More hospitals are failing to treat their patients with dignity: Fifth don't meet national standards

Rising numbers of  hospitals are failing to respect the dignity and privacy of patients, the care watchdog warns.
Nearly a fifth don’t meet national standards for ensuring patients – many of them elderly – are treated with proper compassion and consideration.
This marks a sharp rise on the findings of the same survey carried out by the Care Quality Commission the previous year.

Failure: Nearly a fifth of hospitals don't meet national standards for ensuring patients - many of them elderly - are treated with proper compassion and consideration (file picture)

Some elderly patients say they are too frightened to call for help at night in case they are told off by nursing staff for ‘interfering’, the CQC report said.
On other wards, staff risk embarrassing patients by putting the names of those who need a catheter on display on notice boards.

 

The CQC also found that staff had filled-in ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ forms – apparently without getting consent from patients or their families. In some wards, basic privacy was not respected because the curtains were not shut around beds when patients were examined.
Over the last 12 months the watchdog inspected 50 hospitals and found 18 per cent were not meeting national standards for treating patients with dignity and respect.
Last year 12 per cent were found to be not adhering to these requirements.
Although this is only a snapshot of the 300 hospitals across the NHS, there are concerns that the failings are widespread.

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Some elderly patients say they are too frightened to call for help at night in case they are told off by nursing staff for 'interfering'

The findings come a month after a devastating report into the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal in which hundreds died due to neglect. There is now growing concern that similar failings exist in hospitals across the health service.
The report comes as the Mail continues to fight for better standards in hospitals through its Dignity for the Elderly Campaign.
The CQC warns that although hospitals have made improvements in ensuring patients have enough to eat and drink, too many are failing to provide ‘basic care.’
David Behan, chief executive of the CQC said: ‘It is disappointing people are still not being given enough privacy and that they are left alone when they call for help.
‘This is basic care and getting it right can transform a stressful experience for an older person into a supportive and caring one.
‘Safe, good quality care is not complex or time-consuming.’

Scandal: The findings come a month after a report into the Mid Staffordshire hospital (Stafford hospital pictured) scandal in which hundreds died due to neglect

Inspectors found staff were talking over patients as if they weren’t there or making them wait if they rang call-bells. On one ward inspectors found that two thirds of ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ forms had been filled-in without seeking the consent of the patient or their family.
The forms state that doctors should not try to revive the patient should their heart stop beating. They should only be signed following detailed discussions with the patient or their family members. One patient told inspectors that they were frightened to call for help at night because they had earlier been told off by a hospital worker for ‘interfering’.
They had tried to warn the nurse that another patient was ringing their call-bell but a member of staff had ‘displayed annoyance’.
In another hospital, inspectors saw one worker tell a colleague ‘I think you’ve got a lost cause there’ because the patient they were trying to feed had fallen asleep.
The report found that one in three hospitals were failing to meet all five national standards on respect, feeding patients, protecting them from abuse, keeping adequate records and having a safe number of staff.
One, Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, did not meet any of these requirements while Newham hospital in East London met just one.
Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said: ‘Call bells going unanswered and people left to soil their beds because they don’t get help going to the toilet is an utter disgrace. Pockets of poor care on this scale are unacceptable and typify the cultural change needed.’