97 Yr old Gran waiting 8 hours for an ambulance with a broken hip!

Sat on the floor next to my neighbour for 26 hours after she had a fall. Wasn't allowed to move her even tho I could have. She went into hospital lost 20kg in 2 weeks from neglect. Stopped talking walking eating etc. Came home and died. They don't care about the elderly.

@Jaboodyv2 It’s nothing to do with capability. Literally anyone can break a bone, I fractured my foot a couple of months ago, children break their arms, etc.

At 97, her bones will be more brittle and prone to breaks, but that’s unrelated to whether she can manage independently. She was just unlucky.

Exactly the same happened to my Nan last year.
94 and waited 4 hours with a broken hip and arm.
Passer by ended up dragging her indoors so she didn't die of cold on the pavement.

The fact is, it matters a lot because of the possibility of osteoporosis. I hope you are feeling better.

@RosesAndHellebores So sorry to read about your ghastly experience in A/E.
Definitely complain. Nothing to lose.
I also had a fractured back when I went to A/E in June. Refused an X ray because ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s fractured, will take 6 weeks with paracetamol to heal’ Finally paid for my own MRI.
What a laugh! Not. Don’t suppose this Practioner has ever suffered the pain of a back fracture.
Again, sending the O/P & family all the best for the preventable situation.

This is such a disturbing read and I am truly sorry that your poor Gran is in this position. Wising her a full and speedy recovery.
I’m also sorry to say that this is not an unusual event. Two dear family members have been in hospital recently and elements of their stays were just horrendous. I’ve lost faith that things will ever improve.

It always goes the way of families getting blamed, social services being slow etc, but the truth is the number of available hospital beds has significantly reduced while the population of elderly has increased. There needs to be many more beds

@LoveCherryTree I hope your gran makes a complete recovery and that a formal complaint is made on her behalf.

The situation is a complete shit show disgrace.

It’s a standard question on system one, the nhs computer system. There’s also markers for frailty which sometimes get applied to under 60’s which might be linked.

The NHS has been like this for ages though. Writing to your MP to tell them what they already know is pointless though.

9 hour wait for my dDad a few weeks ago, then two weeks in hospital with a severe infection and on oxygen.

I should add, any person with weak legs or balance can suffer from a "fall."

Well said. My father fell down the stairs when he was carrying too much going upstairs. It was an accident.

I had a shoulder decompression op a couple of years ago. Presumably because I'm now in the over 60 category, I was asked how many falls I'd had in the previous year. (It had no relevance to my shoulder problem.)

It is not for you to judge the quality of life of another human being. I'm done with you.

In spite of all elderly accidents resulting in hitting the ground being recorded as "falls", not all are.

If someone trips over the dog and breaks their leg, it's an accident whether they're 7, 37 or 70.

A fall is due to an elderly person losing the strength in their legs due to infirmity, illness, age etc.

Saying an accident is a fall, impacts on travel insurance and gives false information on hospital records. The person may never have another accident again, ever.

Recording all accidents of the elderly as falls, is not only lazy but ageist.

It’s like it all over, A&E so busy Ambulances are stuck in q’s so unable to pick up those in need.
hopefully she get there soon.

Thanks for the update, OP. I've been thinking after your granny all day. Hope she males a full recovery.

We come 19th in health spend per capita. Spain spends less than us, but expects relatives to provide the social care for people in hospital. The work HCAs do in the UK. This unpaid labour is not included.

Health Care Costs by Country 2024

Average day-to-day health spending in the UK between 2010 and 2019 was £3,005 per person – 18% below the EU14 average of £3,655.

How does UK health spending compare across Europe over the past decade? - The Health Foundation

We spend less money on healthcare than comparable countries.
Spend peanuts, this is what you get.

The NHS provides a totally shit service now, in every way. It’s appalling. Hopefully, the government can change things, but I’m not holding my breath. No matter his much money thrown at it, it never seems to improve. 😠

I left work today and there was at least 7 or 8 ambulances parked up outside a&e and it’s not even busy!

Our NHS isn’t even on its knees anymore, its face palmed into the deck. There is no beds or staff. The government (and it really doesn’t matter which party you want to blame!) have slowly and steadily ran it into the ground for years.

The OP has already made it clear that her granny has a good quality of life.

My late husband had a fall following an untreated UTI during lockdown. Ironically, the fall happened the day we were finally able to get a GP visit. (We'd waited a week.)

His situation was very similar to the OP's granny. The local fall team couldn't move him because he'd skinned his leg in the fall and their protocol dictated that they couldn't move someone who was bleeding, so I had to phone for an ambulance. It was well over 8 hrs before the ambulance came and (according to the GP who kept phoning the control centre to try to hurry them up) lying on the floor for more than 8 hrs was endangering his kidneys.

When he was finally admitted to hospital, he was diagnosed with an acute kidney injury. He recovered from that and got home a month later. Unfortunately, part of the treatment for the kidney injury involved taking him off two of his heart meds. He died of a massive heart attack 3 months later.

He did have mobility problems which were exacerbated by his hospital stay and was exercising at home to overcome this. I can assure you that in spite of his challenges, he enjoyed living and he fought that heart attack.

Too many people now seem to be prepared to write off those who are old and/or disabled. I fear for what is happening to this country.