NHS 'must introduce fundamental changes'

The care of older people by the NHS must be drastically improved, one expert has said.

Barchester chief executive Mike Parsons described the current standard of care for older people on the NHS as "shocking", indicating that many people are seeing their "most basic needs" ignored.

This comes after a report entitled Care and Compassion was released by the Health Service Ombudsman, which said that the NHS has failed to treat some of the most basic needs of older patients.

Ten complaints were addressed within the report, including one in which a patient was taken from a hospital to a care home and arrived bruised, soaked in urine and wearing another person's clothes.

Mr Parsons noted: "The reality is that the NHS does not have the funding or the management skills to offer older people the dignity and the standards of care that they are owed. I have had discussions in Downing Street.

"There are currently 40,000 empty care home beds in the country."

According to the report, 18 per cent of the 9,000 complaints made to the ombudsman about the NHS centred around the care of older people.

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