The secret life of the hospital bed

[SmellySphinx]

Does anyone else watch this?
I watched this episode today...
The stories of patients at the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the Great North Children's Hospital in Newcastle

Was anyone else puzzled as to why half of the patients visiting the hospital needed a bed in a room? Most of the cut scenes show people walking in the hospital and into the rooms, getting onto the beds unaided and walking out. Some were there with injuries that were nothing to do with their feet/legs. I understand the need for some people to be moved from ward to ward in a bed as there may be a risk of fainting etc

The boy who broke his wrist for example. He walked in with a sling then was taken to a room with a bed where he had to wait for a nurse to come in, feel where it hurt on his wrist only to tell him that he needed an X-Ray which would have been the course of action in any event. He then was wheeled on the bed to the X-Ray department. Yesterday there was a boy who came in with sore fingers after an accident playing football. Again, he was given a bed to wait on whilst a dr came to assess him and tell him the inevitable, that he needed an X-Ray. Throughout, the narrative was that hospital staff have to justify the need for a patient using a bed in A+E for over 4hrs.

Is it any wonder that there is so called bed blocking when beds are being used for so long for relatively minor injuries when people can be assessed in a small cubicle on a chair?!?!

[SmellySphinx]

Or am I being a dick?!

It's not something I usually take to the internet to complain about but with this and everyone I know working for the NHS saying the waste of resources and the clueless management (universally they blame shitty management and I agree) I dunno it just doesn't seem to make any sense to me

[Primaryteach87]

I sort of see your point but I don't think it is the 'bed' per say that is the problem. More that there is limited staffing and space. So we could shove all walking wounded into a seated area but there would be no more staff and no more space to deal with them..

[SmellySphinx]

But they're using the bed which takes up more space for people that really do not need it! Surely space could be utilised more effectively as well as the staff. Having to see a triage nurse first then waiting then waiting again on a bed you don't need then waiting for a nurse to tell you to wait for a dr to tell you that you need an X-Ray! A few years ago my daughter had to wait 3 hours in and out of a room with a bed where previously we were sat in a waiting room in a chair and was seen by about 3 different nurses and drs for a broken collar bone.

[Ohtobeskiing]

Maybe it's just that people who are injured- even fairly minor injuries, can be a bit unpredictable and may faint.