NHS re-organisation creating confusion

Elderly image

Labour accusing NHS shakeup of creating chaos

Shadow Care minister Liz Kendall has claimed that government re-organisation of how the NHS commission care for vulnerable groups has revealed major failings.

The new tier of commission group, created by Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms and employing 9,000 people, have been accused to commissioning complex care but without monitoring the quality of the service.

The Labour politician spoke out about the 18 NHS Commissioning Support Units (CSUs) in England after pinpointing problems in her own area of the East Midlands, as she revealed that only one part-time person monitors quality, despite procuring care from 84 providers.

Lack of support

The Leicester West MP explained that she had picked up on mistakes such as an 89-year-old bed-bound Alzheimer’s sufferer having to wait for overnight care and then not having his incontinence pads changed.

Another example she lists is the story of 74-year-old man with dementia, who was given four days’ notice to leave his care home after NHS Continuing Care funding was withdrawn since he was no longer taking medication – although this was in a bid to improve his condition.

Kendall told BBC News “The real culprit here is the government and their massive backroom NHS reorganisation. This has put unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of commissioning care for some of the most vulnerable people in this area. Labour warned the re-organisation would cause chaos and confusion and that patients would suffer – and that’s precisely what has happened.”