to pass on advances in basic training surrounding paediatric resuscitation, pain management and child protection.

The study found 29% of trusts did not regularly update staff training on child protection.

A staggering 74% of trusts were found to have an insufficient number of staff trained in specialist paediatric life support, while 11% had got worse since the Commission's last report in 2005/06.

And surgeons and anaesthetists were also losing their skills, with 63% of trusts failing to ensure the professionals were doing the recommended number of operations on children to maintain their training.

Only 59% of trusts could boost the basic level of one nurse per shift in emergency and day care wards trained to manage children's pain.

The report's authors wrote: "It is of great concern that the findings from the follow-up review show a consistently low level in the uptake of training in paediatric life support among key staff, while a high proportion of surgeons and anaesthetists carrying out procedures on children still need to have more work experience to properly maintain their specific skills."

Copyright © Press Association 2009

Healthcare Commission

Have your say on NHS services

People are being offered a chance to help shape the way NHS services are delivered. Health Reporter HELEN RAE finds out more.

AN OPPORTUNITY to make a difference to the health of the region is being presented through the role of non-executive director on the board of Newcastle Primary Care Trust.

The role offers the chance for the candidate to put their talents to use by making a positive difference to the lives of people in the community by tackling issues like obesity, smoking, alcohol, cancer and sexual health.

The position is open to people who have gained senior level expertise in the private, public or voluntary sectors with senior management experience including one or more of the following: commercial or business expertise: bringing experience of strategic planning, financial, risk and performance management and legal expertise.

An interest in community health services is also desirable.

Gina Tiller, chairwoman of Newcastle PCT board, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for someone to become involved in making a difference to the health of their local community in Newcastle.

“We believe that the best boards are those that reflect the communities they serve.

“We particularly want to hear from women and people from black and minority ethnic communities who are able to make a real contribution to this organisation.”

Preference will be given to candidates who live in Newcastle, or who have strong connections with the area.

Those applying for the role will need to demonstrate a range of competencies required to contribute effectively at board level including strategic thinking, team working and excellent communication skills.

The time commitment is typically just two and a half days each month and remuneration is £7,765 per annum.

Newcastle PCT values and promotes diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity for all and appointments made on merit.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday, March 5 and interviews will be held on March 30.

For more information log on to the website at www.appointments.org.uk or www.strictlyboardroom.co.uk or call 0870 240 3802, quoting the reference NE9557 for an information pack.
-----
Source: Evening Chronicle
More articles from Helen Rae

Save our Blood Service

Save our Blood Service

NHS safety blunders cost patients' lives

Scalding hot bath water, unsafe windows and even potholes outside a hospital have claimed the lives of NHS patients, an official dossier has revealed.

By Beezy Marsh
Last Updated: 11:47AM GMT 17 Jan 2009

Others have suffered injury due to collapsing bed rails or been exposed to dangerous bacteria including tuberculosis because of a lack of basic safeguards.

The toll of shoddy care is exposed in official details of enforcement action against the NHS by the Government's Health and Safety Executive.

The HSE, which upholds stringent standards to protect the public and the workforce, has acted against the NHS on more than 300 occasions in the past four years.

In 40 of the most serious cases, covering a 10-year period, the NHS was taken to court by the HSE and given fines totalling nearly £600,000, paid from the public purse.

The litany of avoidable fatalities and injuries includes:

*The death of a pensioner who developed serious burns after lying against a scalding hot radiator on a ward.

*Two cases, including a fatality, involving patients being put in boiling hot baths.

*The death of a hospital visitor who fell down a pothole in a hospital driveway.

*The deaths of two mental health patients who fell from hospital windows in separate incidents.

*Two further cases in which vulnerable patients suffered back and ankle injuries after falling from hospital windows which were not fitted with proper safety catches.

*A frail patient who suffered a broken hip after a bedrail collapsed.

*Patients being exposed to legionella because of poorly maintained water systems, and to live tuberculosis bacteria, after it was dropped in a laboratory with a faulty ventilation system.

The details, held on the HSE website, follow the latest data from the National Patient Safety Agency which show the number of patients killed by hospital blunders has risen by 60 per cent in just two years.

Patients' groups said there could be no excuse for such an appalling safety record in the NHS.

Katharine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said: "It is totally unacceptable for patients to be suffering injuries or be exposed to danger simply by going into hospital.

"These poor practices should not be allowed and the blame must lie with weak management of the hospitals."

The HSE served 323 official notices to the NHS between 2004 and 2008, including 23 prohibition notices where work had to stop immediately because of the risk to life.

There were a further 39 cases which led to successful prosecutions.

These include the death of a mental health patient who fell from a window at Birch Hill Hospital in Rochdale in 2004 and the death of a vulnerable patient who fell 12 feet (3.6m) from a window at the Forth Valley Primary Care Trust in Stirlingshire in 2003.

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust was fined £7,500 for the death of a visitor who was going home from Springfield Hospital when he fell down a deep hole in the hospital driveway, which had been caused by a vehicle uprooting a metal post.

He was taken to A&E with a fractured wrist but subsequently died in hospital after the incident in 2005.

Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge was fined £3,000 over the death of a frail pensioner who suffered fatal burns after lying next to an unguarded radiator in 1999.

In another tragic incident in the same year, a severely disabled patient at Prudhoe Hospital in Northumberland died of burns after being placed in a boiling hot bath by an inexperienced care worker.
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Complete article: Telegraph.co.uk

Terminally ill pensioner left in hospital bathroom for 12 hours

A terminally ill pensioner was treated in a hospital bathroom and left for 12 hours because the ward was too overcrowded, it has been revealed. These shocking pictures taken by relatives show 79-year-old Gladys Joynes lying in bed in the squalid makeshift ward in the Royal Liverpool Hospital. They have described the situation was an 'affront to human dignity'. Mrs Joynes, who is in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease, was taken off her drip when the machine's batteries ran out. Pensioner Gladys Joynes lies in her makeshift ward in a hospital bathroom. It could not be plugged in because there were no sockets in the bathroom, which contained a foul-smelling bath, a commode and an overflowing litter bin. Staff had to place Mrs Joynes's tray of food on the floor because there was nowhere else.

Starved to death in an NHS hospital: Damning inquiry highlights case of patient left without food for 26 days

A vulnerable patient starved to death in an NHS hospital after 26 days without proper nourishment.

Martin Ryan, 43, had suffered a stroke which left him unable to swallow.

But a 'total breakdown in communication' meant he was never fitted with a feeding tube. It was one of a number of horrific cases where the NHS fatally failed patients with learning difficulties, a health watchdog is expected to rule later this month.

Complete article here

Deaths from hospital blunders soar 60% in two years as NHS staff 'abandon quality of care to chase targets'

The number of patients killed by hospital blunders has soared by 60 per cent in just two years, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Official records show that 3,645 died as a result of outbreaks of infections, botched operations and other mistakes in 2007/08. That was up from 2,275 two years before.

Critics say quality of NHS care has suffered as doctors and nurses come under pressure to meet Government waiting time targets.

The sharp rise is also down to the fact that more trusts have started to record medical errors - revealing a death toll which in previous years remained hidden under the carpet.

But experts say the true toll is certain to be even higher, because many hospitals still do not record all of the 'patient safety incidents' - meaning that lessons which could have been learned are lost.

In October last year, the Patients Association warned that one in every 300 NHS patients were killed because of medical blunder.

The latest figures, uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, show that 385 died last year due to botched operations and 156 because scans were read wrongly or patients incorrectly diagnosed.

Full article: Mail Online

NHS paid up to £188 an hour to agency staff

By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent
Saturday, 3 January 2009

NHS organisations have been accused of paying agency staff hugely inflated rates of pay after new figures showed one consultant anaesthetist had been paid £188 an hour, the equivalent of a £366,000 salary.

The pay rates, secured by the Conservative Party under the Freedom of Information Act, also revealed large bills for managerial staff. A senior manager at Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust (PCT) was paid £157 an hour, the equivalent of a £306,000 salary.

Wandsworth PCT paid a strategic commissioning manager £147 per hour, while an accident and emergency doctor drafted in by Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust was paid £167 an hour.

Many other agency workers were found to have been paid an hourly rate higher than that of the chief executive of the NHS, David Nicholson, who received £220,000 last year.

The figures also revealed that some agencies take a large cut of their workers' pay, suggesting great inefficiency in temporary staffing in the NHS. Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust paid a nurse £116 per hour last year, but the worker's agency took 43 per cent of that.

The shadow Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: "Labour's dithering and chaotic, short-term planning has let down NHS staff. Some stability for them is the least we would have expected from the billions that the Government has poured into the NHS.

"It's incredible that agency staff can be paid such high hourly rates when jobs are being cut. This is typical of the waste that's occurred under this Labour Government."

The NHS spent almost £800m on agency workers in 2006-07.

But a spokesman for the Department of Health said it was in a "good place" on spending on agency staff, having reduced the bill from 5.5 per cent of its pay budget in 2004 to 3.2 per cent last year. He added: "The NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency uses the NHS's buying power to negotiate lower pay rates with agencies."

Source: The Independent

Ambulance crew 'let patient die'

By Geneviève Roberts
Wednesday, 31 December 2008

Two Ambulance workers have been arrested on suspicion of neglecting a dying man.

They were detained after detectives were given a tape recording of them in the dying patient's house, in which they were allegedly heard discussing not bothering to try to revive him.

The two men, aged 35 and 44, both employees of South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust, had been sent to the home of a disabled man, Barry Baker, who dialled 999 saying he thought he was having a heart attack.

Ambulance controllers kept Mr Baker, from Brighton, talking on the phone as they ordered the paramedic and ambulance technician to get to him.

But the 59-year-old, who lived alone, collapsed unconscious while talking on the phone, leaving the line open to the control centre as he lay on the floor.

Minutes later, dispatch centre staff heard their crew enter the house, making disparaging comments about the state of the home. A police source said the crew were then heard discussing Mr Baker and saying "words the effect that he was not worth saving".

Both men have been suspended and bailed until next month while a police investigation is carried out. No charges have yet been made. A police source said: "Apparently, the paramedics' first reaction was to comment on the untidy and unkempt state of the house. Then they are heard to comment on seeing Mr Baker and saying that it was not worth bothering to try to carry out resuscitation to try to save him.

"They then are heard discussing what to tell ambulance control and decide to say that he was already dead when they arrived.

"Obviously the crew did not realise the phone was still connected and the 999 call was all recorded on tape."

"The controllers were so shocked they contacted senior managers and the police were called in."
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Source: The Independent

NHS doctor Bilal Abdulla found guilty of terror campaign

The NHS doctor who tried to murder thousands of people in the London and Glasgow car bombings had been part of a terrorist cell in Iraq, counter-terrorism sources have told The Times.

Bilal Abdulla came to Britain to open a “new front” in the Islamist jihad after he had been refused permission to carry out a suicide attack in Baghdad.

The car bombs he tried to detonate outside the Tiger, Tiger nightclub and at Glasgow airport were the first terrorist attacks in Britain to have been inspired – but not directed — by al-Qaeda in Iraq. Previous Islamist plots have had connections to al-Qaeda and Kashmiri extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Abdulla, a 29-year-old Iraqi born in Aylesbury, showed no emotion as he was convicted yesterday at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder and cause explosions. He faces life imprisonment and will be sentenced today.

Full article here

£1.7bn NHS surplus 'should have been spent on patients'

The £1.7bn surplus made by the NHS in England in 2007-08 has come under fire from parliament's spending watchdog.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the public accounts committee, said last night that at least part of the money should have been spent on patients who were denied access to life-saving drugs or were provided with low-quality care.

It was reasonable for the health service to build up a contingency reserve, but the 2007-08 surplus was twice what NHS chiefs had planned, he added.

Leigh, the Tory MP for Gainsborough, was responding to a joint study by the National Audit Office and Audit Commission, which concluded that the surplus "reflected good use of resources rather than a failure to deliver healthcare".

The auditors said the NHS had made good progress in meeting national healthcare targets, including reducing waiting times and hospital acquired infections.

Steve Bundred, chief executive of the Audit Commission, said: "The surplus is equivalent to about one week's funding for the whole NHS. The organisations in the NHS are performing better financially and this surplus has created an element of certainty for financial planning that has not existed in recent years. This is especially reassuring given current financial pressures throughout the economy."

Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office, said: "The surplus was generated through good financial management: NHS bodies delivered more cost savings than expected while still delivering against targets and improving the quality of healthcare. But better forecasting of the outcome could enable resources to be deployed more flexibly in-year."

Leigh, whose committee supervises the NAO, was more critical. He said: "The surplus represents a large amount of money that could have been spent on NHS patients and wasn't. While national targets were met, there are still examples of local organisations which are falling below standard, both medical and financial, and which might have benefited from additional cash.

"The Department of Health does not plan for the NHS to spend the surplus until at least 2009-2010. It is good to build in contingency, but it is a lot of contingency when, in certain parts of the country, patients are still being denied access to drugs and receiving low quality care."

Source: Guardian

Cancer patient given less than two months to live is told she must wait 25 days for drugs

A cancer patient given less than two months to live has been refused a life-prolonging drug until an NHS trust finishes a month-long investigation.

Margaret Jones hopes to be treated with Revlimid for myeloma, an incurable cancer of the bone marrow.

Her consultant says the drug, which costs around £4,300 for each cycle, could extend the 72-year-old's life without debilitating side effects.

But bosses at her primary care trust ruled they would not pay for Revlimid because it was not 'cost effective', even though other PCTs prescribe it for myeloma sufferers.

Mother-of-three Mrs Jones - backed by her family, MP, doctor and cancer charities - appealed on the grounds that another patient living nearby successfully overturned the trust's decision to block the same drug treatment in September.

But on December 5 Anne Walker, chief executive of East and North Hertfordshire PCT, said her case was still being investigated and said a response would be sent 'within 25 working days' - about half of Mrs Jones's life expectancy.

The case reignites the controversy over the 'postcode lottery' for NHS care and the time taken by the Government's rationing body to approve new cancer drugs.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) ruled last month that it would deny Revlimid to patients with myeloma despite admitting that it could extend life by up to three years.

Mrs Jones, of Welwyn, Hertfordshire, was diagnosed with myeloma just before Easter 2006. She had been using the controversial drug thalidomide to fight the cancer but recently began to suffer damaging side-effects, including loss of feeling in her hands and feet, and excruciating pain elsewhere in her body.

Following advice from her consultant-haematologist at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City, backed by the charity Myeloma UK, she applied to the trust to use Revlimid - but was declined.

Yesterday she said: 'It seems wrong that there is a drug that can help people and yet the authorities put it beyond the reach of them. It is like being in a cage and somebody putting a piece of bread just out of reach. It is cruel.'

Full article here

Mystery American man funds life saving drugs denied by NHS

A terminally ill dad who thought he would never see his baby daughter start school may live to see the special day after a mystery American offered to fund treatment denied by the NHS.

Jack Rosser, 57, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his kidneys just days after his daughter Emma was born.

He was told he might only have two years to live - unless he took a drug called Sutent, which could help him to live for several months more.

However, at 3,000 pounds a month, Mr Rosser's Primary Care Trust refused to pay for the drug, saying the cost did not justify the little time he stood to gain from treatment.

"I've actually fought for my country in the navy, I've never been sick or on the dole," Mr Rosser told Sky News.

"The first time you want to claim anything back from the country and it gets thrown in your face."

Mr Rosser's plight was highlighted by a postcode lottery cancer campaign group - a move which had life-changing consequences for the Gloucestershire man.

An anonymous benefactor from New York, said to be a hedge fund manager, contacted the group offering to pay for Mr Rosser's treatment.

Mr Rosser's wife Jenny told Sky News she was moved when she learnt of the man's generosity.

"I felt very humble and quite tearful," she said.

"It's been such a fight and all I can say is thank you. He's given my daughter the opportunity to get to know her dad."

Mr Rosser's illness is terminal, but he says he has been given the gift of extra life.

In the extra months he hopes to live, Mr Rosser said: "Some time I could see this gentleman and thank him."

Source: Sky News

NHS must learn lessons from Haringey Baby P case, says Healthcare Commission

Lessons from the Baby P case must be learnt within Haringey and the wider NHS, according to the Healthcare Commission.

The warning follows the publication of a joint Healthcare Commission review into Haringey Council's arrangements for safeguarding children and young people after the death of a 17-month-old boy, known as Baby P.

The Haringey review, also conducted by Ofsted and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, found systemic failings within the service which cared for Baby P.

Anna Walker, Healthcare Commission chief executive, said: 'From a healthcare perspective, we were particularly concerned about the inadequacy of systems necessary to enable agencies to work together effectively on behalf of children.'

'The lessons must be fully understood and fully acted upon, both in Haringey and more widely including by the NHS.'

The commission will now carry out a review of every NHS trust in England to ensure they are meeting safeguarding children obligations.

NHS gravy train drives six figure salaries

The Sunday Times has revealed that a ‘nurse consultant’ (nurses able to carry out minor operations) in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, earned over £100,000 last year thanks to overtime bonuses for helping to reduce hospital waiting lists.

And some proper consultants, one in Devon and Exeter and one in Greater Manchester for starters, are earning over £220,000 for the same heroic commitment to achieving the Government’s 18-week waiting list target.

This raises a number of questions.

The most obvious is how on earth can a nurse, even a nurse consultant, more than double her basic earnings (£50,000) through overtime? How many extra hours is she doing and what rate is she being paid for them? The same clearly applies to the consultants.

More fundamentally, if reducing waiting lists is a National Health Service target (and it has been ever since Labour took power in 1997) why is it necessary to pay people extra to do what they’re supposed to be doing in the first place?

The Government (chiefly former chancellor Gordon Brown and a succession of health ministers) has chucked countless extra billions at the NHS over the past few years and achieved precious little extra for it.

All that’s that’s happened is that consultants and general practitioners (neither of whom were underpaid) have been given monumental pay rises for doing the same job and further monumental bonuses if they do a bit more.

Some fortunate nurses (no doubt very capable) have also been given a second class ticket on this particular gravy train too, although the great majority of nurses (unlike GPs and consultants) remain underpaid.

I can feel a fever coming on, doctor.
-----
Link to article here
NHS nurse takes home £100000 salary thanks to overtime

NHS want to close smoking room for terminally ill patients

POLITICALLY correct NHS bosses in Birmingham are battling to ban a smoking room for terminally ill patients – forcing them to be turfed out into the cold to enjoy their final cigarettes.

(Smoking ban doesn't apply in House of Commons)

Complete article here: Sunday Mercury

More than 400 NHS staff sacked in Wales for sexual abuse and Fraud

More than 400 NHS staff in Wales have been sacked or suspended in the past two years, according to figures obtained by an assembly member.

The alleged offences involved included abuse of patients, sexual harassment, drug thefts and fraud.

Chris Franks AM warned suspensions for a year or more in some cases put extra pressure on others working in the NHS.

Trusts stressed suspension was a "neutral act" often taken to protect the staff member involved.

The figures, obtained using the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), showed the costs of paying staff while they were suspended was more than £850,000 over two years.

They indicated 78 staff were suspended in 2006/07 and 121 in 2007/08 - a total of 199.

Over the same period there were 87 dismissals in the first year and 115 in the second - 202 altogether.

The statistics also indicated that one staff member in north Wales was suspended for 19 months in the 2006/07 financial year.

More than 90,000 people are directly employed by the health service in Wales, around five per cent of the working age population

Plaid Cymru AM Mr Franks said he accepted the numbers suspended "represents a very small proportion of NHS staff but it is important that those who fall below the standards expected are weeded out which is clearly happening".

"I do have concerns at the length of time that some staff are suspended before a decision on their future is made.

"This can be for a year or more and during that time staff are paid.

Complete article here

NHS Doctor, Sabah al-Zayyat, failed to identify Baby P's broken back and ribs

Sabah al-Zayyat

The consultant paediatrician was the last doctor to see Baby P alive, two days before his death. She failed to identify his broken back and ribs, recording that the examination could not be completed because the baby was “miserable and cranky”. She said she thought that Baby P had a cold. Dr Al-Zayyat, from Ilford, Essex, trained in Saudi Arabia and moved to Ireland in 1997 to study a master’s degree. Worked as a locum consultant paediatrician between 2002 and 2006 before moving to Great Ormond Street trust, based at St Ann’s Hospital. She has been banned from working unsupervised with children until the inquiry is complete and may face a GMC hearing.



Source: Mailonline

Almost as many patients die from bedsores as MRSA

EXCLUSIVE: Toll from bed ulcers near 5,000 £2bn cost of treating victims

By Nigel Nelson Political Editor Nigel.Nelson@People.Co.Uk

Bed sores are today revealed as the NHS's hidden killer.

New figures show they have caused nearly 5,000 deaths over five years, almost as many as hospital superbug MRSA.

Now a campaign has begun to press Health Secretary Alan Johnson to act.

Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow obtained figures showing untreated pressure ulcers were a factor in the deaths of 4,708 patients.

By comparison MRSA, which has had a much higher profile, killed 6,200.

Ex-health spokesman Mr Burstow, who was approached by victims' families, said: "These painful and grotesque sores can cause premature death. It is vital there is a national prevention programme."

Sores develop when the blood supply is cut off and strike those who are immobile or cannot feel pain suchas the old and paralysed.

They destroy tissue, allowing infection to spread, but can be prevented by checking and turning patients.

Superman actor Christopher Reeve died from a pressure sore at 52 in 2004, nine years after breaking his neck horse-riding.

Hospitals do not have to report sores, so patients are NOT checked frequently enough and there is NO way of knowing where they are most at risk.

There are estimated to be 800,000 cases a year costing the NHS £2billion.

Now the campaign group Your Turn wants records to become mandatory to name the worst hospitals.

David Stonehouse, of Guisborough, North Yorks, complained to PM Gordon Brown after his father was killed by a sore.

The Health Department said: "We provide clear guidance to hospitals on prevention."

Source: People.co.uk

You live or die - who chooses?

This woman got the life-saving cancer drug she needed. Thousands more have been sentenced to an early death by bureaucrats. Russell Miller investigates.
Photographs by Larry Dunstan


At the age of 29, Toral Shah was warned she faced losing both her breasts to avoid death from an aggressive cancer. The disease had affected both her mother and her aunt. Devastated by the news, she asked for time to come to terms with the prospect of surgery that could disfigure her for life — and chemo or radiotherapy that could prevent her from ever having children. In a matter of weeks, the tumour had grown to the size of a mango. It was on the verge of invading other tissues — and the prognosis was bad. The surgeons removed a substantial amount of tissue with the tumour and she was given a synthetic implant. In common with thousands of women, Toral faced a stark choice: have both breasts removed, and endure the harrowing ordeal of chemo or radiotherapy, or somehow find an alternative. Toral comes from a medical background and she herself came across the alternative — Tamoxifen, a drug that had been mired in controversy, considered an expensive and unproven cure, offered to only a handful of NHS patients. On the advice of Macmillan Cancer Support, she asked to be given the drug. She was told by her doctors that her tumour was a localised variety. Such tumours grow in the presence of the female hormone oestrogen, which can be blocked by Tamoxifen. She was determined to get it.

Complete article here

MUM found dead a week after ambulance sent to pick her up was cancelled because of NHS cuts

Ruth Hedge, 60, dialled 999 suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

But Dr Alan Stevenson, brought in to reduce call-outs, sent back the ambulance after speaking to Ruth, an inquest heard.

He told her to call the out-of-hours line. Ruth, of Borth, West Wales, tried but had the wrong number.

Coroner Michael Howells in Aberystwyth said it was “a failure by the NHS”, that her death was “avoidable” and recorded she died of natural causes aggravated by neglect.

Source: The Sun

Nine out of ten preventable deaths in the NHS are never reported to officials, it has emerged.

Of the estimated 72,000 annual deaths in the NHS, just 3,200 are recorded by the National Patient Safety Agency, MPs were told.

The Commons Health Select Committee heard evidence from experts in its first evidence session on its investigation into patient safety.

The NPSA runs a system where all NHS staff can report incidents or near misses so patterns can be spotted and the wider health community warned.

Incidents can include drugs administered in the wrong way or the wrong dose, medicines mixed up, the wrong operation carried out, a patient wrongly identified and broken or malfunctioning equipment.

Howard Stoate, a practising GP and Labour MP for Dartford, said the National Patient Safety Agency's own estimates suggest there are 72,000 preventable deaths in the NHS each year.

However, the incident recording database had collected just 3,200 reports of patient deaths, in 2007/8.

He said: "That is not just under-reporting, that is an extra-ordinary figure.

"If the public realised that only between five and ten per cent of preventable deaths are being reported they would have something to say about that.

Source: Telegraph

Baby refused NHS treatment

Baby Byron was born with a condition called plagiocephaly - also known as flat-head-syndrome - which means his skull dents and becomes mis-shapen even when just slight pressure is put on it.

Even just laying on the same part of his head can cause it to change shape.

Hi family say he was fine when he was born, but as time went by they noticed there was a dent appearing in one side of his head and a bump growing on the opposite side.

His aunt Leanne Aspinnal who lives in Eastfield described it.

"It looks like he's been hit in the head with a brick on one side, but raised up on the other."

Byron was taken to hospital to see a paediatrician and they confirmed he had the condition.

Leanne continued, "All they did was make sure he could turn his neck, as sometimes babies can get stiff necks because of it."

"We were told not to worry about it and that his hair would grow over it, but the thing is it's not just a little bit of a funny shape...it's awful."

They were also told there shouldn't be any health worries for them to worry about, but Leanne isn't so sure.

"I spoke to another mother who has a child with the same condition and he now has to have specially made glasses because his eyes don't align because of the shape. At the very least he'll get bullied and then what happens when he goes bald when he's older?"

To re-shape his head back to normal a special helmet's needed that Byron would wear for twenty-three hours a day - without NHS help it's going to cost the family £2000 which they're desperately trying to raise.

But time is of the essence because the treatment needs to be done before Byron's 1-year-old, as that's when his skull will harden permanently into whatever shape it is at the time.

Leanne doesn't see why they can't have it done on the NHS.

"It's just a lottery and depends on what postcode you live in. If you live in Leeds the hospitals will do it. In Peterborough they're not willing to."

"At the end of the day the NHS fund a whole lot of things that's caused by what people have done to themselves, but a baby's born with a condition it can do nothing about - it is going to affect the way it lives and looks - and they won't do anything about it."

When asked why the treatment couldn't be provided, Peterborough's NHS Trust released the following statement:

The use of specialist helmets for the treatment of plagiocephaly is not standard practice within the NHS and is not routinely commissioned by primary care trusts. In the absence of NHS guidelines on their application, NHS Peterborough reviews each request through its Exceptional Cases panel on an individual case by case basis.

To date NHS Peterborough has not funded an application for specialist helmets for the treatment of plagiocephaly as there has been no specialist clinical support for these individual applications. Clinical support would need to come, for example, from an NHS consultant paediatrician.


If you would like to donate anything to the family to help with Byron's treatment, please call his aunt Leanne on 01733 315 386 or 07857 346 573.

Source: Hereward FM

NHS Postcode Lottery: Diagnosis murder

GPs paid £1 a time not to refer patients to hospital

Family doctors are receiving cash bonuses not to send patients to hospital despite National Health Service research that suggests incentive payments can reduce the quality of care.

GPs are paid £1 per patient to spend time reviewing their decision to send someone to hospital and a further £1 for every name on their surgeries’ list if they reduce their previous year’s referral rate. An average surgery with 10,000 patients will receive up to £20,000 for taking part in the scheme.

Eighty out of 82 practices in the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust area signed up for it this month. Similar incentive schemes have been set up across the country despite the NHS’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) giving a warning about the risks. “Financial incentives to encourage GPs to reduce referral rates can be effective, but this is a high risk,” it says. It concludes that reduction “may apply to both necessary and unnecessary referrals”.

Oxfordshire PCT introduced cash incentives after a rise of 8 per cent last year in the number of referrals to Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre NHS Trust. Nationally, hospital referral rates increased by 16 per cent.

If doctors hit their targets, then the PCT will be left with a bill of £1.2 million. However, the trust believes that the expense is justified because the increasing amount of patients being sent to hospital is estimated to cost £6 million.

GP surgeries across London, Essex, Oxfordshire, Devon and Wiltshire are said to have signed up to incentive schemes that are at least partly based on reducing hospital referrals.

Laurence Buckman, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, said: “I don’t think patients’ services should be treated as a commodity which is incentivised if you don’t do something. A large number of patients are referred to hospital for investigation. If you don’t know what’s wrong, you cannot know how to handle the problem.”

Martin Roland, who led the NIHR investigators, said yesterday that patients were right to be worried about payments to GPs simply for meeting quotas on reducing referrals.

“If [the payment] triggers some sort of thoughtful process, such as talking to a more experienced colleague, then that is commendable and may save unnecessary referrals,” said Professor Roland, director of the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre. “But I would be cautious about incentives simply to reduce numbers if they are not tied to some sort of clinical review. The danger is that patients who would benefit from referral to hospital would no longer be referred.”

Sue Woollacott, chairman of the Patient Support Group at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, said: “It seems to imply that GPs aren’t making good judgments and need financial incentives in order to do that. If I were a GP and getting payments for the practice, it would seem like some sort of bribe.”

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said that it was “inefficient and unethical” to pay GPs to refer fewer patients to hospital. “If patients find out that their local health bureaucracy is paying their GP not to refer them to hospital they will be rightly outraged,” he said.

The schemes come after the Government’s admission that the average GP now earns more than £103,000 but that two thirds of NHS patients cannot see their doctor within 48 hours.

Stephen Richards, chairman of the clinical executive for Oxfordshire PCT, said its research on 120 patients referred to hospital dermatology clinics found that at least half could have safely been seen by community-based services. “Junior, less experienced doctors do have higher referral rates than their more experienced colleagues and one of the focuses of our schemes is to encourage discussion with senior doctors with these relatively less experienced doctors,” he said. “By insisting that a senior colleague is doing a review of the decision-making progress, we are extremely unlikely not to refer someone who needs to be referred.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Most people prefer to be treated at home or in the community rather than in hospital if possible. GPs should base their referral decisions on what is clinically appropriate.”

Article here
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29/6/08 Gordon Brown promises to end the Postcode Lottery

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£30m bill for NHS negligence claims

Almost £30 million has been spent on settling NHS clinical negligence claims made in the last year.

Health Minister Ann Keen said more than £18 million had been paid out in damages, with a further £10 million on legal costs, to the end of September.

A total of £18,217,815 went on settling 2,262 cases - an average payout of just over £8,000.

But £7,878,866 was spent on claimants' legal costs, and £2,272,334 on defence legal costs.

And over half of the cases 4,593 formally claimed in 2007-08 have yet to be settled, with 2,331 outstanding.

In a written Commons answer to shadow health minister Mike Penning, Ms Keen said the claims were made against the NHS body providing the care.

The information was from the NHS Litigation Authority, she added, and did not include claims against self-employed contractors in primary care.

NHS trust to spend £400,000 on yacht for unemployed teenagers

The chief executive of NHS Hull, Chris Long, said that the yacht, which would cost £400,000, would account for just 0.1 per cent of the PCT's annual budget. "I said we would never sort out health problems in Hull until we sorted out the employment issues facing the city. There is an absolute link between good education, good employment and good health."

But Steve Brady, leader of the Labour group on the city council, said the spending plans were unacceptable. "In the current economic climate, I'm amazed our local PCT is even thinking about doing something like this."

All stories on this topic here

Breast cancer patients should be denied a life-prolonging treatment on the NHS

Women should be refused the "last-ditch" drug even though the firm which manufactures it has offered to pay for the first doses, with the NHS only paying for further courses if it is shown to work.

Trials of the drug lapatinib, also known as Tyverb, have shown it can reduce the size of a tumour by 60 per cent and extend life by an average of two months, compared to standard treatment.

But the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence says it does not extend life by long enough to justify the extra cost.

The drug, which costs £1,068 for a four-week supply, has received its European licence, making it available on private prescription to patients in the UK.

Lapatinib works on a type of breast cancer known as HER-2 positive, so called because the tumour produces the protein HER 2 which fuels its growth.

This form of the disease accounts for around a fifth of the 45,000 cases of breast cancer each year.

The treatment is for women who have already received chemotherapy and the drug Herceptin, which is regarded as the gold standard treatment to stop the cancer returning, but whose cancer is still growing. It is thought 2,000 women each year could benefit from the drug.

The makers GlaxoSmithKline have offered to provide the treatment free for the first 12 weeks and the NHS would only pay for extra doses if it is still working after that.

But Nice has ruled in draft guidance that even with this offer the treatment is still not cost effective.

The drug is being given to patients in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Jane Tomlinson, the cancer campaigner who died of the illness last year at the age of 43, was told by her NHS drug that she could not have the drug.

She was eventually given access to the drug as part of clinical trials.

Because the drug must be given in combination with another treatment and it provides only a limited extra survival, it breaches the cost effectiveness threshold set by Nice, three times over.

The row is over the fact that women in the late stages of breast cancer are receiving Herceptin even when it has stopped working for them and GlaxoSmithKline has argued it is this group who should be switched to lapatinib, which costs about the same and has been shown to work.

But because patients should not be receiving Herceptin in these circumstances anyway, Nice has argued that lapatinib cannot be compared to it in this way.

Simon Jose, General Manager for GSK UK Pharmaceuticals said: "Given our involvement, it is difficult to comment without the appearance of self interest, however we strongly believe that the wrong decision has been made for patients, doctors and the NHS.

"For patients with Her2-positive advanced breast cancer and who have few treatment options left, Tyverb (lapatinib) offers real hope of slowing the disease. We therefore remain wholly committed to working with the NHS and NICE to make this innovative medicine available."

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "We are disappointed that the clinical evidence presented to Nice does not appear to be sufficient for them to recommend lapatinib on the NHS.

"Nice often has extremely difficult decisions to make, but we believe a negative decision from Nice should lead to positive action. This is an area where the Government can work closely with Nice, the pharmaceutical industry and funding bodies such as ourselves to carry out further research into the true role of lapatinib."

The guidance from NICE is still in the draft stages and is open for consultation.

article here

Dentists 'giving patients pointless check-ups to exploit NHS payouts'

Dentists are 'exploiting' the NHS by inviting healthy patients for needless check-ups to maximise their profits, the Government has said.
Chief dental officer Dr Barry Cockroft accused dentists of advising patients to return every six months when official guidance says check-ups are only required every two years.
He also said some were routinely splitting up treatment that could be given in one session, in order to receive the NHS appointment payment more times.
Dr Cockcroft said unnecessary check-ups were unfairly inflating dentists' salaries - already pushing £100,000 - and were clogging up waiting lists.
Officials have ordered a crackdown on the practice, which they say could free up 800,000 appointments a year and hundreds of thousands of pounds for the NHS.
Dentists' pay shot up after a new contract was introduced in 2006, but over the time since then the number of people seeing an NHS dentist has fallen by a million.
The average dentist's salary in 2006-07 was £96,135 - an 11 per cent increase on the last year of the old contract. Guidance from NICE, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, recommends patients have a check-up every two years, unless they are at risk of a life-threatening illness.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'It is a contractual requirement for dentists to apply the NICE guidance.

'However, it is clear from new data available to primary care trusts that many patients are being seen every six months or so, effectively preventing new patients from getting access to NHS dentistry.
'PCTs now have contract based data to enable them to address this.' Some invitations to check-ups have come in the form of ' threatening' letters, warning that failure to attend could cost a patient their NHS place.
Dr Anthony Halperin, a dentist and a trustee of the Patients' Association, said: 'There is no doubt that some dentists are abusing the system. It is entirely inappropriate to see healthy patients so often.'
But Peter Ward, chief executive of the British Dental Association, said there was no evidence to back up the Government claims.
'The interval between patients being recalled by their NHS dentist is, according to NICE guidelines, a matter for the practitioner's clinical judgment in consultation with the patient,' he said.
'The BDA supports this guideline, as we do not believe a one-size-fits-all approach is clinically appropriate.
'Dentists develop treatment plans in conjunction with the patient, ensuring they are clinically appropriate and fit with the individual's wishes.'

article here

'It's like having a death sentence hanging over me'

Sam Khan, 42, from London, has suffered from pulmonary hypertension – high blood pressure in the lungs – since the age of 25. This potentially fatal condition causes extreme breathlessness in around 1,500 people in the UK. In March 2008, Nice ruled against a whole class of existing drugs called prostacyclins, leaving Sam with a two-month supply of hers, which cost £37,000 per year.

Ms Khan said: "My condition has reached the stage that the tablets alone are not enough. I need the inhaler six times a day, but then I can work and contribute to society. Without it, I can barely walk three or four steps. When Nice decided the drug wasn't cost effective, I was devastated. The fact it could be taken away is like having a death sentence hanging over me. I know I won't be able to work any more if Nice doesn't reverse the decision as my PCT [primary care trust] has refused to pay for it. I understand the reality behind what Nice has to do, but when you're in the middle of it, it is difficult. I don't want to live for ever, or even to 75 with this illness, but I want to be an active member of society while I reasonably can."

Article in The Independent: The price of life – it was £20,000. Now NHS drugs body recalculates here

NHS child loses out as surgeon gives liver transplant to private patient from the Gulf

A senior surgeon broke NHS guidelines by transplanting part of a donated liver into a private overseas patient instead of saving it for someone on Britain’s waiting list.

Professor Nigel Heaton, head of the transplant unit at King’s College Hospital in London, transplanted part of the liver into a boy from one of the Gulf states.

The surgeon was the subject of a formal investigation after other doctors said that a child on the NHS organ waiting list should have been given priority. National guidelines state that, because of the acute shortage of donor organs in Britain, livers must be offered to all other NHS centres before they can be given to a patient from outside the EU.

There are about 400 NHS patients on the liver transplant waiting list – 20 per cent of whom will die before a suitable organ can be found.

The incident sparked fury among surgeons at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, which first received the liver from a 40-year-old donor. After instructions from UK Transplant, which co-ordinates NHS transplant services, the Leeds surgeons sent the liver to King’s for a ‘super-urgent’ adult NHS patient on the understanding that it was to be used solely for that person.

Complete article here

Professor Paul Goddard: Political correctness means dire care for patients

Labour's record on the NHS came under unprecedented attack yesterday from one of Britain's most senior doctors.

Professor Paul Goddard, a former president of the Royal Society of Medicine, accused the Government of leading the NHS into 'catastrophic meltdown'.

The award-winning professor directed particular anger at the drugs-rationing body Nice, which he accused of virtually killing patients to save money.

He said Labour's obsession with bureaucracy and political correctness had resulted in dire care for patients.

Money-saving practices, introduced to meet strict Whitehall targets, had contributed greatly to the rise of superbugs killing patients on hospital wards.

Professor Goddard said he became so disillusioned he ended his 30-year career as a consultant radiologist in disgust.

He had been head of training for ten hospitals across south west England, but felt the most effective way he could challenge the 'shocking incompetence' and mess of the NHS was to speak out.

Professor Goddard, 58, said: 'The NHS was built on the foundation of caring for the community. It was designed to help those who needed help, care for those who needed care, and treat those who needed treatment.

complete article here

Elderly hospital patients restrained with braces and bedsheets

Carers who restrained elderly hospital patients with braces and bed sheets have been blasted in a report.

The practice by untrained staff posed a "significant safety risk" to the five pensioners, investigators said.

Cops were called but found insufficient evidence to prosecute. No staff were sacked.

The report, produced after a probe by Harrow Primary Care Trust in North London, found the human rights of five patients had been breached in one month.

The Fletcher Ward at Northwick Park Hospital, where 42 per cent of patients suffer dementia, was at "minimum staffing levels" at the time.

Pct Chief Executive Dr Sarah Crowther said: "This was unacceptable. Disciplinary action has been taken and training introduced."

Gordon Lishman, of Age Concern, said: "It's horrendous that people are abused while in the care of the NHS."

article here

Gordon Brown extends the Postcode Lottery to include the new "Illness Lottery"

Rochdale /health campaigner, Councillor Jean Ashworth, has slammed Gordon Brown’s decision to allow free prescriptions for cancer patients in England but not all patients suffering from long-term illness. The Prime Minister announced in his speech at the Labour conference that as of next year this new policy would be put in place. Currently Scotland is the only country in the UK that enjoys free prescriptions for all.

Councillor Ashworth said: “I welcome the decision for free prescriptions for cancer patients but I think Gordon Brown has missed a golden opportunity to help many others suffering from life threatening conditions. Take asthma for example. At the moment one in four children suffer from asthma in the UK and when they reach 16, many of them can’t afford to pay for their prescriptions.

"Asthma is a life threatening disease. If people do not receive the medication they need they will die. Nobody should have to pay to breathe."

Read the rest of this article here

Cumbria Primary Care Trust condemn Michael Kennett to death to save money

A WHITEHAVEN man battling cancer has had a lifeline appeal for treatment turned down by health bosses.

Already denied NHS funding for the drug Avastin, Cumbria Primary Care Trust (PCT) has now turned Michael Kennett down again on appeal despite it being the only remaining avenue open to the 66-year-old, of Springfield Avenue, to potentially prolong his life.

Michael was denied the drug because it is not deemed to be “cost effective”. Now the family faces footing the £20,000 to £40,000 bill themselves.

Avastin can slow down tumours’ growth but the drug is not recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for treatment of certain types of cancer.

Michael was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2001 and underwent an operation. But the cancer spread to his liver and gall bladder, requiring a further operation. Six months later the cancer was found in Michael’s lungs and he was more recently told it has returned to his liver.

The family are frustrated that they were not allowed to attend and make representation at last week’s appeal – in fact, they were only told the exact date it was taking place the day before.

Leanne Graham, Michael’s daughter, says the family have not had a fair hearing and is considering court action. They are also set to re-appeal but in the meantime Michael’s need for the drug cannot wait any longer.

“This has dragged my dad down something chronic,” said Leanne, of Cleator Moor. “It’s been 10 weeks but we can’t wait any longer.

“By some means we are going to try and fund this drug for as long as we can. They said there wasn’t enough evidence to fit the exceptional criteria. But the primary care trust won’t tell us what the exceptional criteria are.

“No one has ever had funding for this drug from Cumbria PCT,” said Leanne.

“We weren’t even allowed to attend the appeal so we don’t know what was discussed and we have not had a chance to put a case together. Some PCTs allow people to attend.

“We will re-appeal but I don’t know if it will do any good. It is very frustrating. We have had brilliant support from people locally but I can totally understand why people give up fighting – I have never felt so defeated by something ever.”

Michael’s situation, which was revealed by The Whitehaven News some weeks ago, was this week also featured in The Times.

Leanne would like people to write to the Primary Care Trust with their views on the subject and to pledge their support for people to be given a fair hearing.

A spokesman for Cumbria Primary Care Trust said this week: “We cannot comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentially but appreciate that for patients, families, carers and the public the decision over the use of different drugs can be highly emotional.

“NHS Cumbria operates under a framework set by the Department of Health. The trust has to take account of guidance from NICE and other professional advisory bodies when making decisions about which drugs to fund.

“In order to assess each treatment fairly, NICE has to look at the benefit of these treatments and at the effectiveness of getting this benefit in the long-term.

“NICE, the Scottish Medicines Consortium and both of the local NHS cancer networks which cover Cumbria do not recommend the use of Avastin for specific types of cancer.”

Read this sickening article here

Leicester Royal Infirmary's catalogue of deadly blunders killed former member of staff

Hospital staff have apologised for errors in treating a dying patient – including thinking she was another woman of the same name.

Lynda Greatorex, from Wigston, died aged 59 at Leicester Royal Infirmary after being admitted with heart problems.

The grandmother had been a medical secretary at the hospital for nine years before retiring a year before her death.

Her daughter, Gaynor, also works at the hospital and said she was appalled by the distress her mother suffered in the run-up to her death, on April 19, from heart failure.

Gaynor, of Anstey Lane, Leicester, said the worst error was that doctors used another woman's file while treating her mother, which meant they went to the wrong GP to inquire about her medical records.

She said her mother was also denied heart drugs early in her treatment and that medical staff left her unattended and failed to notice when her blood sugar levels became dangerously low.

She should have been checked every two hours, but was not seen from 8pm on April 16 until 7am the next day.

Gaynor said: "They never asked her details properly so they were always confusing her with another woman with the same name.

"She was put in a side room and left with minimal nursing contact. Every day on the ward there were errors and she suffered because of them.

"It's not about compensation for me and I don't claim my mum would have lived much longer if treatment had been better.

"But she worked for the hospital for nine years and to repay her with such dismal treatment was terrible.

"It's a shame the last week of her life had to be so traumatic."

Gaynor made an official complaint to the hospital in July and has received an apology.

In a statement, a hospital spokesman said: "An investigation was undertaken and a written response provided.

"We deeply regret Miss Greatorex had to raise concerns at such a difficult time.

"We have previously extended an invitation to Miss Greatorex to meet with senior staff and would extend that invitation once again should she have continuing concerns."

NHS complaints system 'pointless'

More than two thirds of patients believe the NHS complaints procedure is pointless, a survey said.

The latest Patients Association (PA) report, in which the survey was published, has described the NHS complaints system as "cumbersome, variable and takes too long."

Of the patients polled, 69% said they had wanted to complain about the healthcare they had received in the last five years.

For those who complained, 29% described the process as "totally pointless" and only 2% said the experience had been "very useful".

More than three quarters (81%) believe that there is not a culture of openness in the NHS when errors occur and that staff are not encouraged to report mistakes.

The PA report concluded: "While patients will always accept that errors will occur in any health service, what they will not accept is the fact that staff are not open about admitting such errors occur."

On the matter of recent MRSA outbreaks and other healthcare acquired infections 47% of patients pointed the finger of blame at the NHS trust managers.

Both nurses and cleaning staff were blamed by 16% of respondents, whilst only 10% thought doctors were responsible.

Three quarters (75%) of respondents believe trust in doctors and nurses has decreased compared to five years ago.

As a result, 96% said they believed patients question the actions of doctors and nurses more than they used to half a decade ago.

article here

Dying woman spent last days fighting for cancer drugs

Next month, the Government will publish its review of NHS policy on cancer drugs, determining whether the health service will pay towards the care of patients who pay for medications the state refuses to fund. Ministers were forced to examine the issue after a public outcry over the death of Linda O'Boyle, who was denied free NHS care after paying for a life-extending bowel cancer drug. Since then, the whole system of drug rationing has become the subject of intense public debate.

Sarah Perez, who died in June aged 40, five days before the review was announced, was also denied drugs which could have extended her life. Campaigners believe her story is one of the "most inhumane" examples of the way the health service bureaucracy takes decisions about life and death.

Sarah Jane Perez was 33-years-old and just back from her honeymoon with her husband James when she was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2001.

Within a year, her hopes of having a family had been dashed. A hysterectomy was followed by an operation on her bowel, and, a year later, a stem cell transplant when she was diagnosed with leukaemia.

For six years she underwent repeated courses of chemotherapy and treatment as tumours spread to her liver. Mrs Perez, from Enfield in North London, tried to live as normal a life as possible, running a jewellery business she had set up in London's Hatton Garden before she fell ill.

But by January of this year, her cancer had spread further. Mrs Perez' consultant said there was only one hope left to secure her some extra time; a drug called cetuximab, shown to have given patients an average of four extra months of life in cases which responded to treatment.

The previous year, the NHS rationing body, the National Insitute of Health and Clinical Excellence, had ruled against widespread use of the drug, which it said was not "cost effective" at £700 a week. However, primary care trusts are not allowed to institute blanket bans on any treatment, and Mrs Perez's consultant hoped to secure the treatment for her as an exceptional case, particularly given his patient's youthful age which meant that the cancer was progressing aggressively, but might also respond more quickly to treatment.

When Enfield PCT refused to fund the drug, branded Erbitux, Mrs Perez asked to invoke her right to appeal against the decision, setting out why she should be treated under exceptional circumstances. Instead, in March, she was told that the PCT had already held the appeal, maintaining its original decision, despite the fact neither she nor her consultant had been given the chance to submit any evidence stating her case.

Read the rest of this shocking article here

Ambulances running late for emergencies

RESPONSE times to emergencies in Ledbury and Colwall are so poor the West Midlands Ambulance Service has been called to account by Herefordshire Council.

With other areas of the county faring better, the situation is being called “a postcode lottery”.

Category A emergencies are those classed as immediately life threatening.

The official target is for ambulances to get to 75 per cent of these in eight minutes. Last month, ambulances got to 89.5 per cent of Category A emergencies in Bromyard within eight minutes. The figure for the Colwall area was just 20 per cent.

The Ledbury figures were 72.7 per cent in August, 57.9 per cent in July, 57.1 per cent in June and 50 per cent in May. The statistics will be examined at a health scrutiny committee meeting at the council chambers in Brockington, Hereford, on Tuesday at 10am. All are welcome to speak at the meeting.

Committee chairman and Ledbury councillor Kay Swinburne said: “The ambulance service will be genuinely scrutinised.

“They have been briefed that they will need to justify not having more vehicles available here and they will be asked to explain the data.

“They can tell me they’ve had problems with Colwall Bridge but the data is appalling.”

Coun Peter Watts, who also represents Ledbury, said: “It’s a postcode lottery and the ambulance service needs to raise its game.”

The situation has added urgency following the death in July of Ledbury pensioner Alfred ‘Pip’ Parry.

He had to wait for an ambulance for at least 17 minutes, although his family say it was a lot longer. Mr Watts said: “That recent tragic occurence made people aware of how vulnerable they could be.”

Chris Kowalik of West Midlands Ambulance service, said: “We always have and always will send the nearest available resource to an emergency call.

“However, it is a fact of life that in rural areas it will take longer for ambulance crews to get to a patient.”

article here

NHS HITS TARGET TO CUT MRSA, BUT C.DIFF IS SOARING

OFFICIAL figures show the target to cut cases of MRSA has been reached – but almost 10 people a day are still being struck down with the hospital superbug, Tories said last night.

They also criticised the Government for its failure to tackle rates of Clostridium difficile, another infection that has spiralled.

Over the last four years the number of people struck down with MRSA in English hospitals has fallen from almost 2,000 to 836 per quarter.

The achievement was yesterday hailed by the Prime Minister as testament to the hard work of NHS staff.

But critics immediately accused Gordon Brown of patting himself on the back as rates of the far more common killer bug C.diff were on the rise.

In a break with tradition the latest figures for C.diff were not released, leading the Tories to accuse the Government of only issuing positive data.

Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary, said: “It is a disgrace that there have been more than 800 cases of MRSA in our hospitals in just three months.

“Labour have let down patients by caring more about spin than doing what it takes to root out infections.

“It’s telling that they changed the publication date of MRSA statistics for political gain, that they only met their target by moving the goalposts and that the best they could come up with have been gimmicks like Gordon Brown’s deep cleaning programme.”

The most recent figures for rates of C.diff showed a six per cent increase in hospital infections, hitting 10,500 in the first three months of the year.

article here

Patient who fought for life-saving transplant has died, after being told his life-saving treatment was not cost effective

Published Date: 18 September 2008
By Laura Rands

A West Hallam leukaemia patient who fought the NHS for a life-saving bone marrow transplant has died.

Peter Lord was denied the £70,000 stem cell transplant at the end of last year because of where he lived. He moved in with his sister in Nottingham and the treatment was agreed.

The 52-year-old, who lived on Scargill Walk, underwent the transplant at Nottingham City Hospital in January with a 50/50 chance of it extending his life. But four months later he was left devastated after it failed. He had aggressive chemotherapy treatment in June in a last attempt to keep him alive, but it failed.

Mr Lord, a design engineer, was originally denied potentially live-saving treatment for his leukaemia as his local health authority, Derbyshire County Primary Care Trust, said it was not cost effective.

He appealed against the decision but was turned down and moved into his sister's house to beat the 'postcode lottery' of health funding. Derbyshire PCT and Nottingham University Hospitals Trust then came to an agreement that the operation should go ahead.

When Derbyshire PCT denied him the treatment, Mr Lord told the Advertiser: "If I don't get funding before the leukaemia, I die. I would move to save my life."

Mr Lord was first diagnosed with leukaemia after a blood test. After six months of chemotherapy, he spent 13 months at work in remission before the disease returned in October last year, and had to have a bone marrow transplant.

Peter Lord died at Nottingham City Hospital on Tuesday and his funeral is being held this Friday at Bramcote Crematorium, Nottingham at 2.45pm.

article here

NHS bill from solicitors doubles

The NHS bill to pay solicitors acting for patients in compensation claims has more than doubled in four years.

The annual bill in England now tops £90m - a 122% increase in four years, despite the fact the number of cases has remained similar.

The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) told the BBC the rise was due to an increase in no win, no fee claims, which has led to some solicitors doubling their rates to £600 an hour.

About half of the cases the NHSLA sees now are brought by solicitors on a no win, no fee basis as opposed to under a fifth in 2000.

Chief executive Steve Walker said the trend had been caused by the tightening eligibility criteria for legal aid. Only children or those cases deemed in the public interest get state funding.

He told the BBC: "Solicitors are not doing anything illegal, but it is pretty unattractive that these fees are being charged. There is no reason why they should be vastly different from what we pay our own legal teams, but they are.

"Their argument is that they have a higher mark up because there is a risk they will end up with nothing, but in reality they cherry-pick the cases they are most likely to win."

Four years ago, the NHS paid out £40.9m to the solicitors of patients in costs under the clinical negligence scheme for trusts, but by 2007/08 that had risen to £90.7m. In comparison, the fees charged by the NHS's own lawyers was £29.3m in 2003/04, but had only risen by 48% to £43.3m last year. The number of cases resolved each year has stayed at around 6,000.

Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, criticised the solicitors.

"These organisations are encouraging a compensation culture and making a lot of money out of it. All the money that is going to lawyers is money being taken away from patient care. Obviously there is a need for the system, it is just that solicitors should do more to keep their costs in order like the NHS is doing."

-----

Can't the NHS just be less negligent in the first place and stop treating their patients so appallingly so that compensation claims wouldn't be necessary? If you didn't need to pay compensation for mistreating your patients then you'd have more money to spend on saving lives instead of letting them die. It works both ways.

Cancer drugs only given to those 'who make the most noise'

Expensive cancer drugs are only available to patients who "make the most noise" under a "patently unfair" system, a leading cancer doctor has warned.

By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:25PM BST 11 Sep 2008

Unless sufferers are allowed to buy the medication without losing the rest of their NHS care a "black market" in the drugs will open up, Professor Karol Sikora told Mike Richards, the Government's cancer Tsar, who is carrying out a review into controversial "top up" payments.

Support for top ups has been echoed by the King's Fund, the influential think tank, which said that the current system was "untenable".

The Government ordered Mr Richard's review following widespread outrage over cases of cancer sufferers who were charged as private patients after they bought potentially life extending drugs.

However, doctors have expressed concern that allowing "top ups" could lead to a two-tier NHS, where some patients get drugs which others cannot afford.

During a debate designed to inform Mr Richard's review, Prof Sikora, medical director of CancerPartnersUK, said that there was already an unfair system when it came to expensive cancer drugs: "If you look at the cases it seems that if you make a fuss you tend to get.

"If you don't make a fuss then you don't get.

"It is patently unfair that if you make a noise then you will get these drugs."

He went on: "If we leave the status quo, if we leave this typical British muddle, then an underground market (in these drugs) will develop."

He also called on the Government to "abolish" the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) decision panels, which critics claim are leading to a "post code lottery" in cancer care.

NHS bosses can refuse to provide drugs if they have been rejected as too expensive by the Government's drugs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

If a drug has yet to be assessed by Nice then local PCTs can choose to give the drug in what it deems "exceptional" circumstances.

The call comes just 24 hours after a patient won access to a £4,000-a-course blood cancer drug after taking his local PCT to court.

Colin Ross, 55, was given just two months to live if he did not receive the drug, Revlimid.

The King's Fund, which hosted the debate, described the current system as "untenable" and said that under "certain circumstances" patients should be able to pay for their own drugs without losing the rest of their NHS care.

However, the Fund believes that those patients should also pay the extra costs associated with the drugs, such as the price of administering them, so that other NHS patients did not lose out.

Mr Richard's review is expected to report sometime in October.

Last month the Telegraph revealed that Nice was drawing up plans to provide patients with independent medical advice on drugs, including those which it had deemed too expensive, which could be offered to patients if a U-turn on top ups is announced.

The Conservatives have said that they are against introducing new charges into the NHS and have proposed a system where drug companies would be paid only if treatments work.

NHS Fails to Diagnose 500 000 Brits with Diabetes

Half a million Brits are unaware that they are living with Type 2 diabetes, due to the failure of the NHS, claims a new study.

According to the charity Diabetes UK more than 500, 000 people in England are unknowingly living with Type 2 diabetes- leaving them at risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputations.

The research claims that NHS services in England are failing to diagnose the condition which can go undetected up to a staggering 12 years.

Unfortunately the quality and quantity for diagnosis of type 2 diabetes across the UK is not equal, with some regions across the UK receiving better diagnoses than others, says the study. For example figures reveal that there is around 100 percent diagnosis for the people of Birmingham and just 50 percent for those in London- with regions including Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster and Camden having the worse detection rates.

“Some PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) have done an excellent job in diagnosing Type 2 diabetes,” says Douglas Smallwood, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK.

“It is extremely worrying that hundreds of thousands of people in other areas are going about their daily lives unaware they have a condition that puts them at greater risk of devastating complications.”

Smallwood adds that early identification is key for those with Type 2 diabetes but unfortunately by the time half a million Brits are finally diagnosed with having the condition, most will already show signs of complications.

The Department of Health National Service Framework for Diabetes made it a priority to improve Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in England back in 2001. However the charity believes barely a dent has been made in the detection process of type 2 diabetes. What’s more 1 in 3 PCTs do not even have a specific strategy for preventing the condition.

The charity is warning specialists that all communities must be examined for Type 2 diabetes, especially those in deprived communities who are 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes. Those who do not have regular access to health services must also be reached by the VRAM programme- responsible for Type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

Those at risk of diabetes are those with a large waist, people aged over 40 (or over 25 for people of Black or South Asian origin), those who are overweight and lastly individuals with a family history of the condition.

For more information on diabetes go to: Information on Diabetes

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Sky's health correspondent Thomas Moore gives you an introduction to the virtual hospital

click image to activate video

Exclusive: Sky News has uncovered evidence that NHS staff are coming under political pressure to spin the headlines

We have obtained a letter, written by a senior representative of the Department of Health, which strongly criticises England's largest primary care trust for failing to "manage" the media.

North Yorkshire and York PCT had been singled out for its handling of so-called exceptional cases, in which patients ask to be treated with medicines that have yet to be approved for use on the NHS.

Newspapers highlighted cancer patients who had been denied expensive new drugs.

Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority, which ensures Department of Health policy is followed in the region, wrote to the PCTs chief executive demanding urgent action.

"This has resulted in damage to the reputation of the NHS. The PCT needs to look at how the media messages can be managed more effectively... to stem the national harm to the NHS profile that this constant publicity is creating."

But Dr Peter Brambleby, the director of public health for the PCT, is so angry about the letter that he has blown the whistle.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, he said: "It is our general responsibility to protect the NHS brand, but we shouldn't be driven as a first consideration by what will this look like in the headlines in the local newspaper.

"Our first consideration has to be the health of the population, the evidence base behind which the decision is going to be made, and showing that we're responsible stewards of public funds. That's our job and that's what protects the NHS brand."

He said politicians should keep clear of clinical decisions over patients' treatment.

"The easy way out of managing adverse headlines in the short term is to simple to say yes to every request that has caught the media attention. But I don't think for a moment that any member of the public would recognise that as a legitimate criterion for prioritising funding," he said.

His comments are hugely embarrassing for the Department of Health, which has insisted that local health managers are free to make their own decisions over how they spend money for local patients.

The Tories said the Department of Health's bureaucrats were wrong to send the letter. Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley MP said they missed the point.

"Everybody else in Europe seems to be able to get access to these drugs, but we don't. That's what I want to see them working on. How they can ensure that primary care trusts are using their resources to ensure patients get the treatment they need, not trying to cover up the bad stories when they don't."

Some of the negative headlines involved the Velcade Three. Jacky Pickles, Janice Wrigglesworth and Marie Morton all have multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.

They have campaigned for treatment with Velcade, and encourage patients who have been denied the drug to go to the papers.

They make no apology for embarrassing the PCT.

Jacky Pickles said: "If someone says to you you can be quiet and die, or you can challenge and maybe live longer...you want to see your children grow up, don't you?

"We've all got children and we want to see them grow up. You'd challenge anybody to see your children grow up."

Even the government's cancer csar is critical of the local variations in access to new medicines. He says PCTs don't have the expertise to judge complex drugs. He wants regional panels of specialists to take over the role.

"I am extremely keen that there is equal access to treatment across the whole of the NHS, because that I believe is one of the founding principles of the NHS," he said.

The Department of Health turned down our request for an interview.

The Strategic Health Authority said all PCTs must be open and transparent about their procedures and explain their decisions: "There has never been any question of political interference in any decision," it said.

article here

Revealed: NHS cash lottery

Postcode lottery fight for cancer sufferer

By Emily-Ann Elliott

A cancer sufferer has launched a legal battle against a postcode lottery that threatens to shorten his life.

Colin Ross, 55, believes he would be given a life-prolonging drug if he lived just 12 miles from his home.

A barrister for Mr Ross told a judge it was an "end of road" legal challenge that could mean death in the next couple of months if he fails or his life being extended by up to three years if he wins.

Mr Ross was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood cells, in May 2004.

He has been told by doctors that unless he is given Revlimid he will not survive beyond the autumn.

It would cost £5,000 per course of Revlimid and his medical team have requested funding for an initial three to four courses.

But in March West Sussex Primary Care Trust refused to fund the drug, even though leading cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora has said he is “eminently suitable” for treatment.

Richard Clayton QC, representing Mr Ross, told Judge Simon Grenfell at London's High Court, the trust’s decision was “irrational” and it had erred in its estimate of the cost effectiveness of Revlimid.

He said: “This application for this drug is the end of the road for him.

“Either he gets the drug and is able to have life-prolonging treatment, or he doesn’t and treatment ceases, with inevitable consequences.”

He told the court that in a recent survey, 60% of the applications made for exceptional funding with the drug in England and Scotland had succeeded but the trust did not consider Mr Ross’ case was exceptional.

He said the case raised the “random and disquieting” problem of treatment depending on a patient’s postcode.

Arriving at court Mr Ross, from Horsham, described how he had become the victim of an “East-West” divide a postcode lottery between East Sussex and West Sussex.

He said he had spoken to another cancer patient at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London four weeks ago.

He said: “We got chatting and the subject of Revlimid came up.

“She told me she had applied for the same drug earlier this year and had been put on it.

“I live in West Sussex, and she lives 12 miles down the road in East Sussex.

“She was astonished when I told her I had been refused. How can it be that, in such a little distance, one can have it and one cannot?

“It should not be like that. It is not right that I should have to go to these lengths to get such an important, life-extending drug.”

Mr Ross was accompanied to court by his long-term companion Wendy Forbes-Newbegin, 52.

She said: “The mental anguish he has been going through is nothing short of appalling.

“The stress of his illness is bad enough, but to have to fight for this treatment has just been disgusting.

“I have been suffering from breast cancer, and he was supposed to be looking after me.”

Mr Ross, who has two children and four grandchildren, said: “If I don’t win and I get no further treatment I won’t be here for Christmas, it is as simple as that.”

He acknowledged that Revlimid is not a cheap drug.

But he expressed his frustration that “the Royal Marsden are sitting there with the drug in their fridges”.

Mr Ross has so far had six complete courses of chemotherapy and also received stem cell treatment at the Royal Marsden.

He responded well to the two other drugs currently being prescribed on the NHS for myeloma patients, Thalidomide and Velcade, but was forced to stop taking them because of painful side effects.

However, while Revlimid is readily available to patients across Europe and in the US, it has not yet been granted approval by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and so is currently only being provided by some Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) on the NHS in exceptional circumstances.

Mr Clayton accused the trust of misunderstanding the evidence of the survival benefits of Revlimid.

He said the trust had failed to take into account “the slim but important chance” that the drug could prolong Mr Ross's life by more than a few months and it had made a fundamental error “when balancing clinical efficacy and cost”.

Martin Forde QC, appearing for the trust, said its officials had “every sympathy” for Mr Ross’s predicament.

The trust had, to some extent, been roundly criticised over its decision that it would not be cost-effective to fund Mr Ross’s treatment.

But it was having to make “agonising decisions” and considered some 600 similar cases every year.

It was doing its level best to use limited NHS funds “in the most efficient manner to benefit the largest number of patients”.

In Mr Ross’s case, the trust did not accept that it had adopted an irrational funding policy - “nor do we accept the policy was implemented in the course of this agonising decision in a perverse or irrational manner”.

The hearing continues on Monday.

The judge indicated that he hopes to give his ruling by the middle of next week.

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University Hospitals Leicester links directly to McCanns fraudulent Find Madeleine Fund

British sniffer dogs detected blood and the scent of death in McCanns apartment

One of the Directors of this fraudulent Fund is Dr Doug Skehan, a cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital. The Fund, which has raised over £1million from publicly donated money, has been used to help pay Dr Gerry McCanns mortgage.

article here

Link Drs Gerry and Kate McCann: Maddie died in apartment, there was no abduction says Portugese Police.

NHS admit pregnancy test mistakes

An NHS laboratory in Sheffield has admitted it failed to properly carry out blood tests on pregnant women.

More than 50 women had to be re-tested for sexually transmitted infections (STI) when infections were not picked up by the laboratory in Sheffield.

Six women from Sheffield were re-tested and a smaller number from Rotherham.

An investigation revealed the mistake after a pregnant woman tested positive for HIV at a clinic at Hallamshire Hospital in 2006.

article here

NHS scientist, Martin Hatcher from Exeter, accused of paedophilia

Details can be found here

NHS C.diff deaths up 30% in year

DEATHS linked to the C.diff superbug have soared almost 30 per cent in a year, official figures revealed yesterday.

Last year 8,324 people had clostridium difficile when they died — up from 6,480.

The figure is more than twice the 3,757 C.diff mentions on death certificates in 2005 — and four times the 1,804 in 2001.

More than nine in ten died in an NHS hospital, with most of the rest in nursing homes.

But deaths linked to MRSA fell from 1,652 in 2006 to 1,593 last year, the Office for National Statistics said. It was the first time they have dropped since 1993.

The ONS pointed out that some of the C.diff increase may be due to more complete reporting on death certificates.

But shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley blasted the rise, calling PM Gordon Brown’s £50million hospital deep clean programme a “gimmick”.

He said: “The vast majority of these deaths could have been avoided if the Government had taken action at the right time.”

Lib Dem Norman Lamb called the toll “dreadful”.

article here

Shock Report Warns Elderly Going Hungry In Hospital

Elderly people are going hungry in hospital because staff fail to ensure they are fed, a charity has said.

An Age Concern study of 110 English and Welsh NHS trusts found 43% did not run protected mealtimes - where non-urgent work stops to make sure patients eat.

Age Concern's Patrick South said: "Tackling malnutrition should be a top priority for all NHS trusts."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We recognise that protected mealtimes are an issue."

'Unacceptable inconsistencies'

The study found that one in three NHS Trusts in England had not yet introduced a so-called red tray system, where meal trays are colour-coded to show which patients need help with eating.

It reported cases of patients being taken to the toilet and routine examinations being carried out during mealtimes, resulting in people missing out on food.

NHS trusts have not been specifically instructed by the government to introduce protected mealtimes or red tray systems.

And Age Concern argued that Healthcare Commission standards on nutrition did not go far enough.

Mr South, Age Concern's head of public affairs, said tackling malnutrition should be a priority for all trusts.

He added: "Our evidence shows unacceptable inconsistencies across the country.

"It's shocking that many older people still find themselves trapped within a 'postcode lottery of commitment' to improve nutritional standards on hospital wards."

The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) received more than 29,000 reports of incidents concerning patient nutrition in 2007.

These included badly-fitted feeding tubes, frail patients unable to reach their food, people who had trouble swallowing being given incorrect meals and poor nutrition contributing towards deaths.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We know that good nutrition is central to people's good health and ability to recover from illness, which is why in October 2007 we launched the Nutrition Action Plan, in conjunction with over 25 leading stakeholders.

"This aims to outline how nutritional care and hydration can be improved amongst vulnerable adults in all health and social care settings.

"In addition to this, the National Patient Safety Agency has already produced three Nutrition Fact Sheets as part of a series of 10 for clinical staff in the NHS."

article here

Cancer victims 'forced into debt' to pay for medicines freely available elsewhere in Europe

The NHS drugs rationing body is forcing cancer patients to remortgage their homes to pay for medicines freely available elsewhere in Europe, senior doctors warned yesterday.

More than 20 leading cancer consultants said they were 'dismayed' at guidance issued by Nice - the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence - to refuse four kidney cancer drugs on the NHS.

Accusing Nice of rationing too severely, they called for a radical change in the way the NHS makes decisions.

Among the 26 signatories is Professor Karol Sikora, one of Britain's leading cancer experts and former chief of the World Health Organisation Cancer Programme.

The outcry follows draft guidelines from Nice this month on the drugs sunitinib, bevacizumab, sorafenib and temsirolimus.

The body concluded that the therapies - which can extend a patient's life by months - were not good value.

Cancer doctors warned that around 3,600 patients would die more quickly.
Now, in a letter to the Sunday Times, some of the UK's most eminent doctors have added to the criticism.

'Once again Nice has shown how poorly it assesses new cancer treatments,' they said.

complete article here

NHS v. Privatisation: Dead patients don't cost the NHS a thing: Toothless patients don't cost the NHS a thing either!

NHS dentists in England are extracting more teeth and providing patients with fewer x-rays, fillings and crowns, official figures revealed yesterday.

The NHS Information Centre said treatments involving the fitting or repairing of false teeth accounted for 38% of complex dental activity in 2003-04. This rose to 48% in 2007-08. At the same time, extractions increased from 7% to 8% of dentists' workload, but the proportion of time spent on preparing and fitting crowns fell from 48% to 35% and fillings from 28% to 26%.

Dr Barry Cockcroft, the chief dental officer, rejected a suggestion that the contract given to NHS dentists in April 2006 discouraged time-consuming interventions to save natural teeth. He said: "The oral health of the nation has improved dramatically over the last 10 years thanks to fluoride toothpaste, fluoridated water and greater awareness of the importance of oral hygiene." The increase in dentures was caused by a growth in the number of older people and a switch towards providing partial dentures instead of a full set.

The information centre said 27 million people - 53.3% of the population - were seen by an NHS dentist in the two years following the introduction of the contract. That was 1.1 million down on the number seen in the previous two years.

Mike Penning, a Conservative health spokesman, said: "Since Labour introduced its botched, untested new contract, well over one million people - more than the entire population of Birmingham - have lost access to an NHS dentist."

article here

Nurse, 36, suffering brain haemorrhage had to wait 2 hours for ambulance before she died

The grieving husband of a nurse who died from a brain haemorrhage after waiting more than two hours for an ambulance accused an NHS Trust of brushing the incident "under the carpet".

Martina Simmons, 36, collapsed at her home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, after she suffered powerful headaches, heavy vomiting, and passing out.

A first responder paramedic arrived at her home within three minutes of the initial call, but it took another two hours for Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) to dispatch an ambulance to take her to hospital.

When the ambulance arrived, Mrs Simmons could no longer breathe and when she arrived at Weston General Hospital at about 1.25am on June 7 surgeons were unable to get her to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol for life-saving surgery.

The nurse later died in the same hospital where she worked.

Mrs Simmons and her husband Shaun were due to go on their second honeymoon to Majorca two weeks ago to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. Instead, Mr Simmons held a funeral for his wife at Weston Crematorium.

The 39-year-old widower, a Navy reservist, has now made a formal complaint against the ambulance service.

He told the Western Daily Press: "I have still not had any explanation as to why it took so long and I have not been involved in any investigation. I'm very angry about it and I feel they have brushed it under the carpet. I do not blame the paramedics because they did a fantastic job.

"I blame the fact that they do not have the resources that they need. I was told on the night that there were only two ambulances covering Weston. That, on a Friday night in a busy resort town, is nowhere near enough. I'm not going to let this lie. I want something done, I'm disgusted by it. I want a lot more ambulances in Weston. I don't want this happening again to someone else."

The Healthcare Commission criticised GWAS for its response times and management of vehicles following the death of student Rebecca Wedd in Cirencester. She had to wait 42 minutes for an ambulance after she was hit by a car in May 2007.


article here

NHS cancelled more than 100,000 operations in a year

The number of cancelled operations is almost twice as high as previously admitted by the Government with thousands of patients suffering from multiple cancellations.

Ministers have previously said that cancelling operations is "unacceptable" yet have failed to act to prevent hospitals from cancelling procedures, often just hours before surgery is due to take place.

The figures have been obtained by the Conservatives who used Freedom of Information laws to request the data from NHS trusts.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: "Having an operation cancelled can cause huge distress for patients and their families. It's simply unacceptable that these figures are so high.

"The Government are directly to blame for these problems. NHS staff are doing the best they can but how can they plan patients' care properly when they are continually hampered by Labour's top-down targets? Labour's boom and bust approach to the NHS finances has made things even worse, with bed shortages and staffing shortages in far too many trusts."

article here

Fatal delay: NHS trust took 42 minutes to dispatch an ambulance to girl who later died after she was struck by a car

The family of a student who died after waiting 42 minutes for an ambulance blamed the 'disgraceful' delay for her death.

Rebecca Wedd, 23, was hit by a silver BMW as she walked with a group of college friends to her summer ball.

Police arrived at the scene in seven minutes, but it was almost three-quarters of an hour after the 999 call when paramedics finally appeared.


The national target for answering such a call is eight minutes.

Miss Wedd was flown by air ambulance to a nearby hospital but died of her injuries the following day.

Her distraught father, Peter Wedd, 53, spoke of his anguish yesterday after a damning report condemned the NHS Trust involved.

He said: 'My daughter's death has been a nightmare for our family and I would not want anyone else to suffer like we have.

'I believe that if an ambulance had arrived within a reasonable timeframe, my daughter could be with us today. Instead we have had to live through this nightmare.

'In anyone's book being forced to wait 42 minutes for an ambulance is a disgrace and I sincerely hope that this does not happen again.'

article here

‘Diabolical’ NHS stops vital drug

By Mike Pyle
20/ 8/2008

A grandmother of 15 has said the NHS’s decision to stop funding the drug that has prolonged her life is “disgusting”.

Joan Hughes, 66, was given access to drug Sunitinib in February, following a three-month battle with Berkshire East PCT.

Since starting on the drug Joan’s cancer has gone into remission.

But the NHS has this week announced it is to stop providing the drug to people, although it will continue to supply those already on it.

Joan, of Bywood, Hanworth, said: “I think it’s disgusting. It’s certainly been good to me. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it weren’t for the drug.

“My cancer has gone into remission now and it might have saved my life.

“I couldn’t have got this far without it. No way.”

Joan’s cancer, which started in her kidneys, is no longer active although it could return at any time.

Joan’s daughter, Helen Peters, 43, of Harmans Water, said: “It’s absolutely diabolical.

“What’s the point of paying into the NHS if they just say ‘we have this wonderful drug, but you can’t have it’?

“Nobody should play God. While the drug is doing good, why are they taking it away and giving a death sentence?”

Cancer Research UK has also spoken out against the decision. A spokesman said: “We’re very disappointed with the decision.”

The NHS made the decision based on recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) saying that the drug, along with three other kidney cancer drugs, does not provide value for money.

Professor Peter Littlejohns, clinical and public health director at NICE, said: “The decisions NICE has to make are some of the hardest in public life.

"NHS resources are not limitless and NICE has to decide what treatments represent best value to the patient as well as the NHS.

“Although these treatments are clinically effective, regrettably, the cost to the NHS is such that they are not a cost effective use of NHS resources.”

article here

Glitter UK return bid for NHS care

Gary Glitter wants to come back to Britain to get help for medical problems, it was revealed yesterday.

The partially-deaf singer, 64, will walk free from jail in days — and hopes to get NHS care.

Speaking in Thu Duc, Vietnam, he said: “Conditions aren’t perfect here so I can’t cure my illness as I’d like to.

“I need access to a UK hospital.”

The paedophile — real name Paul Gadd — was caged for three years in 2006 for molesting girls aged 11 and 12.

He once vowed never to return to the UK but will be deported to London following his release.

Second corpse left at NHS ward

A second case of a corpse being left on a hospital ward has been confirmed by health bosses.

The body was left on the ward at Glasgow Royal Infirmary for seven hours.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the dead patient had been kept on the ward to allow grieving family to gather and pay their last respects.

Once relatives had arrived the body remained on the ward to allow a priest to travel to the hospital and conduct a blessing.

Last week it emerged a corpse was left alongside patients at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow for more than seven hours.

Hospital bosses apologised for the delay in the transfer of the Stobhill patient to the mortuary.

But they said they had acted in the "best interests" of the family of the patient at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, who died suddenly at the hospital on August 12.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said in a statement: "It was the wishes of the grieving family that the body remain on the ward so that family members could gather to pay their last respects and also await a blessing by a priest.

"Mindful of the need to balance the request made by the family with the needs of other patients, staff arranged for the patient's body to be screened from view."

The board said the priest could only get to the hospital four hours after he was told of the patient's death.

article here

Widow may sue NHS over delays in diagnosing husband’s cancer

A woman is considering legal action against Scotland's largest health board after a delay in diagnosing cancer in her husband, who subsequently died.

Sandra Wilson, 60, felt the death of her husband Ian, 63, could have been avoided if the cancer had been detected earlier by doctors.

She also said she was shocked that despite the ombudsman supporting her concerns over the delay, no-one appears to have been held responsible.

Professor Alice Brown, the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman, recently upheld a complaint that the diagnostic process was unnecessarily delayed.

Mrs Wilson said she is now taking legal advice over the matter.

While the ombudsman's advice was that it was "unlikely" Mr Wilson would have survived, she said he may have been spared agonising complications.

article here

Ban on drugs that could have saved NHS £500,000

GPs have been stopped from giving patients three drugs which would have saved the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds in a clash over the Scottish Government's prescribing policy.


article here

Over 50s being neglected in hospital

Hospitals fail to provide basic care to over-50s, particularly if they are old and frail, research has suggested.

By Sarah Knapton
Last Updated: 6:21AM BST 15 Aug 2008

Experts found a significant disparity in the treatment offered to patients with conditions like osteoporosis and incontinence compared with heart disease or diabetes.

Dr Nick Steel, senior lecturer in primary care at the University of East Anglia, who led the study, said: "One of the conditions that came out worst was osteoarthritis, where we asked people if they'd received basic advice such as doing exercises to control the condition, and whether they had effective pain relief."

The research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that the quality of healthcare for people with common health conditions "varied substantially by condition".

Scores on the quality of care ranged from 83% for heart disease to 29 per cent for osteoarthritis.

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "These figures show that age discrimination within the NHS is still rife. The system is therefore clearly failing thousands of older people."

The study, which involved 8,688 people, examined 13 different health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, depression and osteoarthritis.

The researchers found that substantially more care was provided for general medical conditions 74 per cent than for geriatric conditions 57 per cent.

Kate Jopling, head of public affairs at Help the Aged, said: "These depressing results show that when it comes to healthcare, all too often older people and the conditions that affect them come far down the pecking order. Yet again, ageism rears its ugly head."

NHS refused £35,000 operation

A mother was forced to spend almost £35,000 on surgery after NHS medics told her they could do nothing to fix her curved spine.
During seven years of ineffective treatment, including physiotherapy, acupuncture and painful nerve-route injections, Marjory Muir, 47, of Wellside Road, Balloch, near Inverness, was never once referred to an expert in adult scoliosis.

When she inquired about surgery to relieve her of the crippling pain in her back, one orthopaedics specialist warned her it was too risky and “no one in the UK will touch you”.

But 18 months after a six-hour operation in London, Mrs Muir, who was 5ft before the surgery, now claims to have grown two inches and dropped two dress sizes around her waist.

She claims her high blood pressure has been controlled, her digestive problems are “vastly improved” and she is no longer in constant pain down the left side of her body.

The human resources director with Tulloch Homes Group now wants to push the Scottish Government to fund a dedicated adult scoliosis expert north of the border.

Mrs Muir believes she is one of at least 100 adult scoliosis sufferers in Scotland, but surgeons expert in the illness in Scotland operate only on children.

The mother-of-one was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis after complaining of back pain to her doctor when she was 25. After having her son eight years ago, her health deteriorated significantly.

“I was scrunched up, I had a hump on my back and my shoulders were down,” Mrs Muir said. It also left her with a constant pain down her left-hand side and severe sciatica in both legs.

In 2006, after years of treatments, her doctors admitted defeat. But she soon discovered adults in other parts of the UK were being offered surgery for the same condition.

In January 2007, London surgeon Stewart Tucker operated on her, de-rotating her rib cage and her spine, and inserting two titanium rods, 15 screws and three hooks. Mrs Muir now has a scar from the nape of her neck to the bottom of her back.

She used her savings to pay for the operation. The surgery itself cost just £3,000 but the anaesthetic cost £1,500, and the hospital costs amounted to £30,000.

Article here

Shock as dead body left in NHS ward for seven hours

The body of a dead patient was left propped up in bed on a hospital ward for more than seven hours, health chiefs have admitted.

Christine Martin said she saw the body while visiting her husband David in Glasgow's Stobhill hospital in June. The patient died at 11am but was not taken away until around 6.15pm.

Even after the dead man's son left the hospital at around 3pm there was a further delay in removing the body.

Mrs Martin said there were curtains around the bed but they were "open sufficiently for me to see this man, whom we had got to know over a period of ten days, lying dead, face uncovered, propped up on white pillows".

The health board said it had apologised to Mr Martin and his wife. A spokesman added: "We have acknowledged to the Martins that, beyond this, there was some delay in the transfer of the patient to the mortuary and steps have already been taken to ensure that this does not happen again."

The dead man's son told BBC Scotland that hospital staff acted with "utter compassion" to his request to see the body on the ward before it was taken to the mortuary.

Lynn McDowall, of the Royal College of Nursing, said the normal practice when someone died on a ward was to use a single room where the deceased could be seen by the family in a dignified manner.

She added: "This case highlights the kind of problems nurses come across, because no nurse would want a deceased patient lying on a ward for seven hours."

Mrs Martin wrote a letter of complaint to the health minister Nicola Sturgeon who said steps had since been taken to improve the procedure for removing dead patients from wards.

She said the issue of "non-clinical aspects of care" was a priority for the health service and there had been "shortcomings" in the Stobhill case.

NHS should not save patients' lives if it costs too much, says watchdog

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Tuesday, 12 August 2008


Patients cannot rely on the NHS to save their lives if the cost of doing so is too great, the Government's medicines watchdog has ruled for the first time.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has said the natural impulse to go to the aid of individuals in trouble – as when vast resources are used to save a sailor lost at sea – should not apply to the NHS.

The disclosure follows last week's controversial decision by Nice to reject four new drugs for kidney cancer even though they have been shown to extend life by five to six months.

Article here

GP's deaf baby girl denied twin ear implants in 'postcode lottery'

Dr Christine Wheatley's 11-month-old daughter Ellie has been denied full treatment because she is not blind as well as deaf.

Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has agreed to pay £33,000 for one cochlear implant but not an extra £18,000 for the second.

Dr Wheatley and husband Ed said the decision would leave Ellie at risk on roads and struggling at school.

Hampshire PCT said it made its decision after studying guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), which issues funding recommendations.

Nice currently only recommends 'bilateral' cochlear implants for deaf people under limited circumstances, such as where someone is also blind.

But some primary care trusts do fund bilateral implants for those who are simply profoundly deaf, said Dr Wheatley, 35, from Winchester, Hants.

She said: "We find it very frustrating knowing others families in identical situations have had their bilateral operations.

"Ellie has undergone nine months of assessments and the clinicians at the Cochlear Implant Centre in Southampton support bilateral implants for her.

"I believe the PCT only considered the extra cost of a second implant, not how much less her education will cost if she has both ears operated on now.

"We believe that morally Ellie should have the operation on the NHS."

article here

C Diff linked to 300 NHS deaths in six months

The hospital bug Clostridium Difficile caused or contributed to nearly 300 deaths in Scotland in six months, an unprecedented investigation revealed yesterday.

The devastating toll the infection is taking on Scottish hospital wards was revealed at the same time as a highly critical report into a deadly outbreak of the bug the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire was published.

Charges could now be considered against health board NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, as the review of practices at the Vale has been passed to the area procurator-fiscal to consider if further action should be taken.

Between December last year and June 2008, 55 patients were diagnosed with C Diff infections at the Vale. Nine of these died as a direct result of the bug and it was a factor in a further nine deaths.

article here

Hospitals 'infested with vermin'

The cleanliness of most NHS hospitals in England is threatened by frequent invasions of rats, fleas, bedbugs, flies and cockroaches, a report claims.

Figures released by the Conservatives show that 70% of NHS Trusts brought in the pest controllers at least 50 times over a two-year period.

Vermin were found in wards, clinics and even operating theatres. A patients' group said the situation was revolting.

But health chiefs played down fears the infestations could lead to disease.

The figures were obtained by the Conservatives under the Freedom of Information Act, with every hospital asked to reveal how often pest controllers had visited between January 2006 and March this year.

One had wasps in a neo-natal unit, and flying ants on the main wards, while another reported rats in their maternity unit, and wasps in operating theatres.

A children's A&E was infested with flies, and main wards were also home to mice, silverfish, biting insects and beetles.

Other common problems included bedbugs, fleas and cockroaches.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Labour have said over and over that they will improve cleanliness in our hospitals, but these figures clearly show that they are failing."

Both the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) were sceptical of suggestions by the Conservatives that the presence of insect infestations could help spread infections among patients.

article here

'NHS is leaving patients to die'

Kidney cancer patient Clive Stone has begged Health Secretary Alan Johnson to step in and halt the 'postcode lottery' over a life-extending drug.

Mr Stone, from Freeland, near Witney, sent a letter to Mr Johnson about the refusal of Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust to give the drug Sunitinib to 20 patients, and asked the Government to intervene.

He sent it on July 16 and is disappointed he has not yet received a reply, saying cancer victims deserve quick action because they do not have a lot of time.

The letter was also copied to Witney MP David Cameron who sent Mr Stone an email acknowledging receipt.

The 60-year-old is campaigning on behalf of all the people in Oxfordshire who have been denied the drug Sunitinib by the Trust.

Mr Stone, chairman of the cancer support group FROG (Friends of Renal Oncology Group), said: "I am disappointed I have not yet received a reply from Alan Johnson. I sent him a personal letter on behalf of all the victims of this postcode lottery, urging him to intervene.

"Half the Government is on holiday, meanwhile nothing has been done and we are being left here to die.

"I have been a fighter all my life, but there are some older people in the same position who don't know where to turn. The nurses and doctors who I have seen have been fantastic but their hands are tied."

Oxfordshire PCT has declined to start funding the drug ahead of its approval next year by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. To date, 20 patients have been denied the drug by the PCT.

Mr Stone was diagnosed with kidney cancer last year and had a kidney removed, but the disease spread to his lungs.


Read the rest of the article here.

Blind, immobilised, diabetic - but the NHS doesn't care

Eileen Puc has lived in a nursing home in Cardiff for the past three years after a stroke - her second - left her immobile, doubly incontinent, and only able to eat puréed food. Eileen has severe diabetes and needs four insulin injections a day. She is also registered blind. Her family is fighting to prove that she has 'health needs' to qualify for fully funded NHS continuing care to cover the £1,825 that the home charges every month.

'My question is: how ill do you have to be to qualify for NHS funding?' asks her 58-year-old brother-in-law, Vivien Roberts. 'We don't know the answer to that. If Eileen doesn't qualify, you're left thinking: who would?'

Following an admission to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in June 2005, the family was told that Eileen could not go home because she needed 24-hour nursing care and that, because of her savings, she would have to pay her own way. Her husband of 55 years, Ivan, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease six years ago and has moved into Eileen's nursing home, where they share a room.

As of this month, Eileen has paid £61,000 in nursing home fees and the couple have been forced to sell their Bridgend house for £150,000 to fund it.

The family argue that her costs should have been covered by the NHS from the first day. In 2006, they asked Cardiff local health board to determine eligibility for funding. It said that she wasn't eligible, despite characterising her condition as 'unpredictable, unstable, complex and presenting risk of harm'.

That decision went to the board's appeal panel, which ruled that, although Eileen had unstable blood sugar and was, consequently, dependent on nursing staff, the NHS wasn't responsible for her care fees. A complaint was then made to Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, who described the decision as 'seriously flawed'.

'If nursing homes did not exist, the only place where the couple would be is the hospital,' says Vivien. He and his wife make the 50-mile round trip to see Eileen and Ivan at Nazareth nursing home in Cardiff every week. He points out that Ivan, who is 86 years old, also has serious health needs. 'They both worked all their lives and paid taxes and yet the NHS isn't there for them when they most need it,' he says. He believes his sister-in-law's health condition is clearly worse than those of people who have previously persuaded the courts in test cases of their needs.

Read the rest of the article here

Is the law bleeding the NHS to death?

Coming out of hospital with an injured finger could earn you £75,000. The NHS may have to cough up £9 billion in lawsuits. Is compensation culture killing our health service?

For Dr Spencer at his Norfolk surgery, the whoops-a-daisy moment came when he dosed a woman with bismuth. Startled by her dyspeptic response, and eager to reassure her increasingly agitated husband, he swallowed a spoonful of the stuff himself. “See? Perfectly safe!”

Two things then happened: Dr Spencer vomited, fell down and lay writhing on the floor. His patient died.

The explanation was simple. As the doctor explained to the coroner, bismuth and strychnine look remarkably similar in the bottle and, well, mistakes do happen. At the subsequent trial for manslaughter, Mr Justice Willes agreed. A simple blunder, he said, was not in itself a criminal act. To secure a conviction, the crown would have to prove that the doctor’s medicines were in such chaotic disorder that it was impossible for him to know which was which. Not guilty, said the jury.


Read the full article here

Superbug hospital escapes criminal charges

Clostridium difficile contributed to the deaths of the patients over two-and-a-half years at three Kent hospitals a health watchdog report found.

Appalling standards of care, crowded wards, financial problems, a shortage of nurses and poor hygiene all led to the outbreak the Healthcare Commission found in a highly critical report in October.

However after studying that report, Kent Police and the Health and Safety Executive said there would be no charges over the deaths at hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust.

Assistant Chief Constable Allyn Thomas said: "Whilst the report makes for grim and at times distressing reading, our review has not identified any information that would indicate a need or duty to conduct a criminal investigation into the Trust at this time."

Relatives of those who died in the outbreak reacted angrily to the announcement.

The article can be seen here

Cancer-test blunder for 70 men

UP to 70 men may have been misdiagnosed in a prostate cancer scandal at a West Wales hospital.

It is feared that the men were either wrongly given the all-clear when they did have prostate cancer, or have undergone unnecessary treatment for a disease they never had.

A legal firm today revealed it is representing one man who was wrongly given the all-clear by the former Carmarthenshire NHS Trust. The 58-year-old from Llanelli has since been diagnosed with the disease and is still waiting for his treatment to start.

The trust, which has now become part of the new Hywel Dda NHS Trust, was forced to review more than 500 men’s prostate cancer tests earlier this year.

Fears about the scale of the Carmarthenshire cancer scandal comes as it emerged that more than 30 patients at Hereford County Hospital had also been misdiagnosed following mistakes reading tissue samples.

Tim Deeming, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, told the Western Mail he had been instructed to act on behalf of a patient who has been affected by the Carmarthenshire mix-up.

He said: “I know of two patients who have been misdiagnosed and expect to hear from others, as these incidents are, in all likelihood, just the tip of the iceberg.

“It is our understanding that of the 500 reviews carried out by Carmarthenshire NHS Trust up to 70 patients may have been given the wrong diagnosis.

Read the article here

Consultant suspended after 17 patients with cancer wrongly get the all-clear

Seventeen cancer patients were wrongly given the all clear by a hospital after test results were misinterpreted, it was revealed yesterday.

The men and women may have missed out on months of potentially life-saving treatment because of the blunders at Hereford County Hospital.

In some cases the delay could have been more than two years. They have now received the devastating news that their initial diagnosis was wrong and have begun treatment.

In addition 14 people were told they had cancer when they did not. Some may have needlessly undergone debilitating treatment.

The scandal came to light after concerns were raised about a consultant who examined tissue samples at the hospital.

Six months ago a review of his work between May 2006 and August 2007 was started, and is now complete.

The consultant, who has not been named, has been suspended and is facing disciplinary action. Legal experts said the hospital may be sued by patients.

Paul Keetch, Liberal Democrat MP for Hereford, has sent a letter to Health Secretary Alan Johnson asking him to ensure resources are made available for treating the wrongly diagnosed patients.

Mr Keetch said: 'These people have not just been failed by Hereford, they have been failed by the NHS.

The article can be seen here

The Hospital Revolution: Doctors Reveal the Crisis Engulfing Britain's Health Service

A BLUE, green and red striped tie is an unlikely totem of rebellion. A growing trend across the country, doctors are officially banned from wearing ties in North Devon District Hospital over fears they spread a deadly superbug.

But orders from above seldom sit well with John Riddington Young, a consultant surgeon with a maverick streak. When he mentions the edict, the tie-wearing 60-year-old with a wraparound moustache grimaces and pulls a pose. Arms outstretched, palms up, it is the picture of complete bemusement.

This may seem trivial, but his exasperation with the outlawed tie extends to the entire National Health Service. Mr Riddington Young, an ear, nose and throat specialist-turned-whistleblower at the Barnstaple hospital, is the co-author of a new book that “presents a vital exposé of the crisis at the heart of the NHS”.

The Hospital Revolution, as it is called, is dynamite. One of the three authors, another consultant surgeon, chose to remain anonymous. “A lot of my colleagues who work in the health service think I'm putting myself in great danger,” says Mr Riddington Young in an ay-up brogue faithful to his Sheffield upbringing.

Having read the book, you can understand their concern for him. The back-page blurb sets out its argument: “The NHS is very sick. Possibly terminally ill.” Over 242 pages, the doctors launch a remorseless attack on NHS managers and targets. It is the administrators, or the loathed “Stasi” (nicknamed after the former East Germany's secret police), that have precipitated the grindingly low morale among hospital workers, from kitchen staff to surgeons.

The management system is a “cancerous growth”, it says.

How so? (read the rest of the article here)

More spent on food for prisoners than for NHS patients

Police are given £12 a day for each inmate held at a police station, the Ministry of Justice has admitted. This is six times more than is given to primary schools to feed each child and more than the sum of £8.49 for a hospital patient and £2.69 for a soldier in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Justice said that more than £600,000 is being spent each year on feeding inmates held in police stations due to a lack of prison places.

In 2006-07, convicted prisoners spent a total of 61,000 days in police cells under 'Operation Safeguard', the scheme brought in by John Reid, the former Home Secretary when the prisons system reached maximum capacity in 2006. It costs a total of £385 to keep a prisoner in a police cell for a night.

The situation was described as "a disgrace" by the Conservatives.

The Shadow Police Reform Minister, David Ruffley, said: "Once again money that should be spent fighting and reducing crime is being wasted. Taxpayers will be appalled at this profligacy.

"This problem has only arisen because of complete mismanagement of our prison system resulting in severe overcrowding.

"The Government's incompetence means our police are spending more time as prison jailers and less time as crime fighters."

In a written answer to the House of Commons, Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, said: "The difference arises because food in prison can be planned with much greater certainty and prison establishments are able to make use of bulk purchasing."

link to article

PATIENTS WIN FIGHT TO BE GIVEN SIGHT-SAVING DRUG

Now campaigners hope it will signal the end of a scandalous NHS postcode lottery that is allowing thousands of people to go blind.

Jubilant pensioners Raymond Liggins, Jean Middleton and Patricia Meadows, who claimed health chiefs acted ­illegally, are now entitled to the drug Lucentis.

An out-of-court agreement was reached between the manufacturers and the pensioners’ health trust.

Mr Liggins, 76, had to pay £10,000 from his life savings after Warwick­shire NHS Primary Care Trust refused to fund his ­prescription for the drug.

He could not afford further treatment and feared he would not be able to continue acting as a carer for wife Olive, 72, who has suffered a stroke.

Mr Liggins, from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, said: “I’m over the moon – I can’t stop smiling. This result means all the world to me and Olive. It has been one of the most stressful times we have had to go through and we’re so relieved it’s over.

“We can now start making plans for the future. It’s an absolutely ­fantastic result and wonderful for everyone who didn’t think they had a chance of getting treatment.”

The drug is available on the NHS in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but only in parts of England.

The patients all suffer from wet age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of sight loss in Britain. Each year 26,000 ­people in the UK develop the ­condition.

The rest of the article can be found here

Thousands of heart patients could be denied life-saving NHS stents treatment 'due to cost'

Thousands of heart patients could be denied life-saving treatment because the NHS believes it is too expensive.

The decision to restrict drug-coated stents - special tubes which are fitted into arteries to prevent them from narrowing - to all but the most at-risk patients could put lives in danger, critics warned.

Around 40,000 people a year are fitted with the devices, known as 'drug-eluting stents' or DES, which are more expensive than traditional 'bare metal' varieties.

But they are more effective at keeping people out of hospital and make it less likely that people will have to undergo dangerous heart bypass operations.

The NHS rationing body, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, admitted that DES are much more effective in preventing the re-narrowing of arteries than bare metal stents.

Despite this, their final guidance said DES should only be given to patients deemed to be the most seriously at risk of heart attacks.

The manufacturers of the stents - dubbed 'magic bullets' - said thousands of patients would lose out. The companies are now considering whether to launch a judicial review against the decision.

The rest of the article can be found here

NHS doctors, Gerry and Kate McCann guilty of neglect: Public Ministry believe Madeleine died in their apartment and abduction was staged

NHS doctors, Gerry and Kate McCann guilty of child neglect, at the very least, yet free to continue working in the NHS: The Portuguese Public Ministry believe Madeleine died in their apartment, her body concealed, and abduction was staged - thereby making their Find Madeleine fund fraudulent.

Details, with evidence, can be found here

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Rhyl heart pensioner's 160-mile hospital hell

A PENSIONER with a serious heart complaint was bundled into a taxi and taken over 160 miles to a hospital in Leicester for major surgery.

Father-of-two Peter Jones, 76, travelled for over four hours in his dressing gown and slippers with a non-medically trained driver and an oxygen tank packed away in the boot.

He had already contracted MRSA during his 11-day stay at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.

Medics at the Bodelwyddan hospital said no ambulance was available and refused to let Mr Jones’ family transport him to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. Instead he was taken by private hire taxi – officials later admitted that they had “misjudged” Mr Jones’ needs. But months on and the family are still waiting for an apology.

The former Rhyl FC player was struck down by a heart attack on Christmas Day. Since then he has battled for a life-saving operation because health bosses in Wales refused to stump up £10,000.

The former Glyndwr High School caretaker suffers from aortic valve stenosis – a narrowing of a heart valve which can lead to chest pain and severe breathing problems.

After a postcode lottery row, the Health Commission Wales finally agreed to pay for Mr Jones to have a new heart valve inserted through his groin in England. It was 85 days before he was discharged because he had to have open heart surgery.

“It was a shock when I found myself travelling to Leicester in a private hire taxi rather than an ambulance,” said Mr Jones.

“I was told I was only going to be in there for seven days but there were complications during surgery and I ended up there for three months.

“I don’t remember consenting to being taken by taxi but I feel it is unfair to expect any kind of sense from a 76-year-old seriously ill patient in desperate need of heart surgery.”

He added: “My painful recollection is of the journey taking between four and five hours with no toilet break.

“I could have travelled in comfort with my family who were also making their way to Leicester.”

A internal investigation was launched after Mr Jones enlisted the help of Vale of Clwyd AM Ann Jones.

The Daily Post exposed his plight earlier this year after he was denied vital treatment despite it being available on the NHS.

In a letter to Ms Jones, Jill Galvani, executive director of nursing, said it is “unclear” how Mr Jones’ travel arrangements were altered despite a request for a technical crew and ambulance.

She said that the trust could not provide an ambulance on that day but admitted the taxi was “not a suitable” mode of transport.

The letter said: “It was inappropriate for Mr Jones to travel this distance in a taxi in his pyjamas and dressing gown.”

But Mr Jones added: “To this day, I don’t know what is going on with the investigation.

“Nobody has written to me personally and apologised.”

A North Wales NHS Trust spokesman last night said there were questions still to be answered.

“Clearly this did not go as well as it should have done, but hospital staff seem to have been faced with a difficult situation whereby this man needed emergency surgery and they seem to have used revised judgement.

“There are lessons to be learnt from this and we apologise to Mr Jones for suffering an ordeal he should not have had to go through.”

Jul 18 2008 by Kelly Fenna, Daily Post

NHS 'scandal' of bonuses for bosses as ward staff face axe

Exclusive Mike Waites Health Correspondent

BUREAUCRATS at a Yorkshire health authority have been awarded performance bonuses worth £260,000 as front-line NHS staff face redundancy in drastic cuts to save cash, the Yorkshire Post can reveal today.
Angry union chiefs and MPs condemned awards to all 90 staff at the former West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority (SHA).
The payouts come as 93 workers including nurses and midwives at four hospitals in the area were given 30 days' notice yesterday.
Staff at the health authority were given a "team reward" set at 7.83 per cent of annual pay for 2005-6, according to a document leaked to the Yorkshire Post.
Top managers picked up as much as £9,000 from the bonus, which was made after the NHS in West Yorkshire met key performance standards.
It has caused fury among other NHS staff at a time when the health service faces financial crisis. This has been further fuelled as none of the authority's staff worked on the front line and made no direct contribution to achieving targets on waiting times, access to GPs, cutting numbers of smokers or reducing levels of the superbug MRSA.
Yesterday the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust told 93 staff at Pinderfields and Clayton hospitals in Wakefield, Pontefract General Infirmary and Dewsbury and District Hospital they faced redundancy unless they could be redeployed. The trust faces huge financial difficulties with accumulated debts of £55m.
Last night Adrian O'Malley, of the union Unison at the Mid Yorkshire trust, branded the awards "scandalous" and vowed to fight compulsory redundancies.
"I've just had five A&E staff nurses in tears because their jobs are at risk," he said.
"It's scandalous NHS money is being squandered like this. The health authority is the one which is forcing trusts like ours to make these cuts. It's absolutely disgusting."
Local Labour MP Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) said: "The health service must get its priorities right and protect staff in the front line like doctors and nurses.
"It's cannot be right that when people are being made redundant others are receiving large bonuses."
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said the awards were "bizarre".
"Most people would find it quite offensive that those people who have been delivering on the front line are getting redundancy notices while bureaucrats at the centre are cracking open the champagne," he said.
Peter Hanley, who supports patients at the regional spinal injuries centre at Pinderfields, said he feared losses of experienced staff put services "in real danger of collapse".
He said: "As an ex-patient I am deeply concerned that the trust's reaction to short-term financial pressures will have a serious effect on patient safety."
Official figures show the West Yorkshire SHA spent £3.3m on pay in 2005-6. The "team reward" of 7.83 per cent amounts to £260,000.
The organisation merged last month with two other health authorities where staff did not receive bonuses.
Last night a spokeswoman for the new Yorkshire and the Humber SHA said the bonus scheme was written into staff contracts when the authority was set up in 2002.
Final levels had been approved each year after a "rigorous" checking procedure by its remuneration committee which did not benefit.
West Yorkshire ended the financial year in balance, she added.
John Parkes, chief executive at the Mid Yorkshire trust, said it needed to reduce the pay bill by £18m – equivalent to around 450 fewer posts – to get finances in order.
Following reviews, 90 staff had been told their posts were at risk but redundancies would be a "last resort".
"The reviews looked at ways to safely deliver patient care with a reduced wage bill and make our services more efficient," he said.
There were a significant number of posts available to staff affected, he added.
mike.waites@ypn.co.uk

Appeal over blindness drug: "It's morally wrong to let people go blind when there are treatments available"

Three pensioners are at London's high court today in a bid to force their primary care trust (PCT) to provide sight-saving treatment.

All three suffer wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the most common cause of sight loss in the UK - and want to be treated with anti-VEGF drugs, namely Lucentis.

This drug is available in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but national guidelines for Lucentis provision in England have yet to be finalised and it is up to PCTs to decide whether to give the treatment.

As such in England about half of PCTs offer the drug for people with wet AMD.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) claims Warwickshire PCT, which has an 'exceptional cases' policy, has denied over 50 patients funding for Lucentis.

It is three of these patients who are at the high court today and tomorrow in a bid to force Warwick PCT to provide the drug.

Lawyers for Raymond Liggins, 76, from Nuneaton; Jean Middleton, 78, from Kingsbury; and Patricia Meadows, 65, from Stratford-upon-Avon, claim that Warwickshire PCT's exceptionality policy is unlawful in that it is effectively a blanket ban on funding anti-VEGF treatments.

Mr Liggins, 76, who cares for his wife Olive after she had a stroke, said he is afraid he will not be able to look after her if he loses his sight.

"It's morally wrong to let people go blind when there are treatments available," he said.

"Olive depends on me so how can I care for her if I go blind? If I lived with my son in Scotland I'd get my treatment free on the NHS. So why is Warwickshire PCT forcing me to fight for my sight?"

78-year-old Jean Middleton commented: "There's not much time left to save my sight and I know there are many more people in Warwickshire facing the same fate. The situation is desperate."

Their case is being backed by the RNIB. It hopes this case will force Warwickshire PCT to change its policy and treat the three pensioners and other patients in Warwickshire, before they go blind.

The charity also hopes the legal action will send a strong signal to other PCTs across the country that they should not wait for final guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, expected later this year, to save the sight of patients in their care.

RNIB's head of campaigns, Steve Winyard, said: "It's a national scandal that pensioners are being forced into such a vulnerable position by a postcode lottery."

A verdict on the case is expected next week.


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NHS 'failing' multiple sclerosis patients

A report published by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the MS Trust states the NHS is failing people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

The report identified that the estimated 85,000 people in the UK with MS are subject to a "postcode lottery", with access to basic services - including pain relief - a matter of geographical location.

The NHS is still failing to implement 2003 National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on the management of the condition.

An audit of services revealed that only 36% of people with MS had access to neurological rehabilitation facilities and long delays mean 50% of patients are waiting more than 20 weeks to be diagnosed after a GP referral.

Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the MS Society said: "It's vital that health services are held to account and this latest audit confirms what our 40,000 members tell us - people with MS need access to more and better care.

"The NICE guideline sets out a laudable range of care and support on paper but it needs to be backed up in practice."

link

NHS patients will have right to free medical treatment in Europe

NHS patients will be given the right to free medical treatment anywhere in Europe under a new blueprint for "health tourism".

The move, which will apply to all European union members, is designed to give patients greater freedom and ease congestion in countries that have long waiting lists for operations.

Previously, patients who chose to pay for better or quicker treatment abroad had to mount legal action to make the NHS reimburse them.

But an EU directive on cross-border healthcare, to be published on Wednesday, will let patients shop around freely in all 27 member states.

It means British patients would have the right to seek any treatment offered by the NHS, such as cancer care or hip replacements, anywhere which could provide it more quickly.

Patients would have to pay upfront where they were treated, but as long as the cost was lower than in the NHS, they could reclaim it in full.

A European Commission spokesman said: "In the week the NHS marks its 60th anniversary, the European Commission will publish draft legislation on the application of patient's rights in cross-border healthcare.

"The proposal will clarify and promote the right of patients to get healthcare treatment in another EU country, as well as provide a basis for increased cooperation between EU healthcare systems."

The attraction for British patients is clear as although waiting lists have fallen under Labour, they are still longer in many other countries.

NHS hospitals also have a higher incidence of superbugs and poorer survival rates for many conditions, including some cancers, than their foreign counterparts.

Experts have predicted that these reasons mean it is unlikely there will be an influx of foreigners to the NHS.

The plan could threaten the stability of NHS finances, however, as the health service will lose revenue to hospitals overseas.

There is also serious concern about Britons living abroad charging the NHS for all their medical care. Currently, many rely on private medical insurance to cover local treatment.

Under the draft proposals the NHS would be obliged to fund all overseas outpatient treatment - such as scans and minor operations - even where patients do not seek authorisation beforehand.

But Health Secretary Alan Johnson is fighting for the right to make patients obtain NHS permission in advance for major operations.

The health department said: 'We are absolutely committed to ensuring that the NHS retains the ability to decide what care it will fund.'

Doctors' leaders said the move would encourage the NHS to improve standards, but warned that "health tourism" would most likely only appeal to the wealthy and well-educated.

Dr Terry John, chairman of the BMA's international committee, said: "Standards of care for people who choose to stay in their home country, or are unable to travel abroad, must be maintained."

In 2006 the European Court of Justice first ruled that British patients who face an "undue delay'' for treatment at home can be reimbursed if doctors agree that treatment abroad is justified because of pain, disability or other pressing medical needs.

That battle was begun by Yvonne Watts, 76, who went to France for a hip replacement in 2002.

Her local health service, Bedford Primary Care Trust, had refused to pay her £4,000 bill.

By Lucy Cockcroft

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Browns Lifeline: Gordon Brown promises to end NHS postcode lottery

Gordon Brown vows to end the NHS postcode lottery (And hopes it will save his skin too) Health shake-up aims to benefit PM..and the nation.

By Nigel Nelson Political Editor Nigel.Nelson@People.Co.Uk

Gordon Brown will tomorrow pledge to end the NHS postcode lottery in a desperate bid to regain public trust.

The PM will announce a health revolution with easier access to life-saving drugs to mark the 60th anniversary of the NHS.

He hopes his plan will take the spotlight off his other woes which deepened yesterday when Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander quit.

The sister of Mr Brown's International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander stood down after failing to declare donations to her leadership campaign. Mr Brown will unveil a new NHS constitution so all patients can get the expensive drugs they need instead of just happening to live in the right health area.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said: "These are seen as a lottery. There are too many variations around access to prescribed drugs.

"The constitution will make it explicit patients have the right to drugs and treatment if clinically appropriate."

Spending on drugs for cancer, heart disease and mental illness are four times higher in some places than others. Northants hospitals spent £132 per head on cancer treatment compared to only £35 in Birmingham.

Coronary patients in Lancs had £173 spent on them compared to £68 in parts of London.

There were court fights when some women were denied £30,000 courses of wonderdrug Herceptin for early stage breast cancer. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence which approves drugs must speed up the process to six months from three years.

And any patients denied them will have a quicker appeals procedure.

Mr Johnson added: "If a decision is taken not to fund a drug then your local NHS will have to explain that to you."

Patients will also get a legal right to decide which hospitals they are treated in after examining a league table of death rates. And from April they will be able to give a verdict on how good their treatment was in post-op questionnaires.

Failing hospitals could get less Government money.

Mr Brown wants to use the NHS revamp as a poll launchpad after the latest puts him 21 points behind the Tories.

There was a humiliating wipeout at the Henley by-election last week with Labour trailing fifth, behind the BNP.

And the PM faces an election battle north of the border after Glasgow East MP David Marshall announced he was quitting because of ill health.

Mr Brown yesterday said he would not face former shadow Home Secretary David Davis in a public debate about loss of freedom under Labour.

(also Sunday Mirror article here)

Woman forced to give birth in hospital corridor after being turned away from two hospitals

A pregnant woman was forced to give birth in a hospital corridor after being turned away from two hospitals when she went into labour.

Humilated new mother Emma Johnson gave birth in a hallway at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

She plans to make an official complaint to NHS bosses after being turned away from two hospitals by staff who claimed there were "no beds available".

Miss Johnson and boyfriend Edward Prior, 23, called at her local hospital - the Royal Sussex in Brighton, after she went into labour at 1.15am on Tuesday, but the couple were told there were no beds.

They then went to Worthing Hosptial - but were again told there was no room, before the unconventional and uncomfortable birth at the Princess Royal - 20 miles away from the couple's Brighton home.

Miss Johnson said today : "I feel really cross about it.

"We could have gone to the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton in about 10 minutes and then we wouldn't have had all this.

"The staff were nice once we arrived but this shouldn't have happened in the first place.

"It was extra stress for me at an already difficult time."

article here

Dying to protect the NHS: a political perversion of healthcare

The title of this posting refers to a funding controversy causing outrage amongst patients, doctors, and other health care professionals in the United Kingdom: namely the decision by the government to deny free National Health Service (NHS) treatment to any patient, in England or Wales, who decides to pay for life-prolonging cancer treatment that the NHS does not provide on the grounds of cost.At first glance my starting point might seem like a parochial concern but, in reality, the experiences of the human beings at the heart of this life-and-death drama- whereby the rights and interests of those affected by illness are, for all practical purposes, at the mercy of self-interested politicians- are shared by people around the world, and in many different health care settings. So forgive me as I summarise- for non-UK readers- the background to this sad perversion of the NHS’s founding principles.

Complete article here

13 Jun, 08 by Deborah Kirklin

NHS scandal: dying cancer victim was forced to pay

A woman dying of cancer was denied free National Health Service treatment in her final months because she had paid privately for a drug to try to prolong her life.

Linda O’Boyle was told that as she had paid for private treatment she was banned from free NHS care.

She is believed to have been the first patient to die after fighting for the right to top up NHS treatment with a privately purchased cancer medicine that the health service refused to provide.

News of her death at the age of 64 has emerged as six other patients launch a legal action to trigger a test case that they hope would force the NHS to allow them to top up their care with private drugs.

Three of the cases, involving women suffering from liver and bowel cancer, are expected to prompt a judicial review of the government’s ban on “co-payment”, as the buying of private treatment while under NHS care is called.

Some cancer drugs not yet available on the NHS can markedly increase the chance of survival. But Alan Johnson, the health secretary, claims that co-payment would create a two-tier NHS, with preferential treatment for patients who could afford the extra drugs. Last year he issued guidance to NHS trusts ordering them not to permit patients to pay for additional medicines.

This weekend Brian, O’Boyle’s husband, said he was appalled by the way she was treated. He recalled his wife as a woman with an infectious laugh who had given a lifetime of service to the NHS as an assistant occupational therapist. The couple, who had three sons and four grandchildren, lived in Billericay, Essex.

After she developed bowel cancer and began having chemotherapy, doctors told her she should boost her chances of fighting the disease by adding another drug, cetuximab. It is not routinely funded by the NHS.

When she decided to use her savings to pay for it, Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust withdrew her free treatment, including the chemotherapy drug she was receiving.

The trust said yesterday: “A patient can choose whether to continue with the treatment available under the NHS or opt to go privately for a different treatment regime. It is explained to the patient that they can either have their treatment under the NHS or privately, but not both in parallel.”

Brian O’Boyle, 74, who worked as an NHS manager for 30 years running rehabilitation services for the mentally ill, said: “We were happy to pay for this drug, cetuximab, and to give the health service what it cost to buy it and deliver the treatment, but they said they couldn’t do that. That is appalling.”

He added: “When she heard there was something that could extend her life, of course my wife jumped at it. Linda was taking lots of other drugs that she had previously been given on the NHS but \ we had to pay for all of them.

“It was stressful enough for Linda having cancer without her having all this stress on top of it.”

He has the backing of John Baron, the local Conservative MP and a former shadow health minister. “The NHS was very wrong to deny care and treatment to Linda O’Boyle. She has been penalised by an NHS system that is grossly unfair. This is morally wrong,” Baron said.

link to article

Sarah-Kate Templeton, Health Editor

Dentist and wife jailed for NHS fraud

A DENTIST and his wife who stole more than £37,000 from the NHS by claiming cash for “phantom patients” were beginning jail sentences today .

Newton Johnson, 52, and his practice manager wife Judith, 51, added the names of dead relatives, ex-neighbours and even Varlo, the pet dog of Mr Johnson’s sister Karen Robinson, to their patients’ list. She was astonished to find her Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizsla listed at the Johnsons’ practice in Inkerman Street, Llanelli, under the name Varlo Robinson.

At Swansea Crown Court yesterday the dentist, who falsely tried to blame his sister for the string of thefts, was jailed for 21 months while his wife got 18 months. Both admitted a catalogue of thefts from the NHS.

May 21 2008 by Robin Turner, Western Mail

Link to article here.

How the NHS 'sold' my PLACENTA to a luxury cosmetics firm instead of using it for medical research

An NHS hospital is handing over new mothers' placentas for use in the development of anti-wrinkle skin creams and luxury shampoo, the Daily Mail can reveal today.

The trade, which brought in £5,000 for Poole Hospital in Dorset last year, was condemned by politicians and health experts who said they were worried about the ethics involved.

And yesterday one woman, 39-year-old Donna Norman, told of her outrage when she realised that, following the arrival of her daughter Milly, the afterbirth was given to a biochemical company.

"I was under the impression that my placenta would only be used for vital medical research - not that it may help make some skin cream or shampoo," she said. "I feel violated by what I have been through. It feels like they stole it because it was all done on false pretences. It's from my body. "It's my DNA and I feel like they tricked it from me."

Link to article

By DAN NEWLING

Long-term care: scandal continues as elderly fail to get care they need

Changes to State funding have maintained a postcode lottery which fails the frail.

The changes to the system, which were designed to prevent a postcode lottery for care funding by ensuring that all local authorities were working to the same criteria, have resulted in "the entire care system routinely failing older people and their families", according to charity Age Concern.

Its research shows that when local authorities were required to use the same criteria across the board, around 5,500 extra people should have qualified for continuing care funding – where you have a need which is medical, which qualifies you to have all your care paid for by the NHS. However, in reality far fewer people are now qualifying for care funding, and huge differences still remain in how many people are getting the care paid for depending on where they live.

Link to article by Alison Steed

Asthmatic children 'victims of postcode lottery'

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 8:38PM BST 05/05/2008

Children with asthma are suffering from an NHS postcode lottery, with those in some areas eight times more likely to be taken in to hospital than others, figures show.
In England, asthmatic children in Liverpool were eight times more likely to end up in hospital after an asthma attack than those in Richmond, west London, according to a report by the charity Asthma UK.

Asthmatic children in deprived areas suffer more as they are less likely to take their medication and more likely to live with parents who smoke. The report said 30,000 under-15s were admitted to hospital each year after attacks, yet three quarters of these could have been prevented, saving the NHS £46 million a year.

All that was needed was regular contact with specialists, care plans drawn up by GPs and information on how to prevent attacks, said the charity.

Neil Churchill, the charity's chief executive, said the figures "must act as a wake-up call to health services and governments about the costs and consequences of unnecessary hospital admissions".

'NHS cleanliness not improving'

Patients believe cleanliness levels in NHS hospitals are not improving, the health watchdog has said.

The Healthcare Commission also found wide variations in patients' experience of cleanliness between health trusts in England.

Its patient survey reported "striking" differences between health service trusts on some areas of patient care. The biggest variations came in waiting for admission to hospital, mixed-sex wards, help with eating meals and food quality.

Around 75,000 adult patients were questioned at 165 trusts in the biggest survey of its kind. And for the first time, patients can now compare scores for NHS trusts on topics such as hospital food, cleanliness and levels of privacy.

The results revealed those rating their care as "excellent" went up from 41% in 2006 to 42% last year. Patients also reported slight improvements in how quickly they were admitted to emergency departments.

The best-performing hospital trust rated on how patients saw their overall level of care was The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital Trust in Shropshire. Bottom of table was Ealing Hospital NHS Trust in London.

The survey found the number of patients reporting their hospital was "very clean" fell from 56% in 2002 to 53% in 2007 and has not improved since last year. The best-performing trusts found around 80% of those asked said their room or ward was "very clean".

Fewer than half of patients reported lavatories and bathrooms were very clean. In the best trusts this figure was as high as 81% but in the worst was as low as 22%.

The survey found fewer patients than last year believed doctors and nurses always washed their hands between patients. At the worst performing trust, a quarter of those asked said they thought doctors did not wash their hands after examinations.

Around a quarter of people reported being in a mixed-sex ward when first admitted to hospital, and around a fifth when they moved wards. The figures showed slight improvements compared to last year.

Fury at ambulance cancellation for pacemaker baby

A BABY who became one of the world’s youngest pacemaker patients when he had a device fitted at just five days old was last night battling the superbug MRSA.

Three-month-old Liam King, of Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, was being treated with antibiotics last night in the Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital.

And the baby’s desperately concerned father, 26-year-old DJ Andy King, claimed yesterday an ambulance due to whisk Liam from Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny to Bristol for the MRSA treatment last Friday was cancelled “at the last minute”.

Full article here

NHS ‘postcode lottery’ forces ill man to move

A DESPERATELY-ILL cancer patient is planning to move from North Yorkshire to County Durham to get a drug on the NHS which could prolong his life.

The 51-year-old pipeline engineer - who has asked not to be named but lives in Malton - said he has had to consider moving to his former address, near Bishop Auckland, in an attempt to qualify for treatment with a drug called Tarceva.

It follows a decision by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust to turn down his consultant's application for funding for the £20,000-a-year drug.

The North-East is the only region in England where the NHS will fund Tarceva. The drug is available in Scotland and most of Europe.

But the English drug watchdog, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), recently indicated it is likely to reject the use of Tarceva on the NHS. Nice said the drug was not cost-effective. The drug has prolonged the lives of some patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

By Barry Nelson

Full article here

Cash starved NHS trust puts one nurse in charge of ward

One nurse was left in charge of an entire ward for the bank holiday weekend because an NHS trust was trying to save money, a health has union claimed.
Union leaders said they were considering reporting the trust to the professional standards body for nursing as the ward is supposed to have at least seven nurses.

There were also calls for Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, to intervene as patients fall victim to health service cuts.

The nurse was in sole charge of the 30-bed Kent ward, a mixed general ward, at Bridlington Hospital, East Yorks, over the most recent bank holiday weekend.

Article continues

Up to 5,000 beds facing axe in NHS cancer shake-up

The government plans to close up to 5,000 beds on cancer wards in a reorganisation of the way patients are treated, according to a report by experts in the disease.

Government figures show the National Health Service aims to save up to £500m a year from an “inpatient management programme” that it describes as preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and reducing the length of time patients spend in hospital.

Cancer doctors and health economists say the changes could make better use of money for cancer treatment but accuse the government of hiding the extent of the bed closures from the public.

Read the rest of the story here.

NHS Whistleblower speaks out about the NHS

Senior mental health nurse Karen Reissmann was sacked last year after being found guilty of gross misconduct by Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust for speaking out against NHS cuts. Tom Haines-Doran catches up with her to ask about the latest in the campaign to have her reinstated

Read the interview here

Karen Reismann's campaign can be seen here

How the NHS is letting my father die - by a top hospital consultant

By SARAH ANDERSON
Eye specialist Sarah Anderson works at York Hospital. Her father Ian has been refused Sutent, a new cancer drug, which could provide the only real chance of prolonging his life. Sarah, 40, lives in York with husband, Bill, a computer programmer and their twins, Douglas and Ryan, five.

As an ophthalmologist, I have spent my working life in the NHS. And for all its perceived failings, I have been proud of its fundamental role in our society - to provide equality of care for all.

Of course, I've heard the term postcode lottery but as a doctor I've only ever provided my patients with the best course of treatment available.

So when I've read about people being refused particular drugs simply because of where they lived, I've always believed there must be another reason - even if it wasn't immediately obvious at the time.

I never for a moment thought that a life could be decided by something as arbitrary as one's address.


Read the rest of the story here

Filipino whose wife died after blunder by NHS to be deported

By Jeremy Laurance
Saturday, 10 May 2008


A man whose wife died as a result of an NHS blunder has lost his right to remain in Britain, in what a coroner described yesterday as an "extraordinary" decision.

Arnel Cabrera, 39, came to Britain from the Philippines in 2003 to join his wife, Mayra, a theatre nurse, who worked at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

But a year later, Mrs Cabrera died at the same hospital after she was given an epidural during the birth of the couple's child which was mistakenly injected into her arm. The baby survived.

An inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing and found the NHS trust had been guilty of gross negligence. Now the Home Office has told Mr Cabrera he has failed in his bid to remain in the UK.

David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner who presided over the inquest, said yesterday: "This is extraordinary. In view of the verdict reached at the inquest I find it difficult to appreciate how the Home Office has reached this decision."

In its letter of refusal, the Home Office said Mr Cabrera had "not established a family life with his son in the United Kingdom". It added: "As his son remains in the Philippines there are no insurmountable obstacles to his family life being continued overseas."

Alex Rook, the solicitor who handled Mr Cabrera's immigration case, said: "This is an absolutely dreadful decision. If Arnel's wife had not been killed, the family would be living happily here. I will be writing to the relevant Home Office ministers asking them to reconsider their decision." He added: "His wife is killed by one part of the Government [the NHS], then Arnel is told by another part of the Government that he has to leave."

Mr Rook said Mr Cabrera had taken his son, Zac, to the Philippines to be looked after by family until the inquest and related legal proceedings had concluded in the UK, but it was always his intention to build a future in Britain.

Mr Cabrera's personal injury lawyer, Seamus Edney, also reacted with disgust. "I am staggered by this decision and embarrassed on behalf of our government," he said. "Arnel was permitted to reside in Britain on the basis that his wife was working – but when she is unlawfully killed by gross negligence by the NHS, he is told he is no longer welcome."

In a statement issued before Mr Cabrera lost his right to remain in the UK, he said he hoped the Government would show him "compassion". He added: "I have been unable to return to the Philippines during this difficult period and I desperately miss my young son, Zachary."

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "All applications for leave to enter or remain in the UK are carefully considered on their individual merits."