More families ready to sue over hospital care
1:50pm Tuesday 20th December 2011 in News
- Skip social links
- Comments(2)
MORE angry families are expected to take legal action against hospital bosses over the “abominable care” of their loved ones.
former nurse Eileen White says her family was devastated by the poor standard of care her husband Colin received before his death from liver failure aged 73 at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch on October 19, 2009.
now her family wants to join the class action being taken against Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust which already involves at least 23 families and widows of patients.
The case has been taken on by law firm Leigh Day & Co and the company intends to argue that care was so bad it breached the human rights of families.
however, Worcester MP Robin Walker defended the trust and said improvements had been made since the damning report by health and social care watchdog the Care Quality Commission was published in May.
The report raised “major concerns” about hydration and nutrition on wards five and 11 at the Alex, which was one of only two hospitals nationwide where such serious problems were identified.
Mrs White, aged 73, of Aldridge, said: “We were told steps were taken to make sure this didn’t happen again but nothing changed.
“The care my husband received was abominable.
“They kept saying he wouldn’t eat.
“Although he was a desperately ill man, he wasn’t an idiot.
“He said they just ram it in your mouth.
“My son’s last words to the nurses were ‘Get my father off this ward’.
“It’s bad enough to lose a parent or partner or husband but worse to know they’re dying without the care they deserve.
“I used to be a ward manager and I would have been ashamed if I had been the sister on that ward.”
his daughter, Kim White, 49, of Tewkesbury, who works in Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre in Beckford, near Tewkesbury, said: “The animals here are treated with more care and dignity than my dad was. We want to join this class action.”
Mr Walker said: “I think any accusations of poor treatment have to be taken very seriously but I do think that, from what I have seen, the acute trust has reacted quite quickly and very seriously to the problems that were identified at the Alexandra Hospital.
“Certainly, an enormous amount of effort has been put in to make sure those mistakes are not repeated and patients get better care in future.
“It’s always a shame when people have to resort to legal action.
“If there are costs to the NHS that doesn’t help the vast majority of people who use its services.”
Helen Blanchard, director of nursing and midwifery, said: “We actively encourage patient feedback and where there is any indication that patient care falls below the high standards we expect all our staff to deliver, we will take immediate action to address this.”
six wards under lockdown
SIX wards at the Alexandra Hospital remain under lockdown because of a violent winter diarrhoea and vomiting bug.
The Redditch hospital has been forced to close all or part of at least six wards because of the highly contagious norovirus outbreaks.
No cases have yet been reported at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester which is also managed by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
The most recent figures published by the Health Protection Agency show there were five suspected or confirmed outbreaks of norovirus in Worcestershire in the two weeks up to December 11.
each outbreak could potentially contain a number of individuals who have contracted the bug so many more people are likely to be affected than the number of outbreaks recorded. The outbreaks are not just at the Alexandra but across the community and could be in schools and care homes.
Rebecca Bourne, head of communications at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said the number of beds affected by the closures was changing all the time.
“We are grateful to members of the public who have heeded advice to avoid coming to the hospital if they have experienced any vomiting or diarrhoea symptoms in the last 48 hours,” she said.
The trust’s website asks people to only visit the hospital if absolutely necessary. Visitors suffering symptoms such as diarrhoea and/or vomiting should stay at home and seek advice from their GP or NHS Direct.