Media black out about NHS?

[HelloCheeky]

According to our local FB site both our local hospitals are on black alert as they are beyond capacity. People are also posting to say that this is a widespread problem over the country but it's deliberately not being reported. Does anyone have information about this?

Potentially because we are in pre-election purdah.

I’m a doctor. this isn’t new or anything to do with an election. For as many years as I can remember, both my local hospitals go on black alert throughout the winter. That’s just the ongoing situation state of the nhs.

But surely there can't be an official protocol preventing such important news?

Bobby aren't you and other doctors at the end if your tether now?

This is what the great British Electorate voted for . If it bothers you, please remember the NHS when you go to the ballot box.

Yes it's winter....

20 hour wait at my local a&e last weekend according to my MP.

Now I presume those with life threatening emergencies will be seen sooner than that. However sometimes those with serious conditions do still wait far longer than is safe. I waited 8 hours recently with a suspected DVT which was confirmed as a dvt. I’m not sure waiting 8 hours with a blood clot in your leg is safe.

My dad waited 5 hours and was so ill when he was finally seen he was rushed semi concious to ICU and didn’t leave hospital for six months. He nearly died that night and I kept begging the receptionist saying I thought he was really sick but she just said there were sicker people and she couldn’t get him seen quicker.

It's winter all over Europe. SIL is a doctor in Germany. This kind of thing does not happen there. We should be ashamed that we shrug our shoulders over this situation.

I’m a doctor, it’s not new but it’s getting worse. It does get reported from time to time but nothing really changes and people keep voting the tories back into power so they can’t care that much. I’m working in Scotland now and it’s much better, which just goes to show that things can be better with the correct leadership.

And I agree it’s normal winter pressure. The nhs is on its knees due to lack of funding and lack of staff.

I see Boris Johnson has promised to reduce waiting time to see a GP. Where is he going to magic these appts is from? There aren’t the doctors available. He says he’s going to create an extra 6000 GPs. Well first of all it takes years to train to be a doctor so it’s not going to happen next year and he’s assuming he can find an extra 6000 training places. Where from? How? Medical schools need placements and they’re full to capacity as it is.

People are retiring faster than they can be trained due to conditions. Nurses and allied professions as well as doctors.

Because it's no longer news, it's the new normal.

Yes. I’m a Gp now, but this was still happening when I was a hospital trainee many years ago. We don’t have a special “code name” for it, but Gp is just as bad.

It’s not just because of Tory governments @kristina, the nhs is unsustainable and has been for years. We need a new model.

It seems the service is always creaking and staff under Hugh pressure.

Very serious but I suppose if it is very regular then it becomes normal to local and national media as well as NHS staff. I’ve seen it publicised when lots of hospitals are absolute crisis at the same time. Interesting little piece on Kings Fund website by a former chief executive of a Trust here

It's sad that we think of our society as decent and civilised but we seem to have accepted this situation as normal. It doesn't happen in other countries. Why do we put up with it?

Obviously I know the situation isn’t new, but the election does have a purdah period which limits news stories. But agree it’s not exactly “news” and it’s not uncommon for hospitals to go on divert for a time when A and E or ITU is full for example.

Purdah does not stop a factual report on the state of our hospitals. The Nottingham hospitals have had a black alert twice within a month, once due to demand and once due to a power outage at one site. I've been at the hospital a fair bit recently, and the buildings are falling apart. Every corridor has at least one bucket for the leaking roof.

I know a local journo who was at Boris Johnson's press call visit to King's Mill hospital last week. The photos were taken in a mocked up ward! The local journalists weren't allowed to ask any questions, only the nationals with their pre approved questions.

Why do we put up with it? Because people don't care until it affects them personally. Oh, and blue fucking passports.

hospitals to go on divert for a time when A and E or ITU is full for example.

You've been watching too much Casualty. Where do you think patients are diverted to when everywhere is full, and how do you think they get to the mythical other hospitals when the ambulance service is running at capacity?

If there were to be any news posted online... you can bet no nurses in our NHS would comment. Very damning 🤔

I see Boris Johnson has promised to reduce waiting time to see a GP.

Boris Johnson has promised lots of things over the years, bulldozers and ditches spring to mind ...

Lol Mrs Maisel I’ve been a qualified nurse for 12 years. Yes hospitals do go on divert. ITUs get a list of the regional bed situation daily and frequently take patients who live miles away - given that you can’t magic an ITU bed up if they are all full. We also end up discharging people to the ward much earlier than is ideal and they end up bouncing right back.

My elderly mil had a psychotic episode a couple of weeks ago and waited in A&E for 10 hours- starting at 8 in the evening.

Yes SerendipityJane, I’m so excited that they’ve located the cupboard 6000 GPs were hiding in

Why do we put up with it? Because people don't care until it affects them personally.

I think people also genuinely don't realise how bad it is unless they themselves have been into hospital recently. I mentioned to my mum in passing a while ago that my "lunch break" is regularly a cereal bar or banana eaten out of my pocket about 8 hours into my 12-hour shift, sat on the toilet while I do my only wee of the day. She was genuinely taken aback - she'd read bits about pressures on the NHS but honestly didn't know what that looked like day-to-day.
And obviously the experience of an inadequate / late lunch, whilst annoying, isn't even on the same scale as the safety issues described by PPs upthread.
I don't see it getting better under any government, tbh (although I reckon only the tories would drive it completely into the ground within 5-10 years). But I think it's beyond fixing, regardless of who's in power - I cant conceive of how much restructurung it would take to fix it, and what that would cost.
Agree with PPs - it's not newsworthy anymore.

The hospital I work in has been like this for months but even worse over the last few weeks. I went down to A&E the other day to deliver some notes and it was like a war zone. There are 10 hour waits, people sleeping on trolleys in corridors and literally no beds anywhere for patients to be taken too. I've worked in the NHS for 20 years and this is the worst I've ever known it.
Our hospital is putting out on social media several times a day notices to stop people coming unless they really do have an actual emergency.

Any promises from politicians are false. They can't cut waiting times because there is a recruitment crisis for nursing staff, GP surgeries are at breaking point and there aren't enough Doctors or hospital beds to go round. There is no way the NHS can get better with the amount of money that is being promised - it simply isn't enough. Even if they invested double the amount it won't solve the fact that there aren't enough staff.