Elderly patients 'suffer needless pain' as hospitals fail care test

Hospitals are failing elderly patients, with many suffering unnecessary pain, a report said yesterday.

More than one in five also experience "significant delays" between admission and surgery, which impacts on chances of recovering.

The study, from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD), examined more than 700 patients over the age of 80 who died in hospital within 30 days of undergoing surgery.

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Just over one in three (38 per cent) had received good care, 44 per cent received care that could have been improved and six per cent received care that was less than satisfactory.

Poor nutrition and serious illness linked to it were "very common" among the group, the study said.

A quarter of hospitals had no acute pain service, meaning people suffered unnecessarily. In 68 per cent of cases, patients were not reviewed by elderly care specialists, despite recommendations a decade ago that this should happen.

Report author and NCEPOD clinical co-ordinator in surgery, Ian Martin, said: "Most patients were admitted as emergencies by very junior doctors without timely input of senior care of the elderly clinicians.

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"There is still a long way to go to ensure good practice and appropriate care – this is despite our advice in 1999 and recommendations in the 2001 National Service Framework calling for specialists to be involved at every stage of elderly care."

The charity director at Age UK, Michelle Mitchell, said: "This report is a stark reminder that far too often older people in the UK receive second or even third rate care in hospital, condemning many of them to an early death.

"Despite the over-65s being the largest cohort of NHS patients, clearly our healthcare system is failing to meet the needs of an ageing population."

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