NEWS
Disabled or
patients’ contributing
deaths could be avoided – Mencap
The NHS has been accused of causing
to the
deaths of 74 patients with learn- ing disabilities over the last ten years.
A Mencap inquiry blamed poor care, mistakes in hospitals and staff failure to provide adequate treatment.
1,000 social care staff and a total budget of £153m are being trans- ferred from Staffordshire County Council to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent NHS Partnership Trust.
The changes are estimated to save £30m every year and will de- liver more efficient care, both par- ties say, though the local authority will continue to commission and in some cases provide services for those with learning disabilities, mental health services and sub- stance misuse services.
The integration of health and so- cial care is also aimed at making best possible use of hospital and
community beds, reducing de- lays in transferring patients from hospital back to their homes and should mean fewer people being admitted to hospital in a rush.
It should also reduce the use of residential care and increase the amount, quality and safety of care delivered in people’s homes.
The acceleration of health and
social care services around the country is a priority for the Gov- ernment, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
The NHS Confederation said inte- gration is the right way to go, but said that social care must be re-
formed first. Deputy policy direc- tor Jo Webber said: “Integrating care will improve services, par- ticularly for people who are frail and those with long term condi- tions. But it will also involve mak- ing some really difficult decisions as hospital activity is reduced and moved into the community.
“Integration will take a long time to bed down and start improving the quality of care patients receive. Integration will produce more sus- tainable models of care in the long term but many local initiatives could mean new services being run in tandem while old ones are shut, which could be more expen- sive in the short term.”
The health ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has already ruled that four of the cases highlighted were avoidable deaths, and there were serious failings in eight other cases, including patients being denied basic care and medication and the failure to diagnose seri- ous illness in patients with learn- ing disabilities.
Care services minister Paul Burstow said: “We share Men- cap’s concerns that some people with learning disabilities are not receiving the high quality health care that they should expect.”
The charity Mencap is conducting an inquiry to investigate deaths of all patients with learning dis- abilities in five primary care trust areas in South West England to identify where improvements can be made. Recommendations will be made to ministers in 2013.
Missed appointment charges proposed
A 13-month public inquiry into the poor standards at Stafford Hospi- tal drew to a close in December with over a million pages of evi- dence having been taken.
The inquiry into standards at
Mid Staffordshire NHS Founda- tion Trust, which cost over £10m, ended with severe criticism of the NHS for not realising earlier what was happening at the hospital, and then failing to take action against.
As many as 1,200 more patients died there between 2005 and 2009 than would have been ex- pected at a similar hospital, often after suffering neglect, indignity,
and poor care, while understaff- ing meant the hospital’s A&E unit often posed a risk to patients’ safety.
The inquiry heard that reception- ists were assessing emergency cases, patients were dying after falling when they were left unat- tended, and some of the sick were denied food and drink.
Hospital management did little to rectify the situation, and staff were deemed uncaring and uncompas- sionate. Tom Kark QC, counsel to the inquiry, said there was “a lack of appreciation that their actions and delays had a real effect upon patients” among staff.
The inquiry was the seventh to ex- amine events at Stafford Hospital between 2005 and 2009, four of which were instigated by the Gov- ernment. It concluded that more should have been done earlier by the DH, the CQC and the NHS West Midlands strategic health authority.
Concerns have been raised about the quality, competence and hu- manity of NHS staff and the NHS complaints system has been shown to be ineffective. The in- quiry has also resulted in calls for NHS staff to be put under a legal “duty of candour” about errors and for hospitals to be prosecuted for safety lapses.
Patients who fail to turn up for hospital appointments should be charged, a coalition advisor has suggested. Missed appointments cost the NHS up to £800m each year. Last year 6.9 million outpa- tients missed appointments and additional money has been wast- ed trying to track down patients and to rearrange bookings.
Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk and chief political adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, made the suggestion to the Sunday Express newspa- per. In the past it has been consid- ered politically unacceptable, but with greater public understanding of the squeeze on NHS funding, there are suggestions that it could be an idea whose time has come.
national health executive Jan/Feb 12 | 11
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