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| Sunday, 25 June 2006 11:10 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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A study by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre and St George's hospital, London, has found that thousands of elderly National Health Service patients are dying because they are denied intensive care treatment after surgery.
A six-year survey of four million operations found that 85 per cent of the most vulnerable patients do not get the intensive care that could save their lives or prevent serious complications.
As a result, it is estimated that up to 5,000 frail and elderly patients die each year because they are not put in intensive care beds for monitoring after their operations.
Rupert Pearse, who led the research, also claims that 25,000 more suffer life-threatening complications because of the care failures.
Among the causes are a lack of intensive care beds and "ageism" against older patients.
Dr Pearse, a consultant in intensive care from the Royal London Hospital, said: "Thousands of patients are dying unnecessarily. I would call it a major public health problem. If we just spent a little more time and money on these patients, we would save money by not having to treat serious complications."
He added: "We shouldn't be writing off patients because they're 80-years-old. There are many people of this age who could and should go on to enjoy many years of life”.
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