This is an extract from the minutes of a hospital meeting in response to the recent inspections and report. In those inspections, it was discovered that the culture on the wards makes it hard to be diligent, as the fall-back position has grown to be one of inactivity.
This is not the same as maliciousness or deliberate neglect, but is part of a wider weariness at the seeming inevitability of death, against a background culture which lacks proactivity and initiative.
These standards are simple enough for regular inspection, and the intention is to ensure that those few staff who regularly fail to meet them will not continue to work at the hospital:
"In the meeting we had between the doctors, nursing staff and managers last week we agreed that the following core standards must be adhered to as a matter of urgency:
1. Staff must be in work when they are supposed to be.
2. Vital signs must be checked and acted on if abnormal (twice a day unless otherwise specified).
3. Drugs must be given if prescribed, or discussed if staff are unable to give for any reason.
4. Doctors must see the patients (three formal ward rounds a week as an absolute minimum, but that sick patients should be seen every day, or more often if necessary)."
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