Horror nights at the hospital?
The Times approached 170 hospitals to discover whether it is true that many patients are send home at night. They received figures of 100 of the hospitals they contacted. The paper reported that each year 3.5%, which is 239,233 patients, of the 100 hospital discharges took place between 23.00 and 6.00. However, the rates between the different hospitals can vary substantially. There are some NHS trusts which even discharged 8% of their patients overnight. Although, the trusts are not sure whether the records are all reliable. Dr Mark Porter, of the British Medical Association, sees the figures as a result of the 'enormous pressure' that the health service endures.
Just imagine myself to be nicely asleep after a tough surgery and suddenly at 2 am my dear neighbour, 80 years old, is getting dressed, combing her hair and saying goodbye.
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| Photo: Канопус Киля 2008 |
Is it a reassuring thought that among those nightly discharges, the deaths are also included? So, maybe there are just a lot of people dying during the night at British hospitals. Of course it is alarming if poor old people are pushed out of their warm beds into the cold night, but may be we should look at the figures differently, and are British people dying massively at night in British hospitals? It would be nice if hospitals get the records straight!
Retrieved from the BBC news website bbc.co.uk/news/health-17685969 article "Overnight discharges from NHS Hospitals to be examined' dated 12 April 2012
This knowledge creatures more questions than answers! Why are people being discharged in the middle of the night instead of during the day? And why is that a problem? The traffic is more quiet at night, that could be an advantage. Or is it, as you say, that there are a lot of people dying in the middle of the night? Is there something wrong with the care during the night?
BeantwoordenVerwijderenIt is a very interesting topic actually. I wonder why patients are being discharged in the middle of the night. What is the thought behind it? Also, what do the patients think of it? Maybe they are ok with it? I cannot imagine they are, but maybe it is convenient.
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