WHAT I wrote last week about my mother’s care in Barnsley Hospital hit a nerve with too many people.
And I’m sad about that because we deserve better serving our town. The hospital surely can’t be blind to the reputation it has garnered. Their pockets of excellence in some departments do not outweigh what is wrong in others.
Not much can be done to control the numbers of people coming into A and E but when patients get up to wards, there should be enough staff there to nurse them.
My cousin – a consultant – told me that, though it would seem common sense. But in too many cases, the basics aren’t even being covered and that is cause for concern and complaint.
The trouble is that people do not complain. They think ‘nothing will change, so what’s the point?’ So they try to live with the memories of their loved one’s suffering, but it never goes away and then they wish they’d said something.
Well you might have three years to sue but hospital records are kept for 25 years, and – this from the head of nursing over the Pennines – it is NEVER too late to bring up bad practice.
We are at our weakest when we need to be strong enough to complain about substandard care. But if people just accept the wrong, nothing will change – this from a GP.
The managers need to know that everything in the garden isn’t lovely, that their wards are NOT running well and the only way to do that is to lodge a complaint. There is a duty on NHS staff to submit untoward incident forms each time the ward is short staffed. They should get those forms into managers and let them pile up on their desks because when something like this inevitably happens it’s the managers who have to explain why they have allowed substandard care to continue. But do they? There are plenty of people working inside the NHS who are concerned about the lack of staff or lack of skills within departments who have tried to speak out only to be slapped back down, told to ‘tow the corporate line’. They’ve told me privately. So many are at the end of their tether, no wonder they leave.
A local dementia society is so concerned about the too many instances of poor treatment of the frail in Barnsley hospital, it plans to contact the local MP to discuss what can be done.
So – how do you shout up? PALS is set up to ensure the NHS listens to your concerns – ring them on 01226 432571. The organisation Cloverleaf is a free and independent service that can help you lodge a complaint about social care or the NHS and its funded services. Google them, they’re easily found.
You don’t need to sue (they’d only stick a gagging order on you anyway) - just tell them, do NOT be quiet if you want change.
And when you get your answers make sure you aren’t being blinded with science, you are owed a truth you can understand. By the way, they have a rubber stamp with ‘Lessons will be Learned’ on it that must have worn out by now.
I was, in my own complaint to them, careful to laud those who really helped mum.
They were terrific. A lady who worked in the NHS wrote to me and said the same. ‘People might also remember though that they should be as quick to praise and congratulate staff when things are good and go well. Staff respond well to praise, particularly when they’ve done a great job despite, not because of, unhelpful managers…’
How generous, because her little brother, my first friend who I used to walk hand-in-hand with to school – was forced to sue Barnsley Hospital after a botched operation – and won, because they had no choice but to admit their failings.
He never really recovered and died last year, aged only 59.
