political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Killer NHS!
Prospect Magazine reveals this month that 58 per cent of Britons die in an NHS ward.
A statistic that could be open to great misinterpretation!
Haven't seen the article yet but considering 85% of people died at home at the end of the 19th century is this really progress? And we know that about 22% die at home now - but what' worrying me is where are all the other bodies!
Iain I understand the point you are making, but there is a wider issue here.
Most people want to die in their own home, or in a hospice. Hospitals are not the place for people to die, there are the place for people to get acute treatment. There are several reasons why this statistic is so high. Often it is the fault of relatives who (for understandable reasons) want to hang on to their relative's life as long as possible, even if it is against the wishes of the relative. Recently I talked to a hospital nurse about this and she said that most people have never asked their relatives what they want. Another reason is the huge shift to private nursing care in the last couple of decades. A nursing home does not want a relative to die there, and so when an elderly person is near death they often call the emergency services so that the elderly person is admitted to hospital and dies there. Clearly, their death would be far more dignified if they die in the 'home' that they are used to: the nursing home.
The wider issue is that we simply have not addressed the issue of how we look after the elderly in our society, nor how we allow them to have the death they want, with comfort and dignity.
Sadly this will not change. You only have to look at the ludicrous fuss over "the tax that never was" (the so called death tax, that was never a policy of the last government) to see that people in this country are not willing to pay for their own care when they are elderly. Indeed, the elderly are vulnerable and often voiceless politically, and they will take a disproportionate amount of the public sector cuts. Future generations will damn us for being so callous towards our elders.
How about the statistic about the number of pensioners dying from cold this winter thanks to energy prices rocketing to fund the renewables racket, save polar bears and Amazon and make smug Huhne, Cameron and Gore even smugger in their publicly heated homes? Why not make it illegal for the government to allow the temperature in pensioners' homes to be less than 21 degrees C in winter months? Money to come from the ring-fenced international aid slush fund.
My Dad said he never wanted to go to a hospital but would prefer to die at home. His condition got so bad we couldn't handle it. He couldn't eat basically. The hospital rammed one meal down his throat in a tube, after which he told us he wouldn't hang around for a repeat performance, and died within an hour. He announced he'd had a very happy life, sang a song or two, and then was gone.
Maybe we should have struggled on at home, and granted him his wish. He had just one last request, for a piece of cheese, but the hospital didn't have any.
Off topic but a Killler Comment by the Labour Leader! Just read on DT that Milliband on Radio 5 claimed that "Yeah, he was a Socialist". Whether this shows he is either grudging in his view of the party heads or just a slob is moot but he went on to claim his father was one too! Good to hear it. Ralphy -baby was a communist who with his father abandoned their womenfolk to their fate in 1940, fled to the UK, was educated at our expense and then spent a lifetime denigrating the country that had given them succour. Typical socialists all. Seeking always to strike at hand that feeds them! I fizz with distaste at the Browns, Jowells, Milibands and MacShanes. Troughing hypocrites all!
Brian - I can't speak for other energy companies but from British Gas bills, only 5% is profit/investment in renewables. 2% for gas and 7% for electricity is environmental tax and after VAT, the bulk is the average wholesale price and transport/storage costs which have gone up.
So if British Gas were not-for-profit, there would be no investment in the future and your bills would go up 2% instead of 7%. You wouldn't even notice the difference, but you would when energy runs out.
Mmm: why am I not impressed. So many die in hospitals which have become the death-factories of choice, because the end-of-life is our remaining taboo. Equally they are the places where almost all get born. End of.
Back in the days of Thatcherism, a shlock-horror notice went up in the hospital corridor: "The first five minutes of life are the most hazardous!" To which a marker-pen added: "The last five can be a bit tricky too."
Reminds me of an early lesson in statistics: The army brought in a new helmet which resulted in a trebling of head injuries - was this a good thing?
ReplyDeleteIt turned out that many soldiers who would have previously died were now only injured with the new helmet.
Statistics can be made to dance to any tune, and last time I looked, the Death Rate under Labour Governments has stuck resolutely at 100%.
Standby for shrill lefty attacks on you now, along the lines of "STOP bashing the NHS ... honestly you tories are all the same."
ReplyDeleteApparently though before the last government came to power there are statistics showing that more people died.
Haven't seen the article yet but considering 85% of people died at home at the end of the 19th century is this really progress? And we know that about 22% die at home now - but what' worrying me is where are all the other bodies!
ReplyDeleteIain I understand the point you are making, but there is a wider issue here.
ReplyDeleteMost people want to die in their own home, or in a hospice. Hospitals are not the place for people to die, there are the place for people to get acute treatment. There are several reasons why this statistic is so high. Often it is the fault of relatives who (for understandable reasons) want to hang on to their relative's life as long as possible, even if it is against the wishes of the relative. Recently I talked to a hospital nurse about this and she said that most people have never asked their relatives what they want. Another reason is the huge shift to private nursing care in the last couple of decades. A nursing home does not want a relative to die there, and so when an elderly person is near death they often call the emergency services so that the elderly person is admitted to hospital and dies there. Clearly, their death would be far more dignified if they die in the 'home' that they are used to: the nursing home.
The wider issue is that we simply have not addressed the issue of how we look after the elderly in our society, nor how we allow them to have the death they want, with comfort and dignity.
Sadly this will not change. You only have to look at the ludicrous fuss over "the tax that never was" (the so called death tax, that was never a policy of the last government) to see that people in this country are not willing to pay for their own care when they are elderly. Indeed, the elderly are vulnerable and often voiceless politically, and they will take a disproportionate amount of the public sector cuts. Future generations will damn us for being so callous towards our elders.
How about the statistic about the number of pensioners dying from cold this winter thanks to energy prices rocketing to fund the renewables racket, save polar bears and Amazon and make smug Huhne, Cameron and Gore even smugger in their publicly heated homes?
ReplyDeleteWhy not make it illegal for the government to allow the temperature in pensioners' homes to be less than 21 degrees C in winter months? Money to come from the ring-fenced international aid slush fund.
My Dad said he never wanted to go to a hospital but would prefer to die at home. His condition got so bad we couldn't handle it. He couldn't eat basically. The hospital rammed one meal down his throat in a tube, after which he told us he wouldn't hang around for a repeat performance, and died within an hour. He announced he'd had a very happy life, sang a song or two, and then was gone.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should have struggled on at home, and granted him his wish. He had just one last request, for a piece of cheese, but the hospital didn't have any.
Off topic but a Killler Comment by the Labour Leader! Just read on DT that Milliband on Radio 5 claimed that "Yeah, he was a Socialist". Whether this shows he is either grudging in his view of the party heads or just a slob is moot but he went on to claim his father was one too! Good to hear it. Ralphy -baby was a communist who with his father abandoned their womenfolk to their fate in 1940, fled to the UK, was educated at our expense and then spent a lifetime denigrating the country that had given them succour.
ReplyDeleteTypical socialists all. Seeking always to strike at hand that feeds them!
I fizz with distaste at the Browns, Jowells,
Milibands and MacShanes. Troughing hypocrites all!
Brian - I can't speak for other energy companies but from British Gas bills, only 5% is profit/investment in renewables. 2% for gas and 7% for electricity is environmental tax and after VAT, the bulk is the average wholesale price and transport/storage costs which have gone up.
ReplyDeleteSo if British Gas were not-for-profit, there would be no investment in the future and your bills would go up 2% instead of 7%. You wouldn't even notice the difference, but you would when energy runs out.
20-80,000 killed directly, or by mistakes in the NHS each year.
ReplyDeleteSome articles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jan/18/health
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1106074/Deaths-hospital-blunders-soar-60-years-NHS-staff-abandon-quality-care-chase-targets.html
Only 10% are repored.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3287571/Nine-out-of-ten-preventable-deaths-in-the-NHS-are-not-reported.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/8059234/90-year-old-woman-has-wrong-leg-amputated.html
In Austria, they prosecute the doctors. In the NHS they don't. That's why its so bad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1561347/NHS-deaths-could-be-halved-say-doctors.html
The result is that they are not monitored closely enough, causing at least 20,000 deaths each year.
So how many are injured and why no compenstation
There's a blog for that.
ReplyDelete@ Brian
ReplyDeleteSo your proposal could lead to the temperature in these homes being 90C? Might kill a few more, that way.
@ Benny
ReplyDeleteAny figures for investment and outcomes? After all, if it's an investment there should be some sort of profit, shouldn't there?
Mmm: why am I not impressed. So many die in hospitals which have become the death-factories of choice, because the end-of-life is our remaining taboo. Equally they are the places where almost all get born. End of.
ReplyDeleteBack in the days of Thatcherism, a shlock-horror notice went up in the hospital corridor: "The first five minutes of life are the most hazardous!" To which a marker-pen added: "The last five can be a bit tricky too."