There has been much in the British press the last couple of days about NHS hospitals and their care of the elderly. The whole subject has been brought about because of changes the government wants to make to our National Health Service. I find the whole subject very sad, not least because everyone deserves the best level of care, but because the NHS Hospitals seem to be singled out just now.
Today I embalmed; someone who was living in a private care home, another person who died whilst under the care of an NHS hospital and another person who died at home. Can you guess who had the grubbiest fingernails and hair? Of course you cant, because as much as I could say that one was worse than the other, I can honestly also say that it changes from day to day, patient to patient, circumstance to circumstance.
It would be nice, if following death, their named nurse completed last offices as their final act for their patient. Sometimes people come to me with clean nails and dentures in situ and one can only hope it is the general pressure of work placed on the nursing staff and not laziness which prevents them from doing so.
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