NHS-bashing story falsely claimed 100,000s endure a 'painful, undignified or lonely death'
The Times has admitted a story claiming hundreds of thousands of people endure a ‘painful, undignified or lonely death’ due to poor NHS care was completely false.
The story published on May 20 was headed: Scandal of ‘appalling’ end-of-life NHS care.
But today the Times’s corrections box called the story ‘incorrect and misleading’.
The correction begins:
“We stated that ‘Hundreds of thousands of people endure a painful, undignified or lonely death because of ‘appalling’ end-of-life care right across the NHS’ (News, May 20).
It notes the parliamentary health ombudsman’s report on which the claim was based said nothing of the kind.
The report in fact said:
“there is a potential to improve the experience of care in the last year and months of life for approximately 355,000 people” [the number of expected yearly deaths].
The Times correction continues:
“It [the report] did not state or suggest that the majority of NHS patients currently receive poor end-of-life care.”
The paper says the word ‘appalling’ came from the Department of Health in reference to just 12 cases of very poor care in the report.
Somehow, 12 cases were taken as representative of hundreds of thousands.
A correction on this is welcome, even in a tiny box on page 28 and three months late.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
Read more:
Hard-left plot to elect Corbyn Labour leader? Sunday Times’s numbers don’t add up
No, Lord Falconer didn’t say ‘women aren’t tough enough’: Times spin infects Labour leadership race
Sign up for our weekly email by clicking here.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
One Response to “Times admits ‘scandal of NHS end-of-life care’ story was incorrect and misleading”
blarg1987
If it was a private company, they would sue for damages to reputation, because it is a state body, then it’s fair games
State bodies should play organisations like the Times at their own game, soon as it starts costing them in the pockets, they will very quickly change their tune and be a newspaper of fact, rather then the whims of their owners for ideological or financial gain.