Thread: 5,000 elderly 'killed each year' by lack of care beds

And it will be just as bad here if our government don't get control of the illegal situation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main. ... p_26062006

5,000 elderly 'killed each year' by lack of care beds
By Beezy Marsh and Michael Day
(Filed: 25/06/2006)
Thousands of elderly National Health Service patients are dying because they are denied intensive care treatment after surgery, a study has found.
A six-year survey of four million operations found that 85 per cent of the most vulnerable patients do not get the intensive care that could save their lives or prevent serious complications.
As a result, it is estimated that up to 5,000 frail and elderly patients die each year because they are not put in intensive care beds for monitoring after their operations.
Rupert Pearse, who led the research, also claims that 25,000 more suffer life-threatening complications because of the care failures.
Among the causes are a lack of intensive care beds and "ageism" against older patients.
Dr Pearse, a consultant in intensive care from the Royal London Hospital, said: "Thousands of patients are dying unnecessarily. I would call it a major public health problem. If we just spent a little more time and money on these patients, we would save money by not having to treat serious complications."
He added: "We shouldn't be writing off patients because they're 80-years-old. There are many people of this age who could and should go on to enjoy many years of life."
With colleagues from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre and St George's hospital, London, Dr Pearse studied surgery patients in 94 NHS hospitals between January 1999 and October 2004.
Excluding heart surgery and neurosurgery, there were 4,117,727 operations and 2,893,432 stays in intensive care. The study confirmed the existence of a large population of high-risk general surgical patients, accounting for around 13 per cent of surgical procedures but more than 80 per cent of deaths. The mortality rate for these patients was 12.3 per cent. Old age, the existence of other medical conditions and the need for emergency surgery were factors that made these patients more vulnerable.
Worryingly, the results, in the journal Critical Care, showed that only 15 per cent of these high-risk patients were admitted to intensive care after surgery, suggesting inadequate provision of critical care resources in the NHS.
Research by the Intensive Care Society has shown that only 2.5 per cent of hospital beds are allocated for critical care in the Britain, compared with 3.5 per cent in France and Germany and four per cent in Denmark.
Anna Batchelor, the president of the society, said that the study confirmed concerns among specialists. "This group of patients is large," Dr Batchelor said. "They are older, they may have had heart attacks or diabetes. If you were to put them in a high dependency unit and look after them, they would do better. In most hospitals they don't get a look-in because the beds are taken up."
The Department of Health said that the number of critical care beds has increased by 65 per cent since January 2000, with 3,233 beds available.
Ian Philp, the NHS National Director for Older People's Health, said that the study reported in Critical Care began before the NHS introduced its older people's national service framework in 2001 which removed formal barriers to treatment based on age.
Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern, said: "These figures on intensive care are another shocking entry in a catalogue of damning reports that show ageism is rife in healthcare. Age Concern's own research found that one in six people over 65 say that they have been discriminated against in healthcare or health insurance because of their age.
"Not only are older patients denied life-saving medical treatment, often even their basic needs are not met. Hospital patients over the age of 80 have a five times higher prevalence of malnutrition than those under 50."
Earlier this year, a report by the Healthcare Commission, the Audit Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection condemned the treatment of elderly patients. It found that vulnerable patients were often shunted around to free up beds and it condemned staff for their "deep-rooted cultural attitude to ageing".

27 May 2006: Curb on Alzheimer's drugs
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Bah! Socialism!!!

I was told by my Canadian ER doc that her mother wasn't allowed to have an aortic aneurysm repaired because it was found when she was 66. Mind you a vibrant, intelligent, high-powered woman (volunteered a lot for very worthwhile causes). She also told me that pets could have emergency CT scans (if you paid for them) but people could only have them in a 'True Emergency".

So when my doc, drove up to the ER honking her horn, I took one look at her mom and knew it had ruptured. She survived the surgery, but died 2 days later, from the shock to her body. Her mom was still a vibrant woman in her mid-70's. Had she been able to get it repaired when it was discovered, who knows how much good she could still be doing in her community.

I will NEVER forget looking into her mom (my patient's) eyes in the OR. She had been intubated, of course, so couldn't talk. I held her hands, looked into her very frightened eyes (she knew what was wrong) and imploring her to "hold on and fight". Then holding my shaking and trembling doc who didn't think her mom would survive the surgery. She said that they still had things to talk about!

Ask me how I feel about socialized medicine.

Please, folks, NEVER leave your loved ones angry or with unfinished business. You never know.

It already is. They don't allow people the time to care for their patients in alot of instances. Especially in alot of the nursing homes. I don't blame the nurses. You simply can't be 5 places at the same time. I know even the aids were way overloaded. You can't have 5 patients that need help in eating a meal and be able able to feed them all while their foods still hot. You can't be cleaning and changing 5 patients diapers and clothes and bed sheets at the same time. Somebody is going to end up sitting in it for awhile and it doesn't take much to start skin irritations and infections when their skin is so sensitive. Not to mention how many times you're called away in the meantime for something on a list of priorities thats "more important". It's not an easy job and it's hard to remember that when it's your mom or dad that's being put aside. Big Business doesn't work well with quality patient care when MONEY is the bottom line.

I mean if your rich and can afford it...fine. But if your insurance limits you or it's medicare pay......the story changes and it's not the fault of the caregivers. I dread the thought of how bad it will be when it's my turn.

Crazybird,

You simply can't be 5 places at the same time

Exactly!!!

Why do you think I'm home taking care of MY MOM?!