How We Treat the Sick : Neglect and Abuse in Our Health Services

No official statistics are kept for the number of hospital patients, in particular older people, who are subjected to neglect and abuse. That is, left malnourished and dehydrated, in pain, allowed to develop agonising and fatal pressure sores, not taken to the toilet, left to lie in their own bodily waste, cared for in a filthy environment and at risk of infection, ignored, allowed to fall over repeatedly, not spoken to, left naked or dressed in other patients' clothes - and discharged from hospital prematurely. This book bears witness to all these practices and more. Setting out a wealth of e. Read more... How We Treat the Sick: Neglect and Abuse in Our Health Services; Disclaimer; Foreword by Lord Justic Munby; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Health Services: Public and Private; 3. Systemic Nature of Neglect and Abuse within Health Care; 4. Assessing the Evidence for Neglectful and Abusive Health Care; 5. Dignity in Care: All the Good Guidance; 6. Dignity in Care: All the Bad Practice; 7. Getting to the Toilet and Management of Continence; 8. Keeping the Environment Clean and Managing Infection; 9. Helping People Eat and Drink; 10. Pressure Sores and Falls. 11. Hospital Beds, Admissions, Stays and Discharges12. Older People: the Unwanted; 13. Patient Voices, Consumers and Markets; 14. Staffing Levels, Competence and Attitude; 15. Priorities, Targets, Fear and Bullying; 16. Misinformation, Concealment and Spin; 17. Muted Voices: Clinical and Professional Integrity; 18. Denial, Accountability and Blame; 19. Legal Implications of Neglect and Abuse; 20. Human Rights; 21. Criminal Offences of Ill Treatment or Wilful Neglect; 22. Manslaughter; 23. Health and Safety at Work Legislation; 24. Regulation of Health Care Providers and of Health Care Staff. 25. No Secrets: the Policy of Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults26. Negligence; Concluding Postscript; Subject Index; Author Index