http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8533988.stm

Words fail me,that are printable without a ban.

Sackings on a huge scale are the easy way.

So angry i am that this has been allowed to happen after a similar thing happened in another down south hospital a few years ago.

My sister works there and there are too many tales to tell. She has a semi serious long term health problem and I really wish she'd finish as 1. She is bullied and pressured about her health, 2. She (and a lot of others) get no help with their workload and are bullied into stupid actions by management.
As mentioned in the report I think all staff were interviewed for the report/investigation. They were told that they could say what they want and it would be anonymous. Few believed that and the fact was that some after some of the interviews things happened that could only have been in response to points/complaints raised by staff at these interviews.

Some one mentioned mass sackings. Problem is that who do you think would be the people carrying the can.

In addition since the well publicised problems at this hospital there are a lot of instances now of the staff being bullied/threatened by patients and family. Because of the problems they simply chime up with the – "if you don't do such and such we'll report you to the authority". My sister had this levelled at her over a patient who persistently used his mobile on the ward.

It is a very worrying problem and I worry how well it can be resolved.

1961Bikie, sorry for your sister, but the former chief exec,has refused to give any info due to being ill.

Mass acking of the management, that allowed this shambles to happen and the ignorant uncareing staff that did not do the job or offer the care they where supposed to do.

Mobile phones are allowed in a lot of hospitals now,high death rates of patients are not.

Numerous reports and the first part of the report issued today is 455 pages long and is horrifing reading,neglect, patients left on comodes for 3 hours,families taking contaminated soiled bed sheets home,patients left in soiled bed sheets for hours, staff bully patients,and ignoreing families needs and concerns and lots more issues of neglect.

But I thought TJ had told us that everything in the NHS was tickertyboo?

That aside, I agree with the OP here. Sackings are needed. Not just a "we will learn the lessons and move on" sort of guff, but proper sword-falling.

There was a story of a mountain biker taken in after a fall and sent home cos he couldn't be treated within the timespan needed to meet the targets – he died of a ruptured spleen whihc had happened as a result of the fall but which the hospital hadn't picked up on. 🙁

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/health/NHS-boss-accused-cover-Leicester-man-s-death-report/article-1759213-detail/article.html

He was a mountain biker and was seriously injured on Canock Chase,condolances to his family.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163255/Just-What-boss-blunder-hospital-told-boys-parents-missing-fatal-injury.html

the government set the targets,
if you fail to meet the targets the government reduce your funding as your not "performing",
if you don't have the funds you can't perform better,
and so the downward spiral goes!

blame the government (all of 'em) not the staff

the patients pay the (sometimes ultimate) price

shite n it

>But I thought TJ had told us that everything in the NHS was tickertyboo?

Thatch innit.

We need more nurses on the shopfloor. It's as simple as that.

On general wards, we need a ratio of about 1 staff nurse for every 4-6 patients, not 1 nurse trying to look after 12 people, at the same time. It's an impossible workload.

I had a brief visit to Stafford General A&E in October last year and the staff I had contact with were very professional but still warm, kind and caring. I had no complaints about the care they provided.

There were obviously a lot of big issues but I wouldn't like to see all the staff there tarnished.

I'm amazed there has not been a greater fuss made about this today! Imagine the media outcry if Social Work was responsible for that many deaths.

400 a year is worse than 1 person killed (murdered?)a day above average. And nobody noticed within the trust? A friend of mine has been giving me earache about this bunch for a few years now. His father died there (family not told he had a do not resuscitate order) and his death cert was 'amended'…. There was a first cause of death, number two has disappeared and then there is a third! [He showed me a copy]

Once upon a time doctors and Nurses used to work together to treat patients.

Then our governement got involved who introduced targets and more and more and more managers into healthcare. targets were introduced so nu-labour could show everyone things were getting better so they could pat themselves on the back.

Now managers treat targets not patients and patients are suffering due to endless politically driven change and meddling??

question. How long should a patient spend in a+e?? 2hrs 4hrs 6hrs???

No none of the above, they should be transferred when they are either medically stable or fit for discharge. the whole 4 hr thing has been picked out of the air.

Load of bollocks really

doctornickriviera is right, this is surely the final proof of the madness of New Labour's obsession with managerialism.

I know i work in the service.

I qualified in 1998 and whilst an awful lot of money has been spent on the NHS I really feel that not alot of that money has improved things on the front line. Healthcare has been dumbed down and jobs which used to be done by medical professionals is now done by allied healthcare professionals. There is only one reason for this- cost- it is cheaper to do it this way. There has also been an exponential boom in managers- there used to be a few and they are now everywhere counting things and earning big fat salaries. Every hospital department has manager after manager, pct's have managers overseeing Gp services district nursing services, drug prescribing etc the list goes on and on and on.

targets affect my consulations every day and not always for the better.
"So mr jones youve come about your broken arm but before we deal with your agenda let me ask you about your smoking status/ check your blood pressure/ weigh you- have i told you you are an obese cardiopathic fatty and are going to die soon??/ check if you are depressed( if you werent when you came in , you will be now) and whilst you are here could you fill in a patient staifaction survey that the government have requested us to complete- it's the fourth this year- I'm a lovely doctor heres the valium you wanted. Oh sorry about your broken arm- we've run out of time. book another appointment for that but you'll have to ring on the day"

rant over

It's a load of old bollocks

I believe what patients want is not "choice" but knowing that they will get a good service from their local health service and hospitals when they need them.

We have become obsessed with meeting targets – healthcare isnt measurable FFS- and we have completely lost sight of why we are here in the first place-for the patients. It is so frustrating on a daily basis but sometimes i feel like i'm working against an out of control juggernaut

ETA rant now over.

Conservatives decided to bring in a chap from supermarket chain to run the NHS, as a market led company.

Also a building company was brought in to build new lego hospitals, they came flat packed,and failed,and guess who at the time was health minister, one of the directors of said building company,then we had trusts and foundation hospitals all over stuffed with fat cat managers not actual people to treat and care for patients.

Blame the con-servatives, as they started it all off.

Also how long should a patient be in A and E, as long as it takes to diagnose and stabalise his/her condition, and move him/her to a more suitable place, either a ward or home.

Sadly unless you experience the poor care some managers have and the massive mount of waste that is allowed to go on, we will continue to have the situation in Stafford and Stoke Manderville, a few years ago, total and utter management failure.

Would you accept it at the local pub or restraunt,dirty,rude and ignorant staff,with little idea of hygene,because thats what the report said,and sadly very few staff stood up and said what was wrong.

Oh and then When they let your parent, son ,daughter, or wife, partner die, in utter filth, would you then be HAPPY.

RANT OVER.

20 years ago we treated patients as a amorning or afternoon, so each patient had 2 treatment sessions.

Then all of a sudden we had to count the same patient every 15 minutes so that same patient had 4 treatments per hour, and as the patients where not named,we treated a lot more patients on paper, and the beabn counters where happy.

Then the bean counters realised and shut us down and i left,

It's all very well for the relevant local Strategic Health Authority to comment like they did, as if they have no part to play. No mention of their role in passing on the enforced savings down to that hospital that all health authorities (not just theirs) have to go through: 10% 'efficiency' (CRES) savings over next three years. I don't know about anyone else, but my unit's 10% (well, 3% then 3% then the rest over 3 years to be fair) will all be coming out of nurses and doctors, ie the numbers of them. 🙁

I blame scruff for a lot of this, how can he be a proper doctor thing but spend half his day on here?