Inappropriate Care

Pressure ulcers or bed sores, as they are more commonly known, should be prevented at all costs. Every hospital should have protocols in place to ensure that everything possible is being done to stop patients developing bed sores.

Pressure ulcers, once developed, can vary in severity and in the worst cases can lead to serious and life-threatening conditions such as blood poisoning and gangrene. They tend to occur in those with conditions that make it difficult to move and who are confined to bed for long periods. Some patients, for example, those with type 2 diabetes, are more susceptible than others. As the name suggests sores develop when a large amount of pressure is exerted on an area of the skin over a relatively short period of time.

Hospital staff should use techniques such as changing a person’s position or using specialist mattresses and cushions to prevent their development.

The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is a palliative end of life care pathway intended to allow people with a terminal illness to die with dignity. It was introduced in the 1990s in order to standardise end of life care which at the time was described as “patchy at best”. In the last few years however, there has been much in the news relating to patients who have been put on the pathway without their relatives being consulted or informed.