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I felt uneasy reading Dr Hamon's letter (1): it is not that I doubt
her friend's unpleasant experience in hospital, nor do I question the
wisdom of her suggestion that there should be more nurses; it is just that
I do not see how she reached this conclusion from what she describes. Dr
Hamon's letter of complaint to the hospital reads as an attack on the
staff looking after her friend, yet her "examples" of the poor care
describe a faecally incontinent man being faecally incontinent, a patient
with Alzheimer's being confused. So
which is it that outraged Dr Hamon: the fact that she walked onto an acute
ward and found people being ill or the care that they received? Dr Hamon
says her purpose in complaining was to prevent such mistakes happening
again but
what specific remedies did she suggest? Her only suggestion is to
increase staffing levels but if she truly believes this is the answer why
is her complaint not addressed to the Secretary of State? The problems
she described would be present on a ward if there were two or twenty
nurses.
Some of Dr Hamon's anger seems to stem from the classic error of
blaming staff for their patient's illnesses. No wonder there is a
recruitment and retention problem if nurses are made the brunt of every
grievance, whether or
not they have the power to correct it.
Yours sincerely
BRIAN MURRAY
SHO
LITTLEMORE HOSPITAL
OXFORD
(1) Hamon C 'Some NHS care is unacceptable' BMJ 1998;317:1463
(21/11/98)
Don't blame staff
I felt uneasy reading Dr Hamon's letter (1): it is not that I doubt
her friend's unpleasant experience in hospital, nor do I question the
wisdom of her suggestion that there should be more nurses; it is just that
I do not see how she reached this conclusion from what she describes. Dr
Hamon's letter of complaint to the hospital reads as an attack on the
staff looking after her friend, yet her "examples" of the poor care
describe a faecally incontinent man being faecally incontinent, a patient
with Alzheimer's being confused. So
which is it that outraged Dr Hamon: the fact that she walked onto an acute
ward and found people being ill or the care that they received? Dr Hamon
says her purpose in complaining was to prevent such mistakes happening
again but
what specific remedies did she suggest? Her only suggestion is to
increase staffing levels but if she truly believes this is the answer why
is her complaint not addressed to the Secretary of State? The problems
she described would be present on a ward if there were two or twenty
nurses.
Some of Dr Hamon's anger seems to stem from the classic error of
blaming staff for their patient's illnesses. No wonder there is a
recruitment and retention problem if nurses are made the brunt of every
grievance, whether or
not they have the power to correct it.
Yours sincerely
BRIAN MURRAY
SHO
LITTLEMORE HOSPITAL
OXFORD
(1) Hamon C 'Some NHS care is unacceptable' BMJ 1998;317:1463
(21/11/98)
Competing interests: No competing interests