Jeremy Hunt: Doctors should quit thinking of individuals as "bed blockers and bodies"

Mr Hunt wants hospitals to move away from the “rigid shift patterns” imposed as a result of the European Operating Time Directive to guarantee that medical professionals have the “flexibility” to care for their patients.

In a speech at St Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospital in London, Mr Hunt will relate some of the letters of complaint he receives every day from individuals.

He will to say: “A single letter I received last March was from a lady whose husband sadly passed away right after what can only be described as two many years of chaotic care.

“Her husband was passed all around the program from clinician to clinician, with no a single appearing to know anything at all of his demands or historical past.

“One more letter I got this month came from a man diagnosed with cancer of the throat, but also a suspected secondary cancer of the kidney. His consultant referred to him inside of earshot not by his title but as ‘head and neck …#157′.”

Mr Hunt will contact for a significant alter in the culture of the NHS. He will say: “Every patient is a person. A man or woman with a title. A man or woman with a household. Not just a physique harbouring a pathology not a diagnostic puzzle not a four-hour target or an 18 week difficulty not a value pressure – and most surely not ‘bed-blocker … #157″.

He praised Dr Granger’s Twitter campaign to motivate doctors to be far more courteous when speaking to their patients. He will say: “Dr Kate Granger has highlighted the importance of treating patients as men and women.

“She has started out the campaign #hellomynameis, which has turn out to be increasingly properly-identified based mostly on the basic but essential courtesy of introducing oneself when meeting sufferers for the very first time. We can all learn from that strategy.”

Last year, Mr Hunt announced that sufferers will be offered a named medical professional and nurse who will be listed above their bed and be accountable for their care for the duration of every single shift.

He now wants to go additional and introduce “entire remain” doctors, who are responsible for a patient’s properly-becoming throughout their keep in hospital.

From right now, the Care Good quality Commission will make “continuity of care” a single of its essential “indicators” when carrying out assessments.

Mr Hunt will say: “This technique has confirmed extremely profitable in nations the place it is adopted. Lengthy stays and costs can be reduced. With wise flexibilities, the concept have to certainly be to ingrain continuity of care as one of our crucial priorities for each and each NHS patient. I want each hospital in the nation to adopt keep-at-residence physicians.”

Jeremy Hunt: Doctors should quit thinking of individuals as "bed blockers and bodies"