Thread by @BBCMBuchanan

NEW: A patient with dementia was physically restrained on 19 separate occasions so that medical attention could be forcibly administered. Security guards were repeatedly called to help nurses and the man’s request for them to stop were ignored.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-542531…

The man was subjected to either bladder scans or the insertion of catheters, often without sedation. Medical staff would call security guards to hold down his arms and legs, sometimes bruising him in the process.

He was admitted to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford last November with a urinary retention problem. His dementia could sometimes make him aggressive & refuse treatment. Experts say he should have been reassured and treated calmly. Instead he was forcibly restrained.

In the final incident, he was repeatedly asking staff to stop. They wouldn’t. He spat out. Staff responded by putting a cloth over his head and continued to hold down his arms and legs. Over the nearly 3 weeks he spent in hospital, he was restrained on 19 separate occasions.

His family told us “What happened to our dad should never have been allowed to happen and should never be allowed to happen again."

Reports we’ve seen said the ward in which it happened was chaotic & understaffed, “unsafe on most shifts” with a poor reputation. Medication errors were common, and the "fundamental and basic nutritional needs of the patients were not always met".

The hospital is run by @EKHUFT who:
- are at the centre of an independent investigation into maternity care;
- have been charged over the avoidable death of baby Harry Richford;
- were the first trust to be reprimanded for failing to stop the spread of COVID on its wards.

Responding to this man’s care, the trust said they unreservedly apologised to the patient and his family. They said the care “fell far short of what patients should expect. We are rolling out a programme of dementia training for every member of staff.”