NHS-speak 'demeaning to patients'

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Terms such as "frequent flyers" and "bed-blockers", used by ministers and NHS staff to describe patients, are demeaning, the patients' tsar says.

Harry Cayton said such negative words shifted blame to patients and should be avoided, the Royal Society of Medicine journal said.

Frequent flyers - patients who are in and out of hospital - and bed-blockers are common phrases in the NHS.

The Department of Health said it would take the comments on board.

It is important that we are sensitive to the terms patients do not find acceptable Department of Health spokesman

Mr Cayton, the national director for patients and the public, said of the term frequent flyers: "It implies that somehow these people want regular trips to hospital, that they are collecting points, that they enjoy the health and life-threatening roundabout of continual admission, treatment and discharge."

Other phrases, such as bed-blockers, shifted the blame from the NHS to the patient, and further examples of labels included referring to those who do not turn up for appointments as "DNAs".

He also attacked the use of words like "dement" to describe somebody with Alzheimer's disease.

He added: "Labelling people in this way is the most common way in which the NHS dehumanises those it is supposed to care for."

Language

He said most of the language was used to describe elderly people, possibly reflecting an ageist culture.

"Older people generally use the health service most often but they are also sometimes the least able to speak up for themselves, the most vulnerable."

Mr Cayton said he understood that health workers needed to create distance due to the stresses of the job, but added they should find other ways of achieving that distance.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "It is important that we are sensitive to the terms patients do not find acceptable.

"Harry Cayton is one of our very valued National Directors and an incredibly experienced champion for patients' rights.

"We welcome his views and will take this feedback on board."