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Letter: We owe it to those who died to question why - 05/02/10
I write with regard to the ET report of January 28, entitled "Concerns over patient death rates" which drew attention to the higher-than-expected number of deaths reported from pneumonia, heart attacks, strokes and septicaemia (blood poisoning) in 2008/9 recorded on our Peterborough and Stamford hospitals.
I write with regard to the ET report of January 28, entitled "Concerns over patient death rates" which drew attention to the higher-than-expected number of deaths reported from pneumonia, heart attacks, strokes and septicaemia (blood poisoning) in 2008/9 recorded on our Peterborough and Stamford hospitals.These figures were from calculations recorded by the Hospital Standard Mortality Rate (HMSR).
Comments from the director of nursing, Chris Wilkinson, states that the hospital's record-keeping policies may have impacted on the figures recorded for 2008/9. Now it may be in order to alter the numerical equations of the categories into which a death is recorded but what you cannot do is alter the fact that the said number of people have died.
I would think that the greatest possible reassurance that could be given by a director of nursing, to any future patients requiring hospital care, would be to the effect that she could state an improvement in nursing personnel numbers, improved infection rates, the return of regulation to the NHS bodies previously employed with the adherence to hygiene by doctors and nurses, the like of which we saw before the pressure of reform and targets.
The Primary Care Trust in the community also has an important role to ensure that standards of care and safety in our hospitals is paramount, after all this executive and management commissions (buys) the hospital care that we, the public, receive. This is part of the competitive system which now prevails, before we had co-operation and an integrated approach, but whatever, we need the PCT activated on our behalf.
We need answers to questions:
Does the rigid pursuit of targets distort clinical (medical / surgical) priorities, with the result that secondary care, once the targeted acute care is attended to, becomes the lesser priority resulting perhaps in a deterioration in a patient's condition?
The monies now spent on the requirement for personnel to manage the process for negotiating contracts in this internal market now operating is therefore hugely costly. So is paying the number of staff who manage and cost the private consultancies, insurance, external contracts for care, doctors and nurses employment providers to the NHS, nourishment providers, laundry and cleaning providers. There is a massive mushrooming business and profit to be made out of care and health, for sure. But how simple and less costly and more enhancing of patient care was the system in place before the reforms? As for the untargeted, unlucky, unexpected patients who met with earlier death, surely we owe it to them to question and question again.
Mary Cooke
Peterborough Pensioners' Association
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