Legal action against the NHS

[poppynurse]

PALS are the patient advocacy and liason service - they are they to assist with problems / complaints and help resolve them.

 

You have the right to complain if you are not happy with any aspect of care/treatment. Best done in writing to senior members of the organisation concerned (ie director level) who will investigate and respond.

 

Proving negligence is a different ball game and can be hard to prove, you need to demonstrate a duty of care, a breech of that duty and harm resulting from that breech.

 

You mention failure to provide adequate clinical care, can you elaborate? That will enable us to advise further.

[poppynurse]

Thanks Poppynurse. Have found PALS through Google.

 

Please forgive me if the following sounds a bit staccato, but wish to give you the facts as briefly as possible.

 

I should also add my wife is 68 and I am 72, consider ourselves well educated and certainly able and prepared to take on government bureaucracy. Having lived abroad neither of us have ever been in a British hospital other than as follows (and child birth which was undertaken privately.

 

My wife is suffering the aftermath of a series of strokes. The events began six weeks ago.

 

Day 1: Around noon she suffers what I suspect to be a TIA. No improvement after 4 hours when she suffers another. Take her to GP who suggests A & E. She lies on a trolley with no medical assessment other than a triage nurse. At 21.00 hrs. she discharges herself and I take her home. We witness triage nurse and three others taking coffee in a private office. A & E is full of waiting patients, none of which show any sign of external injury. OK I'll try and explain what should have happened - did you wait four hours? The government say that everyone should be seen within four hours (not saying I agree) cases are (or should be) treated on a triage basis - ie sickest get seen first. Nurses having coffee - they do need breaks, and A&E waiting rooms are often full....

 

Day 2: 01.00 hrs. Wife has third attack. NHS Direct send doctor. Recommended immediate transfer back to hospital, but no bed available. Kept copy of his report which gives prognosis as 'possible death'. Ambulance arrives at 09.00 and so back to A & E trolley. Whilst on trolley taken for chest X-ray and CT scan which are reviewed by House Officer. Bed found in observation ward some 8 hours later. No medical examination other than by House Officer. The four bed ward contains two geriatric females in their nineties, but during the night an aggressive drunken male is brought in who proceeds to remove his clothes and threaten the other patients. The ablution facilities were quite filthy. Doctor on call could have dialled 999, sounds like he booked a non-urgent ambulance. Would be concerned by HO interpreting CT (are you sure the radiographer didn't read it?). Ischaemic strokes don't show for 48 hours, bleeds show straight away, so ruling out bleed at this point. Waiting 8 hours for bed is bad - breeches 4 hours A&E targets so will be investigated by management automatically. Mixed bays happen unfortunately, particularly on assessment areas. No excuse for dirty wash rooms.

 

Day 3: Our medically qualified daughter arrives and demands action and when this is not forthcoming takes responsibility for discharging her mother until a bed in the stroke unit can be made available. Had wife been seen by consultant - should be seen within 24 hours of admission and formal plan or care documented? Beds in stroke units difficult to come by, often have to wait (again not saying it's right just a result of underfunding).

 

Day 4: I read her medical notes and find they contained a three page hand written report by a sister from whom I had requested a cup of tea and who had objected to my comments concerning illegal immigrants blocking A & E and the NHS in general. The requested photocopy was refused. Technically you should not have read notes without formal permission (wife's right to privacy/confidentiality). Photocopy available through consultants secretary on formal request - would not be allowed to photocopy at ward level. If sister felt you were being racist against illegal immigrants and unhappy with care she was entitled to document that.

 

Day 5: Wife moved to stroke unit and a single ward with a well disinfected shower/toilet facility. Still no sign of anyone other than a House Officer who blatantly lies to us concerning the availability of medical staff. Wife ordered to move from single room so discharges herself once again. Hospital has lost prescription for medication so asked to return following day. Was wife readmitted from home? Care should have been supervised by consultant - are you sure consultant didn't see her. Unfortunately side-rooms at a premium and often required for infected patients. Losing prescription not good, could they not have written another?

 

Day 6: Hospital pharmacy telephones (number withheld) to ask if I know what had been prescribed! GP was coincidentally making a visit so immediately gave prescription for Persantin Retard (dipyridamole modified release). Bizarre - pharmacy should know from doctors discharge notes.

 

Day 7: We have wife/mother back home, but a few day's later a letter arrives asking for her to return to hospital for an ultra-sound check on her carotid artery. Sorry, we didn't do it whilst you were in hospital but the "young lady who does these things" was away. Sounds like wife perhaps wasn't in hospital long enough to be done as inpatient. At least they are offering it, it is a diagnostic test to see if there are plaques in the arteries of the neck, should help categorise further risk/see if surgery would help.

 

If my wife was improving I would not be so angry, but her semi-paralysed right side facilities are still weak, no-one has arranged any physiotherapy, she has been wandering around this hick town trying to get a suitable build up for her shoe (an area in which she is qualified), I could not obtain a repeat of Persantin as the GP had not entered it on the practice's computer, she is showing adverse reaction to both simvastatin and pervastatin but her GP seems reluctant to prescribe ezetimiibe. GP can refer for physio, sounds like you need to see him and ask for physio and OT referral, these would have been arranged during recovery but by leaving hospital sounds like your wife has fallen out of the loop. Need to talk to GP about statin therapy.

 

There is absolutely no liaison or co-ordination in the NHS and our hospital has the distinction of the second highest MRSA/C.Diff. rate in the country. As above, by discharging self seems like wife has missed out on follow up.

 

Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

Regards.

 

Van

 

You need to put your concerns in writing to PALS and/or the chief executive and director of nursing, they will be able to explain their view of things. Be clear in the letter what you want the outcome to be.

Hope your wife has a good recovery, things can continue to improve slowly for weeks/months.