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

Oh how horrible OP 😢 but good news that it's not a hip fracture. Hopefully leg fracture won't require an operation

Are you on commission for the videos/books you are plugging here and elsewhere?

If so can I suggest you spend some of the royalties on "Guided Punctuation, the gift of making posts comprehensible"

It was absolutely horrendous. And yes, the noise was headsplitting. It may not be representative of the NHS across the board but for local people here, it informs their opinions.

I know this sounds cruel but with current issues I don’t think using own transport to get to hospital with a broken elbow is totally unreasonable. Yes it would be really awful for someone of her age but it wouldn’t have occurred to me to phone an ambulance when I broke my arm - I got driven to A&E. To me an ambulance is for a life threatening injury / illness or someone who cannot be safely moved. You can sit in a taxi with a broken elbow although it would be pretty horrible.

A lot of yelling and screaming going on, the noise must be intolerable.
Thank God it's not my Trust, not that I have any intention of going there, fingers crossed.

OKI DOKI:

In A&E with a broken back and severely broken wrist that needed surgery:

A nurse and administrator screaming at the ambulance crew for registering a patient and keeping them waiting. The crew were standing in front of them waiting fir them to finish chatting.

An administrator yelling at a patient who politely inquired about waiting times as they had waited six hours already.

A nurse yelling at a family because they took a bottle of water from a table. They shouldn't have but I'll caveat that with the fact that I was not offered so much as a glass of water after being in the dept for 12 hours and after a procedure under conscious sedation.

The nurse whontold my husband to sit six rows away from me rather than stand next to me as instructed. Twice he said "no thank you, I'm staying by my wife's side" the third time he was more authoritative and said "I have told you that I am not moving from here". She then bent down so our faces were level and rolled her eyes at me.

The behaviour of the F2 who spoke to me as though I was a piece of sh1t without a brain as she conducted a frailty review, having assumed I was retired because I was over 60. Notwithstanding the fact she dismissed my concerns about my back and tried to refuse an Xray. Then told me there were no new breaks. There were.

Is that enough for you? Upheld after a formal complaint.

Would you like me to pm you the name of the Surrey hospital?

I'm sure this won't at all influence those voting for assisted dying

All that would happen is the private companies would cream off the healthy patients who they can make a profit from, and those with ongoing health needs would be left to a public healthcare scheme that is significantly worse than now.
And no private insurance scheme will want to cover a 97 year old.

Some examples of A&E staff being rude as witnessed by you would help.

My 90yr old neighbour broke her elbow falling in her garden.

999 told her to get a taxi to hospital.

I can not imagine a worse solution for the NHS than private. If there is no money, then there isn't a penny spare for profit, and that's why the private sector would be involved.

None of those things are the fault of the funding model. The one thing we’re unanimous about is the need for reform in the NHS. Any kind of insurance will simply add costs and syphon more money away from the front line. The NHS needs less bureaucracy, not more. Private A&E provision would be madness - that provision would be underused, wasting valuable resources and unethical. I’m appalled by the concept.

I think you are describing a health insurance system as in the US. Not a social insurance system as in France, Germany, Austria.

If the NHS is not broken perhaps you would be kind enough to explain the following:

A 97 year old lady lying on the floor with a broken hip for double digit hours

People unable to access GP care

Unacceptable waits in A&E departments

Unacceptable waits for surgeries such as knee replacements, etc

Suboptimal care for women and women's issues

Endless maternity care scandals.

We have private healthcare and use it fkr elective issues. There is a significant need for some private provision of A&E services. We presently pay twice and our contributions to the NHS far outweigh our private healthcare insurance fees. Whilst happy to pay twice, I am not prepared to pay more for the execrable standards of NHS services presently available in the UK.

They are mainly for people who have fallen, have had a continence issue etc. when she presses the alarm the person at the control centre will try and speak to her and ascertain what support she would need, an ambulance will then be called if required. The alert responders will then be asked to go out for back up , but they could already be in someone's house waiting for an ambulance , helping someone get changed or using a manga cushion to get someone up from the floor so it could be a while before they get there. In the meantime family would be called to attend

@SuperfluousHen your mum won't get respite or residential care, if she is discharged from hospital without a package of care then the onus will be on you

@unicorns88 I do not think that is true for older people. I am 60. By the time you get to my age you have seen a lot of people deteriorate and die.

Thanks for this. I’ve learned from mumsnet to be very wary of this sort of thing. I will be saying “unsafe discharge” if they try to send her home without a proper care package in place. With the best will in the world I just can’t do it.

Mum is merrily telling OTs, SWs that “my girls look after me” and “oh I’m coping well”.

I was fortunate to be present while an OT was asking her questions and had to keep interrupting to set the record straight. I literally said to the OT “I don’t recognise this narrative at all”. Mum was in full reminiscing mode and was talking about life 50 years ago when the OT meant last week. 🤦‍♀️

@Manypaws maybe i'm using the wrong terminology. My MIl wears a button round her neck which she presses if she needs medical help and she cant use the phone. I think this kit is fairly common with older people. If you are saying that they shouldnt be used if its an emergency then what is the point of them? And how should she get an ambulance?

Yes they should have put a blanket on but it's a 999 that should be called if someone takes ill not the alert responder, there are only so many on shift, they cover a large area and are often with other service users when they get a call .

She may get transferred to somewhere that offers residential care. Don't take her home with the promise that if you can cover care for a few days, they will have carers in place then.

Lots of people have private healthcare that gives limited coverage. And few people have it once they reach 70 as premiums start rising significantly.
If you need A and E or trauma care you are using the NHS. Also if you have specialist health needs you are using the NHS. DH sees a consultant at least once a year who is a specialist in his condition. You would have to go abroad to see a specialist privately.
Private healthcare is good for the easy operations. Knee replacement in an otherwise healthy person for example. These are the money making patients.