Bad Medicine: Daffy Doctors & Medical Mishaps

[rynner2]

Couple's wait over newborn mix-up

A couple were forced to endure a five-week wait for DNA results to find out if a newborn baby was theirs.
A midwife at Furness General Hospital told Sarah Wilson and Martyn Cahill, from Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, their new 6lb 12oz baby was a boy.

The couple named the child Ryan William, but later discovered they had a girl when giving her a bath, and feared they had the wrong baby.

Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised for the mistake.

The couple told friends and relatives they had a boy.

Miss Wilson said: "Lots of people had already bought boy's cards and blue clothes and they had to take them back and buy new ones.

"When she was born they said 'Congratulations, you've got a lovely baby boy' and the midwife had her in a towel straightaway so we didn't see her.

"The next day we gave her a bath and obviously we could tell straight away that she was a little girl."

Miss Wilson, 24, and Mr Cahill, 23, waited five weeks for DNA results to make sure the renamed Keira was theirs.

A spokeswoman for Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust said: "A mistake was clearly made, for which we are sorry.

"We are in the process of ascertaining how this happened to prevent a recurrence."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/4564270.stm

It's great that the public is so well-informed that they can tell the sex of a child without DNA tests! Pity the medics aren't so clever! 8)

 

[rynner2]

And now, an Old Age mix-up:

Man's vigil at wrong hospital bed


A series of errors led to a man holding vigil at the bedside of a woman he wrongly believed to be his sick mother.
Nurses called the man to the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, East Sussex last March, saying his mother was dying.

He identified the wrong patient and sat with her as his real mother lay dead in a nearby room. Another family was wrongly told their mother was dead.

An internal report said a ward virus, which meant patients had to be moved around, added to the confusion.


The report, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals the virus had led to an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting.


It was also Mother's Day, with an increased number of visitors on the ward.

The man himself identified the wrong patient as his mother. Then, because the patient's wrist band was not checked, staff at the Conquest wrote the wrong name of the patient above her bed.

The two patients were both elderly, looked similar and were unable to speak because of serious illness.


They were receiving similar treatment in adjacent rooms.

The blunder only came to light when the man's daughter arrived at the hospital and realised he was with the wrong woman.

Hospital apology

The report says the man's mistake in identifying the wrong woman as his mother was among several reasons for the mix-up.

He sat with her for a "significant period of time".

"When he entered the room, the white board above the patient's bed did not have a name on it," the report says.

"When the man's daughter arrived, she recognised that the woman was not her grandmother and the ward team was alerted."

After the incident, the hospital apologised for the anxiety and strain caused to both families and said measures were being put in place to ensure it could not happen again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sout ... 605754.stm

 

[drbastard]

'Eye in drink' nurse struck off

Christine Mitchelson worked at the RVI in Newcastle
A nurse who put a patient's glass eye into a cup of cola as a joke has been struck off.
Christine Mitchelson, 53, was also accused of drawing a face on a patient's hernia and making racist remarks about Filipino nurses.

She was struck off the nursing register at a hearing at the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

The allegations related to her time at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary between late 2001 and early 2004.

The Thursday hearing ruled that 12 allegations against her were all proved.

Mitchelson, from Denton Burn, Newcastle, said she was too ill to attend the hearing.

The council's conduct and competence committee chairman Val Morrison said Mitchelson posed a "continuing risk" to patients and leaving her on the nursing register would "undermine public confidence and trust in the profession".

Breach of duty

The committee ruled Mitchelson had "compromised the dignity" of her patients and could have put a patient with MRSA at risk by drawing a face on his hernia.

She also committed a "dangerous" breach of her duty of care by incorrectly administering drugs.

Mitchelson was also found to have roughly treated five different patients by pushing them on to a bed or chair and in one case slapping one on the head.

Mrs Morrison added that the nurse's actions in recording invented temperature and blood pressure readings on patients' charts were "unsafe, dishonest and a failure of her duty of care".

Mitchelson claimed she had sought the patient's permission to take the false eye for a practical joke and had washed it before putting it in the drink.

She also said she was a popular figure with patients at the hospital.

Piers Arnold, representing the NMC, said the allegations came to light in February 2004, when a healthcare assistant named Denise Lake made a complaint about Mitchelson.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4719572.stm

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Doctor Admits Implanting Screwdriver In Patient

Family Sues Medical Center, Doctor

POSTED: 9:43 am EST February 15, 2006
UPDATED: 11:40 am EST February 15, 2006

A family in Hilo, Hawaii, has sued a doctor after the man admitted he implanted a screwdriver into the neck of a patient, instead of titanium rods, according to a Local 6 News report.

Local 6 News showed an X-ray of Arturo Iturralde's neck with a vertical screwdriver shaft inside.

Doctor Robert Ricketson said that during a surgery on Iturralde, a nurse told him there were no more titanium rods for his neck.

Ricketson said he did not feel he could risk keeping the man under anesthetic with an unstable spine for any longer so he made the decision to substitute the rods with a screwdriver, according to the report.

An attending nurse, Janelle Feldmeyer, said she was kicked out of the operating by Ricketson and later found out from a co-worker at Hilo Medical Center how the surgery ended.

"She said Dr. Ricketson used a screwdriver that he cut apart from the instrumentation tray," Feldmeyer said. "And I said to Theresa at that time, 'He can not do that.'"

Feldmeyer said she complained to superiors at the hospital on different occasions but was told to keep quiet, according to the report.

Iturralde's family is now suing the Ricketson and the medical center.

------------
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

Copyright 2006 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com.

With X-rays!!
www.local6.com/news/7078103/detail.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Wrong kidney removed by surgeon
A surgeon removed the wrong kidney from a patient leaving her with a diseased one and requiring dialysis, the General Medical Council (GMC) has been told.
Dr Jerome Blanchard took the kidney out at Middlesex Hospital in March 2004.

Lydia Barnfather, for the GMC, said he failed to read her notes sufficiently or discuss the case with her properly.

Dr Blanchard has denied being unprofessional and not acting in the best interests of the patient. The hearing continues.

Theatre 'confusion'

The GMC was told both kidneys were on the patient's right side and that she suffered from a degenerative disease which causes cysts to build up on the organ.

Ms Barnfather said Dr Blanchard spent little time with the woman when obtaining her consent for surgery.

If he had discussed the operation sufficiently with the her, it would have become clear what operation needed to be performed, she told the Fitness to Practise Panel.

"The impression he gave her was that he was in a hurry," she said.

The mistake was discovered the following day.

The hearing was told a number of other factors contributed to the confusion including problems with the theatre list.

But Ms Barnfather said: "The mistake would never have been made if Mr Blanchard had been carrying out his own duties with regard to getting an informed consent."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/5008468.stm

 

[ramonmercado]

Nine killed by fake Chinese drug

Nine people have died in China after being injected with a drug containing a fake ingredient, authorities say.
They died after being given the drug, which treats gall bladder, liver and gastric disorders, at a hospital in southern Guangdong province.

The Chinese company that made the drug has blamed a supplier for delivering a toxic chemical in place of the genuine ingredients.

Several people linked to the firm have been arrested.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered an investigation into the incident, as well as a safety review of the country's pharmaceutical factories.

The patients fell ill at the hospital in Guangzhou city after being injected with fake Armillarisni A, medical sources said.

The drug had been made by Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, , based in north-eastern Heilongjiang province, Xinhua news agency reports.

Executives from the firm, including the general manager, a material buyer and a testing office director were being questioned by police, Xinhua said.

Dozens of people have been killed by fake and inferior products in China in recent years.

In 2004, at least 13 babies had died of malnutrition in the eastern province of Anhui after being fed fake baby milk.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 003548.stm

 

[ramonmercado]

Physician Errors Factor In Many Medical Malpractice Claims, Study Finds
Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice News
Article Date: 06 Oct 2006 - 11:00am (PDT)

Physician errors are a factor in about 60% of medical malpractice claims that involved patients allegedly injured because of missed or delayed diagnoses, according to a study published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. For the study, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston reviewed 307 claims from four large malpractice insurers that were closed between 1984 and 2004, 181 of which involved alleged diagnostic errors that injured patients. Researchers ignored the outcomes of the claims. The majority of the claims involved cancer patients, 30% of whom died. Although most of the claims involved several factors, the study finds the major ones involved physician errors. According to the study:
100 claims involved failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests;


81 claims involved failure to establish a plan for appropriate follow-up care;


76 claims involved failure to obtain an adequate patient history or perform an adequate physical examination; and


67 claims involved improper interpretation of diagnostic tests.
The main factors that contributed to the physician errors included failures in judgment (79%), memory problems (59%), lack of knowledge (48%), patient-related issues (46%) and patient handoffs from other physicians (20%), the study finds. Tejal Gandhi, lead author of the study and director of patient safety at Brigham and Women's, said that the use of electronic health records, improved algorithms for patient evaluations and help from nurse practitioners to ensure patients receive appropriate follow-up care might help reduce the number of physician errors. "We think there could be tools to help physicians make these decisions better," Gandhi said. Steven Sorscher, an oncologist at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, said, "It seemed like the bottom line was that the problems were problems that would occur less if a person was just very compulsive or very diligent. It highlights the fact that the causes of serious errors are often preventable" (Walters, AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/2).

The study is available online.
http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/145/7/488


http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medical ... wsid=53413

 

[Tim_Bucknall]

. The same stupid GP neglected to tell me that resting in the first stages of M.E. might be a good idea. :grrr: with hilarious consequences

oh you too eh?
yes i think it must be compulsory to trash us M.E. patients, thank heavens i finally have a decent GP after years of searching.

A Colleague at the charity shop where i used to work was told he had lumbago, he's now dead of a kidney tumour

 

[ramonmercado]

Indian sues over 'fake' HIV tests
By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta



Blood donations are now reported to be dropping
An Indian man is suing West Bengal's state government for negligence over the alleged mis-selling of kits used to test for HIV/Aids and hepatitis.

Tapas Sengupta fears his son, who has thalassaemia, could be among thousands to have received contaminated blood.

Earlier this week police said hundreds of thousands of fake blood-testing kits had been sold in West Bengal.

Doctors say this led to infected people being given the go-ahead to give blood, possibly infecting others.

Two men being held in connection with the sale of the kits deny charges of forgery and malpractice.

'Upset'

In his petition filed at the Calcutta High Court, Mr Sengupta said negligence on the part of the government had endangered many lives.

He said his 18-year-old son was one of thousands of people who received blood transfusions.

"I am upset because he may been given contaminated blood by donors with deadly diseases which passed the test by faulty blood test kits."

Mr Sengupta said he was concerned for the future not only of his son, but of many others like him who may have been given contaminated blood.

He said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya and Health Minister Surya Kanta Mishra should take moral responsibility for the scandal and step down from office.

The scandal in the state relates to the supply of hundreds of thousands of kits which were wrongly used to test for HIV/Aids and hepatitis.

The kits - designed to test for pregnancy and other conditions - were sold to hospitals and blood banks.

Doctors say many patients they tested with the wrong kits were told they were healthy - when in fact they had HIV or hepatitis.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6111098.stm

 

[mossy_sloth]

My mother was unfortunate enough to fall ill in Egypt. The hospital she was taken to was woefully unequipped to diagnose her multiple intestinal abcesses and consequently said abcesses developed into perforations. The worst bit was that the doctors kept telling her that the best thing to do would be to get up and have a walk around, and eat something. They gave her yoghurt and a spicy meat dish, and made her drink fruit juice.

A timely evacuation to the wonderful Israeli hospital Hadassah Ein Kerem saved her life.

 

[ramonmercado]

spicy meat, yoghurt & fruit juice; when they already knew she had stomach problems??!! :shock:

 

[GNC]

spicy meat, yoghurt & fruit juice; when they already knew she had stomach problems??!! :shock:

Doesn't yoghurt settle the stomach? Not in combination with spicy meat, obviously.

 

[ramonmercado]

spicy meat, yoghurt & fruit juice; when they already knew she had stomach problems??!! :shock:

Doesn't yoghurt settle the stomach? Not in combination with spicy meat, obviously.

maybe an average upset tummy but not where it looks serious. the billions of bacteria could make things worse.

 

[mossy_sloth]

spicy meat, yoghurt & fruit juice; when they already knew she had stomach problems??!! :shock:

Doesn't yoghurt settle the stomach? Not in combination with spicy meat, obviously.

maybe an average upset tummy but not where it looks serious. the billions of bacteria could make things worse.

The whole point is, ANY food when you have intestinal perforations is really dangerous. That particular combination just made it even worse. Upon arrival at the Israeli hospital she was put on "Nil by mouth" - wasn't even allowed to drink water. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink for about 5 weeks.

Now I know the Egyptian hospital didn't have the facilities to determine whether she had intestinal perforations, but even before the Israeli doctors gave her a CT scan they stopped her eating/drinking. In Egypt it just seemed like they weren't in a hurry to do anything, they were just waiting to see what happened. The doctors kept telling the travel insurance company that mum was fine, she'd be improving soon. Luckily they listened to me when I said she wasn't getting any better, but worse. I hate to think what would have happened if they had have delayed evacuating us even for one day.

 

[lupinwick]

HoHumm

A doctor who allegedly told a woman seeking contraceptive advice to go and see an exorcist, today faces a disciplinary hearing.

The General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates all UK doctors, is to investigate allegations that the GP, Joyce Pratt, told a woman seeking contraceptive advice that she was under a black magic spell.

Dr Pratt, who works at several London family planning clinics, is said to have told the woman she "had something awful inside her" stomach.

She then allegedly offered to use her special powers to help the woman and told her to visit a priest at Westminster Cathedral, believing the patient was possessed by an evil spirit.

The three-day GMC fitness to practise hearing in Manchester will also investigate accusations that the GP told the patient her mother was a witch, and that the patient's husband and mother were trying to kill her.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1942625,00.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Colombians in baby mix-up trauma

Two Colombian men exchanged by mistake at birth have described their feelings after a DNA test confirmed they had been raised by the wrong families.
Carlos Estor and Rancis Puello, 29, went on to live in very different backgrounds after a Cartagena hospital gave them to the wrong parents.

The mix-up was uncovered by a mutual friend of both mothers, who looked into the doubts they had confided to her.

The families say they are suing the hospital for incalculable moral damage.

Following the switch, Mr Estor grew up in an affluent neighbourhood in Cartagena, while Mr Puello was sent to a poor area.

Speaking of the mix-up, Mr Puello said it was not easy to describe his feelings, "to experience what I've been living through".

"I felt rage," he told RCN radio, describing the error as "inexplicable".

Friends

The mistake is said to have occurred hours after the births in the Bocagrande hospital in October 1977.

The first indication came when one of the mothers realised the baby she had taken home had not been circumcised, according to Spanish news agency Efe.

The hospital had confirmed her son had had the procedure shortly after birth, it said.

A friend of the mother's reportedly investigated the doubt nearly 30 years later - and recommended a DNA test.

The two boys have met and become friends and have also bonded with their genetic families, the agency said.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6129540.stm

 

[OneWingedBird]

to say that no real harm was caused by it, this sounds quite thoroughly horrid:

Bed collapse as woman gives birth

A mother of three has made an official complaint against Leeds General Infirmary after a hospital bed collapsed while she was giving birth.

Linda Makin said she, her baby and a hospital midwife ended up "in a heap" on the floor after sliding off the bed.

She said chronic understaffing and equipment failure made the birth of her daughter a traumatic experience.

The hospital trust said it took complaints seriously but did not accept there was a shortage of midwives.

The midwife fell to the floor, she caught Jasmine and my husband caught me so I didn't fall onto the baby

In a statement, Leeds Hospitals NHS Trust said: "Last year we recruited 10 additional midwives.

"Over 8,500 women a year deliver in Leeds and the vast majority enjoy a very positive experience."

But Mrs Makin, who had her two other children at the same hospital, said she found the experience "incredibly traumatic".

She said: "The whole bed went up on a slope, I slid down, Jasmine slid below me and luckily I didn't slide on top of her.

"The midwife fell to the floor, she caught Jasmine and my husband caught me so I didn't fall onto the baby.

"Jason had to ring for somebody to come and sort out the situation because we were all just in a heap on top of each other."

The mother, who lives with her family in Horsforth, also said baby Jasmine was not tagged or weighed and there was confusion about the exact time of her birth.

She said she was urged by a midwife to make a complaint against the hospital.

She said: "We kept getting told how busy they were, how understaffed they were, how they were pushed to their very limits, how they were trying desperately to get things done for us and for everybody there.

"But they simply couldn't manage all the tasks they were meant to do, and they were stretching themselves so far."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 231705.stm

 

[Cyclops]

The first-hand experiences in this thread are awful - it's disgusting that you have to put up with that sort of treatment (or lack of) at precisely the time you should be able to rely on other people for help.

They make my experience seem a bit pathetic, but here it is anyway...

When my daughter was only a baby, she became quite ill one Saturday evening. We rang the surgery, and the doctor on call came out; he was an elderly man who pulled a face at the state of the house. I told him that Jenni was hot, miserable, and wouldn't feed - she was being breastfed, and wouldn't take anything from a bottle. He gave her a perfunctory examination, told me she had a throat infection, gave me a prescription for antibiotics and told me which chemist was open at that time. As he left, he said, "She's a sturdy girl - just make sure she keeps drinking..."

The chemist he recommended was closed, and I couldn't find another open. I ended up at our local A&E who were very kind; they booked her in as though I'd taken her straight there, examined her properly, and told me that she didn't have an throat infection, she had an ear infection, but luckily the antibiotics prescribed were suitable for both, because it would have been very difficult to override the original prescription.

 

[ramonmercado]

Sleep medication linked to bizarre behaviour
12:44 06 February 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Roxanne Khamsi

New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep.

UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem.

While doctors say that zolpidem can offer much-needed relief for people with sleep disorders, they caution that these newly reported cases should prompt a closer look at its possible side effects.

Zolpidem, sold under the brand names Ambien, Stilnoct and Stilnox, is widely prescribed to treat insomnia and other disorders such as sleep apnea. Various forms of the drug, made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis, were prescribed 674,500 times in 2005 in the UK.

A newly published report from Australia’s Federal Health Department describes 104 cases of hallucinations and 62 cases of amnesia experienced by people taking zolpidem since marketing of the drug began there in 2000. The health department report also mentioned 16 cases of strange sleepwalking by people taking the medication.

Midnight snack
In one of these sleepwalking cases a patient woke with a paintbrush in her hand after painting the front door to her house. Another case involved a woman who gained 23 kilograms over seven months while taking zolpidem. “It was only when she was discovered in front of an open refrigerator while asleep that the problem was resolved,” according to the report.

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, meanwhile, has recorded 68 cases of adverse reactions to zolpidem from 2001 to 2005.

The newly reported cases in the UK and Australia add to a growing list of bizarre sleepwalking episodes linked to the drug in other countries, including reports of people sleep-driving while on the medication. In one case, a transatlantic flight had to be diverted after a passenger caused havoc after taking zolpidem.

Hypnotic effects
There is no biological pathway that has been proven to connect zolpidem with these behaviours. The drug is a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic that promotes deep sleep by interacting with brain receptors for a chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid. While parts of the brain become less active during deep sleep, the body can still move, making sleepwalking a possibility.

The product information for prescribers advises that psychiatric adverse effects, including hallucinations, sleepwalking and nightmares, are more likely in the elderly, and treatment should be stopped if they occur.

Patient advocacy groups say they would like government health agencies and drug companies to take a closer look at the possible risks associated with sleep medicines. They stress that strange sleepwalking and sleep-driving behaviours can have risky consequences.

“When people do something in which they’re not in full control it’s always a danger,” says Vera Sharav of the New York-based Alliance for Human Research Protection, a US network that advocates responsible and ethical medical research practices.

Tried and tested
“The more reports that come out about the potential side effects of the drug, the more research needs to be done to understand if these are real side effects,” says sleep researcher Kenneth Wright at the University of Colorado in Boulder, US.

Millions of people have taken the drug without experiencing any strange side effects, points out Richard Millman at Brown Medical School, director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals in Providence, Rhode Island, US. He says that unlike older types of sleep medications, zolpidem does not carry as great a risk of addiction.

And Wright notes that some of the reports of “sleep-driving” linked to zolpidem can be easily explained: some patients have wrongly taken the drug right before leaving work in hopes that the medicine will kick in by the time they reach home. Doctors stress that the medication should be taken just before going to bed.

The US Food and Drug Administration says it is continuing to "actively investigate" and collect information about cases linking zolpidem to unusual side effects.

The Ambien label currently lists strange behaviour as a “special concern” for people taking the drug. “It’s a possible rare adverse event,” says Sanofi-Aventis spokesperson Melissa Feltmann, adding that the strange sleepwalking behaviours “may not necessarily be caused by the drug” but instead result from an underlying disorder. She says that “the safety profile [of zolpidem] is well established”. The drug received approval in the US in 1993.

Related Articles

Concern over pharmaceuticals' 'special offer' marketing
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns? ... 125653.000
21 August 2006

The word: Sleepwalking
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns? ... 125621.900
29 July 2006

Sleeping pill may rouse coma patients
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9215
24 May 2006

Weblinks

Ambien
http://www.ambien.com/

Australian Adverse Drug Reactions Bulletin
http://www.tga.gov.au/adr/aadrb/aadr0702.htm

www.newscientist.com/article/dn11115-sl ... viour.html

 

[OneWingedBird]

this makes no sense to me at all... how the hell do you get 'accidentally engulfed in flames' on a psych unit?

Man dies in fireball at hospital

Investigations are under way at a Leeds psychiatric unit into how a patient died after being engulfed in flames.

The 60-year-old man suffered serious burns at the Becklin Centre on Alma Street on Tuesday.

He was taken to the accident and emergency department at St James's Hospital but later died from the effects of serious burns.

Officials at Leeds Mental Health Trust said the death was a tragic accident and no-one else was involved.

In a statement the trust said: "This was a tragic incident and our thoughts are now with the family. We remain in contact with them and have offered them counselling and support.

"At all times the trust's main priority is the safety of both staff and patients at the Becklin Centre. We remain fully focused on providing a safe and secure environment for both staff and patients.

"Our internal investigations at the current time indicate that this was not a criminal or intentional act. We will be completing a full and thorough investigation shortly. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 339953.stm

 

[rynner2]

how about daffy health ministers?

EXCLUSIVE: 'CLOSING NHS BEDS IS A SIGN OF SUCCESS'
IS THIS THE MOST EXTRAORDINAR STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A LABOUR HEALTH MINISTER? PATRICIA HEWITTTALKS TO MIRROR POLITICAL EDITOR OONAGH BLACKMAN.
Oonagh Blackman 08/02/2007
PATRICIA Hewitt last night incredibly declared that NHS bed closures are a sign of success - because it means fewer people need care.

The Health Secretary's astonishing claim came as it was announced 900 jobs are being axed at hospitals in and around her constituency to save local health chiefs £90million.

Despite many NHS trusts facing financial collapse, ward closures and thousands of staff being given the boot, Ms Hewitt insisted Labour's controversial reforms will save lives.

Launching her defence of the changes, she said: "More money will be going into nurses in all fields to transform the quality of life and care for people in their home or closer to home.

"That will mean fewer emergency admissions, so you need fewer beds.

"Fewer beds are a sign of success - not a sign of failure.

"This is not about cutting services or downgrading, it is about improving things, it will save lives. If we put more of the money into community nurses, we can transform lives, particularly for elderly people."

It is the most blunt admission yet by a Cabinet figure that traditional hospitals will no longer be the core of the health service.

Ms Hewitt - who last year was heckled and jeered by angry NHS workers at a speech as the crisis began to bite - said about 80 new or refurbished hospitals have opened, as well as new walk-in diagnostic and treatment centres.

The changing face of healthcare will mean more people being treated at home, at GPs and in specialist regional centres.

The Government also wants fewer people using A&E and more day surgery which dramatically slashes the need for acute beds.

Mother-of-two Ms Hewitt said: "There will be far more services in the local community.

"It is about care as close to home as the NHS can safely deliver and in specialist centres when essential.

"Under Labour, we believe in a universal NHS free to everybody based on clinical need. That is the big dividing line with the Tories." Ms Hewitt also said heart attack victims under the new NHS will no longer be rushed to hospital, but taken to specialist cardiac centres.

She added: "We all love our local hospital and I suppose it is what we most rely on for assurance, for instance, if one of my children were ill or my husband ill.

"But the changes will improve the chance you or your husband will survive a massive heart attack. It will save lives."

When asked if she ever thought beds would close under Labour, Ms Hewitt said: "There are very good reasons why it is happening.

"The NHS is changing because medicine is changing and people's needs are changing."

But as she spoke, furious staff at hospitals in her Leicester constituency were reeling from news they face the axe with the closure of up to 200 beds.

Of the 900 posts going at the University Hospitals of Leicester Trust, 200 will be redundancies.

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "Patricia Hewitt has been denying the impact of deficits and cutbacks in the NHS. Now, in her own back yard, 900 jobs will go."

Campaign group Health Emergency said more than 24,000 job losses had been announced in the NHS since last year.

Spokesman Geoff Martin added: "This nails the lie there has only been a tiny effect on posts."

http://tinyurl.com/yov8jl

 

[escargot]

Man dies in fireball at hospital

I wonder if this was a lighter-refuelling accident? Smoking is always an issue in psyche units.

 

[stu neville]

That's the first thing I thought of, too. Could be a cheap disposable lighter, some of them leak like hell: I had one that set my coat ablaze at the pub once - it leaked all down the front and when I struck the flint Whoosh!

Luckily I was stood up and outside at the time - had I been sat down it could have been rather unpleasant :shock: .

 

[escargot]

Yup. One of my kids and a mate had a similar experience in a 'den' they'd built. I only heard about it some time later. Apparently, there was an impressive fireball and the lads fled screaming. 8)

Around the same time, I seem to remember, when the cheap lighters (5 for a quid) had just become common, some poor woman had a nasty chest-related accident with one. :shock:

When I worked in psyche care, most of the patients and a lot of the staff smoked, and there was a constant, wearisome battle going on about where people could smoke, whether they could keep matches/fags/papers/tobacco etc on them and so on.

It wasn't the health risk of smoking that was the problem (hell, as a form of self-medication it was second to none) but the danger of fire. There was always someone ready to set fire to the place or just set the fire alarm off so they could leg it.

 

[ramonmercado]

how about daffy health ministers?

EXCLUSIVE: 'CLOSING NHS BEDS IS A SIGN OF SUCCESS'
IS THIS THE MOST EXTRAORDINAR STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A LABOUR HEALTH MINISTER? PATRICIA HEWITTTALKS TO MIRROR POLITICAL EDITOR OONAGH BLACKMAN.

http://tinyurl.com/yov8jl

I am remember a spindoctor in Ireland in the 1980s saying it was necessary to close wards to prevent people from going into hospital unnecessarily.

 

[mindalai]

this makes no sense to me at all... how the hell do you get 'accidentally engulfed in flames' on a psych unit?

I read this in the YEP and on the BBC site and one said he set himself alight and the other said it was not a deliberate act. Confusing.

 

[mindalai]

how about daffy health ministers?

EXCLUSIVE: 'CLOSING NHS BEDS IS A SIGN OF SUCCESS'
IS THIS THE MOST EXTRAORDINAR STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A LABOUR HEALTH MINISTER? PATRICIA HEWITTTALKS TO MIRROR POLITICAL EDITOR OONAGH BLACKMAN.
Oonagh Blackman 08/02/2007
PATRICIA Hewitt last night incredibly declared that NHS bed closures are a sign of success - because it means fewer people need care.
...

I just find this hilarious. It would be all very well if there was actually any money going into community care but there isn't. Nurses working in primary care are being made redundant and people qualifying as district nurses aren't able to find jobs because of all the cuts. Who does she think she's fooling?

 

[Peripart]

Who does [Patricia Hewitt] think she's fooling?

The more I see and hear of this extraordinary woman, the more I think she genuinely believes every word she says, however ridiculously inane and patronising it sounds to the rest of us.

Who knows, perhaps in the fairytale version of the UK which most of Tony Blair's ministers seem to inhabit, what Mrs Hewitt says is true. Maybe there, closing beds is a measure of success, and top-heavy administration and dirty hospitals full of exhausted imported nurses are sure-fire signs that things are going great in the NHS.

Sadly, in the real world, this is not true, but that doesn't mean the Health Minister can't shut her eyes, put her fingers in her ears, shout "La, la, la, I'm not listening", and believe anything she wants.

 

[Anonymous]

PATRICIA Hewitt last night incredibly declared that NHS bed closures are a sign of success

Now THAT'S what I call spin doctoring!

F*cking *e**!

 

[mindalai]

Let's not forget that this is the same woman who gave a speech in front of a load of nurses who were facing redundancy and declared this one of the NHS's best years, conveniently forgetting that nurses who'd been brought from the other side of the world to fill staff shortages were being suddenly told they could no longer get work permits here, that the majority of newly qualified nurses were not able to get nursing jobs and that huge numbers of nurse vacancies were not able to be filled for financial reasons, meaning that the lucky nurses who did have jobs were having to do the work of two and sometimes three people. I detest her passionately.

Sorry, pet subject.