Hospitals are places where patients are often neglected, humiliated and
left in pain, with thousands dying due to poor treatment, writes Dr.
Vernon Coleman.
The main issues in hospitals include filthy
wards, unhygienic practices, poor cleaning and staff not washing their
hands, leading to a high risk of infections.
Many hospital
staff, including doctors and nurses, do not trust the National Health
Service (“NHS”) and prefer private treatment for themselves and their
families, with some even buying private health care insurance.
Hospitals
are terrible places. People die in them. You should go into hospital
only as a last resort. And you should escape the minute you can.
As
a doctor, I am ashamed, saddened and embarrassed to have to tell you
this but hospital patients are routinely neglected, humiliated and left
in pain. Thousands of patients have died as a result of poor treatment.
One independent inquiry documented cases where patients had been left
unwashed for up to a month and left without food, drink and medical
treatment. The conclusion was that managers had been “preoccupied with
cost-cutting, targets and processes” and had lost sight of their basic
responsibilities. Astonishingly, none of the responsible managers
responsible was taken to court. Nor were any of the doctors and nurses
punished.
I have little doubt that in all the hospitals where
patients have been dying unnecessarily the staff (including doctors and
nurses) managed to convince themselves that they were providing patients
with excellent service.
And, equally, I have no doubt that an
enormous number of patients and relatives and hospital visitors must
have ignored all these awful things and believed that the hospitals
concerned were doing a wonderful job.
It wouldn’t surprise me in
the slightest to hear that the managers responsible for all this pain,
agony and death, have thick files of letters from patients and relatives
thanking them for the excellent care.
The truth is that neither patients nor relatives know precisely what to expect from hospitals...<<<Read More>>>...