Two British people
are dying each day in care of the NHS as a result of starvation or dehydration,
shocking new statistics show.
Hunger or thirst were
responsible for 1,022 registered deaths in 2015, with patients in hospitals and
care homes being 'forgotten to death'.
Experts argue that the increasing demand on NHS staff is causing them to provide
lower levels of care towards rising numbers of patients.
This means they are
unable to help elderly people eat and drink by holding their cups and cutlery
for them - leading to them starving to death, some argue.
Hunger or thirst were
responsible for 1,022 deaths registered in 2015, new figures show
Dehydration was
recorded on 429 death certificates of patients who passed away during a period
in hospital.
While malnutrition
was mentioned on 297, figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed.
Figures were based on
deaths where either cause was mentioned somewhere on a death certificate,
either as an underlying cause or a main factor.
In care homes, 54
elderly patients passed away as a result of not being fed properly and 76 died
from not consuming enough fluids.
A further 80 people
passed away from dehydration outside of hospital or care homes, while 86
starved to death in the same setting.
In hospital:
Malnutrition: 297
Dehydration: 429
In care homes:
Malnutrition: 54
Dehydration: 76
Elsewhere:
Malnutrition: 86
Dehydration: 80
But experts warn that
many of these deaths overlap, and that some certificates will have recorded
both causes as a means of death
This comes after
Stanley Mack, 77, was found to have died from dehydration while in hospital in
2008.
His son, Ian, told The Sun: 'He was
absolutely forgotten to death.'
Health Secretary
Jeremy Hunt today admitted the NHS is also facing some 'very serious problems'.
He told the Today
programme: 'I don't want to pretend that we haven't - at this most difficult
time of the year for the NHS - had some very serious problems in some
hospitals.
'I think we need to
listen to independent people like Chris Hopson - no friend of the Government
when it comes to NHS policy, he speaks for all hospitals in the NHS - who
rejects this idea...he says that the vast majority of hospitals are actually
coping slightly better than this time last year.'
Patient Concern's
Joyce Robins also told the newspaper: 'Every one of these deaths is a tragedy.
'Hospital wards are
full and staff are run off their feet looking after so many patients it is
impossible to give them the care they need.
'Patients will need
help eating or drinking but are being neglected.'
Dehydration was
recorded on 429 death certificates of patients who passed away during a period
in hospital. While malnutrition was mentioned as a cause for 297
The British Red Cross
last week claimed a winter surge in demand for the NHS had caused a 'humanitarian
crisis' in hospitals across the country.
Its chief executive
said the charity had been 'called in' to help transport people home from
hospital to free up beds.
But Prime Minister
Theresa May rejected its claim and instead said the health service faces 'huge
pressures'.
Stanley Mack, 77, was admitted to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham with
a chest infection and was later diagnosed with the superbug Clostridium
difficile.
He died three weeks later in July 2008 and, during his final days, his
family said hospital staff failed to realise he was rapidly deteriorating.
His widow Carol previously said: 'There was no record that was reliable
of what he was being given.
'He would be given drinks and they would be left there and occasionally
they would be written up as given to him, but we knew when we were there that
he was not drinking it.
'However, it was described, it wasn't run in a way that met the
patient's needs.
'And of course, because of that his condition was allowed to deteriorate
and particularly, for him to become acutely dehydrated.'
The family endured a five-year legal battle with the hospital to try to
get to the bottom of exactly how the pensioner died.
An initial inquest returned a narrative verdict – suggesting no-one was
at fault.
But the family
appealed for a second inquest in 2013 which ruled Mr Mack had died from
dehydration.
Education Secretary
Justine Greening told the BBC's Andrew Marr: 'I don't think it's appropriate to
describe the challenges that the NHS faces this winter as a humanitarian
crisis.'
She said the NHS was
better prepared this winter than in previous years.
'We have put in £400
million of extra funding to particularly help these winter pressures and,
indeed, the NHS is better prepared this year than it has been in the past,' she
said.
However, the claims
emerged when two patients died on trolleys in Worcestershire Royal Hospital's
accident and emergency department in the last week.
Dr Taj Hassan,
president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, warned last week: 'The
emergency care system is on its knees, despite the huge efforts of
staff.'
Figures last year
suggested that 7,949 deaths may be attributed to hunger and thirst in the past
decade.
And just last month,
a grandmother was found to have died of thirst after being given a powerful
drug known to cause dehydration.
An inquest into the
death of Edna Thompson, 85, from Harrietsham in Kent, heard that she was the
victim of a catalogue of errors at the hands of NHS staff.
Mrs Thompson was
admitted to hospital after losing sight in her right eye with suspected
malignant glaucoma, in September last year.
During her stay, she
was prescribed the diurectic drug diamox to lower her blood pressure.
On the same day, she
was also given mannitol, a powerful drug normally used when medication such as
diamox does not work.
Diuretics, known as
'water pills', work by ridding the body of unneeded water and salt through
urine.
This means the blood
is easier for the heart to pump and blood pressure falls as a result.
A Department of
Health spokesperson said: 'Any such case is unacceptable – that’s why we have
introduced a new inspection regime to take tough action, including closure of
services where they aren’t up to scratch.'
SOURCE: Mail Online, Stephen Matthews
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