You get more courtesy at a checkout till
Fury of families seeking answers from hospitals over death of a loved one
GRIEVING families who try to get answers from NHS hospitals about the death of a loved one say they are often treated with less courtesy than you get at a supermarket checkout.
Health service staff are refusing to carry out proper investigations when patients die, leaving their relatives shut out, frustrated and ignored, according to a report published today.
Some of those who agree to answer complaints then turn up to meetings with a lawyer, say families.
In a major study, the Care Quality Commission found that not a single hospital nor health trust was thoroughly examining patient deaths to check for avoidable errors in patient care.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has ordered the CQC to review how the NHS investigates potentially avoidable deaths.
The watchdog’s study found that families were excluded from 93 per cent of investigations; that not a single hospital or health trust was carrying out a full probe of every potentially avoidable death; and that relatives of disabled or mentally ill patients are often brushed off or told death was ‘inevitable’.
Separate figures from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman show that families have lodged a total of 338 serious complaints about avoidable deaths in 2016 – a rise of 10 per cent on the number in 2015.
Mr Hunt ordered the review in the wake of the scandal at Southern Health trust, where bosses failed to investigate more than 1,000 deaths over four years. These included 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, who drowned in a bath following a catalogue of failings at an NHS-run centre in Oxford.
The CQC inspected 12 randomly chosen hospitals and health trusts and scrutinised their process for investigating deaths. It also spoke to more than 100 bereaved families.
One unnamed relative said: ‘You’re viewed as a pain in the neck really. I’ve had more courtesy at the supermarket checkout than I’ve had at the trust.’
Another said: ‘ As soon as we started asking questions it was like we were interfering and that they were the professionals, not us. They became antagonistic.’
Another remarked: ‘They drip feed you information, they give you a tiny closed- off answer. Letters are sent Friday so they arrive Saturday morning – you’ve nowhere to go, nothing to do with it.’
The report highlighted how investigations into the deaths of patients with mental health conditions or disabilities were particularly poor. It said there was a ‘level of acceptance and sense of inevitability’ when such patients die early.
‘There can be no tolerance of their deaths being treated with any less importance,’ it added.
One mother said a nurse told her just before the death of her 34-yearold son that ‘his time has come’.
The watchdog said none of the 12 hospitals and health trusts were properly investigating deaths by involving families and then ensuring lessons were learnt to prevent future mistakes.
It examined 27 NHS investigation reports into deaths and found only three had involved families.
Relatives were not kept up to date with probes nor asked to submit evidence that could shed light on poor care.
Some family members said investigations were ‘fudged’ or even falsified by staff to exclude any
incriminating evidence against health employees.
The report said NHS workers were ‘underestimating’ the role of families in investigations as they can provide vital information about patient care.
Later today the Health Secretary will tell the House of Commons that the report makes for ‘sobering reading’.
Professor Dame Sue Bailey, chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which represents 24 leading health organisations said: ‘We have consistently failed and continue to fail too many of the families of those who die whilst in our care.
‘ This is not about blaming individuals, but about the health service learning the lessons from this report.’
The CQC’s report will raise concerns that NHS staff have failed to become any more honest or transparent despite repeated pledges following the Mid Staffordshire scandal. Hundreds of patients are feared to have died at the hospital in what has been described as the worst case of neglect in the health service’s history. A major inquiry in 2013 prompted the Government to issue new guidelines ordering staff to own up to their mistakes. But three years on today’s report suggests very little has changed.
At the same time, campaigners are warning that the Mid-Staffs scandal was not a one-off because other hospitals have ignored NHS rules on overcrowding.
Cure the NHS and charity Action Against Medical Accidents are launching a campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers of overfull wards and suggest that hundreds or possibly thousands of clinical negligence claims could be launched over lack of access to evidence.
The campaigners want to contact coroners over fears that they were misled at inquests by not having all the evidence on how full wards were across the UK.
As soon as we started asking questions it was like we were interfering ... they became antagonistic Bereaved relative