The desertification of the NHS

The peerless Daily Mail reports today with its usual sobriety that “thousands are dying of thirst on NHS”.

The actual story is that NICE are about to release a new guideline on acute kidney injury (in Prince’s spirit:_ the condition formerly known as acute renal failure_) suggesting an excess of cases mostly among people who are already ill with conditions such as heart failure or diabetes and those admitted to hospital with infections as the Guardian reports in a little less albeit certainly less spectacular biased way.

This excess of cases is quite costly to the NHS and could be avoided (or at least mitigated) by appropriate treatment, including “ensuring patients are hydrated and their medicines are reviewed”.

Hardly dying of thirst.