Today the infamous bill proposing swingeing changes to the NHS is to be put to the vote, having been kicked out of the House of Lords thrice and decried by almost every member of the medical profession I can only marvel at the persistence of the Government on attempting pt force this legislation through.
True the Liberal Democrats say that they will oppose it but it must be faced they have in the past lied in the most spectacular fashion and so can be given little credence. What of the Opposition you may well ask,I can take no hope from that quarter since the benighted Ed Miliband( what does that man use for brains?) is likely to support the government in the hope that it will make him look less left wing, after all he has as they say got previous!
I can claim some knowledge of these matters as Pa used to be an NHS administrator at a time when they were far fewer that there are today. Pa ran a large Geriatric hospital bad 28 clinics all over south Cheshire , I huge amount of work for one man. Apart from Pa there was a catering officer (all the food was prepared in house) a nursing officer(In charge of all nursing staff and a Party of cleaners and a groundsman who knew there jobs and got on with them.
Happy staff, contented patients and an extremely clean environment were the result of this regimen as every one had a responsibility for their
own area if it did not pass muster on a daily inspection heads rolled, this seldom happened. Pa's office was the size of a shoe box, the only visible luxury being a small drinks cabinet used when local dignitaries visited ., usually around election time.
Now all this has changed,the Admin floor at a hospital near to us has carpet so thick that it is almost possible to lose one shoes in the pile. Every where one looks there is expensive polished wood, doors, desks etc. Worse still is the fact that this work was carried out before either the ICU or the HCU unit was built.
While money was being spent on snazzy coffee shops impressive elevators and a huge atrium the wards were dirty and I mean very dirty, the nursing staff, many of whom were agency nurse were badly trained. I once had to show two young nurses how to flush a peg,(a stomach feeding tube) the sister had sent them to do this procedure someone I was visiting without first ascertaining if either of them knew what they were doing, it beggars belief!
Many wards had two sisters in charge on each shift with the result that much buck passing took place.
Patients had their bedding removed and then were left uncovered for hours as the clean laundry had not be sent and no one seemed to know what to do about it. I took a trip to A&E and helped myself to clean bedding for my friend, no one challenged me. Soiled bedding removed during the day was orten left over night in the patients room or on the bed side chair.
Patients such as my friend who were on liquid diet or special diet were consistently bough the same food as everyone else as the dietitian could not seen to communicate with the caterers.
While I was in hospital myself I watched a cleaner use the same mop to clean the corridor, the small food preparation area, my ward, the lavatory and even more disturbing an Isolation ward. When I challenged him he told me that he was supposed to have colour coded mops for each area,he had in fact been given only one as it saved the contractors money. I spoke to the sister in charge ans she told me that it was not her business to supervise the cleaners.
The hospital in question has a reputation for being one of the worst in the country, it has recently been complete;y rebuilt and although ionise a teaching hospital it has been greatly reduced in size.
Waiting rooms are so small that only half a dozen people an be housed in them at once, the extra space was used to build houses as this was part of the deal with private enterprise when the new hospital was built. It is now less efficient , one expects cancellations as a matter of course, people are discharged well before they are fit to be set home while at the same time there are to be cuts to the home nursing service!
Now let us return to the beginning, All of these changes were at one time of another trumpeted by successive Governments as Improvements to an out of date system. Seemingly cleanliness, decent food, trained staff and enough of the right facilities is old fashioned.
Contractors are in the business of making money be they cleaners or caterers, that is their bottom line. Waste is endemic, Two months ago I watched meals served on my ward and taken away completely untouched in almost every case. Things were so bad that the nurses were giving patients who needed to eat before taking medication glasses of milk to drink.
How ever little the polystyrene omelette I received for my lunch costed it was a total waste of money as it was inedible.
Improvements seldom are what they claim to be, they are simply cost cutting exercise foisted upon the poor tax payer with pretended concern for Government.
Let us have no more tinkering for Gods sake. Let us return to the days when wards were cleaned properly every day,No need then for expensive deep cleaning or the closing of contaminated wards.
How about edible food, with the ingredients used it must be possible;e to produce a meal which does not make the poor bugger who has to eat it gag! Bring back the matrons, give the ward sisters a reason to take charge. Stop employing expensive agency staff and employ more full time nurses, and above all, fire some of the administrators. I don’t meant the secretaries and the receptionists as gas recently been done at my local hospital and causing clinics to run on average two hours late!
Let us rid ourselves of the clip board brigade who haunt hospital corridors A&E and even our operating theatres.
Stop spending money on prestige projects Thick carpets and dodgy works of art and and remember what the point of a hospital actually is.
