A third of complaints about the NHS relate to dignity, respect and nutrition in hospitals, the commission’s 2007 “state of healthcare” report found.

Mixed-sex wards are still a major problem, despite Labour’s manifesto pledges in 1997 and 2001 to abolish them.

The report also said that one in five patients who wanted help with eating did not get it, and others complained that food or drink was placed out of reach.

Examples of complaints over dignity included a lack of regular baths or showers, gowns that failed to protect patients’ modesty and curtains being opened while a patient is receiving intimate care.

The 136-page report also called for improvements in care for children, action on hospital superbugs, better service planning and promotion of patient safety.

The report said one in 10 hospitals in England did not meet standards on patient privacy and confidentiality.

Half of patients in mental health wards and almost three in five with learning disabilities were treated in mixed-sex accommodation.

A third of patients admitted to hospital as an emergency were sleeping in mixed-sex areas and 30 per cent of in-patients had to share bathroom or shower areas with the opposite sex.

Patients were also frustrated that staff often did not have access to their notes, meaning they had to describe their condition repeatedly to different doctors.

A fifth of patients had been assaulted on mental health wards. There was variation in treatment for cancer patients and hidden waiting times in areas that are not subject to targets, such as two-year waits for psychological therapies and hearing aids.

Opposition MPs said the report provided a “damning indictment” of the NHS after more than a decade of Labour government, which has seen huge increases in investment.

Funding has increased from £55 billion in 2002-3 to almost £90 billion in 2007-8, and the workforce has increased by 29 per cent.

The commission warned private hospitals failing on standards that they could be banned from providing care in the future.

Eleven NHS hospitals were named as performing badly in patient satisfaction surveys for the second year.

The report, presented to Parliament, made recommendations to improve waiting times in areas not covered by targets, promote a culture of safety, raise standards of care for children and inform patients better.

Sir Ian Kennedy, the chairman of the commission, said: “Let’s be clear that health care has improved. But there is still some way to go before everyone gets world-class care.

“People are getting healthier, but there is serious disparity in both general health and in the care available to the haves and the have-nots.”

The Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “As an NHS report card, the conclusion is could and must do a lot better. It is a damning indictment that 10 years into a Labour government, health inequalities are still shockingly wide.”

From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/05/nhs105.xml

Classic Labour tactic this. Ivan Lewis’s caring, sharing labour government announces a laudable new spin policy for caring for the elderly and frail. Brilliant

On June 22, 2006 Health Direct posted: Minister wants Dignity debate for caring for the elderly

New care services minister Ivan Lewis has said he wants to make dignity of older people one of his top priorities. Speaking at a session on the out of hospitals white paper, he said: ‘I want to make dignity an important theme in my time as a minister. ‘This is not a gimmick; just another initiative. It should be at the heart of what we are doing.

‘I want to stimulate a debate about dignity in older people and the disabled. It has to be integral to how we are seen to support people in the modern world.’

He called for more PCT funding on prevention – such as £25 on griprails in people’s homes which would help prevent falls.

He then lambasted everybody else for not delivering his policy- when it’s his own fault because the Labour govt has not put a single new penny of money into the pot to pay for the new Dignity initiative.

Where is the money to pay for the £25 griprails that you mention- let alone the extra nurses that you want to police your dignity policy, Mr Lewis?