You might expect Ward B47 to be a depressing place.
The majority of patients are aged over 80 and the expectation is that 30 per cent will have passed away after three months.
All have mental health issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s or confusion.
On Saturday, in the first part of an uncompromising investigation into nursing in NHS hospitals, Ros Coward asked why so many nurses seem to have stopped caring for their patients. Today, in the wake of the damning report into Stafford Hospital, she suggests the troubling answer…
Sarah Allen is in her 20s.
After a recent asthma attack, she found herself in an unusual situation when she was admitted to a ward in a large London hospital where the other patients were mainly elderly, and several were suffering from dementia.
There, she was able to see for herself whether the terrible stories of patient neglect in the NHS — which have become so common in recent years — were true.
What she saw shocked her.
My 89-year-old mother has suffered with dementia for the past seven years. Over that time she has been in and out of hospital. Some of her care has been excellent, but some has been shocking.
Once, when she collapsed, she was taken to Kingston Hospital, in South-West London. After a long and stressful evening in A&E, a bed was eventually found for her at midnight.
What a relief, I thought — she was safe and I could go home. As I stooped to whisper goodbye, a nurse shoved something in my face. ‘Sign this,’ she said bluntly. It was a form to absolve the hospital for any loss of my mother’s valuables.
Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2275943/NHS-Why-nurses-stopped-CARING.html
British universities will soon learn exactly how much their individual budgets will be reduced, following cuts to higher education.
But they already know one general consequence of these cuts. There are likely to be over 100,000 disappointed applicants this year.
On top of this startling figure, there are 46,000 disappointed applicants from last year who, despite being rejected from their first choice universities, have the necessary qualifications and are applying again.
Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1258508/UK-taxpayers-funding-EU-students-universities-British-children-miss-out.html
Last Christmas, I attended a carol service at a church in London. Amid the festive bustle, I sat opposite a woman and her elderly mother.
The daughter placed a tender hand on her mother’s shoulder and gently guided her through the carols, helping her remember words that were now fading from the old lady’s memory.
I watched as the daughter looked after this tiny, fragile little bird of a mother — so frail she looked as if a puff of wind might have blown her away.
Full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1220221/ROS-COWARD-If-proof-folly-doctors-playing-God-mans-barbaric-death.html