UK NHS is 'unsafe, undignified, inhuman,' mother had to fill out 23 page form for sick daughter, most days had to wait 5 hrs. for daughter to get treatment. UK gov. thinks regulation is the answer

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6/7/13, "NHS is unsafe and inhuman, says director," UK Telegraph, Tim Ross

"Patients are suffering “unsafe, undignified and inhuman” care on the NHS, one of the health service’s national directors said today."

"The inability of medical staff to share information about a patient’s medical history causes hours of delay for families, said Tim Kelsey.

Mr Kelsey, NHS England’s director for patients and information, said the service must adopt new technology to bring it up to date....Hospitals have been set a deadline to put patients’ records on computers by next January. All communication inside the NHS should be “paperless” by 2018.

Mr Kelsey described to the NHS Confederation conference in Liverpool the “terrible ordeal” of one mother he met whose daughter with learning difficulties needed regular hospital treatment. 

Staff at the accident and emergency department knew her well because she was a nurse but they still had to fill in a 23-page form, which took up to two hours to complete, he said.

The mother then had to wait for up to three hours by her daughter’s bedside for a hoist to lift her out of her wheelchair.

“This lady was waiting sometimes five hours most days just so her daughter could get treated,” said Mr Kelsey, who founded the hospital comparison company, Dr Foster. “We have a health service that doesn’t know who we are. It is unsafe, it is profoundly inconvenient. It is fundamentally an undignified, inhuman approach to customer service.”

Also speaking at the conference, Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, criticised the Government’s “heavy handed” regulatory response to the Stafford Hospital scandal. 

He said: “We are putting our faith in the wrong place if we think regulation is the answer to all of the future challenges of the health and care system.”" Michael Savage


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