Blackpool Victoria Hospital stroke unit...

[rodericb]

"Stroke 'played no part' in hospital patient death"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9neq9e7qqo

A horrific thing to have occurred.

And that's the latest in a range of hellish goings on there:

https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/every-...

World class care there.



Oh, and if you're noticing things, stop noticing!

[butchstewie]

Slightly lost for words reading that first article.

How the hell can something like that happen in a hospital?

[otolith]

My mother died in July a couple of days after being discharged from Blackpool Vic.

She had been admitted for a week with severe abdominal pain. This was causing her to be constantly sick, which was irritating her hiatus hernia, and stopping her keeping her Parkinsons meds down. The cause of the pain was a kidney stone, which they declined to treat immediately and said would deal with in outpatients. She was discharged after a week, and then readmitted with the same symptoms a week later. They kept her in for a couple of days and then sent her home, still symptomatic. She was discharged with Oxycodone for the pain, which she had not previously been given in hospital. She died a couple of days later. Cause of death was aspiration pneumonia.

It seems to me that the risk of attempting to treat the kidney stone was given excessive weight over the risk of not treating it. That Parkinsons disease and constant vomiting is a high risk combination for aspiration pneumonia. That opioids which further increase the risk of aspiration pneumonia should not have been first given outside a clinical setting. That she should not have been discharged in that condition.

[Square Leg]

That’s fking horrific.

How the Hell does that happen in our hospitals?

[Pit Pony]

Square Leg said:

That s fking horrific.

How the Hell does that happen in our hospitals?

Feck knows.

[Quhet]

Jesus Christ, how horrible. Makes you wonder how these things are allowed to happen and where the oversight is.

[98elise]

Square Leg said:

That s fking horrific.

How the Hell does that happen in our hospitals?

Agreed. Both the assault, and the "care" afterwards.

[scenario8]

What an absolute disgrace.

Note the death was in 2018. (For those unsure I can report it is 2025 at present).

[DeejRC]

Every so often in various threads I will occasionally mention frequent flyer membership of NHS hospital
Parking passes.

Blackpool Vic Stroke Unit is a large part of that reason.

First up, I was born in Blackpool Vic, as was pretty much my entire family.
Laterly, well 12yrs ago now my father was admitted in there initially with TIAs. This became a full stroke incident not too long after, relatively shortly before the 72nd Goodwood MM.
We have spent a long time in and out of the Vic Stroke Unit with, well, sub optimal results.
Last week mum finally put him in a home after a 10yr losing battle to get him to walk again and talk again.

It is not my favourite place.

Oh and if dad ever bumped into you at Goodwood on subsequent MM in the buggy, then sorry, he had to learn how to control it with the wrong working hand!!

Edited by DeejRC on Friday 26th September 23:31

[butchstewie]

Jesus.

Leaked report reveals culture of bullying and harassment at scandal-hit NHS hospital

[Carl_VivaEspana]

butchstewie said:

Slightly lost for words reading that first article.

How the hell can something like that happen in a hospital?

sadly, it's more common to read this sort of stuff.

I have direct knowledge of similar in another trust but can't post about it due to the legals.

[KAgantua]

This is the tip of an iceberg imo

[DeejRC]

As per my previous post above, we have direct knowledge of this unit.
As it unfortunately happens, we were back to frequent flyer status last week as dad had seizures and was back in.

It is very very easy to dislike Blackpool Vic.

[oddman]

KAgantua said:

This is the tip of an iceberg imo

You're not wrong. There are poor and underperforming staff scattered through the NHS. Units with poor leadership allows them to draw a salary for, at best, substandard service and at worst this kind of cruelty and neglect. I'd like to think that Blackpool is at the extreme end of a bell curve but the truth is more complex that that.

When I started as a consultant, I was warned by my predecessor not to admit patients to a certain elderly care ward. On my first visit there, to introduce myself, the manager wouldn't make eye contact and, fortunately for me, within a week or two of my appointment, a couple of whistleblowing HSW bank staff gave direct witness evidence of depressing acts of neglect and cruelty. My consultant colleague had been raising concerns for years but because he was a doctor, raising concerns about nursing practice, and his evidence wasn't eyewitness, he was sidelined and ignored. Virtually all the staff were cleared out, coincidentally the unit moved to another hospital and the culture improved to the standard of generic NHS mediocrity. It took another change or two to actually get it good.

At the level of a ward it's theoretically easy to turn culture around. A good manager working, with the support of the consultants (fewer the better) and their own management will quietly demonstrate standards and ruthlessly pursue HR policies against those with sickness and disciplinary issues. In reality they don't have to go in guns blazing they just have to apply existing standards and policy. The natural turnover if NHS units is fairly high so the slackers (and worse) knowing they have nowhere to hide on the unit move on. This is superficially reassuring but the staff move on to units with the NHS with poorer leadership (ie most of it) or the private sector nursing homes. The problem doesn't go away. It concentrates. In wards where there is poor management the members of staff who are lazy neglectful and even cruel can find a safe environment.

One problem is that there are very few managers who are prepared for choice between being popular and respected/feared. Why should they given how poorly the are paid and supported? Most, despite good intentions, take the line of least resistance/quiet life. They can get by unless they are unlucky enough to have a scandal.

[bucksmanuk]

DeejRC said:

As per my previous post above, we have direct knowledge of this unit.
As it unfortunately happens, we were back to frequent flyer status last week as dad had seizures and was back in.

It is very very easy to dislike Blackpool Vic.

2 close family friends went in Blackpool Vic within 2 years of one another. They were dreading it because of the local reputation. They lived in St Annes.,
Neither came out alive.

[Earthdweller]

oddman said:

KAgantua said:

This is the tip of an iceberg imo

You're not wrong. There are poor and underperforming staff scattered through the NHS. Units with poor leadership allows them to draw a salary for, at best, substandard service and at worst this kind of cruelty and neglect. I'd like to think that Blackpool is at the extreme end of a bell curve but the truth is more complex that that.

When I started as a consultant, I was warned by my predecessor not to admit patients to a certain elderly care ward. On my first visit there, to introduce myself, the manager wouldn't make eye contact and, fortunately for me, within a week or two of my appointment, a couple of whistleblowing HSW bank staff gave direct witness evidence of depressing acts of neglect and cruelty. My consultant colleague had been raising concerns for years but because he was a doctor, raising concerns about nursing practice, and his evidence wasn't eyewitness, he was sidelined and ignored. Virtually all the staff were cleared out, coincidentally the unit moved to another hospital and the culture improved to the standard of generic NHS mediocrity. It took another change or two to actually get it good.

At the level of a ward it's theoretically easy to turn culture around. A good manager working, with the support of the consultants (fewer the better) and their own management will quietly demonstrate standards and ruthlessly pursue HR policies against those with sickness and disciplinary issues. In reality they don't have to go in guns blazing they just have to apply existing standards and policy. The natural turnover if NHS units is fairly high so the slackers (and worse) knowing they have nowhere to hide on the unit move on. This is superficially reassuring but the staff move on to units with the NHS with poorer leadership (ie most of it) or the private sector nursing homes. The problem doesn't go away. It concentrates. In wards where there is poor management the members of staff who are lazy neglectful and even cruel can find a safe environment.

One problem is that there are very few managers who are prepared for choice between being popular and respected/feared. Why should they given how poorly the are paid and supported? Most, despite good intentions, take the line of least resistance/quiet life. They can get by unless they are unlucky enough to have a scandal.

I've just spent the last week in hospital. I had one night in the ED half way ward before going to a proper ward

In the unit was a elderly man in his 80's who was clearly confused and partially deaf

There were two nurses on duty during the night one was Irish and absolutely lovely the other was east European

I witnessed what I can only describe as elder abuse from the 2nd girl above toward the elderly gent

Really uncaring and neglectful

At around 2am he needed to go to the toilet, he was really unsteady on his feet and in real danger of falling

I watched her shout at him and point to where the toilet was and she watched him stumble towards it

Then she slammed the door behind him and walked off muttering "he's f'kin confused, f'kin fall risk, f'k sake" and she left him for about 15 minutes before she came back and she opened the door and he made his own way back with her barking instructions at him

Really shocking, if I'd have been able to I'd have got up and helped him but unfortunately I couldn't and had to watch/listen to what happened

Everyone else was great that I saw and everyone looking after me superb as a counterbalance

[oddman]

Earthdweller said:

I've just spent the last week in hospital. I had one night in the ED half way ward before going to a proper ward

In the unit was a elderly man in his 80's who was clearly confused and partially deaf

There were two nurses on duty during the night one was Irish and absolutely lovely the other was east European

I witnessed what I can only describe as elder abuse from the 2nd girl above toward the elderly gent

Really uncaring and neglectful

At around 2am he needed to go to the toilet, he was really unsteady on his feet and in real danger of falling

I watched her shout at him and point to where the toilet was and she watched him stumble towards it

Then she slammed the door behind him and walked off muttering "he's f'kin confused, f'kin fall risk, f'k sake" and she left him for about 15 minutes before she came back and she opened the door and he made his own way back with her barking instructions at him

Really shocking, if I'd have been able to I'd have got up and helped him but unfortunately I couldn't and had to watch/listen to what happened

Everyone else was great that I saw and everyone looking after me superb as a counterbalance

Send your observations to complaints/PALS copy to the CEO. Complaints can be gold dust. There's a chance that the ward manager is waiting for the ammunition.......

[Earthdweller]

oddman said:

Send your observations to complaints/PALS copy to the CEO. Complaints can be gold dust. There's a chance that the ward manager is waiting for the ammunition.......

Thanks I will do that, I was genuinely upset by what I witnessed

[milesgiles]

Earthdweller said:

oddman said:

KAgantua said:

This is the tip of an iceberg imo

You're not wrong. There are poor and underperforming staff scattered through the NHS. Units with poor leadership allows them to draw a salary for, at best, substandard service and at worst this kind of cruelty and neglect. I'd like to think that Blackpool is at the extreme end of a bell curve but the truth is more complex that that.

When I started as a consultant, I was warned by my predecessor not to admit patients to a certain elderly care ward. On my first visit there, to introduce myself, the manager wouldn't make eye contact and, fortunately for me, within a week or two of my appointment, a couple of whistleblowing HSW bank staff gave direct witness evidence of depressing acts of neglect and cruelty. My consultant colleague had been raising concerns for years but because he was a doctor, raising concerns about nursing practice, and his evidence wasn't eyewitness, he was sidelined and ignored. Virtually all the staff were cleared out, coincidentally the unit moved to another hospital and the culture improved to the standard of generic NHS mediocrity. It took another change or two to actually get it good.

At the level of a ward it's theoretically easy to turn culture around. A good manager working, with the support of the consultants (fewer the better) and their own management will quietly demonstrate standards and ruthlessly pursue HR policies against those with sickness and disciplinary issues. In reality they don't have to go in guns blazing they just have to apply existing standards and policy. The natural turnover if NHS units is fairly high so the slackers (and worse) knowing they have nowhere to hide on the unit move on. This is superficially reassuring but the staff move on to units with the NHS with poorer leadership (ie most of it) or the private sector nursing homes. The problem doesn't go away. It concentrates. In wards where there is poor management the members of staff who are lazy neglectful and even cruel can find a safe environment.

One problem is that there are very few managers who are prepared for choice between being popular and respected/feared. Why should they given how poorly the are paid and supported? Most, despite good intentions, take the line of least resistance/quiet life. They can get by unless they are unlucky enough to have a scandal.

I've just spent the last week in hospital. I had one night in the ED half way ward before going to a proper ward

In the unit was a elderly man in his 80's who was clearly confused and partially deaf

There were two nurses on duty during the night one was Irish and absolutely lovely the other was east European

I witnessed what I can only describe as elder abuse from the 2nd girl above toward the elderly gent

Really uncaring and neglectful

At around 2am he needed to go to the toilet, he was really unsteady on his feet and in real danger of falling

I watched her shout at him and point to where the toilet was and she watched him stumble towards it

Then she slammed the door behind him and walked off muttering "he's f'kin confused, f'kin fall risk, f'k sake" and she left him for about 15 minutes before she came back and she opened the door and he made his own way back with her barking instructions at him

Really shocking, if I'd have been able to I'd have got up and helped him but unfortunately I couldn't and had to watch/listen to what happened

Everyone else was great that I saw and everyone looking after me superb as a counterbalance

Can’t be right. We only take the best