AKI killing 1,000 patients every month
Posted: April 24, 2014
Posted in: Medical Negligence Wrongful & Accidental Death
According to a newly published report commissioned by the NHS, around 1,000 NHS patients are dying from an acute kidney injury every month. Known as ‘Acute Kidney Injury’ (AKI), the people affected tend to be the most vulnerable hospital patients. AKI is acquired through a lack of basic care, with most patients developing the illness through dehydration. The report referred to the death toll as “completely unacceptable”.
The report drew attention to the fact that more people are dying from preventable illnesses today than at the height of the hospital bug frights around MRSA and C-diff of recent years. AKI has been found to cost the NHS £1bn a year to treat – a figure far higher than what is being spent on treating lung, breast and bowel cancer combined.
“Basic care would save these lives”
Report co-author and renal physician at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust Professor Donal O’Donoghue, said: “This is completely unacceptable and we can’t allow it to continue. Good basic care would save these lives and save millions of pounds for the NHS.”
Prof. O’Donoghue continued by stating that health staff need to carry out more elementary checks to prevent AKI. He raised the point that patients undergoing surgery should not have to go longer than two hours without rehydration.
A spokesman for NHS England said that a long-term plan has been put in place to reduce these avoidable deaths.
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