'The envy of the world'?

Yes it's the NHS again, that unchallengeable totem of British politics. The Telegraph reports the appalling case of

"A hospital patient, Kane Gorny, died of dehydration after becoming so desperate for a drink of water that he called police for help. "

It seems that this patient was not given his vital post-operation medication by the staff at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south London. Mr Gorny

"became very dehydrated but his requests for water were refused and nurses called in security guards to restrain him when he became angry.

He became so frustrated that he rang the police from his bed to demand their help but officers were assured Mr Gorny was fine.

She said nurses assumed he was just badly behaved."

That's bad enough but the fact that "Mr Gorny’s cause of death was determined to be dehydration." is beyond belief. I wonder if the police investigation will be able to find a culprit and what the hospital is doing to find the person or persons who killed Kane Gorny in a slow and painful manner.

Meanwhile the defence is the usual pathetic corporate management speak:

"A spokesman for St George's Hospital said: “We are extremely sorry about the death of Kane Gorny and understand the distress that this has caused to his family."

Understand the distress? Their relative died because staff at your hospital allegedly failed to keep him hydrated and medicated. Their relative
allegedly died because your staff thought that he was being badly behaved because he kept asking for a drink.

"“A full investigation was carried out and new procedures introduced to ensure that such a case cannot happen in future."

Did the 'full investigation' allocate blame or is the hospital a blame free zone?

"“We have written to the family to explain the actions that have been taken and to answer their concerns about Mr Gorny's care."

Really and did you explain how a large hospital does not have the procedures in place to ensure that a patient does not doe of dehydration? If Mr Gorny had been a quiet patient who died quietly without making a fuss I could almost understand how his plight was missed but he even called the police, surely someone should have taken a look at his file to see what was amiss.


Now I know whay O have private medical insurance; the only times I have been to an NHS hospital I have been disgusted at the lack of cleanliness, the dreadful way patients are treated by the doctors and nurses and the way that non-medical staff act as though they are doing patients a favour by even speaking to them.

The NHS the 'envy of the world'? I think not.