Exclusive: Nursing chief slams NHS over diagnosis

Jun 29 2008 By Marion Scott

THE senior nurse who helped build the NHS in Scotland has delivered a devastating diagnosis of the service as it approaches 60 - branding a major hospital filthy and lacking in care.

Beth McLaren was a 19-year-old trainee when the NHS was created on July 5, 1948, and rose to become head of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland.

But after spending four "horrifying days" as a patient in St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, she has savaged standards and demanded the service receive an urgent health check. Beth claims:

Wards were filthy and staff did nothing to prevent the spread of infections.

No one cared if patients ate properly and that "they could have been left starving for all the attention nurses paid".

And nurses never checked on patients and she had to ring countless times for vital medical help.

Beth, 79, said: "My experience was utterly horrifying. If this is the face of the modern NHS, I hope to God I die quietly in my own bed.

"Patients were treated as if they were a bloody inconvenience. I'm ashamed of what I saw.

"The place was filthy and there was no concern or caring. I hardly caught sight of a nurse.

"I was discharged virtually unable to walk, on my own, with no concern about how I'd cope.

"If this is how far we've come in 60 years, the NHS needs an urgent healthcheck."

Beth was admitted to St John's on June 9 after collapsing at her West Lothian home due to a salt imbalance.

She was shunted across three different wards during her four-day stay - each as bad as the last.

She said: "When I was a nurse, patient care was paramount and we'd start each day by pulling every bed into the centre of the ward and sanitising every corner - floors, beds, lockers, railings, windows... the place was sparkling.

"We also ensured every patient had a good breakfast.

"In St John's nobody checked to see if patients could eat themselves and cleaning consisted of a quick swish around the middle of the floor.

"In all the years I worked on wards, hospital acquired infections were unheard of.

"We kept everything, including ourselves, so clean.

"We weren't allowed outside the hospital wearing our uniforms - they were taken and boiled every night.

"Today nurses wear theirs to do their shopping or stand in the streets smoking - it shouldn't be tolerated."

Beth says St John's has badly deteriorated since her husband Alan was a patient nine years ago.

He was nursed there until he died aged 75 from heart and kidney failure.

She said: "Then, the nurses really did deserve to be called angels because they were wonderful.

"This time, nurses - on the rare occasion you saw them - only came when you rang the bell when something was wrong.

"My drip dislodged and fluid was going into the arm tissue instead of the vein. I had to ring repeatedly to get a nurse to sort it out.

"If I wasn't aware of the potential damage, it could have had a very nasty outcome.

"When I asked for help to go to the toilet, the nurses brought a wheelchair. It would have done me more good if they helped me walk."

Beth is now demanding action to transform the service she dedicated her life to.

Born in Ibrox, Glasgow, she trained at the city's Victoria Infirmary before working as a midwife at Rottenrow.

She went on to become a nursing superintendent at the Victoria before lecturing in clinical practices at the Royal College of Nursing in Edinburgh.

In 1963, she was appointed RCN secretary and three years later became Scotland's most powerful nurse as RCN chief officer.

She was awarded the OBE in 1979 but was forced to retire in 1988 when Alan fell ill.

Beth said: "I was very sad to leave - I'd helped shape the NHS and the careers of thousands of nurses.

"I left the profession in good health, with 40,000 nurses on our register. I battled to ensure the NHS in Scotland offered the best healthcare, equipment and facilities and an adequate number of nurses working to the highest standards.

"Now there are too many managers and nurses have lost the ability to care.

"We used to go into nursing because it was a calling. Now it is simply a job and that's the saddest thing in the world."

Simon Mackenzie, NHS Lothian associate medical director, said: "I'm very sorry Miss McLaren feels she received anything but the best service during her time in our care.

"She is a respected figure and I would invite her to contact us as we would very much value the chance to discuss her concerns.

"St John's has an extremely good record, scoring 96.8 per cent against national cleaning standards."