Stafford Hospital: a Betrayal of Trust

I speak of a British hospital, Stafford Hospital, but other hospitals in Britain stand so accused, and it may be hospitals in different parts of the world similarly abuse their patients, particularly those who are old or mentally ill, through neglect or carelessness. I do not know. For it to have happened in a place of healing just once is one time too many, and for it to have happened in the country which created the National Health Service, part of my roots, makes me sad. The stories of the suffering experienced by sick people in Stafford and elsewhere, in need of medical care, are so appalling they are almost unbelievable. Apart from the details of each case history of the men and women who found themselves the victims of and teachers about British medical practice, what was shocking was that the evidence of gross abuse was visible not just to the immediate nursing staff but to the doctors and consultants who checked the patients daily, to the cleaners, and to ward visitors, to the trolley-lady and hospital administrators, none of whom cared enough to notice that someone, incontinent, went unwashed for 12 weeks, or that, literally, patients were dying of thirst or starvation, or if they did, to do anything about it. Relatives who knew cried out for help, but were ignored. I am someone who goes to the doctor as an absolute last resort and would resist hospital admission fiercely, even though in the past year I have seen good care being given to two of my relatives by hospital staff over an extended period of time and my local small Welsh surgery is hard-working and kind. I prefer self-healing or complementary healing for myself when possible, but recognise this is not appropriate in many cases. For most people in Britain the NHS is a necessary lifeline and gives excellent service, but something is awry when virulent viruses and infections are rife in many hospitals and kill many people, and when compassion towards the sick is so often lacking that it too can kill. Part of the problem is that the NHS has become an unwieldy, bureaucratic machine driven by targets and budgets; as a result a patient is a commodity, a statistic, who is easier to ignore when she becomes a problem than to help, a victim of the system rather than its central focus. That patient has little choice when he becomes sick and in need of medical help for there is rarely, for most people, an affordable alternative to the local hospital. We trust and hope in the NHS for ourselves or those we love, which is why the betrayal, when it comes, hurts so much.]]>