Kingston Hospital Slammed over Elderly Care

2.36.34pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 29th Nov 2005

A local resident, Gillian Wain, has protested to the Healthcare Commission, seeking an independent review of her complaint, after protesting to the hospital over its treatment of her mother (Mrs Doris Collie) before she died there in August.

Mrs Wain's report highlighted a succession of serious failures of nursing care; lack of attention and compassion; poor hygiene practice; and poor communications with the family. She has received a long letter of apology from the hospital's Chief Executive, who does not dispute the facts. But she is determined that pressure should be kept up in the interests of other elderly people. MP Vincent Cable has taken up Mrs Wain's case and is to visit the hospital to check whether promised improvements have been made. He said:

"I hear many anecdotes of poor care but this is a detailed, methodical, account of the neglect of elderly people in a local hospital. There was a whole culture of sloppiness and indifference by the nursing staff which seemed to pervade all aspects of life on the wad. This is clearly unacceptable and goes beyond the issue of nurse numbers to the way the hospital is being managed."