A case in which doctors at an East Yorkshire NHS trust neglected to address the severe pain a lung cancer patient was suffering has been used by an ombudsman as an example of how elderly people are being failed by the NHS.
In a damning report, Ann Abraham said ten complaints, including the one of the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust lung cancer patient, who was only referred to as Mrs N, showed neglect of even the “most basic” human needs.
The report detailed how one patient transferred by ambulance to a care home arrived bruised, soaked in urine, dishevelled and wearing someone else’s clothes.
Ms Abraham warned these were not isolated incidents and the NHS needed to undergo an “urgent” widespread change in attitude towards older people. Of nearly 9,000 properly made complaints to the ombudsman about the NHS last year, 18 per cent were about the care of older people.
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