Hospitals failing to care for broken Hip patients
FOUR in 10 patients who break their hips suffer delays in treatment that increase the chances of them going into care homes, a report has revealed.
Seven elderly patients break their hips while staying in hospital every day with some not doing enough to keep patients safe, analysis shows.
Antony Johansen, who helped compile the report for the National Hip Fracture Database, said: “If 40 per cent of patients are not receiving this care – usually because they miss out on just one or two elements, this could compromise their rehabilitation and recovery.”
Examination of the records of 65,000 patients found thousands are not receiving the care they should. Almost one in 10 was still immobile four months after an injury with “enormous variation” in rehabilitation rates at hospitals.
Elderly patients are meant to get standard treatment, including surgery within 36 hours and an urgent review by a geriatrician. But the audit found 40 per cent were not getting the care they should.
Mr Johansen added: “It’s truly terrible not to have early surgery. If you have to get on a bedpan with a broken hip there’s no dignified way of doing that and people just unravel.
“With care of frail older people, doing it well is cheaper than doing it badly. I know if I fail to rehabilitate someone and they go into a care home that’s a bill of £70,000 for them or the taxpayer.”