- Kim Green’s husband Jonathan was in pain and dying of cancer
- She called NHS 111 to try and get nurse to visit and administer pain relief
- But nurse never came and her husband died in pain hours later
- Three patients may have died due to failings in system
- Hospitals have seen a rise in patients with non-urgent conditions
- They were sent by the staff of 111, many of whom are unqualified
By
Sophie Borland And Inderdeep Bains
15:43 EST, 4 May 2013
|
02:49 EST, 6 May 2013
A grieving widow has described how her terminally ill husband was failed by the new NHS 111 helpline in the last hours of his life.
Kim Green was trying to get a nurse to administer pain relief to her 53-year-old husband Jonothan, who was dying of prostate cancer.
She said she was on the phone to a female call centre worker for nearly an hour, but the employee was apparently unable to summon any of the local district nurses as they were not answering their phones.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
Heartbroken: Kim Green, left, called the new NHS 111 service in an unsuccessful attempt to get a nurse to visit her cancer stricken husband Jonathan, right. He died later that day
Devastating: Mrs Green is pictured with her husband Jonathan, who died from cancer last week
Mrs Green, 36, who has two sons,
said: ‘The horrible thing is, I should have been sitting next to him
holding his hand, reassuring him help was on the way, and I couldn’t
because I was on the phone frantically trying to get somebody to help
him.
‘It was absolutely awful. I don’t know whether that made his anxiety levels worse or not, but it certainly didn’t help him.’
By chance, Mrs Green spotted a
district nurse going to a nearby care home for adults with learning
disabilities. She ran into the street and was able to persuade the nurse
to administer the medication to her husband.
Upsetting: Mrs Green is now left with the feeling that her husband’s anxiety levels in his final hours may have worsened because of the stress caused by her unsuccessful attempt to get a nurse to visit
He died hours later last Wednesday at his home in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Mrs Green’s account comes days after
NHS England, the new body in charge of running the health service,
launched an urgent review of the 111 helpline.
It has replaced NHS Direct and GP
out-of-hours numbers and is meant to make it easier for patients to get
medical advice, especially at evenings and weekends.
But it has struggled to cope with
high volumes of calls and there have been reports of critically-ill
patients waiting for as long as 11 hours to speak to a nurse.
Mr Green, who ran a taxi firm with
his wife, had begun suffering from violent spasms and although Mrs Green
had the necessary medication, it could only be administered via syringe
by a nurse.
AE departments are braced for a surge of patients over the bank holiday as a result of flaws with 111
Telling Sky News about her ordeal
with the 111 call centre, she said: ‘Initially they phoned the nursing
team and they wouldn’t answer their phone. Nobody would answer the
phone, they couldn’t get hold of anybody.
‘I was on the phone while she [the
call centre operator] kept coming backwards and forwards, “I’m trying
this, I’m trying that, I’m trying the other†and she just couldn’t get
hold of anybody.’
Although Mrs Green does not in any
way blame NHS 111 for her husband’s death, she believes it could have
been more peaceful had a nurse come more quickly.
Since the 111 system was introduced
earlier this year, many hospital AE units have been overwhelmed
with patients who have abandoned the helpline or have been given the
wrong advice.
At least three people have died as a result of flaws in the system, while the real figures are thought to be higher
Nursing leaders say that waiting
times of 12 hours are now routine and with some units so overcrowded
that patients are being put on trolleys in cupboards.
This weekend hospitals have been bracing themselves to be even busier than usual.
Many have recruited extra doctors and
nurses to work or have put in place contingency plans which would see
temporary wards used for additional patients.
Last week figures obtained by Pulse
magazine revealed that the helpline was investigating 22 incidents
involving possible poor care, including three deaths.
The 111 system is run by private GP out of hours firms, NHS Direct or ambulance services in different areas of the country.
NHS England has pledged to fine these organisations if they are found to be failing to run the helpline properly.
A spokesman for the NHS 111 service in Buckinghamshire said: ‘This is a very sad case and our sympathy goes out to the family.
‘We take the responsibility for the safety and well-being of our patients extremely seriously.
‘When a concern such as this is
raised about the NHS 111 service we undertake an incident review
involving experienced clinical staff. This allows us to identify clear
actions so that lessons can be learned and acted on quickly and
thoroughly.
‘We would urge the family to contact us directly so that we can discuss this case further with them.’
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Bless her. My Mum was in exactly her husbands situation. It was 999 straight away and the ambulance crew confirmed it was the right call to make.
Vikky
,
Liverpool,
05/5/2013 14:23
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she would not have called 999 as they would have taken him to hospital when he would be better off dying at home. the hospital would not have given him the pain relief he needed. When my husband was dying we were lucky enough to have nurses who visited twice daily, a special number for them and a number for the cancer services at hospital. If you are in these circumstances and your partner is terminal find out what help is available, macmillian, hospice at home and your local surgery and use them, i cannot fault the help we got and the advice we were given was not to ring 999 and to make sure he never in his final days went to hospital as the care there would not be good.
:
mary
,
northumberland,
05/5/2013 14:15
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As I said originally – welcome to Tory UK. For all the Labour blaming (and, at first I too was taken in by the Tory blaming machine) the Tories have had 3 full years to make a difference to the important things. You know, the things Cameron promised before he conned his way into his disastrous position. I have now come to the conclusion that if they can’t make any improvements over the last useless Labour government, then the blaming has to stop and the Tories have to take full responsibility for their failures. RIP and condolences to the lady who endured this nightmare, again probably caused because of privatisation and pursuit of profit by the people responsible instead of prioritising and caring for people. What sort of country has this become? It is disgraceful, and anyone who disagrees can consider themselves disgraceful too because with a passive attitude and by supporting the governments that directly and indirectly cause these situations, you too, are part of the problem.
A Human Being
,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
05/5/2013 14:11
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If the private sector can employ trained call centere staff in their hospitals,( Kate’s case springs to mind) Why not the NHS? Just a thought.
tamceltic
,
Rhyl Denbighshire N Wales,
05/5/2013 14:10
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We, as the public, are not qualified to determine whether something is an emergency or not (at least not 100% of the time). The money spent on the 111 service would have been better spent on the 999 service giving the public one uncomplicated system. While this two-tie system exists there will incident after incident where someone dies because those around did not realise the seriousness of the issue. I will await the story of the good Samaritan who calls 111, not 999, and is subsequently sued by the grieving family of the now deceased member of public.
Boris
,
London, United Kingdom,
05/5/2013 14:02
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This service was designed by Lansley, Hunt and the rest of the Tories. The NHS is now being run as a money making organisation for doctors and private health care companies and their Tory shareholders. 208 members of the Lords who voted this through have financial interests in private health providers. It is a national disgrace. The sign of things to come if the God awful Tory party and their Lib Dem enablers get a majority in 2015. UKIP’s policy is even more privatisation.
Fleur
,
Halifax, United Kingdom,
05/5/2013 13:59
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Can I just say this is a heartbreaking story but the drugs would not have made him live, they would have probably taken away the pain but prolonged his death.. When you are dying from cancer there is nothing that can help to stop that, rest in peace x
jmsl
,
uk,
05/5/2013 13:58
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You can sit and slag off 111 operators all you want but at the end of the day they can only relay the info they have in front of them. God help any operator who strays from the script and gives wrong, misleading or fatal information to a caller. I agree with others who have stated that a palliative care package should be in place but this can only happen with the Health Trusts permission and their willingness to fund some all of it.
tamceltic
,
Rhyl Denbighshire N Wales,
05/5/2013 13:55
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This poor man, being so close to the end of his life, should have been having decent palliative care at home. He and his wife should have been in control of his medication themselves, and not reliant on some medic or nurse to come tittuping round to top it up by giving an individual injection. What was his GP thinking of? Where were the local Community Nursing Team? His poor wife was left without effective support. He should have been on a Hickman line and a driver (with a booster button) so that he or his wife could be sure of a constant level of appropriate drugs in his system. He should have had a cocktail of diamorphine (medical heroin), a sedative and an anti-emetic, blended in suitable amounts, and upped or adjusted by visiting medics as necessary – according to the nature of his condition. Marie Curie nurses and hospices know all about this, and so do many Community Nursing Teams. What an apalling situation for both partners to have been in. Inexcuseable!
comperedna
,
Witney, United Kingdom,
05/5/2013 13:51
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All these extra measures to relieve pressure on A E and doctors surgeries have had completely the opposite effect. People are confused as to where to turn, they try to follow the rules and advice, and the result is that seriously Ill people are being shuffled between this call centre and that drop-in centre when they should have either been seen immediately by an out of hours doctor or moved straight to A E. What is becoming apparent is that many people are not ringing 999 when they should. The whole system needs to be downsized and the money transferred into emergency care. Also as part of their new contracts practices should have to employ enough doctors so as to provide their own dedicated out of hours cover. This could either be by sharing the nights or employing someone to do the nights, not by using an out of hours service not sited in the surgery.
gigi
,
liverpool,
05/5/2013 13:49
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