The Irish News have been breaking a story on how a 77 year old man was left on a hospital trolley for 22 hours and who sadly passed away without anyone noticing. The man had Motor Neurone Disease, and was totally neglected following his admission to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Reading and listening to the story all day has been heartbreaking, and to read that his partner wasn't even called because staff lost her telephone number is unforgivable. The police had to call at her home to break the news. Speaking to the Irish News, she broke down when describing how he had died without anyone holding his hand.
My father died 13 years ago following a brave battle with Motor Neurone Disease, and when he passed away, he was surrounded by a loving family. The very least this man deserved was to have been afforded a hospital bed, and his loved ones beside him right to the end.
As an MND patient, he most likely would not have had the ability to speak, or move a muscle to indicate that he needed help. Plus, he would not have been able to go to the toilet or feed himself. Just thinking about it has had my blood boiling all day.
What sort of society have we got when we have a health service that is been cut to ribbons and cases like the one above become a regular occurrence? I genuinely feel very sorry for the thousands of health care workers who are trying to do their best, but are restricted by these cuts.
Whoever is in charge needs to take responsibility for this mans neglect, and stand down. Plus, the staff who neglected him and lost his contact details also need to face disciplinary proceedings, and suspended.
I've had big runs ins with the Belfast Trust over the past 2 years concerning the level of care that a close relative has received on 2 occasions in A&E. You have to stay with your relatives, because as sure as hell you are forgotten about as soon as you're put on a trolley [if your super lucky, you may actually get a cubicle].
You simply cannot get anywhere with these people.....they won't investigate complaints properly, they just nod & make sympathetic noises, dropping the hint that you should bog off & mind your own business.
Going into A&E in Belfast is akin to a trip to a third world country - you are seriously lucky to get a bed & get out of there onto a ward in less than 24 hours.
GHD
very much agree with your post, it has had my blood goin since i heard about it.
i think i'd just take back what you're saying "Plus, the staff who neglected him and lost his contact details also need to face disciplinary proceedings, and suspended. "
i'd be almost 100% sure none of the staff on the ground were sitting around having a cup of tea. the staff are low in numbers for the patient numbers comin in and are probably beyond exhaustion.
There is a major major NHS problem here and it is all stemming from the greedy trusts in charge milking £££'s away from those departments that need it the most.
the poor staff trying their hearts out are being destroyed and made to look the guilty party in tragedy's like this.
I dont really know enough about the NHS structures to be honest but its plain to see that A&E restructuring in Belfast is not going to work and some kind of a major overhaul will be required yet again. Management and politicians are failing.
It sounds like the system is rotten at the core - which is the fault of the managers and directors. You have to work of the assumption that the care givers didn't go into the business just to let people die on trollys in the middle of the unit. The whole story is very sad and it suggests that a comprehensive review and overhaul is needed, and needed quickly.
I wouldn't blame the A&E staff. However, savage bed cuts, a failure to discharge incumbents on a timely basis & the closure of BCH A&E all mean that there is usually nowhere to put A&E patients to.
If you get a transfer to another hospital, you can't get an ambulance for love nor money. Sit on your trolley, await transportation & above all, be grateful.
Farmers had their Single Farm Payment Application Form 2012 delivered today. Got mine with 4 pages of "translations" on the instructions, Irish and Ulster Scots. Now who the f**k decided it would be a good idea to deliver this out to 20,000 farmers? Not one person who got the form would have needed Irish or Ulster Scots to get the idea. The whole point is of this rant though is how do we have money for this shit, and money for every MLA expenses but we can't rise the funds for palative care, A+E services or hospital beds?
In the past 2 weeks the wife has been at the funeral of a neighbour who died of cancer that probably could have been operable if the local GP had taken her complaints seriously. The wife's uncle was found to have a malignant brain tumour a few days ago and looks like he has weeks to live. On several occasions over the past lot of months he was sent home from Craigavon A&E as they reckoned he was maybe just getting early onset dementia instead of sending him for a scan. These people are getting paid big bucks to do these jobs and are getting big decisions tragically wrong. If I know of 2 cases in 2 weeks in a small rural area then there must be thousands dying every year due to medical neglect.
Quote from: Lecale2 on March 16, 2012, 10:40:19 PM
Old people die. Irish News stuck for a story.
Crass comment, come back and say that when its your mother or father. Someone once said society should be measured by how we treat our old and i think thats an excellent point.
Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 16, 2012, 11:25:20 PM
Quote from: Lecale2 on March 16, 2012, 10:40:19 PM
Old people die. Irish News stuck for a story.
Crass comment, come back and say that when its your mother or father. Someone once said society should be measured by how we treat our old and i think thats an excellent point.
Someone dies after lying for 20hours on a trolley, how is that not "news"?
Quote from: Lecale2 on March 16, 2012, 10:40:19 PM
Old people die. Irish News stuck for a story.
Considering my father had the same illness as the man who died and is the subject of this thread, I find the above statement to be one of the most insulting and disgraceful things I have read on this board in a very long time.
Yes old people die, but they are not meant to die in A&E alone, after lying on a hospital trolley for 22 hours in a hospital that is regarded as one of the finest in the world.
Hang your head in shame for saying such a thing.
Quote from: mylestheslasher on March 16, 2012, 11:25:20 PM
Quote from: Lecale2 on March 16, 2012, 10:40:19 PM
Old people die. Irish News stuck for a story.
Crass comment, come back and say that when its your mother or father. Someone once said society should be measured by how we treat our old and i think thats an excellent point.
Crass is an understatement one of the most loathe posts i have read on this forum,
Quote from: Fionntamhnach on March 17, 2012, 12:42:41 AM
In terms of funding, I don't think it would do any harm to reintroduce prescription fees north of the border. Reg Empy thought it would cost £13 million per year but it's ended up £31 million because of casual use that was widely exploited with lots of medication wasted and frivolous things like sun cream that can be easily be bought over the counter. Set it at say a standard fee of £5 per prescription, free for children under 16 or still in full time secondary education under 20, and have a nominal charge of £1 or £1.50 for many other users who previously got free prescriptions e.g. unemployed, HC1 certificate holders, those over 65 y/o and so on. It's a small charge that shouldn't put anyone off getting required medication but should let the patient understand not to abuse the scheme. It would help put money back at least a small amount of money back into the health service. Of course though, little of that matters when the problem apparently is deliberate neglect by the staff.
Reg was a f**king bollix. Everyone has money for prescriptions especially considering most of them are not all that expensive anyway.
I bet every single poster here has a cupboard in the house full to the brim with tablets accumulated over the years, never used and never will be. Am I wrong?
I went into hospital with suspected Meninigtis and I waited 6 hours for a health check. NHS staff are very lazy in Belfast, it is nowhere near as bad over in England.
Quote from: trileacman on March 17, 2012, 12:19:18 PM
Quote from: Fionntamhnach on March 17, 2012, 12:42:41 AM
In terms of funding, I don't think it would do any harm to reintroduce prescription fees north of the border. Reg Empy thought it would cost £13 million per year but it's ended up £31 million because of casual use that was widely exploited with lots of medication wasted and frivolous things like sun cream that can be easily be bought over the counter. Set it at say a standard fee of £5 per prescription, free for children under 16 or still in full time secondary education under 20, and have a nominal charge of £1 or £1.50 for many other users who previously got free prescriptions e.g. unemployed, HC1 certificate holders, those over 65 y/o and so on. It's a small charge that shouldn't put anyone off getting required medication but should let the patient understand not to abuse the scheme. It would help put money back at least a small amount of money back into the health service. Of course though, little of that matters when the problem apparently is deliberate neglect by the staff.
Reg was a f**king bollix. Everyone has money for prescriptions especially considering most of them are not all that expensive anyway.
I bet every single poster here has a cupboard in the house full to the brim with tablets accumulated over the years, never used and never will be. Am I wrong?
It was McGimpsey, not Empey, who introduced this. And it had the support of
all the parties at the time. Indeed one of the other parties listed its support for the move as one of its 'key achievements' of the previous term, in its 2011 Manifesto.
But yes, i'd fully support reintroducing prescription fees to fund the service. People put little value on things when they're free. I also thing that GPs played a big part in the free prescription policy costing a lot more than original estimates.
Quote from: Puckoon on March 16, 2012, 08:29:51 PM
It sounds like the system is rotten at the core - which is the fault of the managers and directors. You have to work of the assumption that the care givers didn't go into the business just to let people die on trollys in the middle of the unit. The whole story is very sad and it suggests that a comprehensive review and overhaul is needed, and needed quickly.
Is it really? They have limited funds to distribute - what options do they have? Do you think managers or directors
"go into the business just to let people die on trollys"? Funding for all public services is limited, but it's the politicians who decide how the pie is divided.
My brother works for a company who install medical machines. When he visits hospitals to run tests on the machines, he'll always ask a nurse if there's a room available for him to leave the equipment so as it can run the check over 12 or 24 hrs. They always tell him to leave it in a consultants office as "sure they're never here.
How much do consultants cost the NHS?
I'd believe it'd be the trust managers who're responsible for this