I don't understand why people aren't talking about the A+E crisis

[GreenLunchBox]

Nothing is mentioned about it in the leadership debates.

I know rich Tories have private medical insurance etc but if they had a stroke or car crash even they'd have to use the NHS, so why do they not care? If their child broke their arm, even.

This is shocking, and everyone should watch: twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1552325719895719936?t=fg6MBUpCBjp5KkSgMlOTVg&s=19

My first thought, when the poor presenter of the Truss vs Sunak debate keeled over, was "I hope they don't need an ambulance". Not wishing her ill, it would have highlighted the issue if she had done.

Another thought on an alarm.

I've just got my mum into Apple as it has an accurate tracker. The watch is easy to wear. You can talk to them if they fall outside and are not near.

Mum knows she can see me and I can see her. Its given us both that extra peace of mind.

It's so accurate that I know if which flowers she's watering in her garden! So if she's not in the house and were to fall I'd know exactly where she was.

Your poor mum.

I have mentioned previously that I went in for a suspected heart attack and waited 16 hours to see a doctor. I wasn't even triaged for 4 hours. I work at that hospital so I know it was due to staff shortages, they are struggling to fill vacant posts and people are still off sick with covid. Average wait time there atm is 12 hours.

A child in my family recently had a head injury, their parents wasn't sure whether to move them so called 999. They were told there was a 15 hour wait for an ambulance.

When everything’s a crisis, nothing is.

By which I mean — the apocalyptic language that’s used in the media (and on social media) about everything from hospital A&Es to schools to climate gets too much after a while. People get compassion fatigue, crisis fatigue.

It’s not that they don’t care, more that there’s only so much headspace available.

Can you imagine? This would be a true test ( no harm to the woman but this is what happens in real life) 999 caller asks is she breathing? Once you say yes then she would tell Liz and Rishi you are in a queue, you just have to wait, someone will call you back but the service is extremely busy ….waits another 4 hours cameras still rolling.

Then Rishi and Liz are filmed later waiting 8 hours in casualty before an actual hospital bed is found.
Maybe then they might realise what has happened to our NHS

A small proportion of tory voters may have health insurance. But by no means all.

Because it is not universal. My NDN was taken by ambulance when he fainted in the garden and was obvious unwell on coming round. He was seen in an hour, admitted for test , stayed overnight, discharged the next day ( all this week).
Two weeks ago , my friend had a bad nosebleed which had been flowing for about 20 hours on and off. GP phone consult told her to call 999 ( she has no one to drive her) and go to A&E. triaged, sent to ENT, seen by registrar, cauterised and packed, came home by taxi ( paid for herself obs.) total time away from home including One hour travelling , four hours.

One of these is in Thames Valley, other in North East. So I think that there are obviously high demand times, and possibly high demand areas, but the dread of camping out overnight whilst slowing bleeding to death on the Casualty floor is a bit of a media fear storm ( and the eagerness of the OP to politicise the issue is unhelpful)

"but the dread of camping out overnight whilst slowing bleeding to death on the Casualty floor is a bit of a media fear storm"

a couple of people told us they thought mum's type of experience was made up when they read that sort of thing in the press. They seem really shocked it actually happened. Obviously she wasn't bleeding, but that's your exaggeration.

So have all the unvaccinated staff left then?
or did that not happen in the end?

Or all their time an energy is going into dealing with the situations.

It's what were doing with school issues here, Wales, and my family wait and deal with breaking systems in NHS over in England.

It was a worry when A&E here said don't come aren't accepting patients but it's not been in headlines recently so hopefully it's eased of a bit. I do agree with previous posters though it' goes up and down - DPs had 12 hour wait in A&E after trying everything to avoid getting down there but recently ambulance came fairly quickly (111 insisted it was needed as did GP) and they manage to stabilise at home and advised only going in if it happened again

People should be talking about it and to stop blaming people going for anything less than a heart attack. People need to be seen.
Last month, due to my recent medical history, 111 advised me to go to the Urgent Treatment Centre which is part of the A&E department. I waited 13 hours to see a doctor.
On the flip side, last summer I attended the same hospital A&E with what was a DVT in my arm, I had my chemo card with me and they got me straight in a room in Majors. Gave me an anticoagulant injection and an antibiotic (in case it was an infection) within half an hour of arrival.
The government need to invest properly in the NHS and social care (and education) and not just a sticking plaster. They desperately need to work on improving staff retention too.

Politically we are stuck. Tories don't want to fix it, so they can't mention it meaningfully. Labour may want to make changes, but have no power so they are stuck in sound bite territory.

The country feels broken, really broken. Please don't vote Tory again, we've already lost two years off life expectancy (not COVID, just cuts).

I have health insurance. it doesn't cover everything like PP said and definitely not A & E.as private hospitals don't have A & E. I was advised to get an inhaler when my childhood asthma was triggered by covid and my private GP could not prescribe that. I had to go to the NHS but thankfully they were able to squeeze me in. Private healthcare in the UK tends to only cover specific things; generally the easier things.

Why is it unhelpful to politicise an issue which is inherently quite political?

There is coverage about A+E and ambulances on local tv news in London on occasions it seems.

The crisis to me starts with the shortage of GPs, as that I am sure leads to people who could be treated by them going to A+E. Exacerbated by Covid which is still with us to some degree.

And you really believe they are subject to the same care we have? What makes you believe this?

Exactly! Both potential prime ministers are ignoring the elephant in the room - broken public services. The reason why is because they know their own bloody Government caused this with the austerity measures.

But why aren’t the media grilling them on it? And when they bang on about tax cuts why isn’t anyone pointing out that you can’t sort out the crisis in public services without spending!!

I attend a hospital outpatients clinic that shares a waiting room with an urgent treatment centre. People have been downgraded there from A&E next door or referred by 111. I am there frequently.

There is no privacy when being triaged behind a half screen so you can hear most things (not great). There are so many people who are there for non urgent things and significant numbers are turned away with advice to see their GP. Many are there as they either can’t get through to a GP or I think just feel they need to be seen F2F “ please look at/feel this”.

Not GP bashing as mine is great - just like a sausage machine with blockages at multiple stages.

I work in a large pharmacy near to a huge hospital and an urgent treatment centre a few minutes drive away.

The urgent treatment centre was previously a walk in centre, then covid came along and fucked it all up. The centre stopped functioning as a walk in, telephone triage only, phone lines jammed, people getting desperate and heading to A & E or coming into the pharmacy (both of which are stretched for time, staff and budgets). It has stayed that way and its a shame as it was useful to just be able to walk up and wait to be seen.
Some of the people coming into the pharmacy needed to see a doctor, as there is only so much we can do for certain pain/ conditions. When we can't help they become abusive. I get it, they are in pain, but my mental health is shot from it all.
It's becoming dangerous to be a healthcare professional, I loved my job but I've handed my notice in this week, its just not worth it anymore.

What’s the point in ‘talking’ about any of it? What will talking do? The people who give a fuck are already well aware of the absolute state of every public service in this country and the destruction of our economy. The rest of them literally could not care less - there’s no getting through to them. They all continue to vote for it. So why bother wasting your breath? Just enjoy their pain when it finally affects them too.

The Crisis in General practice has a knock on effect with people turning up at A&E. I was on hold to my GP surgery for 45 minutes the other day only to be told to go to a walk in centre. If that had been closed it would have been A & E. People just ring multiple times a day trying to get GP appointments until they can wait no longer and go to A & E.

A greater Manchester a&e last week had a sign up saying it was a 40+ wait for a bed for those that needed admitting as there were no beds in the hospital. Patients were waiting for those in the waiting room not just in beds/trolleys/cubicles. It’s not right.

My trust is the same, queuing ambulances and A&e has been relentless for months and months. It’s not just GP minor issues many are really sick and need beds too. Yes before covid it was under strain but this is a whole other level and is every day and it’s bloody summer!

But many only realise or even care when themselves or family/friends are affected.

My local MP put a FB post up recently outlining all the reasons they would be voting for their preferred candidate to become Prime Minister, referencing their policies etc in some detail.

There was NO mention of anything NHS related. Says it all really. They just don't give a toss.