Health in the News
Rats and bugs in our hospitals
12 May 2010
The Evening Telegraph reports that Hospitals across Tayside and Fife are having problems with rats, cockroaches and biting insects. An investigation by the Tele has revealed the full extent of the outbreaks, with hundreds of incidents reported since 2008.
Jean Turner was quoted:
We do not want patients worrying that they are going to pick up a bug when they are in hospital...I think patients want to know our hospitals are clean, but I’m not sure that is the case.
'Victorian' ordeal for freezing NHS patients
9 January 2009
The Scotsman reports that the Scottish Government's approach to health-care was branded "Victorian", as opponents said patients in one hospital were being left without proper heating. Problems with the heating system in a surgical block at Glasgow's Southern General have left wards without heat, with staff forced to hand out extra blankets to patients.
Margaret Watt was quoted:
People are scared to go into hospital as they see the shabby buildings and worry what they might catch.
Pest outbreaks found at NHS sites
5 September 2008
The BBC reports that more than 300 pest infestations have been discovered at NHS Tayside sites since the beginning of the year.
Margaret Watt was quoted:
I am aghast, absolutely aghast. Patients are frightened to go into hospital as it is because of MRSA and C.diff and flesh eating bugs, this is only going to add to the stress and worry of our patients that have to go into hospital.
Flowers banned from hospital wards
17 August 2008
The Daily Telegraph reports that officials in two NHS regions have ordered staff to prevent visitors taking lilies and geraniums on to hospital wards. The new rules have been introduced at hospitals run by NHS Borders and NHS Highland because the flowers are "too high in pollen".
Jean Turner said:
The NHS should concentrate on meeting hygiene standards and tackling superbugs. Flowers are a way of showing people that you are caring for them and make the wards look a lot prettier. Hygiene standards are dropping and something needs to be done about that.
Doctors' dirty hands spread MRSA
10 August 2008
The Times reports a quarter of hospital doctors are ignoring hand- washing guidelines designed to halt the spread of deadly superbugs such as MRSA and clostridium difficile.
Margaret Watt said:
The hand-washing figures were shocking and called for disciplinary action to be taken against doctors who failed to wash their hands.
Recruitment drive to ease pressure on organ swap docs
6 August 2008
The Scotsman reports that health chiefs plan to stage a recruitment drive to ease pressure on overworked junior transplant doctors in the Lothians. Junior doctors assist surgeons, rather than leading, in operations, but patient representatives are still concerned and want to see more medics being trained up to increase numbers working in hospitals.
.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
Doctors should not be working excessive hours. We want the Scottish Government to
supply highly trained doctors, and enough of them, so they are not harassed when
they are trying to meet targets. Health boards should be telling the Scottish Government
that there are not enough doctors. They must have figured out that more need to
be trained up.
£1.6m specialist teams to treat more mental patients at home
2 August 2008
The Scotsman reports that more psychiatric patients are to be treated in their own homes.
Two teams with 18 professionals each, including consultants, doctors, nurses and specialists, will work in north and south Edinburgh. The move will mean the Royal Edinburgh Hospital will be able to reduce beds from 125 to 100.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
It's a great idea, if you've got many highly skilled and highly qualified staff available 24 hours a day. The trouble with psychiatric patients is when they go off they need instant and specialist help. If you treat people in the community without a very high standard of care there will be problems.
Sturgeon makes £270m pledge to cut NHS waiting times by 50%
6 February 2008
The Herald reports that Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is expected to pledge £270m to drive down waiting times for NHS treatment.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
People should not have to wait to be seen, but if you are ill you do not have the diagnosis tattooed on your forehead. When you take ill it is detective work that you have to go through. Doctors need time to do that. Meeting targets meant "more processing of patients" with people being discharged from hospital earlier in order to make room for those queuing at the door.
999 Emergency Call Outs Hit All Time High
20 January 2008
The Sunday Mail reports that the number of 999 calls to Scotland's ambulance service has hit an all-time high. Figures for emergency call-outs have prompted fears patients are losing confidence in the NHS 24 hotline meant to cut the number of calls.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
People do not feel very confident receiving telephone advice. Most of the time they would like to see an experienced doctor or go straight to A&E. Instead of NHS 24, we should have an out-of-hours-service with surgeries where people can see a GP during the night or have a house call if needed.
Scots denied best NHS drugs
20 January 2008
Scotland on Sunday reports that Scots suffering from life-threatening diseases are being denied many of the latest and most effective drugs because of foot-dragging by health chiefs and doctors. Their investigation has proved that a health postcode lottery still operates north of the border, with one health board, Lothian, yet to formally approve 19 of the new treatments recommended, and another, Ayrshire and Arran, holding back 10 from its list of recommended drugs.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
If the SMC recommends a drug as cost effective there should be no delays in using it. We are against postcode prescribing.
Hospitals Quizzed On Price Of Patients' Meals
6 January 2008
The Sunday Mail reports there is a national lottery on hospital food. They found the biggest spend on patient food to be £38.14 a day and the most meagre just £6.42 a day. In a survey of all 16 Scots health boards they found the cheapest food is served in Highland hospitals at just £1.61 for a starter, main course and pudding. The figures come just weeks after a study found Scottish hospital food is so bad a quarter of patients buy their own or ask friends and families to bring in meals for them.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
I am horrified there is a such a difference in the cost of meals. Many people admitted to hospital are under-nourished and they need good food in order to heal. I would like to see a big move towards producing food that comes from our own farmers, and is being cooked by professionals. Appetising, nutritional food helps people recover.
1,390 Scots don't turn up for hospital appointments every single day
26 December 2007
The Scotsman reports that thousands of patients are failing to turn up for hospital appointments in Scotland on a weekly basis, costing the NHS millions of pounds.
Margaret Watt was quoted:
Part of the problem is appointments are made so far in advance that patients simply forget. We need some kind of system to remind people of their appointments nearer the time. We had a situation recently where we were trying to arrange an ambulance to take a patient to hospital for his appointment, but it did not turn up. That was not his fault. How many appointments are missed because of a lack of transport? We need to put more resources into getting transport to take patients to hospital.
Hospitals to screen patients over diets
24 December 2007
The Herald reports that Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS is to test all patients brought in to its hospitals in a bid to improve treatment for sufferers. The hospitals will introduce a series of tests called the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (Must) to establish the level of dietetic need among new patients.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
I think this is good news but we should have had this approach some time ago. A lot of people have lost the art of cooking straightforward, normal and nutritious meals, such as stews and soups, and we need to address that. Malnutrition means that wounds take longer to heal and that muscles start to waste, making any recovery from an illness more difficult. A lot of older people just lose interest in food, particularly if they have gone through a bereavement. There are a lot of people out there, particularly older people, who are gradually dying from poor nutrition.
Why patients don't like the food
18 December 2007
The Herald reports that 4 out of 10 patients in Scotland are disappointed with hospital food and one in five hospital staff said they would not eat what is served up on the wards. Consumer Association magazine Which?, which conducted the research in hospitals and care homes throughout the UK, found high levels of dissatisfaction with meals was rife.
Dr Jean Turner was quoted:
I am not surprised by these reports, but I am glad they have been produced. When you are ill you need to be tempted to eat. I have seen elderly patients, and by the time they are able to eat all they are left with is a sandwich. Older people don't want a lot of what is on offer, like pasta dishes. You have to eat well to heal, we know that. There are not enough dieticians in hospitals and we need to return to chefs preparing the food in kitchens, not bringing food from hundreds of miles away to be re-constituted. Often when it reaches the patient it is cold and many simply have food put in front of them when they are unable to feed themselves. Freshly prepared, fit for purpose, nutritional food is what is required, not food shipped in cardboard trays for hundreds of miles.