Next Wednesday the Health and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Panel will be meeting to discuss various issues affecting Islanders.
Following this news, the Local Involvement Network (LINk) have instigated an investigation.
Concerns over lack of dignity standards They say that most concerning is the “reported lack of dignity standards maintained for elderly and vulnerable patients, who have been taken home by ambulance wearing just a hospital gown, unshaven and without their dentures in, with one gentleman having to be helped into a wheelchair outside his front door with his gown gaping and a lady who was taken to her care home in a hospital gown without underwear or footwear, despite having her own clothes with her in the hospital.” Assurances sought from IW NHS “When problems with discharge are highlighted to us we do review the case to see what we can learn and do differently in the future.”
Share your experiences with LINk Gretel Ingham, Locality Manager for the LINk, and Carol Alstrom, Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control, will be in attendance for this item.
One item on the agenda will be the subject of night time hospital discharges on the Isle of Wight. Readers may remember the article we ran on 12th April about the concerns of NHS Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh on the number of overnight discharges from hospitals.
LINk say that a variety of concerns have been raised and logged with them over the last few months regarding patients arriving home from St Mary’s Hospital during the night, often after midnight.
LINk also tell us that when they asked whether the NHS could give an assurance that discharge of vulnerable people between the hours of 10pm and 6am would be to a safe and appropriate point of care, NHS Isle of Wight replied, “We always endeavour to ensure that patient discharge is safe, however we may not always get it right. Patients need to be open and honest with us so we can ensure appropriate plans are made.
If you have any information to share with LINk as part of their investigation get in touch by calling on 0300 111 0102 (local rate) or email [email protected]
