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'Poor' NHS interpreting services leading to misdiagnosis and deaths, says group

Calls are being made to improve NHS interpreting services, with staff resorting to online translation tools to deliver serious news to non-English speaking patients.

The National Register of Public Service Interpreters said "poorly managed" language services are "leading to abuse, misdiagnosis and in the worst cases, deaths of patients".

The BBC's File on 4 programme has found interpreting problems were a contributing factor in at least 80 babies dying or suffering serious brain injuries in England between 2018 and 2022.

NHS England says it is conducting a review to identify if and how it can support improvements in the commissioning and delivery of services.

Rana Abdelkarim and her husband Modar Mohammednour arrived in England after fleeing conflict in Sudan, both speaking little English.

It was supposed to be a fresh start but they soon suffered a devastating experience after Ms Abdelkarim was called to attend a maternity unit for what she thought was a check-up.

In fact, she was going to be induced, something Mr Mohammednour said he was completely unaware of.

"I heard this 'induce', but I don't know what it means. I don't understand exactly," he said.

His wife suffered a catastrophic bleed which doctors were unable to stem and she died after giving birth to her daughter at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in March 2021.

He said better interpreting services would have helped him and his wife understand what was happening.

"It would have helped me and her to take the right decision for how she's going to deliver the baby and she can know what is going to happen to her," he added.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) found there were delays in calling for specialist help, there was no effective communication with Ms Abdelkarim, and the incident had traumatised staff.

Gloucestershire Royal Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has apologised and said it had acted on the coroner's recommendations to ensure lessons have been learned to prevent similar tragedies.

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Source: BBC News, 21 November 2023

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'Pictures of health' cut skin cancer check waits

Digital imaging of suspected skin cancers has dramatically cut waiting times for diagnosis and treatment in Nottinghamshire.

Clinical photographers in parts of the county now see patients referred by GPs typically within a couple of days, rather than them having to wait what used to be sometimes weeks to see a consultant for just an initial appointment.

The imaging includes using artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone software, which then sees pictures sent to a consultant dermatologist to assess, without needing to meet the patient.

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the approach was freeing up specialists' time to focus on surgery.

Fiona Hayward-Lyon, from Farndon in Nottinghamshire, is one of nearly 2,000 patients seen by the trust with suspected skin cancer who have benefitted from faster access to diagnosis.

The service was fully introduced in June 2024 and one year on, has been described as a "big success" by the trust.

Consultant dermatologist Dr Ritu Singla said the photography service allowed medics to reassure patients sooner if they did not have cancer.

"We can rule out lots of benign [non-cancerous] lesions, which are the bulk of cases," she said.

"It also enables us to start treatment sooner for those patients where cancer has been diagnosed."

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Source: BBC News, 3 July 2025

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'People have to navigate through their grief'

Bereavement support charities are calling for more funding in light of what they call the "terrible toll of 100,000 deaths from Covid-19".

They say many families have been unable to be with loved ones as they died or gather to support one another. They argue there has been "huge demand" for counselling and guidance but some providers lack sufficient resources.

The government says it is committed to ensuring those who are grieving have access to the support they need. In a letter to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and mental health minister, Nadine Dorries, charities call for some of the £500 million funding allocated to mental health in England in the November spending review to be used to support the bereaved.

The request has come from the National Bereavement Alliance, which represents a range of charities. Members include CRUSE Bereavement Care, Support after Suicide Partnership and AtALoss.

The letter quotes academic research suggesting more than 80% of bereaved people since the start of the pandemic have had limited contact with family and friends and two-thirds have experienced social isolation or loneliness.

They say there are long waiting lists for support but some services providing advice and guidance are not adequately funded.

The alliance argues deaths have been heavily felt in disadvantaged and deprived communities where there is a greater need for assistance.

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Source: BBC News, 27 January 2021

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'Patients are collapsing in the waiting room': A&E nurses speak out

The NHS is experiencing intense winter pressure, with critical incidents declared at a dozen hospitals across the UK by Wednesday.

The BBC has spoken to nurses dealing with demand in A&Es. "Patients are collapsing in the waiting room. It's just hectic," Lorraine, a nurse in Birmingham, told BBC Radio 5 Live on Tuesday.

"There's women that are 90 that have been waiting for a bed for 24 hours," she said. "We try our best but if there's no beds what can we really do? We just make the old lady as comfortable as she can, just make sure that she's okay. But there's no beds."

She said she felt sorry for paramedics who due to the lack of space in hospitals are being forced to hold patients on board for a long time. "And then when we do get them in they need a bed and there isn't one. It is really bad."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited a hospital in London's south-east on Monday, revealing a new plan involving the private healthcare sector to help reduce waiting times for appointments.

But nurses like Lorraine say he needs to witness the reality of emergency wards currently. "The prime minister should actually sit in the waiting room, see the abuse that we get, the poor old ladies and pensioners, the young people that are trying to kill themselves, people collapsing, people having cardiac arrests in the waiting room," she said.

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Source: BBC News, 8 January 2025

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'Palliative care is not good enough - there's no plan to fix it'

Fixing the struggling palliative care system must be an immediate priority for the government, say senior doctors, after a proposed law on assisted dying has passed to the next stage of parliament.

The Association for Palliative Medicine (APM) says there is a risk the funding needed to pay for doctors and the courts to oversee assisted dying could divert money away from care for the dying.

“The UK is often held up as having the best palliative care in the world – but that is not the case any longer. We are not getting the funding we need," said Dr Sarah Cox.

MPs voted on Friday to back changing the law in England and Wales to allow assisted dying. It is just the first parliamentary hurdle the bill needs to pass, with months more of debate and voting to come.

This week the Office for Health Economics said an increase in palliative care funding was crucial, external, with the system struggling to meet the needs of an ageing population.

At least three-quarters of people require palliative care at the end of their lives – that is around 450,000 people a year across the UK.

But a recent report by end, external-of-, externallife charity Marie Curie, external cited data showing around 100,000 go without, with half of families unhappy about the care their loved ones receive when they die. There are reports of people left in pain and with too little support.

Audits show four in 10 hospitals do not have specialist palliative care services available seven days a week.

Hospices, which provide care for around 300,000 people a year, are struggling for money. Around a third of their funding comes from the NHS, with the sector having to raise the rest themselves. A parliamentary report has described this funding system as “not fit for purpose”.

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Source: BBC News, 30 December 2024

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'Overworked staff' impacting patient safety at Torbay Hospital

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has raised concerns about Torbay Hospital being understaffed and the impact that has had on patient safety.

It carried out an unannounced focused inspection of medical care services at Torbay Hospital in December, after receiving information of concern about the service. 

Cath Campbell, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “When we inspected medical care services at Torbay Hospital, we were mindful of the pressures that the COVID-19 pandemic had had on the trust, and aware that staff were working extremely hard during this time. However, we were concerned to find some of the wards didn’t have enough staff to meet the needs of patients, especially those on a dedicated COVID-19 ward, and the trust wasn’t able to provide us with evidence that there were enough staff on the ward to monitor patients to keep them safe.!

“In addition, staff didn’t always complete risk assessments for each patient to remove or minimise risks to people’s safety. Staff also did not always identify patients at risk of deterioration and act quickly to keep them safe."

The Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust says it has taken the CQC’s findings very seriously and made immediate improvements, which the CQC have recognised. 

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Source: Torbay Weekly, 4 March 2022

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'Overwhelming' response to birth trauma inquiry

An inquiry into birth trauma has received more than 1,300 submissions from families.

It is estimated that 30,000 women a year in the UK have suffered negative experiences during the delivery of their babies, while 1 in 20 develop post-traumatic stress disorder.

The investigation is a cross-party initiative, led by MPs Theo Clarke and Rosie Duffield, in collaboration with the Birth Trauma Association.

Ms Clarke the Conservative MP for Stafford, triggered the first ever parliamentary debate on the issue in October.

In an emotional exchange in the House of Commons, she described her own experience following her daughter's birth at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in 2022.

She bled heavily after suffering a tear and had to undergo two-hour surgery without general anaesthetic, due to an earlier epidural.

The Birth Trauma Association, which is administering the inquiry, invited the public to submit written accounts of their own experiences.

Dr Kim Thomas, from the association, said she had received an "overwhelming" number of personal accounts. Some cases date back as far as the 1960s.

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Source: BBC News, 25 February 2024

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'Over-complex' NHS led to man's death

An "over-complex" NHS system played a "major" role in the death of a 79-year-old man, a coroner has said.

Thomas Mallinson died on 23 November at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle following a lack of "effective response or treatment" from health services for four days, according to assistant coroner for Cumbria Dr Nicholas Shaw.

He said the case was an example of how "over-complexity has lost sight of a man's urgent care needs".

The coroner issued a future deaths report on Tuesday, outlining the various treatment delays that Mr Mallinson faced.

Dr Shaw said the 79-year-old became unwell on 17 November with vomiting and diarrhoea.

The following day, his wife called to request a GP appointment but was told there were none available that day and to call 111 instead.

Following the 111 call, an ambulance was sent and Mr Mallinson was found to be healthy enough and told to call again if his symptoms persisted.

Still feeling ill the next day, Mr Mallinson attended a telephone GP appointment and was prescribed anti-diarrhoeal medicine.

On the fourth day, Mr Mallinson continued to get weaker and so his wife called 111 again. She was told he would get a GP appointment the same day and to wait for a call back.

Dr Shaw said that call never came.

Mr Mallinson's wife then called 999 just before midnight. She was told by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) that a doctor from Cumbria Health, the out-of-hours provider, would call back within two hours.

Mr Mallinson's wife waited up until 04:00 GMT, but that call also never came.

On the fifth day, following a night of "continuous vomiting and diarrhoea", Mr Mallinson's wife called the GP and was offered an afternoon appointment.

She then called 999 again and an ambulance was sent.

Mr Mallinson was taken to hospital immediately, where he was found to have symptoms including hypothermia and failing kidneys.

He died in hospital two days later, the coroner said, adding that if Mr Mallinson had received treatment in a "timely manner" he most likely would have survived.

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Source: BBC News, 17 July 2025

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'Outdated' IT leaves NHS staff with 15 different computer logins

IT systems in the NHS are so outdated that staff have to log in to up to 15 different systems to do their jobs. Doctors can find themselves using different logins for everything from ordering x-rays and getting lab results to accessing A&E records and rotas.

The government in England said it was looking to streamline the systems as part of an IT upgrade. Around £40 million is being set aside to help hospitals and clinics introduce single-system logins in the next year.

Alder Hey in Liverpool is one of a number of hospitals which have already done this, and found it reduced time spent logging in from one minute 45 seconds to just 10 seconds. With almost 5,000 logins per day, it saved over 130 hours of staff time a day, to focus on patient care.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was time to "get the basics right". "It is frankly ridiculous how much time our doctors and nurses waste logging on to multiple systems. Too often outdated technology slows down and frustrates staff."

British Medical Association leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said logging on to multiple systems did waste time. But he said on its own this move would not solve all the problems, pointing out that many of the IT systems themselves were "antiquated" and needed upgrading.

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Source: BBC News, 4 January 2020

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'Our son died after he should have been sectioned'

A coroner has raised concerns over the care of a man who died hours after mental health clinicians decided not to section him.

James Cochrane died at about 21:00 GMT on 17 November 2023 on the M1, near Shepshed in Leicestershire.

James had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and was in the care of the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.

His parents, Phil and Deborah, had recorded a video of him "shaking and rocking" during a psychotic episode on the day of his death, and told the BBC they had been desperate for him to be sectioned.

An inquest into James's death, which concluded on Wednesday, heard trust nurses came to assess the 36-year-old at his parents' home at about 16:00, and decided not to refer him for an assessment to be detained under the Mental Health Act.

Assistant coroner for North Leicestershire and Rutland, Rebecca Connell, said she was concerned about a decision to leave James with his parents over the weekend while increasing his dose of anti-psychotic medication and drugs to help him sleep.

Mrs Connell said she would be preparing a prevention of future deaths report, external detailing concerns after the two-day inquest at County Hall in Glenfield.

The NHS trust said lessons had been learned following a review carried out after James's death.

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Source: BBC News, 28 August 2025

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'Our hospitals weren't made to use this much oxygen'

Shortages are dogging the fight against the coronavirus. At Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) it's still only possible to test six staff for the virus per day, consultants have been making their own personal protective equipment, and there's an urgent need to save oxygen.

Searching for ways round the problem, Dr Tom has been working with Leeds University on a 3D-printed valve that could be attached to the hospital's ventilators to reduce the amount of oxygen they use.

But he also began looking at CPAP machines used to treat sleep apnoea at home. These maintain air at a continuous pressure, inside a mask, to keep the user's airways open - they have to be repurposed to provide oxygen for use in the hospital, but they use much less of it than standard hospital ventilators.

They said, 'Yes we've got 2,000, how many do you want?''' he says. "And so our plan is to start with 100 and to see whether, if we use these early enough during a patient's stay, we can prevent people deteriorating and needing to go on to the more complex ventilators, and needing to come to the intensive care unit."

We've been testing them over the weekend, and there's evidence from China and from the US that they seem effective. They just help inflate your lungs and that seems to be beneficial.

They are also very simple, which means that there's no need for a huge amount of training.

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Source: BBC News, 7 April 2020

 

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'One in a million’ matron is crowned RCN Nurse of the Year

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) member Tara Matare has won the coveted title of RCN Nurse of the Year 2019. She scooped the leadership category at the RCNi Nurse Awards before being crowned the overall winner. Tara has tackled short staffing, improved workplace culture and enhanced patient care at her ophthalmology unit at Whipps Cross Hospital in London. Over a 14-year mission to overhaul the unit, there have been a steady stream of challenges, including fighting ophthalmology’s corner to ensure it wasn’t overlooked in favour of higher-profile inpatient services and tackling an ingrained culture of bullying.  

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Source: Royal College of Nursing, 4 July 2019

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'Not fit for purpose': UK medics condemn Covid-19 protection

Frontline NHS staff are at risk of dying from Covid-19 after the protective gear requirements for health workers treating those infected were downgraded last week, doctors and nurses have warned.

Hospital staff caring for the growing number of those seriously ill with the disease also fear that they could pass the infection on to other patients after catching it at work because of poor protection.

Doctors who are dealing most closely with Covid-19 patients – A&E medics, anaesthetists and specialists in acute medicine and intensive care – are most worried.

A doctor in an infectious diseases ward of a major UK hospital, who is treating patients with Covid-19, said: “I am terrified. I am seriously considering whether I can keep working as a doctor.”

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Source: The Guardian, 16 March 2020

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'Not at heart of NHS': Fears women's health hubs could be reduced in new targets

The NHS “doesn’t always have the needs of women at its heart”, the head of the service has admitted to MPs.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, insisted that women’s health is a “priority” following criticism over plans to scrap a number of targets – including a pledge over women’s health.

Reports suggest that one current NHS pledge, for a women’s health hub to be established in each region, will not be renewed in the 2025-26 guidance, due to be published on Thursday.

The hubs are intended to provide a wide range of services under one roof, including pelvic health physiotherapy, mammograms, cervical smears, contraception, menopause support, and diagnosis and treatment for common gynaecological issues.

But The i Paper revealed last month that despite the promise to have at least one hub in every region by the end of 2024 – just 11 out of 42 NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) had set up dedicated women’s health hubs.

The remaining ones either relied on existing primary and secondary networks for women, or had a “one-stop shop” providing other services outside of just women’s health. Some areas had no women’s health hub at all.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has implored health leaders to reconsider the decision to ditch the pledge, saying that the hubs have had a “transformational impact” and scaling them back could lead to delays in essential services.

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Source: iNews, 29 January 2025

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'No-one joined the dots' - grandad who exposed an NHS scandal

More than 200 families in south-east England will learn today the results of a major inquiry into the maternity care they received from a hospital trust. The investigation into East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust follows dogged campaigning by one determined bereaved grandfather.

Derek Richford's grandson Harry died at East Kent Hospitals after his life support system was withdrawn.

Sixty one-year-old Derek had never campaigned for anything in his life. His initial approach was to wait for East Kent Hospitals Trust to investigate the death, as it had promised.

However, one nagging issue that was to become central to Derek's view of the trust, was the hospital's continual refusal to inform the coroner of Harry's death. The family repeatedly requested it, but the trust said it was unnecessary as it knew the cause, namely the removal of the life support system.

The hospital also recorded Harry's death as "expected" - again because his life support system had been withdrawn. On both points, the family were left confused and increasingly angry.

In early March 2018, some four months after Harry's death, the family finally received the outcome of the trust's internal investigation - known as the Root Cause Analysis (RCA). The RCA indicated multiple errors had been made in Harry and Sarah's care and treatment, and his death was "potentially avoidable".

Prior to the meeting, Derek wrote to the Kent coroner's office outlining in general the circumstances of Harry's case, asking if that was the type they would expect to be notified of. The email response from the coroner's office was clear. It said: "Based on the facts you have presented, this death should have been reported to the coroner."

Despite this, at the meeting with the trust, the lead investigator into Harry's death told the family: "If we have a clear cause of death by and large we do not involve the coroner."

The family's insistence eventually paid off - five weeks after that meeting, the trust informed the coroner of Harry's death.

While his son and daughter-in-law started trying to recover from the trauma of losing Harry, Derek turned his attention to investigating East Kent, one of the largest hospital trusts in England.

"When I started investigating what was going on with Harry, it was very much like peeling back an onion. 'Hang on a minute, that can't be right, that doesn't add up.' Ever since I was a small kid, justice has been so important to me.

"What I found was that, up to that point, no-one had ever joined the dots. And that's so important. I think this had to happen, someone had to do it. There will be families before us that wish they did it. We will be saving a level of families after us."

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Source: BBC News, 19 October 2022

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'New variant' of coronavirus identified in England

A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.

He said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.

He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.

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Source: BBC News, 14 December 2020

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'National tragedy' as over 800 patients die amid 'extreme' A&E wait times

More than 800 patients died while enduring lengthy waits for admission to accident and emergency departments across Scotland last year, with the leading body of emergency medicine professionals warning of a “system in crisis.”

In what it described as a “national tragedy,” the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said there were an estimated 818 associated excess deaths related to stays of 12 hours or longer before being admitted to A&E departments.

The death toll - the equivalent of 16 people losing their lives every week - is up by almost a third compared to the 616 estimated deaths in 2023, a trend the RCEM said was “shocking.”

The new analysis by the college found that a record 76,510 patients waited 12 hours or more to be admitted, discharged, or transferred from A&E last year, some 20,432 higher than the figure in 2023. Of those patients, the majority - some 58,906 - were waiting to be admitted to a ward for further care.

Dr Fiona Hunter, vice president of RCEM Scotland, said: “The fact that the deaths of more than 800 patients have been lost due to a system in crisis is a national tragedy. Behind this statistic are stories of heartbreak. Because these are people. Mums, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents - their deaths shattering the lives of families and friends.

“These are patients who are sick and need further care on a ward. So they are forced to endure extreme wait times for an inpatient bed to become available for them. Often, they will be experiencing this, counting the hours they have been in emergency departments, on a trolley in a corridor, cupboard, or simply any available floor space.”

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Source: The Scotsman, 23 September 2025

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'My wife died in childbirth but wasn't told she'd been given labour drug overdose'

Just a week before she was due to give birth, Jacqui Hunter was given the devastating news that her daughter had died in the womb.

Less than 24 hours later, Jacqui was also dead.

The 39-year-old had been told she would have to give birth to her stillborn daughter, who was called Olivia, and was given medication to bring on the labour.

Within hours Jacqui was having intense contractions and at one point slumped into the arms of her husband, Lori Quate, who thought she had fainted.

As staff at Ninewells Hospital rushed to help her, she suffered a cardiac arrest.

Jacqui died two hours later from an amniotic fluid embolism – a rare and life-threatening emergency.

It was not until the next day that Lori found out his wife had been given eight times the recommended dose of the drug to bring on labour – a mistake which some experts say may have contributed to her death.

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Source: BBC News, 27 October 2025

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'My wife died because the NHS used cheap labour'

A man whose wife died after a drain was mistakenly left in her abdomen for 21 hours has condemned the increased use of physician associates (PAs) within the NHS

Susan Pollitt's inquest concluded her death at Royal Oldham Hospital in July 2023 had been caused by an "unnecessary medical procedure contributed to by neglect".

Roy Pollitt did not know his 77-year-old wife was being treated by a PA - who are only required to have two years' medical training - and believes "she would have lived if the NHS had not used cheap labour".

The coroner who examined Mrs Pollitt's death highlighted the lack of a national framework covering PAs' training, supervision and competency assessment.

Associates were introduced in the NHS 21 years ago with the expectation they would support doctors by delivering basic care.

Over the past two years the number of associates has more than doubled to 3,000.

According to the NHS Long Term Plan, there will be 12,000 physician and anaesthetic associates by 2036.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said there were "legitimate concerns" about the role of PAs before the expansion.

Fears have been expressed that some have been acting beyond their original remit.

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Source: BBC News, 13 November 2024

Read our interview this week with Asif Qasim, Consultant Cardiologist and Founder of MedShr, about the role of physician associates in the NHS and the patient safety issues.

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'My voice box was removed after NHS missed my throat cancer'

Steve Barton is angry, and he has every right to be.

The 68-year-old retired engineer stares at his medical notes that, he says, expose in black and white the moment his life changed forever.

"I have somehow missed… due to my mistake," a doctor writes in one of the notes, after it became apparent that Mr Barton had not been urgently referred to specialists over what later became an aggressive form of throat cancer.

Steve now has a prosthetic voice box and is one of many British patients fighting medical negligence claims after being misdiagnosed.

NHS officials in Scotland are dealing with thousands of cases annually. Meanwhile, Westminster's Public Affairs Committee (PAC) recently disclosed England's Department of Health and Social Care has set aside £58.2bn to settle clinical lawsuits arising before 2024.

Mr Barton, who lives in Alloa near Stirling, repeatedly contacted his doctors after he began struggling with his breathing, speaking and swallowing. His concerns were recorded by the NHS as sinus issues.

As panic grew and his voice became weaker, Mr Barton paid to see a private consultant who revealed the devastating news that a massive tumour had grown on his larynx and required part of his throat to be removed immediately.

"I am angry, I am upset, I don't want anyone else to go through this," Mr Barton told Sky News.

"There were at least four, possibly five, conversations on the phone. He [the doctor] said to me that it sounds like I've got reflux."

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Source: Sky News, 13 July 2025

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'My son's constipation wasn't taken seriously until he reached crisis point'

A mother who feared her two-year-old son's untreated constipation could have killed him is calling for access to children's continence services to be made a national priority.

Elissa Novak said Ivan was constantly vomiting, losing weight and in severe pain when it was at its worst, and a doctor said 2kg of his 10kg (22lb) body weight was estimated to be stool.

The number of children aged up to 16 admitted to English hospitals suffering with constipation, among other symptoms, is at a 10-year high, with more than 44,000 admissions in 2023-24, according to NHS figures.

Children are being failed by the absence of dedicated bladder and bowel services in some parts of the country, an expert said.

About 1.5 million children in the UK suffer with constipation, according to the charity Bladder and Bowel UK.

As many children returned to school this week, charities have told the BBC they are seeing a spike in calls to their helplines.

"It's a huge problem and many healthcare professionals don't consider it a serious issue in children," said Davina Richardson, a children's specialist nurse with the charity.

"Discussing wee and poo is very un-British. It's not something that we as a culture do."

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Source: BBC News, 4 September 2025

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'My NHS hell waiting for surgery and information'

Former BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, now a writer and podcaster, has Parkinson's disease. Two weeks ago, after fracturing his elbow in a nasty fall, he found out just how difficult it can be to get answers from the NHS.

"Getting information about one's treatment seems like an obstacle race where the system is always one step ahead. But communication between medical staff within and between hospitals also appears hopelessly inadequate, with the gulf between doctors and nurses particularly acute.

"I also sense that, in some cases, new computer systems are slowing not speeding information through the system. On Saturday morning, as we waited in the surgical assessment unit, four nurses gathered around a computer screen while a fifth explained to them all the steps needed to check-in a patient and get them into a bed. It took about 20 minutes and appeared to be akin to mastering some complex video game beset with bear traps."

Rory's latest experience as a customer of the health service has left him convinced that more money and more staff won't solve its problems without some fundamental changes in the way it communicates.

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Source: BBC News, 29 October 2023

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'My mum lost her dignity in 60 hour A&E wait'

The son of an 88-year-old woman who has been stuck in A&E for more than 60 hours said she had been stripped of her dignity.

Maureen Harman was taken to Wigan Infirmary in Greater Manchester on Monday evening, but as of Thursday afternoon had still not been admitted to a ward.

Her son, Nick Harman, told the BBC that for most of that time his mother had been lying on a trolley in a corridor along with many other patients.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) apologised for the long waits and said it had been "extremely busy".

Mr Harman, 56, said: "She's sat on her bed, she's getting uncomfortable, there's people in corridors, there's people coming in escorted by police, drug addicts and things.

"Your dignity is just gone. You're doing things in the corridor, with people who are strangers."

Mr Harman stressed the staff "have been brilliant" but that the scene in A&E had resembled a "warzone".

On Wednesday BBC North West reported nearly 39,000 patients spent more than a day in the region's emergency departments because there were no hospital beds for them.

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Source: BBC News, 14 February 2025

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'My mother died without dignity in A&E'

"Mum was denied a respectful way of dying and we have to live with these memories," says Michelle Smith.

She believes her mother, Joan Howard, should have spent her final hours in comfort, pain-free, in a clean bed and surrounded by her loved ones.

Instead, the blind 74-year-old was trapped in Doncaster Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency department for 27 hours, lying half the time on a trolley and then on soiled sheets in a hot and cramped cubicle.

Joan, from Balby in Doncaster, was admitted on 5 December 2024 after becoming critically unwell following recent treatment for an ulcer and E. coli infection.

Although NHS guidance states patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arrival to A&E, Joan remained in the resuscitation area for the first 14 hours.

When she was finally moved into a cubicle in the main area, Michelle says the space was so small there was no room for a drip stand, forcing nurses to tape her mother's fluids to the wall.

The standard of care continued to decline, says Michelle, with surgical and medical teams confused over who was responsible for Joan's care and the family's requests for help being ignored.

She describes repeated basic care failings, including oxygen not being reconnected after transfer, urine output not being monitored, routine checks not being carried out and poor pain management.

After an enema, a procedure to clear the bowel, she says her mother was left lying on the soiled sheets, forcing Michelle to source incontinence pads to relieve some of her discomfort.

"I could see Mum was deteriorating in front of my eyes and I couldn't help her," recalls Michelle, a former cardiac physiologist.

"No one was listening to me pleading to help my mum."

Michelle says the family's distress deepened when, midway through Joan's stay, they were told that she was not going to die, contradicting earlier medical advice.

Believing she was stable, relatives - including Joan's husband of 50 years - left the hospital.

Joan died a short time later after spending 27 hours in A&E, and with only her daughter present.

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Source: BBC News, 20 May 2026

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