SURABAYA – DPRD Jawa Timur mendesak agar Pemerintah Provinsi (Pemprov) Jatim agar mempercepat pemembangun RSUD Dr Soetomo II di sisi jembatan Suramadu. Pasalnya, saat ini pelayanan di rumah sakit tersebut tidak maksimal karena jumlah pasien overload.

”Memang ada wacana untuk melakukan relokasi dengan membangun rumah sakit Dr Soetomo II di kaki jembatan Suramadu. Saya kira ini penting karena rumah sakit tersebut sudah overload,” kata Anggota Komisi C DPRD Jatim Basuki Babussalam pada Selasa (29/10).

Dia mengatakan, jumlah pasien yang overload itu membuat pelayanan bagi warga Jatim terkendala. Padahal, anggaran untuk pasien miskin seperti Jaminan Kesehatan Daerah (Jamkesda) dan Jaminan Kesehatan Masyarakat (Jamkesmas) cukup besar. ”Buat apa kita anggarkan terus dana APBD, tapi masalah overload tetap tidak terpecahkan. Kan mending dana itu kita fokuskan langsung untuk rencana relokasi saja,” tuturnya.

Memang, dari hasil pertemuan antara Dinkes Jatim dan komisi C DPRD Jatim sendiri masih belum ada perkembangan mengenai kepastian pembangunan rumah sakit tersebut. Saat ini, Dinkes Jatim baru memberikan grand design untuk pembangunan rumah sakit baru itu diatas lahan seluas 55 hektare yang dimiliki Pemprov Jatim. ”Kita masih menunggu kapan kepastiannya untuk pembangunan rumah sakit tersebut,” tambahnya.

Sekadar diketahui, dari data yang masuk di DPRD Jatim, jumlah pasien yang mengunjungi RSU Dr Soetomo itu mencapai 3 ribu per hari. Jumlah tersebut mengalami peningkatan sekitar 100 persen dari kapasitas 1.472 tempat tidur. Kondisi itu diperparah dengan jumlah tenaga medis yang dirasa tidak maksimal dan sempitnya ruangan dirumah sakit tersebut.

Dia menjelaskan, salah satu alternatif lain adalah memindah rumah sakit tersebut secara keseluruhan. Pasalnya, lokasi lahan yang ada di kaki Suramadu cukup luas. ”Solusinya, rumah sakit tersebut harus dipindah. Gagasan merelokasi rumah sakit dapat respons positif karena itu dianggap sebagai alternatif yang paling masuk akal,” katanya.

Memang, rencana Pemerintah Provinsi (Pemprov) Jawa Timur (Jatim) untuk membangun RSU Dr Soetomo II di kaki Jembatan Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) masih belum jelas. Hingga saat ini proses lelang Feasibility Study (FS) RSU Dr. Soetomo di kawasan kaki jembatan Suramadu senilai Rp 483 juta gagal dilaksanakan karena peserta sedikit alias tidak laku.

Sekadar diketahui, pembangunan rumah sakit baru tersebut nantinya diharapkan bisa menampung pasien-pasien rujukan dari empat kabupaten di Madura yakni Sampang, Sumenep, Pamekasan, dan Bangkalan. Sebab, berdasarkan rencana awal, rumah sakit ini akan lebih lengkap dalam melayani pasien yang dirujuk dari rumah sakit daerah. Baik dari segi peralatan medis hingga dokter spesialisnya.

Sementara Anggota Komisi E DPRD Jatim Ahmad Iskandar meminta agar rumah sakit yang ada sekarang tidak direlokasi. Artinya, di wilayah tersebut dibangun rumah sakit baru tanpa memindah rumah sakit yang lama. Di samping itu, fungsi dari rumah sakit itu harus tetap dipertahankan.”Saya kira bagus kalau dibangun rumah sakit baru tetapi yang sudah ada sekarang jangan dirubah lagi atau dipindah,” pungkasnya.sty

Sumber: surabayapost.co.id

AUSTIN, Texas — Medical malpractice claim frequency is expected to remain flat in the next year, while the cost of med mal claims has seen the smallest increase in more than a decade, according to a joint study by Aon Risk Solutions and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

The study, released Tuesday during ASHRM’s annual conference in Austin, Texas, projected no increase in hospital professional liability claim frequency for 2014. Meanwhile, med mal claim severity, including defense costs, is growing by 2.5% annually, which is the lowest rate of severity growth in the report’s 14-year history.

“This risk appears to be fairly under control and fairly stable,” said Erik Johnson, Raleigh, N.C.-based health care practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions’ actuarial and analytics practice, in a presentation at the ASHRM conference.

The report estimated that med mal claims in 2014 will represent 60 cents in costs for every $100 of hospital revenue, or $135 per average hospital admission.

Hospitals have been reducing med mal costs in part by improving patient safety and self-insuring to cover malpractice claims, the study said.

“Health care professional liability claims are subject to a complicated set of geographic, societal, and technological influences,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement released early Tuesday. “These forces are largely in-check, resulting in a low inflationary environment for medical malpractice.”

High-severity analysis

Aon and Dublin-based insurer and reinsurer Beazley P.L.C. also performed an analysis of high-severity med mal claims with costs of more than $2 million.

Valentina Minetti, London-based underwriter and pricing actuary for Beazley’s health care specialty lines, told ASHRM conference attendees that Washington, Philadelphia, and Cook County, Ill., had the highest frequency of high-severity med mal claims.

However, she noted that states with tort reform laws, such as California and Maryland, have seen a recent increase in med mal claim severity that is steeper than the national trend.

Beazley claims managers “are seeing record verdicts in states that are not necessarily the usual suspects,” Ms. Minetti said. “States like Wyoming, Maine, Virginia and Colorado have all had state record verdicts in the last 12 to 24 months.”

Source: businessinsurance.com

CALGARY – A study that has been tracking brain-injured patients in southern Alberta for more than a decade says survival rates have improved.

The study by the University of Calgary says roughly seven out of 10 patients with critical head injuries now survive — up 10 per cent from 12 years ago.

Researchers also conclude that people with brain injuries are more likely to return home without requiring any long-term medical care.

The study followed nearly 4,100 patients in Calgary’s adult intensive care units.

Head trauma and stroke are the primary cause of admission for about one in six ICU patients.

The database used allowed researchers to track each patient’s admission diagnosis and daily condition.

“This represents a substantial mortality reduction and is likely due to quality improvement in multiple areas of our health-care system,” Dr. Andreas Kramer, a critical care physician and member of the university’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute, said in a release Tuesday.

“More timely pre-hospital care, better emergency department resuscitation, earlier access to CT (computed tomography) scans, and developments in neurosurgery, ICU care and rehabilitation are all factors that may have helped improve survival rates.”

Over the same period, the proportion of brain-injured patients who were sent home without the need of support services increased to 40 per cent from 33 per cent.

“We aren’t only sending patients home alive, but a larger proportion is also returning to a sense of normalcy in their everyday lives,” Kramer said.

The study, co-authored by Kramer and Dr. David Zygun, was published in the October edition of The Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.

Source: huffingtonpost.ca

PROBOLINGGO, KOMPAS.com – Menjelang akhir masa jabatannya, Wali Kota Probolinggo, Jawa Timur, HM Buchori berupaya menuntaskan sejumlah pembangunan yang belum selesai. Salah satunya, relokasi RSUD dr Moh Saleh yang sejak beberapa tahun lalu tak kunjung dilaksanakan. Dia beralasan, dana dari pusat tak kunjung turun karena persoalan korupsi.

“Kami sudah berkali-kali mengirimkan proposal dan melakukan perubahan, tapi sampai sekarang belum terealisir. Disebabkan banyaknya kasus korupsi pusat yang sedang ditangani KPK dan penegak hukum lain. Rencananya, RSUD direlokasi ke Kelurahan Kareng Lor,” kata Buchori kepada sejumlah wartawan, Rabu (30/10/2013).

Kantor Kelurahan Jrebeng Wetan dan Wiroborang juga tak luput dari relokasi. Pasalnya, kantor kelurahan Wiroborang persis bersebelahan dengan masjid umum, yang membuat pelayanan dan kegiatan terhambat. Akan tetapi, rencana Buchori membangun jalan tembus dari Kelurahan Wiroborang ke Kelurahan Sumbertaman menemui jalan buntu. Setelah dikaji dan dikalkulasi, biaya yang harus dikeluarkan mencapai Rp 6 miliar.

“Untuk usulan masyarakat yang satu ini, saya masih belum bisa memastikan. Biayanya sangat besar,” tukasnya.

Selain itu, Buchori menargetkan pembangunan gedung multiguna selesai tahun 2014. Gedung itu dibangun sejak 2012, hingga kini gedung itu belum juga rampung karena terbentur sejumlah kendala. Sebelum dirinya lengser, gedung tersebut sudah harus selesai karena Wali Kota terpilih, Hj Rukmini akan dilantik pada 28 Februari di gedung tersebut. Maret, gedung itu sudah bisa digunakan untuk kepentingan umum.

Sumber: kompas.com

ASATUNEWS – Palang Merah Indonesia (PMI) Kota Pangkalpinang mempertanyakan kebijakan Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah (RSUD) Depati Hamzah yang menolak kartu Jaminan Pelayanan Pengobatan Thalasemia (Jampeltas) untuk memerikasa, merawat dan mengobati perderita penyakit tersebut.

“RSUD Depati Hamzah Kota Pangkalpinang telah menjalin Master of Understanding (MoU) dengan Kementerian Kesehatan RI untuk menjamin biaya pengobatan thalasemia melalui kartu Jampeltas namun belum ada realisasai dari pihak rumah sakit,” kata Sekertaris PMI Pangkalpinang Wahyono, Rabu.

Ia menjelaskan, terdapat sekitar 50 kasus penderita anak thalasemia di daerah itu yang tersebar di Kota Pangkalpinang, Kabupaten Bangka, Kabupaten Bangka Tengah, Kabupaten Bangka Selatan dan kabupaten Bangka Barat yang memerlukan penanganan dan pengobatan.

“Selama ini pemeriksaan, pengobatan dan perawatan penderita thalasemia masih menggunakan biaya sendiri atau memanfaatkan kartu jamkesmas dan jemkesda sehingga memberatkan masyarakat karena biaya yang dibutuhkan cukup tinggi,” katanya.

Padahal, kata Wahyono, pemerintah pusat telah mengeluarkan surat edaran pada Maret 2013 yang menunjuk RSUD agar menjalankan petunjuk teknis yang telah ditetapkan yakni memberikan pelayanan bagi penderita thalasemia.

“Hingga saat ini RSUD belum menjalankan jaminan pelayanan gratis bagi penderita thalasemia yang telah ditetapkan Kementerian Kesehatan melalui petunjuk teknis pada 2011,” tambahnya.

Menurut dia, kartu jampeltas seharusnya dapat digunakan dan difungsikan penderita untuk memperoleh pengobatan di RSUD yang telah ditunjuk sesuai dengan MoU dan petunjuk teknis yang diberikan Kementerian Kesehatan.

“Kami menilai kurangnya kepedulian dari pihak rumah sakit terhadap penggunaan kartu jampeltas sehingga masyarakat harus menggunakan biaya pribadi maupun jaminan kesehatan lainnya untuk memperoleh pengobatan,” katanya.

Ia berharap, kartu jampeltas dapat difungsikan sebagaimana mestinya untuk memudahkan dan meringankan beban biaya penderita thalasemia dalam memperoleh penanganan kesehatan.

“Mudah-mudahan pemerintah daerah lebih memperhatikan kebutuhan kesehatan masyarakat dan juga RSUD dapat menyediakan klinik khusus yang menangani penderita thalasemia sehingga perawatan berjalan dengan maksimal,” katanya. (ANT/ASN/MHd/015)

Sumber: asatunews.com

We need a ‘revolution’ in the way the health service handles complaints

All NHS patients should have a pen and paper by their hospital bed for writing down concerns about the quality of their care, a major review of complaints in the health service has said.

In a damning report on “a decade of failure”, Labour MP Ann Clwyd and the NHS manager and former nurse Professor Tricia Hart called for a “revolution” in the way the health service handles complaints, after receiving 2,500 emails and letters from patients, doctors and nurses, which they said revealed a culture of “delay, deny and defend”.

Among dozens of recommendations aimed at improving the way the NHS listens to and acts on complaints, the report said that patients must feel confident raising concerns in the first place, should know who they can speak about a problem, and should have access to a pen and paper in hospital to note down concerns.

Ms Clwyd, who spoke out last year about the “coldness, resentment, indifference and contempt” she encountered from some of the nurses treating her husband in hospital, and described how he had died “like a battery hen”, said that complaints should be considered as “gold dust” by hospitals, because of their potential to highlight where improvements to patient care could be made.

“The days of delay, deny and defend must end, and hospitals must become open, learning organisations,” she said. “Our proposals put patients firmly into the driving seat at every level as never before, and we now expect to see progress within 12 months’ time.”

Other recommendations include making chief executives of NHS trusts personally responsible for signing off on all complaints; appointing a board member with special responsibility for whistle-blowing; and making basic information such as who is who on a ward easily available to all patients.

Professor Hart, chief executive of South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said that although there were pockets of particularly poor practice, the problem was system-wide and required a comprehensive cultural shift.

“We want this to be hardwired into the NHS system… it is about being open and transparent, it’s about encouraging everyone, from the cleaner, to the porter to the neurosurgeon, that if they see issues [of concern], then they feel comfortable, confident and assured, that they can speak out,” she said.

The NHS received more than 162,000 complaints about care in 2012/13 – around 3,000 every week. The problem of complaint-handling was raised by Robert Francis in his report on catastrophic care failures at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, in which he said early “warning signs” were missed because patient concerns were ignored.

The importance of listening to patients was also raised by Sir Bruce Keogh in his major review of poorly-performing hospitals earlier this year, and again by American patient safety expert Don Berwick in his own report.

Patients were most likely to complain because of a lack of information about their care, because care staff lacked compassion, because they felt they had not been treated with dignity and care or because of a lack of basic resources on wards.

However, hundreds of patients told the report’s review panel that they had faced major problems in making complaints, with many describing delays, defensiveness and even fear that they or their relatives might receive poor care if they spoke out.

The health secretary Jeremy Hunt said that he accepted the “spirit and direction of travel” of the Clwyd-Hart report and pledged to respond to it in full, along with a raft of other recent reports on patient safety, later in the year.

He said he wanted to convert the recommendations into “practical and implementable” changes that took into account “the pressures and the challenges” faced by medical professionals.

“We have to recognise how hard it is for professionals, because none of us – politicians or journalists – are in a profession where, if we make a mistake, the consequence may be that someone loses their life,” he said.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, welcomed the report but said it must now lead to “urgent” action.

“There cannot now be any more reports into what is wrong with the system. We need to focus on what needs to happen to make things right,” she said.

“The problems with the complaints system have been clear for many years, the NHS cannot further fail patients by wasting this opportunity to resolve them”

Source: independent.co.uk

The current system is so complex that many patients are deterred from raising important issues by fear of reprisals, according to report

Patients should be given a pen and paper by their bedside so they can flag up poor treatment by doctors and nurses, a report recommends.

And Labour MP Ann Clwyd says a revolution is needed to end the NHS “delay, deny and defend” attitude towards complaints.

She was appointed by the PM to advise on NHS complaint handling after her late husband Owen Roberts died “like a battery hen” in hospital.

Mrs Clwyd said: “Hospitals must be open, learning organisations. If you ignore somebody asking for an extra blanket, an extra pillow, wanting a drink of water or wanting to go to the toilet, you should not be caring for patients.”

The report, co-written by South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation chief Prof Tricia Hart, was ordered after the Francis inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal, in which hundreds of patients died unnecessarily.

The current system is so complex many patients are put off raising issues about care, the report added. Some patients fear reprisals if they moan.

And doctors and nurses can be dismissive when patients or relatives speak out. One hospital visitor told the review team they could not speak to a nurse as she was busy bidding on eBay.

Patients, carers and families should also get basic information such as details of who is who on the ward.

Another proposal would mean hospitals annually publishing all complaints and resulting changes.

The review also calls for a “duty of candour” law forcing doctors and nurses to tell patients of mistakes at the first opportunity. Mr Hunt will respond next year.

Prof Hart also said staff whistleblowers must be encouraged to speak out.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council and Care Quality Commission yesterday agreed to help improve the NHS complaints system.

Paul Philip, acting chief executive of the General Medical Council, said: “Complaints from members of the public give the health service the chance to reflect and improve the care and treatment that patients receive.

“That is why, in our four pledges to this review, we committed to do more to support people who raise concerns about their doctor, and to increase the role of patient feedback in revalidation – a new system of checks to ensure that all doctors are competent and fit to practise.”

NHS Confederation chairman Michael O’Higgins, who was a member of the review’s external partnership panel, said: “With a million patient interactions every 36 hours, the NHS has an army of public advisers and coaches at its fingertips, who can help to improve its services.

“We would be foolish to ignore this wealth of feedback.

“Hearing about people’s experiences of the NHS – good and bad – is a vital way to ensure that we improve standards, prevent failings in care and reduce the need for complaints being necessary in the first place.

“We also know that there are already fantastic examples of how some individuals and organisations in the NHS not only welcome feedback but actively seek it.”

NHS Employers chief executive Dean Royles said: “Ann Clwyd and Prof Hart are absolutely right in identifying that NHS boards must hold responsibility for overall handling of complaints, and chief executives and chairs of NHS organisations wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Dr Richard Taylor, co-leader of the National Health Action party, said major changes to the NHS complaints system were “essential”.

He said: “Complete reform of the NHS complaints process is essential and urgent.

“At the moment it is toothless and not helpful from the patient’s or their relatives’ points of view.

“Even when I was an MP assisting constituents with complaints, I failed to achieve satisfaction on occasions as independent experts appeared to be only on the side of the NHS.

“Patients need expert, independent help to make effective complaints and this independent help must be easily and generally available early in the process and long before legal action is considered.

“But even more important is the need to avoid complaints.

“This can be achieved by improving communication between NHS staff and their patients as with open information sharing and discussion most complaints can become unnecessary.”

Sonia Sodha, head of public services at Which?, said: “The current complaints system has failed to highlight serious failings within the NHS so we wholeheartedly support the review’s recommendations to increase transparency and accountability on complaints handling and to provide more protection for whistleblowers.

“People often don’t complain because they don’t think that anything will be done so these reforms must give people the confidence that their voices will be both heard and acted upon.”

Anna Bradley, chair of Healthwatch England, added: “People simply don’t know where to go if they have a problem.

“They just want their complaints dealt with quickly, efficiently and to see that it has made some practical difference for the future.”

Voice of the Mirror: A write mess

Patients getting a bedside pen and piece of paper is a well-meaning initiative proposed as a solution to bad hospital care. But would it work? We have doubts.

Elderly and other vulnerable patients in particular are reluctant, and sometimes unable, to complain when they’re unhappy.

The suggestion will be considered by Jeremy Hunt, but there’s a more fundamental answer to the issue that some staff just don’t care: bring back caring as a cornerstone of the NHS.

Over-worked, stressed staff need to be given the time and space to treat patients as individuals rather than throughput statistics.

Sadly we believe a Tory Health Secretary carving up the NHS into bite-sized chunks ready for privatisation isn’t the man for that job.

Source: mirror.co.uk

Surabaya – Menteri Kesehatan RI dr. Nafsiah Mboi, SpA MPH mengatakan, teknologi serta alat-alat kesehatan yang dimiliki rumah sakit di Indonesia sebetulnya sudah memadai, sehingga tidak perlu lagi ada masyarakat Indonesia yang berobat ke luar negeri.

“Banyak yang belum percaya bahwa rumah sakit kita juga dapat memberikan pelayanan kesehatan yang memadai. Padahal dengan bangga saya katakan bahwa sudah ada sembilan rumah sakit di Indonesia yang telah mendapat pengakuan internasional atau akreditasi dari Joint Commission International, jadi seharusnya tidak perlu lagi berobat ke luar negeri,” kata dr Nafsiah Mboi saat meresmikan Rumah Sakit National Hospital di Surabaya, Senin (28/10).

Sembilan rumah sakit yang dimaksud adalah Eka Hospital (Tangerang), RS Premier Bintaro (Tangerang), RS Premier Jatinegara (Jakarta), RS Premier Surabaya (Surabaya), RSUP Sanglah Denpasar (Bali), RSUPN Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo (Jakarta), Rumah Sakit Pondok Indah (Jakarta), Santosa Hospital (Bandung), dan Siloam Hospitals Lippo Village (Tangerang).

“Saya selalu bilang, yang berobat ke luar negeri bukan urusan saya. Urusan kita adalah orang-orang yang berobat di tanah air. Sehingga setiap warga Indonesia berhak mendapatkan pelayanan kesehatan yang sebaik-baiknya dan mendapat pelayanan kesehatan bertaraf internasional, siapa pun dia,” tegasnya.

Namun Nafsiah juga berharap agar setiap rumah sakit di Indonesia menerapkan konsep “hospital without wall” atau layanan kesehatan yang tidak dibatasi oleh tembok rumah sakit.

“Rumah sakit jangan hanya menunggu orang sakit datang seolah hanya mencari untung dari orang-orang yang sakit, tapi juga harus memberikan layanan promotif preventif di samping kuratif rehabilitatif dan pendidikan,” pesan dia.

Sumber: beritasatu.com

SURABAYA, KOMPAS.com – Tingginya jumlah rumah sakit di kota Surabaya membuat kapasitas dan sediaan tempat tidur melebihi kebutuhan. Sayangnya, keadaan ini berbanding terbalik dengan keadaan di provinsi Jawa Timur.

Menteri Kesehatan RI Nafsiah Mboi menyatakan, keadaan ini harusnya menjadikan Surabaya sebagai kota rujukan pengobatan dari daerah-daerah lain yang berada di wilayah Jawa Timur. Selain itu, pemerintah daerah juga perlu membentuk sistem interkonektivitas dari rumah sakit-rumah sakit di Jawa Timur yang berpusat di Surabaya.

“Ini merupakan upaya agar tidak ada lagi pasien yang terlambat dirawat di rumah sakit karena rumah sakit penuh dan terlalu jauh mencapai rumah sakit,” ujarnya di sela-sela acara peresmian salah satu rumah sakit swasta, Senin (28/10/2013) di Surabaya.

Menurut Nafsiah, untuk penyakit-penyakit yang mengancam jiwa dan butuh penanganan cepat, waktu pencapaian ke rumah sakit menjadi hal yang utama. Terlambat sedikit saja, kerugian yang diderita bisa sangat berbeda.

Misalnya, imbuhnya, untuk penanganan kecelakaan, serangan jantung, atau stroke, menit-menit pertawa akan sangat menentukan. Tak hanya soal mencegah kematian, penanganan dini akan memperkecil peluang kecacatan.

“Interkonektivitas antara 315 rumah sakit di Jawa Timur akan memudahkan pasien. Hanya telepon ke satu nomor, misalnya 911, langsung bisa dirujuk ke rumah sakit mana yang terdekat untuk penanganan,” tutur dia.

Dengan cara seperti ini, menurutnya, rumah sakit besar di kota bisa ikut memberdayakan rumah sakit tipe B dan C yang berada di daerah. Ini juga akan menciptakan kerja sama antara swasta dan pemerintah.

Dalam kesempatan tersebut, Nafsiah juga memaparkan gambaran keadaan kecukupan jumlah rumah sakit yang saat ini beroperasi dan jumlah penduduk di Jawa Timur. “Dari 37,5 juta penduduk di Jawa Timur, kebutuhan tempat tidur diperkirakan adalah 37.000. Sementara ketersediaan baru mencapai sekitar 35.500,” paparnya.

Berbeda dengan di Surabaya, dari jumlah penduduk sekitar 3 juta, diperkirakan kebutuhan tempat tidurnya mencapai 2.260. Padahal Surabaya memiliki 58 rumah sakit dengan sediaan tempat tidur sebanyak 7.205.

Secara keseluruhan, dari 38 kabupaten/kota yang ada di Jawa Timur, kata Nafsiah, baru ada 17 yang memiliki jumlah rumah sakit dan tempat tidur yang mencukupi.

Sumber: kompas.com

Giving all hospital patients a pen and paper by their bedside could make it easier for them to report problems with their care, a major report into the NHS complaints system has advised.

Hospital patients should all be given a pen and paper by their bedside allowing them to record and raise examples of bad care, a damning report has recommended.

Prof Tricia Hart and the Rt Hon Ann Clwyd MP said a “revolution” is needed to end the “delay, deny and defend” attitude with which the NHS handles complaints.

Many patients are deterred from raising issues about their care because they are too confused by the complex complaints procedure, they said, while doctors and nurses are often dismissive and rude about those that are reported leading to fears of reprisals.

This often leads to “minor concerns” which could have been easily resolved being neglected until they become “major problems or lead to formal complaints”.

The review of the NHS complaints process was commissioned by the Department of Health following the Francis Report into the Mid Staffordshire scandal, which highlighted that complaints are a warning sign of a hospital’s problems.

It identified a host of examples where nurses had failed to listen to patients’ concerns, or had been “offhand” and “callous” to patients or their relatives.

One nurse told the relative of a sick patient “I am a graduate. I don’t do sick”, while another visitor reported being unable to speak to a nurse because the ward team was too busy bidding on an eBay auction.

“We did not form the impression that patients were generally making unreasonable demands or exaggerating minor inconveniences,” the report said. “People were, by and large, describing significant lapses in the standards of care they were entitled to.”

In evidence submitted to the report, the Public Health Service Ombudsman claimed there is a “toxic cocktail” preventing patients’ concerns from being heard or addressed.

“This is a combination of reluctance on the part of patients, families and carers to express their concerns or complaints and a defensiveness on the part of hospitals and their staff to hear and address concerns”, it said. “As a result opportunities to learn and improve care are lost.”

The report said it should be easier for patients to raise issues about their care or stay in hospital, and systems are needed to ensure all complaints are taken seriously by management.

“Simple steps such as putting pen and paper by the bedside and making sure patients know who to speak to if they have a concern” could make it easier to provide feedback, it claimed.

It called for chief executives of trusts to take responsibility for signing off complaints, and to publish an annual complaints report summarising issues which have been raised and what action taken.

Prof Hart and Mrs Clwyd also called for the statutory introduction of a “duty of candour” obliging doctors and nurses to inform patients when a mistake has been made at the first opportunity.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said the government would officially respond to the recommendations next year but said it is “absolutely essential” that hospitals tell patients or their families when harm has been committed.

Patient safety campaigners had warned this weekend that the government’s plan to introduce duty of candour to organisations but not individuals would undermine the change and could “legitimise cover-ups”.

Mrs Clwyd, a Labour MP, was appointed by the Prime Minister to advise on the handling of complaints in the NHS last year after protesting that her late husband Owen Roberts had died “like a battery hen” at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

She said: “The days of delay, deny, and defend must end, and hospitals must become open, learning organisations.

“If you ignore somebody asking for an extra blanket, an extra pillow, wanting a drink of water or wanting to go to the toilet, then you should not be caring for patients … and there are too many cases where these king of things are happening.”

She said that instead of being ignored, complaints from patients should be treated as “gold dust” and pledged to revisit hospitals in a year to check whether her recommendations had been adopted.

Tricia Hart, chief executive of South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation trust who co-authored the new report and the Francis Report, said there must also be systems encouraging whistle-blowers to come forward with concerns.

“Everyone from the cleaner to the porter to the neurosurgeon [must] feel comfortable and confident and assured they are able to speak up,” she said.

Mr Hunt said: “We saw in Mid Staffs how badly things go wrong when patients and families’ complaints aren’t taken seriously.

“I want to see a complete transformation in hospitals’ approach to complaints, so that they become valued as vital learning tools. There can be no place for closing ranks or covering backs when patient safety is at stake.”

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said it should lead to “urgent” action.

“The problems with the complaints system have been clear for many years, the NHS cannot further fail patients by wasting this opportunity to resolve them,” she said.

Anna Bradley, Chair of Healthwatch England, added: “People simply don’t know where to go if they have a problem. They just want their complaints dealt with quickly, efficiently and to see that it has made some practical difference for the future.

“Today’s report is another indication of how far there is still to go before people get the complaints system they deserve.”

Source: telegraph.co.uk