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Subscribe to RSSBritons were horrified by a report released on Tuesday that documented "truly dreadful" care at an English hospital, from patients left moaning in their own waste to family members forced to bring in food.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would press for a culture change in his country's treasured National Health Service to give patients a bigger say in their care-- and he’ll get American help to do it.
The report says patients were ignored as they pleaded for clean sheets and even water, and it says certainly thousands died from the neglect. Britons, who take huge pride in their health service, were shocked by the findings of the report.
"Many will find it difficult to believe that all this could occur in an NHS hospital," Cameron said Tuesday.
While it was just one hospital – in the central English town of Staffordshire – Cameron said he couldn’t believe the problems were restricted to a single facility.
“What happened at The Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between 2005 and 2009 was not just wrong, it was truly dreadful. Hundreds of people suffered from the most appalling neglect and mistreatment,” Cameron said.
“Calls for help to use the bathroom were ignored and patients were left lying in soiled sheeting and sitting on commodes for hours, often feeling ashamed and afraid,” reads the report, written by lawyer Robert Francis.
“Patients were left unwashed, at times for up to a month. Food and drinks were left out of the reach of patients and many were forced to rely on family members for help with feeding,” added Francis, who was appointed to investigate the hospital in 2009 after it showed a higher-than-usual rate of deaths.
Francis said it would not be possible to say just how many patients died from the neglect and poor conditions. Many British newspapers ran lurid accounts of conditions at the hospital, but Francis said he couldn't document some of them, such as reports about thirsty patients drinking from flower vases.
“The inquiry found that a chronic shortage of staff, particularly nursing staff, was largely responsible for the substandard care,” he added. “Staff who spoke out felt ignored and there is strong evidence that many were deterred from doing so through fear and bullying.”
Cameron said he would get help from an American – Dr. Donald Berwick, who was appointed President Barack Obama’s administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but who finally stepped down after Republicans in Congress refused to confirm his appointment. Many Republicans were infuriated by Berwick’s praise of Britain’s NHS.
Berwick, an expert in healthcare quality, is now at the left-leaning Center for American Progress. He has recommended changes in quality after a series of reports have shown that anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans die every year from mistakes and neglect in the U.S. healthcare system.
Britain’s National Health Service is such a source of pride that it featured prominently in opening ceremonies for last year’s Olympics. U.S. supporters of healthcare reforms have pointed to its lower costs and to reports that show Britons are healthier than Americans. Critics of Obama’s approach have expressed doubts that Britain’s system works better than the U.S. system.
“I love our NHS, I think it is a fantastic institution, a great organization, it says a great deal about our country and who we are,” Cameron said Tuesday.
The report blamed cost-cutting for many of the problems at the Staffordshire hospital. Britain’s hospitals are run by trusts, which are a type of public corporation, with outside boards.
“Problems at the Trust were exacerbated at the end of 2006/07 when it was required to make a 10 million pound ($16 million) saving,” the report reads. “The Board decided this saving could only be achieved through cutting staffing levels, which were already insufficient.”
Cameron said boards need to be held more responsible for the hospitals they oversee, and patients need a chance to speak up when something goes wrong. But he also blamed Britain’s Department of Health, nursing organizations and doctors for failing to act.
He said there were three problems in the NHS as a whole. “First, a focus on finance and figures at the expense of patient care,” he said. “Second, there was an attitude that patient care was always someone else’s problem….Third, defensiveness and complacency.”
Health experts have identified similar problems at U.S. hospitals. The 2010 Affordable Care Act will gradually change the way hospitals are paid by Medicare and other government health insurance plans, to take patient satisfaction into account. Hospitals will also be penalized if patients get sick again too quickly after they are discharged or if they acquire infections while in the hospital.
John Newland in London contributed to this story
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Coming to a hospital near you! The General Accounting Office (GAO) now estimates that 7-8 million people will lose company-provided health care under Obamacare. That's twice their original estimate. The liberals are OK with that because it will channel them away from the private sector.
Imagine when your nurses are unionized government workers. "I'm on break for another 15 minutes, Hon. Can't you just hold it?"
I hope the Brits get it fixed, Their health care system has worked pretty well in the past.
And in the link below this story on msbnc, there's a news video link that says "All dogs in UK to get microchips".
I think the phrase most applicable here is "screwed-up priorities".
Socialized med, where is fatso moore now to tell us how good the care is in the UK and cuba.. by the way in cuba you bring your own needles, meds, pillows, sheets and blankets. The poor fools that really believe med care in other countries is so great have never been there and experienced it. Why do people come from Canada to have operations in the USA? Why do they come from all over the world here? Think about it.
Gotta love it when the liberals are too stupid to realize that it was the insurance companies that wrote the healthcare legislation in the first place. Oh, the irony.
That is what government run healthcare does. Obama will destroy US medical care.
All of you liberals kept pointing at the UK saying that their healthcare should be a model for the US. well guess what.... just another example of how stupid you are.
That's why I didn't vote for Odumbo.
Something to look forward to here when Obamacare graduates into a single payer system.
Apparently this is where Obama would like us to take our health care also. I think I understand why so many from other countries come here for treatment, especially those with money that is. Personally, I don't know how anyone who even worked at this facility featured could let this happen to humans under their care. Anyone that saw this happening and didn't do anything about it should have a one way ticket to that hot place once they're gone. Idiots, all.
dun't ask u.s. to help solve hospital probs.thieir care is just as lousy as the one in u.k. i know from recent experiences.could write a book.
Obama wants a Banana Republic...and with the backing of a vastly brain-dead electorate, that is indeed what he's getting.
where in the hell is Fiesty??? usually she is the first to comment on these stories. I guess since her liberal views have been disproved again she is hiding under her desk/ or maybe under her bosses desk.
American healthcare is done. Now that will be held liable for 11 MILLION ILLEGALS (and counting) to flood us with Obamacare. We are becoming a third world country fast!
Through the DIN of Right-Wing Screeds that this article is bound to produce, allow me to point out that the same type of neglect has, and does, occur right here in the U.S. - VA hospitals have been targets of many such accusations (justifiably, too), as well as City and private hospitals in the U.S.
I was a hospital patient with a severe abscess infection deep in my abdomen. All the classic symtoms: red bulge, swelling, persistent fever....yet, they insisted nothing was wrong with me, and discharged me with NO treatment. NOT before billing my Blue Cross insurance over $10,000 for TESTS, though. I continued to seek help, and a Family Practitioner cut me open and let the poison out (which was considerable). I had to return 3X a week for 6 weeks, being packed with iodine-soaked gauze, etc. - I very nearly DIED. And THIS hospital was brand-new, with highest possible ratings given to it. To me, they were worthless.
Medical malpractice does not occur because of Socialism. It occurs mostly because of budget cuts and lack of Oversight. And yes - it happens here.
Coming to a hospital in the good ole USA soon.
Is there only 1 hospital in UK? What about all the others. Republicans are all hype no substance. Its like watching the Kardashians.
Paul: We have relatives in the UK and this is not a joke. Sometimes people wait for a year to get surgery and they have a doctor shortage. The rich buy separate insurance and taxes for the National Healthcare are out of control.
My guess, and this is just a stab in the dark, is that this hospital is in a region of less affluence than elsewhere. And while they should *all* get the same healthcare, my guess is that it's not quite true of the system.
So glad my insurance won't be affected by Obamacare....WHEWWWW!
reno19: Don't bet on it.
It's a done deal Believe....government generated....will NOT be affected! This applies to ALL others ONLY! WE are in the SMALL MINORITY!
Ding, Ding, Ding!! It's a little too late to be crying. This wonderful decision has already been made. A family of five will cost $20,000 per year for basic heathcare coverage. But at least anyone can go into any hospital and get treated. Oh! wait we have this already, medicaid. A 27 year old single Male earning $30,000 will pay $248.00 per month in basic health care insurance. If you smoke your insurance will be three times higher. Other than Global Warming, this is the biggest rip off in history. Obama has screwed us Royally. Obamacare doesn't cost less than current care but it keeps better control of us. Hitler would be jealous!
Say Hello to Obamacare.
This should not be a big surprise to anyone. Nationalized Healthcare does not work in the UK, New Zealand or anywhere else. Why would the US think we're going to be any better with a government run healthcare. We all know what's happening to the US Postoffice or even look at the Medicare or Medicad programs in this country. Ther're all going broke. The majority of American's didn't want Obamacare to begin with but it was passed by all the air-headed Democrats in the Senate. Big air-head Nancy Pelosi even said "we have to pass it to know what's in it" they still don't know what's in the 2800 page monstrosity called the Affordable Healthcare Act. What a mess!
Privately run hospitals in the US can be just as bad.
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN...Wizard of OZ. Sounds alot like...WE HAVE TO PASS THE BILL BEFORE WE KNOW WHAT'S IN IT. Trouble is...everyone over 5 years old knew that the Wizard was a phoney. What happened here?
Having worked in the NHS, Australia and currently in the USA I think I can shed some light on how things like this happen. The NHS used to primarily be run by doctors and nurses who put all the money into pt care. In the eighties when the Griffith report came out it basically stated that anybody with management skills (e.g. running a Tesco's) can run a hospital. Big mistake. These non healthcare MBA mangers were put in charge of hospitals. Money was spent on fancy offices and big salaries that normally went to pt care. I used to take pts nighties etc home to wash them or wash them on the ward when I had a spare moment when the pt had no one to help them etc. Suddenly the new managment wanted to charge pt's for this service that we as nurses did for free. The cleaners were put out to contract for the cheapest service when each ward used to have their own cleaner that took great pride in how clean their ward was to the point you could eat off the floor. Now you get what you pay for rising rates of infections and death and nursing units closed down due to noro virus, c diff, mrsa, acinobacter etc, etc.... These "managers" just look at metrics and productivity they do not understand the implications to pt care of their cost cutting measures. Now the trend in the USA is to put RN/MBA's or MD/MBA's as CEO's of hospitals because these healthcare trained people do understand the impact on pt care with reduced budgets that the non healthcare managers did not. All they wanted to do was keep their budgets under control so they make their "bonuses". No one was looking at quality and pt outcomes. This has now changed in America due to CMS (center for medicare/medicaid services) e.g. the US gov saying to the American hospitals we will not pay for pt's who return to inpt care within 30 days of discharge, hospital aquired infections, bedsores, pts who aren't treated with evidence based care (CHF, Diabetes etc). Remember healthcare is a business in the US. Now hosps are hiring nurse practitioners to privide community f/u to the chronic frequent flyer pt's. They have been forced to do the right thing by the US gov. With ACO's (Accountable Care Organisations) just starting they now look at the kind of care you need as a team and are hopefully moving away from the 4 "O"s of American healthcare, Over tested, Over diagnosed, Over treated and finally Overcharged. I think Obama and Cameron need to call me.
You don't have to go to Great Britain to find scary, filthy hospitals. The US is full of them.
Sounds like Deathdale in Edina MN
I am now convinced - more than ever - that we need an NHS system in the USA. Only a bureaucracy powerfl enough to keep patients lying in their own waste will be able to ration care sufficiently to keep the system from going bankrupt. Now THAT is practicing responsible medicine. Bring it on!