Scotland: Malnutrition of NHS patients ‘is form of euthanasia’

Exclusive by Caroline Wilson
4 Jul 2010

One of the country’s leading health campaigners has urged the Scottish Government to urgently tackle the problem of malnutrition of the elderly and vulnerable in the nation’s hospitals, likening the problem to a form of “euthanasia”.

Dr Jean Turner – executive director of Scotland Patients Association (SPA), a GP and former independent MSP – warned that hundreds of patients, particularly the elderly, are languishing in hospital beds undernourished because they are not given help with feeding.

She says nursing staff are often reluctant to air their concerns about patient welfare because of a fear of repercussions from senior management.

A recent report estimated that 50,000 patients are dying each year in NHS hospitals in a state of malnutrition, which may have hastened their end. New figures released by the British Dietetics Association earlier this week revealed that the problem costs Scotland’s health boards around £1.3 billion each year. The SPA’s warning follows a report by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, which was highly critical of a Lanarkshire hospital’s care of a 66-year-old patient. the rest