Abolition of Ward Housekeepers Could Damage Patient Care at St Helier - Brake

1.04.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 16th May 2007

Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, used his parliamentary debate yesterday to highlight serious failings in the quality of patient care received by a couple of his constituents, Douglas and Mr Kent at St Helier Hospital.

He also used the debate to question whether the £24 million Trust efficiency savings, such as the scrapping of the ward housekeepers, were affecting the quality of patient care.

Speaking during the debate, Mr Brake said,

"The Government intended ward housekeepers to take responsibility for the quality of the cleaning and food on the wards, thus freeing up nurses' time to enable them to focus on patient care.

Mr Brake then pointed out,

"Yet the Trust is abolishing the existing housekeeper posts. Their abolition is the most concrete example of a measure that will, inevitably, impact on patient care."

Concluding the debate Mr Brake said,

"I hope that the better healthcare closer to home project will continue to proceed smoothly. … In the meantime, I urge the Trust not to lose sight of the necessity to provide patients with standards of care that we would all feel comfortable with were they applied to our own families."

Paul Burstow MP for Sutton and Cheam, who also spoke in the debate, used a number of case studies to raise serious concerns about standards of personal care in complex cases involving multiple health problems. He also spoke of issues raised by Sutton Association for the Blind, citing dangerous failures in communication between members of staff and with individual patients.

Commenting on the debate, Paul Burstow MP said:

"The cases I raised during this debate highlight that even in a good hospital like St Helier, things can go very badly wrong.

"In these cases, communication between staff - and with patients and relatives - has broken down and standards of personal care have been allowed to fall dangerously low."

"It is totally unacceptable for patients to feel that they are being treated like medical problems, rather than real people."

"What these few, awful cases point to is a need for a fresh start, with a new hospital, financial stability and a change in culture."

ENDS

The full text of the debate can be found in; http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070515/halltext/70515h0007.htm#07051560000003