Patients admitted to NHS

Thousands of surgery patients' lives at risk

Patients admitted to NHS hospitals for emergency non-cardiac treatment are at risk thanks to poor care and delays in treatment, a report from the Royal College of Surgeons says (RCS).

Patients aren't always receiving critical care after they are operated on, according to the RCS, which says poor access to facilities such as operating theatres and scans means some abdominal emergencies aren't picked up in time. Often junior staff are left to deal with complications after surgery.

About 170,000 patients have non-cardiac emergency operations each year. Of these, 100,000 will suffer complications and 25,000 will die. For elderly patients, 40% can die following surgery.

According to the BBC, the report also suggests that planned surgery may be prioritised over emergency treatment. As there is pressure on NHS hospitals to cut waiting lists, it could be inferred this is happening to bring down the numbers.

The author of the report, consultant general surgeon Iain Anderson, told the news provider: "We have some of the NHS's sickest patients languishing on inappropriate wards, treated by juniors and with no plan in place to deal promptly with unexpected complications.

"These tend to be the patients who end up in intensive care units for lengthy periods of time or, sadly, too sick to be helped."

Medical insurance is designed to provide cover for such eventualities as it's there to pay for treatment for acute conditions. An acute disease has a defined beginning and end, while a chronic condition gets worse with age.

So a chronic disease would be something like arthritis while an acute one could be a serious viral infection. The aim of medical insurance is to pay for treatment that can improve the condition - not to pay for treatment of something that can't be cured.