Deputy hits out over ‘starving’ patients

Thursday 5th April 2007, 12:00AM BST.

A STATES Deputy has called for renewed vigilance to make sure the elderly, sick and mentally infirm do not starve to death in Island hospitals and care homes.

Deputy Sarah Ferguson, the newly elected head of States Scrutiny, said that she had witnessed first hand how patients could become seriously malnourished while in the care of the Health department. A number of years ago, her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, was being treated at the General Hospital. During visits, the Deputy said, she realised that her mother was not eating because her food was being cleared away without being touched. Deputy Ferguson said no one had realised that she could not feed herself, as communication seemed to have broken down between nursing staff and those who cleared away after meals.

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