Prince Charles: Doctors must have Care and Compassion!

[Restless]

Originally Posted by Less

who's gonna vote?

well six people have

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I worked with Doctors over many years.......some of them could empathise with their patients,others couldn't....and I doubt very much that compassion can be taught...care can be taught, but not compassion - but, that is just my opinion.

I've just spent the last 10 weeks under the care of several doctors and to be honest when a doctor stands at my bed and says "seeing you have COPD without traces of Asthma we're going to try you on beta-blockers to regulate your heartbeat Mr Farrer", didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I just said excuse me asking but have you actually taken the trouble to even have a glance at my medical file, which is in your trolley, if you had you would have seen I had a severe asthma attack, on this ward, only 2 days ago, Doctor walked away from bed with very red face. I saw around 15 different doctors while in dock this time the only two I would give house room to where Dr Zaman and Dr Lynch, the rest I wouldn't have been happy if they'd been looking after my pet dog

[maxthecollie]

Originally Posted by jaysay

I've just spent the last 10 weeks under the care of several doctors and to be honest when a doctor stands at my bed and says "seeing you have COPD without traces of Asthma we're going to try you on beta-blockers to regulate your heartbeat Mr Farrer", didn't exactly fill me with confidence. I just said excuse me asking but have you actually taken the trouble to even have a glance at my medical file, which is in your trolley, if you had you would have seen I had a severe asthma attack, on this ward, only 2 days ago, Doctor walked away from bed with very red face. I saw around 15 different doctors while in dock this time the only two I would give house room to where Dr Zaman and Dr Lynch, the rest I wouldn't have been happy if they'd been looking after my pet dog

I'll keep Max away then?

[Margaret Pilkington]

I have to say that I have worked with some excellent doctors, but I have also worked with some who would only be useful as a bad example...or a doorstop!

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by maxthecollie

I'll keep Max away then?

You would do well doing just that believe me

[Lucysgirl]

The reports we've been hearing on the news is more to do with patients being ignored by nursing staff on the ward and I see these nursing clinicians were also included in Charles's speech.

<<He called on doctors and nurses to heed what patients say so they can develop the ‘healing empathy’ so badly needed.>>

The doctors don't run the wards, the middle management do and it's they who should be given courses of compassion towards their staff who are run off their feet. A well run ward would have fulfilled staff and contented patients.

[Judith Addison]

Unfortunately I witnessed a very poor standard of hospital "care" six months ago leading up to my elderly mother's death. My sister and I have lodged an official complaint, not because we want any money but because we want to try and prevent other elderly patients being treated in the same way. I was profoundly shocked at many aspects of my mother's "care" and will never get over the fact that I opted for her to go into hospital thinking she would be well looked after. My mother was an elderly lady with several medical conditions. It's not that I can't accept her death, it's the fact that the last six weeks of her life were so unpleasant and unhappy. My biggest complaint is that doctors and nurses sit in front of computer screens at workstations on the corridors instead of being on the wards among the patients.

[Margaret Pilkington]

My daughter has been ill since the end of July(she is just now starting to feel a little better)...her 'care' was abominable.
I won't go into details (in case there is litigation - again, as Judith says not for money...no amount of money can compensate you for lost family life,pain and maybe in the not too distant future - her job).
As a retired ward sister I was appalled by the lack of, for want of a better phrase - 'joined up services'.
There appeared no communication between teams of medical staff.
Some nurses were not only unkind, but cruel.
I think I had better leave it there....I can feel my ire rising.

[Less]

A friend of mine with a long term illness, had to be admitted to hospital, because he'd spent sometime before going in flat on his back he had some sores and told the Doctors.
They looked at them and decided they aren't proper bed sores therefore don't need treating unless they turn into bedsores.
Surely prevention would have been better than cure? Treat them before they get out of hand.
I wonder, do the same professionals turf patients into the street because it's only a 'mild' heart attack?
Come back when it's worth my while opening you up!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Less, I can't answer the question you posed....But I can tell you that I am saddened(and angry too) that patients are being treated as if they were commodities on a conveyor belt.
I am concerned that patients are being treated with disregard and disrespect.
Patients should not be blamed for being ill...and if you look at it logically, without patients there would be no jobs.

[Lucysgirl]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

appalled by the lack of, for want of a better phrase - 'joined up services'.
There appeared no communication between teams of medical staff.
.

That sums it up for me too. My late husband was an otherwise healthy active 61 year old. The first day he was full of praise for those caring for him. The second day he actually said "I'm frightened" and then outlined an occurrence over a missing medical note which happened to another patient who'd been admitted that day. The staff crowded around that patient trying to persuade him to take medication which his consultant had documented that he was allergic to and which could be fatal (detailed on the missing record).

My other half caught some sort of bug in the hospital and wasn't discharged as planned - I was sat at his bedside when a nurse actually raised her voice to him .... he died the next day. I got 100s of disbelieving 'phone calls from around the country and heard some hair raising accounts of hospital errors.

I too started action but eventually decided our 18 year old needed me more than I needed a 6ft hole in the ground.

[maxthecollie]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

My daughter has been ill since the end of July(she is just now starting to feel a little better)...her 'care' was abominable.
I won't go into details (in case there is litigation - again, as Judith says not for money...no amount of money can compensate you for lost family life,pain and maybe in the not too distant future - her job).
As a retired ward sister I was appalled by the lack of, for want of a better phrase - 'joined up services'.
There appeared no communication between teams of medical staff.
Some nurses were not only unkind, but cruel.
I think I had better leave it there....I can feel my ire rising.

I know what my 86 year old mother has to say about nursing standards.She did her S.R.N.training at Burnley Vic and was senior staff nurse at A.V.H. Casualty when it was going. She is completely appaled at the lack of nursing .In her words "they are all pen pushers now"

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Judith Addison

Unfortunately I witnessed a very poor standard of hospital "care" six months ago leading up to my elderly mother's death. My sister and I have lodged an official complaint, not because we want any money but because we want to try and prevent other elderly patients being treated in the same way. I was profoundly shocked at many aspects of my mother's "care" and will never get over the fact that I opted for her to go into hospital thinking she would be well looked after. My mother was an elderly lady with several medical conditions. It's not that I can't accept her death, it's the fact that the last six weeks of her life were so unpleasant and unhappy. My biggest complaint is that doctors and nurses sit in front of computer screens at workstations on the corridors instead of being on the wards among the patients.

As you know Judith I have just spent around 10 weeks in hospital, and most people on here know I'm not a shrinking violet and am always prepared to open my mouth when needed. I have been treated as an in-patient in the NHS for 32 years and have never found any need to complain about anything until this last stay, we have lodged a complain with PALS the patients association regarding my treatment on ward C7 the Royal Blackburn hospital, I can concur with everything you have said in your post. When I was admitted it was for a very serious chest infection and a chronic stomach problem, they then condescended to treat my chest and ignore my stomach which was getting worse all the time. One morning the consultant came on the ward and asked how I was feeling, my reply was rough, but your infection has been cured, That maybe I said but my stomach is worse now than when I came in over 5 weeks ago, what he said next was when I lost it, I think we'll treat your stomach as an outpatient, my reply was OH NO YOU BLOODWELL WON'T, (mods please excuse the language in that statement) I'm going nowhere until you've sorted my stomach out, consultant leaves ward never to be seen again, they then started work clearing up my stomach, which seemingly would have killed me if left untreated. I agree with Judith doctors spend to much time on computers, you don't cure sickness on line.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Less, I can't answer the question you posed....But I can tell you that I am saddened(and angry too) that patients are being treated as if they were commodities on a conveyor belt.
I am concerned that patients are being treated with disregard and disrespect.
Patients should not be blamed for being ill...and if you look at it logically, without patients there would be no jobs.

Treated as commodities Margaret, and lets not forget Guinea Pigs, on the Thursday I was coming home the first time, the SHO put me on a new tablet to try and control my heart beat, I took two on the ward, but when I got home my feet had swelled to 3 times the normal size, apparently due to these tabs, thus I was rushed back into hospital with a pulse rate of 161 and the crash team on stand by in caz, very scary believe me

[Margaret Pilkington]

John, I could tell you a very similar tale about my daughter.
On the morning of her discharge from hospital( she was sent in by her GP with a rapid irregular heartbeat - over 150bpm) the Registrar said to her 'I don't know why you were sent back to hospital' in a scathing tone.

In the normal course of events, and if my daughter(being a feisty so and so) had been well, she would have given her an answer that she would not have forgotten in a hurry...but being ill and feeling vulnerable she just asked for the phone and rang her husband to pick her up.
Hospital was the very last place she wanted to be, and she cried all the way to RBH in the car clutching her admission letter from the GP.

I am appalled at the treatment that is meted out to patients who are vulnerable and sick.