Anyone has been in hospital or received care at home can perhaps identify with Annabel Croft’s experience with nursing staff before her husband died In many cases it’s a fact that the staff member is in the wrong job, they are not caring and they don’t care. I have also experienced cruelty from a nurse, a speech therapist, an OT and others. Who knows what prompts some people to treat vulnerable patients in such a way? In fairness I have also been on the receiving end of a lot of fantastic care from genuine and professional staff.
These days we don’t have to look too hard to see the impact of cruelty and abuse on the most vulnerable in our society. It must be soul destroying and heartbreaking to discover the unspeakable harm that has been inflicted on your loved ones by the very staff whose job it is to care for them and keep them safe. Then there’s the stressful process of reporting the incident, the challenge of participating in the investigation and perhaps even a public inquiry.
I recently tuned in to watch the meeting of the assembly health committee as there was an item on the agenda that I thought would be interesting and I was not disappointed. Margaret Kelly of NI Public Services Ombudsman presented a briefing on patient safety and findings from various investigations over the last year. The minutes of the meeting aren’t up online at the time of writing so I am paraphrasing, but you’ll get the gist. For context by the time you make a complaint to NIPSO you will have been through the complaints procedure with the public body and need to take the complaint further. The findings presented made for grim and shocking listening.
- There is no patient safety strategy in NI
- There was lack of empathy and compassion shown to complainants
- Families and patients aren’t listened to
- Harm and trauma were compounded because of a failure to be open and honest after an incident of significant harm
- Lack of candour, a failure to be open and…
- Creation of inaccurate records by staff involved-deliberate covering up was discovered.
My thoughts went to the Muckamore Abbey hospital inpatients and their families who recently had to suffer yet more indignity and stress. The public inquiry that they all fought so hard for seems to be following some of the same trends as reported by NIPSO. Families don’t feel listened to, have been badly treated and sidelined by the very mechanism that they hoped would see justice but instead has revealed a lack of openness and transparency.
On a much smaller scale there are most likely unreported abuses going on behind other closed doors. While medical staff and workers have a voice and carers have a voice, who speaks up for those with no one and cannot ask for help after an assault? Driving around on our roads from early morning until late in the evening are those who work in social care, providing domiciliary care to those who need personal care in their own homes. We mostly think of these clients as elderly and living alone. There are also other younger people who need help from the same staff. Some work for agencies and some work for the local Health and Social Care Trust. I know that one individual has assaulted their clients on more than one occasion, been investigated for one (no action taken despite the horrors of the details of the incident itself) is currently under investigation for another. The victim has decided to report the incident and to involve the PSNI due to the gravity of the assault and subsequent injury.
What hope does the client have of getting a satisfactory resolution? The reason for taking the brave step of reporting the incident has led to even more stress. The only thing keeping them going is the knowledge that the staff member is suspended while being investigated and can’t do any further harm while they are off the roads.
What kind of healthcare system do we have where the most vulnerable are abused and then they and their families are treated badly without anyone taking responsibility. The health and social care trusts are leviathans of complex bureaucracy where change takes place at a glacial pace. We place ourselves and/or our loved ones in the care of those who maybe don’t care at all.
This is a guest slot to give a platform for new writers either as a one off, or a prelude to becoming part of the regular Slugger team.
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