‘No bed’ at York Hospital for injured woman, 96 (From York Press)

‘No bed’ at York Hospital for injured woman, 96

12:00pm Monday 18th February 2013 in News Photograph of the Author Exclusive By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

Robin Barker outside York Hospital

YORK Hospital staff told an injured 96-year-old there was no bed for her and that they may not have time to feed her, her son has claimed.

Robin Barker claimed his mother was facing a night on a trolley in an A&E corridor following a four-hour wait for an X-ray until he decided to pay for her to go to the private Nuffield Hospital.

He said up to eight ambulances were parked outside York Hospital’s A&E department on that evening – Monday, January 28 – with crews unable to leave because their patients were stuck in the logjam. His mother had been brought to hospital after a fall.

He said: “An ambulance manager was tearing his hair out because they couldn’t get the ambulances out to deal with other calls.”

After spending two days at the Nuffield, a bed became available at York Hospital and she was transferred.

Shs was suffering from a crushed vertebrae and unable to sit up and feed herself, but staff on a ward told him they could not guarantee they could feed her because they didn’t have the time to do it.

“I got the impression that the norovirus crisis and staff sickness were contributory factors, but that this was not a totally abnormal situation.”

Mr Barker, of Sheriff Hutton, said he and other family members had ended up going to the hospital three times a day for a week to ensure she did get fed.

“But what would have happened if she hadn’t had any relatives willing and able to do this?” he asked.

“If I knowingly placed food for my animals where they could not acccess it and they became malnourished as a result, I would contravene animal welfare legislation. Why shouldn’t similar standards apply for human beings?”

He also claimed that when he tried to contact members of senior management last weekend, after the norovirus had spread to his mother’s ward, he was told that none were available.

“It is symptomatic of NHS management deficiencies that in the middle of a norovirus crisis, with wards closed to new admissions, there were no members of senior management there over the weekend,” he said.

“I would like to say I do not blame the nursing staff on the ward, as it appears they just do not have the time to do what needs to be done.”

Libby McManus, chief nurse at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We take Mr Barker’s concerns seriously and have met with him to discuss these concerns. Throughout Mrs Barker’s stay in hospital her consultant has been in daily contact with Mr Barker regarding his mother’s condition.

“The hospital is currently on red alert, and has been for the past three weeks.

“We accept that last weekend was the busiest weekend of the winter so far and was particularly busy in both the areas this patient was cared for.

“Staff were doing their utmost to manage the influx of patients and balance priorities, supported by senior managers who are always available all weekend through the on-call system.”

Comments(31)

Zetkin says...
12:29pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Hands up anyone who still believes the Tory mantra "we're all in this together".

I'm glad for Mrs Barker's sake that her son was able to afford to pay for his mother to go to the Nuffield Hospital, and that family members were able to attend to her needs once she was transferred to York Hospital.

However, as Mr Barker points out, not every family would be able to do this for their injured relatives.

This raises the very real spectre of people with no money and no family simply being left to fend for themselves.

I'm afraid that's the reality of the privatised, for-profit healthcare system the Tories and Liberals are seeking to foist upon us.

All the more reason to join the demonstration against health cuts due to take place in York on Saturday 6th March. Assembling at the Minster around noon, I understand.

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PKH says...
12:37pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Cameron said the NHS would be safe in his hands, this is a result of doing away with beds and hospital staff for 'care' in the community.

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Hoofarted says...
12:50pm Mon 18 Feb 13

This is just the beginning.. The ConDem Bill begins to take affect in April and the Privatisation begins.

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offa says...
1:50pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Don't you just hate this complacent self-interested gang? They 'serve' in the interests of themselves, their friends, their class. The rich will continue to get richer and the poor can rot as far as they're concerned.

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YorkPatrol says...
1:52pm Mon 18 Feb 13

PKH wrote:
Cameron said the NHS would be safe in his hands, this is a result of doing away with beds and hospital staff for 'care' in the community.

I suppose we could have stuck with the pervious Labour government then they could have completed the job and fully bankrupted the country

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BY Taxis says...
1:59pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Only 8 ambulances?? must have been a quiet shift then, its not unusual for anyhting up to 14 to be parked outside. Whilst they are parked they're not answering 999 calls. How many ambulances are there in York??

The staff in A+E work so hard but seem to get no help or support from the rest of the hospital.

"The hospital has been on red alert for 3 weeks", really what has been done to sort this "crisis" out? Anything??? A senior manager at the hospital dealing with the crisis or just available via the telephone??

In my basic grasp of English something being classed as "red alert" would suggest imminent disaster and therfore should have some immediate and drastic options for resolution, does having a manager on the phone help solve this? I don't think so. There is surely some kind of contingency fund available for times of crisis, why is this not being utilised to support the hard working staff?

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Andy1675 says...
3:10pm Mon 18 Feb 13

With reference to ambulance numbers, there are approx 8 Ambulances/Ambulance cars based at York. Not many at all. It is routine for ambulances to respond from Pocklington, Selby, Malton etc to emergencies in York - and vice versa. The number of frontline staff need to be increased across the whole NHS - it amazes me that Senior Management go out of their way to ignore this, they're in need of Mental Health treatment! Though if their Mother or Son was affected it would be a different matter. Arm's length management doesn't work!

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the commentator says...
3:49pm Mon 18 Feb 13

in a country with an ageing population there are more and more demands on the NHS, yet how many of us are willing to pay increased taxes to fund it? I for one would welcome an additional 1% of income tax if I knew it would go to front line NHS treatment and not management.

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M.Blanc says...
4:07pm Mon 18 Feb 13

This has NOTHING to do with norovirus or staff sickness!! It has EVERYTHING to do with a systamatic closure of wards over the past 2 years, resulting in 90 less beds and the lack of recruitment of qualified nurses!! Fewer nurses are being told to do more, for less money and with fewer rest periods. More and more ambulance staff are having to wait longer and longer in the A+E corridor, while having to treat their patients for upto 4 hours whilst waiting for the miracle of a bed to appear! Whilst the ambulance crews are waiting to hand over their patient, crews from farther afield are having to make the long drive to respond to incoming 999 calls.The whole system is falling apart and sadly its the patient who is suffering.

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againstthecuts says...
5:12pm Mon 18 Feb 13

i,m sorry to say things will probably get worse look whats happening with the yorkshire ambulance service

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Older Sometimes Wiser says...
5:24pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I would like to know the comparative incidence of the Norovirus in other hospitals ( NHS and Private) in North Yorkshire. Does this recurrent problem only arise in York Hospital or are the statistics the same throughout the area?
With reductions in ward/bed availability and staff other problems will arise.The incidence of bedsores is likely to increase if there are insufficient staff to ensure patients are treated appropriately.With bed stays being reduced and patients being sent home early, have any nursing staff been transferred to the domiciliary( home) nursing services?
Are there prominent NOTICES demanding that all staff and visitors follow the hygiene code and use the hand disinfection procedures?
I hope all visitors ensure that they wash their hands before they go home too which might avoid accidental contamination of public service transport etc.
I would personally be inclined to avoid all visits to York Hospital until these (re)current problems are over.

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ReginaldBiscuit says...
5:31pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Zetkin wrote:
Hands up anyone who still believes the Tory mantra "we're all in this together".

I'm glad for Mrs Barker's sake that her son was able to afford to pay for his mother to go to the Nuffield Hospital, and that family members were able to attend to her needs once she was transferred to York Hospital.

However, as Mr Barker points out, not every family would be able to do this for their injured relatives.

This raises the very real spectre of people with no money and no family simply being left to fend for themselves.

I'm afraid that's the reality of the privatised, for-profit healthcare system the Tories and Liberals are seeking to foist upon us.

All the more reason to join the demonstration against health cuts due to take place in York on Saturday 6th March. Assembling at the Minster around noon, I understand.

Ahem. The Tory Mantra is "The poor and have-nots are in this together". The well off people who have, such as the Tories and many of the better off residents of London and the South-east, would take us back to an epoch of work-houses, total wealth domination and total subjugation of the poorest. That's what they'd like to do. Thing is, they haven't even got the brains between them to do this as we saw recently with Iain Duncan Smythe and his departments' attempts at making private corporations richer by making job-seekers work for them for nothing. If there ever was a politician who needed tying up in a chair and assaulting with a sea-bass and a dead donkey's bald-headed yoghurt slinger, he's the one.

NHS - It's really a numbers game. Quantitative data is nonsense and should not be measured. It's the quality of care that counts not the number of operations completed.

My own view is that the NHS should be renationalised with the trusts abolished and the whole organisation split into more manageable specific clusters relevant to local health demographics.Indeed, for care of senior citizens, it's worth severing part of the NHS away to specifically deal with the ageing population i.e a hospital specifically for OAP's. It might have helped in this case. Old people are tossed from pillar to post when it comes to health care. A sad fact indeed.

[quote][p][bold]Zetkin[/bold] wrote: Hands up anyone who still believes the Tory mantra "we're all in this together". I'm glad for Mrs Barker's sake that her son was able to afford to pay for his mother to go to the Nuffield Hospital, and that family members were able to attend to her needs once she was transferred to York Hospital. However, as Mr Barker points out, not every family would be able to do this for their injured relatives. This raises the very real spectre of people with no money and no family simply being left to fend for themselves. I'm afraid that's the reality of the privatised, for-profit healthcare system the Tories and Liberals are seeking to foist upon us. All the more reason to join the demonstration against health cuts due to take place in York on Saturday 6th March. Assembling at the Minster around noon, I understand.[/p][/quote]Ahem. The Tory Mantra is "The poor and have-nots are in this together". The well off people who have, such as the Tories and many of the better off residents of London and the South-east, would take us back to an epoch of work-houses, total wealth domination and total subjugation of the poorest. That's what they'd like to do. Thing is, they haven't even got the brains between them to do this as we saw recently with Iain Duncan Smythe and his departments' attempts at making private corporations richer by making job-seekers work for them for nothing. If there ever was a politician who needed tying up in a chair and assaulting with a sea-bass and a dead donkey's bald-headed yoghurt slinger, he's the one. NHS - It's really a numbers game. Quantitative data is nonsense and should not be measured. It's the quality of care that counts not the number of operations completed. My own view is that the NHS should be renationalised with the trusts abolished and the whole organisation split into more manageable specific clusters relevant to local health demographics.Indeed, for care of senior citizens, it's worth severing part of the NHS away to specifically deal with the ageing population i.e a hospital specifically for OAP's. It might have helped in this case. Old people are tossed from pillar to post when it comes to health care. A sad fact indeed. ReginaldBiscuit

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only human says...
6:12pm Mon 18 Feb 13

THIS IS SHAMEFUL..and a breach of the human rights...go to www.birh.org,uk and read some of the cases on there.Staffing shortfalls can be no defence for treating such a vulnerable old lady in such a degrading or inhumane manner.
It seems julie baileys point may hold some water when it comes to exaclty how many other hospitals are treating people in this way.Maybe we should start a league table of shame.The NHS is on its knees so the only way from here is up.
Lets get it all out in the open and then we can start to get some idea of where things need to change for the better.

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only human says...
6:34pm Mon 18 Feb 13

And it always amazes me as to why specialist consultants never on duty at weekends and neither are management.Since when did anyone get struck down ill or injured on a mon-fri ony basis.I remember when my dads fiasco was unravelling at yh ,we had a general physician covering the wholle 3/4 wards and he made a unilateral decision to start a particular medication after something showed up in a test and as he did so he said something like "i am going against the grain here but i am sure its the right thing to do and i will take the flack for it on Monday morning when the big chief neurologist shows up"
I got the impression there is a pecking order and some junior docs are afraid to ask for clarification or second opinions and just seemed to do things on a trial and error basis.
The nhs isnt a 5 day a week business its a 24/7 lifeline.
Its time we as taxpayers voiced our objection against all the wrongdoings.Have we i York heard nothing on the news about the Stafford horror show.!!!

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Digeorge says...
8:21pm Mon 18 Feb 13

"The staff in A+E work so hard but seem to get no help or support from the rest of the hospital."

That comment I entirely agree with! Having spent 4 hours on another occasion with a suspected thrombosis or bleed (which I am at risk of) - when I should have been seen now being seen in Newcastle, I could also echo those comments. No it wasn't 'a hot water bottle' rash, and when they are getting my stuff sorted out, do they not see the amount of medication and the number of consultants involved in my case? They could have at least have done my bloods in the meantime. All written on letters and contacted one of them.

The registrars on call could have dealt with some of it!

That was a four-hour wait and it was a few months back.

When I was in with my husband (broken leg) he was seen pretty quickly on a Sunday morning. But every time we went to orthopaedic out-patients the wait was equally as long.

At least they can afford to go to the Nuffield!

PS Big chief neurologist was also wrong too! Guess history has a habit of repeating itself at that hospital as far as I am concerned.

Learning difficulties too funny for words!!

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Anonymous2k12 says...
8:34pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Unfortunately I can't totally understand how Robin felt. As I too have had a similar situation with my own Mother. I have often questioned how elderly people with no family to push and question their care are able to manage. Having been in the care of the NHS between York District Hospital and White Cross Lodge for toe and a half months we were appalled to find that my elderly mothers lack of foot care had resulted in her toenails being in such an appalling state that they were growing back into to the underneath of her toes. Even after bringing this to their attention they told us the chiropodist department were too busy to attend and that nursing staff were not allowed to cut toenails. We too had to pay for a private chiropodist to attend. More recently my husband was admitted to hospital with a head injury,he had not eaten for three days and his water jug was never freshened or re-filled. When I asked a member nursing staff where I could re-fill his now empty jug I was told they didn't know as they no longer had a kitchen on the ward!! I bought a bottle of water from the hospital shop. One can only presume that an elderly person in the same position with no family visiting would have been left with no water. Where will our NHS be in years to come if it is already this bad?

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Richard Feynman says...
8:42pm Mon 18 Feb 13

One of the finest healthcare systems in the developing world.

Definitely worth 8.5 times NASA's annual budget.

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yorkborn66 says...
9:40pm Mon 18 Feb 13

The NHS has been run like this for years. Nurses and Doctors running around like headless chickens achieving very little regarding care for their patients,
The NHS has been a propaganda tool for all the governments past and present.
The reality is understaffing, overworked, and demoralized staff, whilst the senior managers and accountants of trusts take home vast amounts of money.
This is nothing new it has happened for years.
What made me laugh was the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the big propaganda of the NHS, kids dancing on beds etc.
I have been unfortunate to need health care from York NHS, from October last year, having paid into a system for 30 years. I was not expecting private care treatment form York NHS, but a duty of care, a reasonable amount of waiting time to see a consultant, and a diagnosis to give me treatment to make me better.
What I got was totally opposite, nurses to busy to give you any time of day, doctors unable to answer basic medical questions and consultants that talk out of their backside. Letters and appointments wrong, waiting times for an appointment running over 2 hours the scheduled time. On one occasion I was left in a little room (about the size of a prison cell (I would imagine) for 3 hours without ventilation and stifling heat waiting to be seen. I rightly demanded to see a manager to air my grievances.
The difference is I am not old or frail.
York Health Trust has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, after 6 months of attending appointments I am no better off finding out what is wrong with me from when I started.
I asked my GP to refer me to another health trust, and having attended appointments at Harrogate hospital, I can say I have been treated and examined by professionals who have a genuine care for their patents and more importantly are keen to find out my problem sooner rather than whenever.
The postcode lottery does exist for health trusts; thank God I got out of York.
Well-done Mr. Barker for bringing another sad but inevitable story to the press.

The NHS has been run like this for years. Nurses and Doctors running around like headless chickens achieving very little regarding care for their patients, The NHS has been a propaganda tool for all the governments past and present. The reality is understaffing, overworked, and demoralized staff, whilst the senior managers and accountants of trusts take home vast amounts of money. This is nothing new it has happened for years. What made me laugh was the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the big propaganda of the NHS, kids dancing on beds etc. I have been unfortunate to need health care from York NHS, from October last year, having paid into a system for 30 years. I was not expecting private care treatment form York NHS, but a duty of care, a reasonable amount of waiting time to see a consultant, and a diagnosis to give me treatment to make me better. What I got was totally opposite, nurses to busy to give you any time of day, doctors unable to answer basic medical questions and consultants that talk out of their backside. Letters and appointments wrong, waiting times for an appointment running over 2 hours the scheduled time. On one occasion I was left in a little room (about the size of a prison cell (I would imagine) for 3 hours without ventilation and stifling heat waiting to be seen. I rightly demanded to see a manager to air my grievances. The difference is I am not old or frail. York Health Trust has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, after 6 months of attending appointments I am no better off finding out what is wrong with me from when I started. I asked my GP to refer me to another health trust, and having attended appointments at Harrogate hospital, I can say I have been treated and examined by professionals who have a genuine care for their patents and more importantly are keen to find out my problem sooner rather than whenever. The postcode lottery does exist for health trusts; thank God I got out of York. Well-done Mr. Barker for bringing another sad but inevitable story to the press. yorkborn66

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missbm says...
9:59pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I am a staff nurse on one of the wards and myself and my colleagues would never let anyone 'starve'! Out of 30 patients we may have 10/15 patients that cant feed themselves so we just have to feed people one after the other and if there is family to help us we are very grateful to them. We work 13 hour shifts often staying behind late and with only a half an hour lunch break we try our best with the staff and facilities we have. At the moment every kitchen on every ward is being refurbished in turn so for 3 weeks or so we are having to share a kitchen with other wards which is out of our control and makes our life and job a lot harder. The wards are shut as there is a bug going around, i'm sure mr barker wouldnt have wanted his mother to be admitted on a shut ward with norovirus if the wards arent shut then the bug would spread even further. I am very sorry he feels the way he does and i wish that they could fund more wards to be opened.

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PKH says...
10:56pm Mon 18 Feb 13

YorkPatrol wrote:

PKH wrote:
Cameron said the NHS would be safe in his hands, this is a result of doing away with beds and hospital staff for 'care' in the community.
I suppose we could have stuck with the pervious Labour government then they could have completed the job and fully bankrupted the country

I suppose Labour also caused the financial crisis in Spain, Greece, Ireland, USA etc. And that it had nothing to do with the world wide banking crisis.

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Magicman! says...
1:40am Tue 19 Feb 13

There is a simple cause for this and it's not some virus scare... it's the Tories once again. They are currently "streamlining" the NHS, getting rid of staff so those who are left have to do the work of three or four people, whilst at the same time sneakily reducing capacity.
What then happens is the NHS can't cope with the influx of people needing attention and patients end up on a trolley in a corridor and people start complaining "oh the NHS is useless" and they go to a private facility (such as the Nuffield).
As more people then go to private facilities the Tories can then say that the privatised healthcare industry is offering a better standard than the public NHS, and then they open their filing cabinet and dust off their plan from the dawn of time to privatise the NHS completely... this plan being the back few pages of what used to be a massive book which had plans to privatise fuel, water, coal, utilities, buses, trains, etc.

Back door privatisation, The Tories can't do it directly as there'd be uproar, so they're doing it in a way that directs the people to use the alternatives so that the public service can be shut down and privatised. Be Warned.

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CHISSY1 says...
7:54am Tue 19 Feb 13

"But we can still send billions abroad and the brainwashed idiots still keep banging on that we can afford it and it is the right thing to do,yes of course it is."

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Garrowby Turnoff says...
9:54am Tue 19 Feb 13

CHISSY1 wrote:
"But we can still send billions abroad and the brainwashed idiots still keep banging on that we can afford it and it is the right thing to do,yes of course it is."

They call it cleansing the 'upstream' water. Supposing that, by injecting cash cures into third world economies they'll be less likely to impact us downstream in years to come.

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Hoofarted says...
11:46am Tue 19 Feb 13

PKH wrote:

YorkPatrol wrote:

PKH wrote:
Cameron said the NHS would be safe in his hands, this is a result of doing away with beds and hospital staff for 'care' in the community.
I suppose we could have stuck with the pervious Labour government then they could have completed the job and fully bankrupted the country
I suppose Labour also caused the financial crisis in Spain, Greece, Ireland, USA etc. And that it had nothing to do with the world wide banking crisis.

Well said PKH! That false tactic used by the current holders of a triple dip recession (Tories) fooled a few at the last election with that. It wont work again. Although, there are clearly a few still fooled by it.

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Hoofarted says...
11:49am Tue 19 Feb 13

Magicman! wrote:
There is a simple cause for this and it's not some virus scare... it's the Tories once again. They are currently "streamlining" the NHS, getting rid of staff so those who are left have to do the work of three or four people, whilst at the same time sneakily reducing capacity.
What then happens is the NHS can't cope with the influx of people needing attention and patients end up on a trolley in a corridor and people start complaining "oh the NHS is useless" and they go to a private facility (such as the Nuffield).
As more people then go to private facilities the Tories can then say that the privatised healthcare industry is offering a better standard than the public NHS, and then they open their filing cabinet and dust off their plan from the dawn of time to privatise the NHS completely... this plan being the back few pages of what used to be a massive book which had plans to privatise fuel, water, coal, utilities, buses, trains, etc.

Back door privatisation, The Tories can't do it directly as there'd be uproar, so they're doing it in a way that directs the people to use the alternatives so that the public service can be shut down and privatised. Be Warned.

Magicman well put. I wonder if, in 20 years time we will be seeing outrage at Hospital care costs and ridiculously unfair charges being implemented by the private sectors in the NHS. Just like we are now experiencing with our once Nationalized Electricity and Gas and Water services.

Don't be fooled again!

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Capt. Dobie says...
12:30pm Tue 19 Feb 13

"Ahem. The Tory Mantra is "The poor and have-nots are in this together". The well off people who have, such as the Tories and many of the better off residents of London and the South-east, would take us back to an epoch of work-houses, total wealth domination and total subjugation of the poorest"

Really? Y'suppose Labour gets it's funds from hard-wrking TU members? Do be brief...you reckon Alan Sugar, Emma Thompson, Ben Elton or Eddie Izzard gives a hoot as prominent Labour supporters? Catch up with 21st century politics Gramps...there are as many 'Labour Haves' as there are 'Tory Haves'...only more hypocritical.

What this bloke said:

yorkborn66 says...
9:40pm Mon 18 Feb 13

is right...DECADES os mis-management. Blame who you will for the state of the NHS.

13 yrs of a labour Govt left this nation SKINT and in DEBT.

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Dr Brian says...
2:08pm Tue 19 Feb 13

Why is anybody surprised at this story? The NHS has never been important to a Tory Government (and their nodding dogs in the Lib Dem party have broken all their pledges to pretend they are helping to govern the country)

Cameron is not interested in the NHS in spite of his PR sound bites. He is more interested in ensuring those with lots of money get tax rebates. In ten years time there will be no NHS it will be private healthcare for the haves and whattever you can get for the have nots.

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Dr Brian says...
2:08pm Tue 19 Feb 13

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York CC Worker says...
5:07pm Tue 19 Feb 13

We should be grateful in this country that we have a free at source health service, that there is a free A&E department, that there are good front line (if not understaffed) people who man it, and who care very deeply for their patients. I would think that the larger proportion of people in this country wouldn't be able to afford private treatment - let alone private A&E treatment.

However, this particular story doesn't surprise me in the least! We had occassion to use A&E with my 83 year old Mother in Law back one Tuesday night last October (Before the main Norovius outburst for the season). We were treated very promptly in A&E and we were looked after absolutely fantastically - However, they wanted to keep her in hospital overnight, but did say that there would be at least a 3 hour wait for a bed. As this was 1.30 in the morning by then, I was assuming that a bed probably wasn't going to be available in reality until at least 8am?? In the end, they allowed her to go home, but only because we live close by and could keep an eye on how she was. A couple of trips to her GP over the next few days and she was soon fighting fit again.

But the issue still remained - a lack of beds!

It was our only complaint of the evening we had.

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Paul Meoff says...
8:30pm Tue 19 Feb 13

The rot started with Thatcher. She'll soon be continuing with her own personal version of rot.

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aimlette says...
11:01pm Tue 19 Feb 13

When I read articles like this it saddens me that York Hospital has not improved since I and members of my family have received such appalling care there. However, I do not understand why we are so afraid of a system that is not the NHS. I don't live in the UK any more, and where I live I don't see people dying on the streets for want of healthcare. I see clean hospitals, relatively short waits for appointments (more often than not same day), access to specialists without referral i.e. if my ear hurts I go to the ear, nose and throat doctor, not a GP. My kids don't go to a GP with too much to do, they go to a paediatrician. Do I pay more in health insurance than I did in NI contributions? No. Will I come back to the UK willingly? For the health and sake of my children, no. The NHS needs ground up reform, and there needs to be a sensible, non-politicised, no scaremongering debate about real alternatives. Stories like this one are becoming all too commonplace. I wish the lady concerned a swift recovery.

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