Broken arm, waiting list for operation full?

[Moniq123]

Hi all, I'm just wondering what you would do in this situation:
my SIL's husband has fractured his arm in 2 places after a roadside traffic accident, ambulance said to make your own way as they were too busy. Understandable so we bundled him up in the car and took him. Hospital was absolutely overwhelmed. Took them 6 hours to give him morphine by that point he was going in and out of consciousness from the pain. They said that he'll have an operation tomorrow morning. Doc has just come back and said actually, waiting list is full and he'll need to wait until Monday or Tuesday. I broke my arm in 2012 and was given morphine straight away and into theatre the next morning. I'm just so sad to see how the NHS has really become. They're so overwhelmed the government really needs to do something. They're sending him home I genuinely don't see him lasting until Monday/Tuesday from the pain I dont know how they'll be giving him morphine at home I really don't, he's screaming in pain. Its moments like these we wish we had health insurance

Gosh that is difficult. Pre covid I broke my wrist and like you, got morphine pretty much straight away in a and e. Admitted given lots of drugs, theatre in the morning. I suppose they will give him liquid morphine to take home plus codiene. All I can say is give him max doses of everything to try and get on top of the pain. Immobilise arm propped up as much as possible.

I do think he should be admitted for pain control, it's sad the NHS has got to this point. Lack of investment into elderly care has caused so many blockages in the system.

That's awful. The poor guy. Did they put it in a cast?

My partner waited 5 hours for an ambulance after breaking his hip in a cycle accident, this was at night, on the road, in the cold. Then 4 days before they operated - so yes the NHS is broken.

He can go home with oral morphine. It's not a waiting list as such. It's an emergency list. It can be really difficult to predict how long the wait is. Depending on what else is on it. We've had children ring in daily for several days to see if they are listed. If it's a long wait then they usually add them to a planned list instead.

The same thing happened to me in 2016 when I broke my leg. Had to make my own way to A&E, and the wait for the operation was horrific.

Can he go to another NHS trust? Their emergency list might not be full.

In the meantime, while he is at home, does he know the critical signs to watch for that mean he must go back immediately? Loss of sensation /strange sensations in the fingers/hand, hand going cold or white/blue. All of this indicate that the break is interfering with the circulation or nerves and must be reset immediately or he could loose the arm/hand

Relative waited a week recently for an op to fix a broken wrist.

Fucking hell. Just fucking hell.

Poor sod hope he is fixed soon.

Sadly the NHS is completely overwhelmed. I've just waited 10 days for a similar operation and now home in a lot of pain after surgery. He's lucky he even got given morphine as I've just been given cocodamol which hasn't been touching the pain. I hope he doesn't have to wait as long.

I had a similar situation with my MIL two weeks ago. Sadly the NHS is no longer fit for purpose.

I run a children's sports club amd recently had to call an ambulance for a child with suspected head and spinal injuries. We had to wait 15 minutes even for the phone to v e picked up! The recorded message kept saying ' if your emergency is life threatening please stay on the line'
To be fair the ambulance did arrive fairly quickly once they answered, and fortunately the children turned out to be okay

The NHS is overwhelmed and understaffed for a number of complex reasons all government related. Rumour has it, that they are going to cut funding again.

Unfortunately, in theses situations private healthcare wouldn't help as they only do elective (non urgent) work. Any emergencies, I.e if it goes wrong would be transferred back into the nhs.

They should give him pain relief and see him ASAP but the issue is they have to triage what's come in. Hope he gets sorted soon

Have you thought about why and how that's happened?

OP, my daughter stopped breathing last week. She's almost 1.

No signs of life, nothing. For a while 45 seconds (it felt like hours). H rang the ambulance as soon as we saw her because we just knew

I picked her up and she was blue. My husband waited on the line for 12 minutes exactly before anyone answered.

Another 40 minutes before an ambulance arrived - H's phone suddenly got locked oj mute and we couldn't even speak to the operator to update she was back with us again

Now, my daughter is okay after being in hospital but the ambulance crew/999 had no idea she wasn't dead or very soon to be dead. Yet we waited in total, 52 minutes before a paramedic walked through the door

And dealing with the current covid wave won't be helping - admissions of the infectious up 48% and hospital acquired infections rocketing.

If there is a continued rise, then yes, it'll be a really bad winter for NHS. Pretending that covid isn't a major factor is going to hamper infection control (our European neighbours (such as Germany) are re-introducing sensible infection control measures)

Also, Evusheld reduces hospitalisations in the most vulnerable by 92% and UK is the only country to have rejected providing it (despite MHRA approval months ago). Just one more example of the utter illiteracy of health economics of the current "leadership"

This situation is terrible. Please don't vote Tory next time, the government are completely ignoring what is happening.

I hope your BIL is OK.

How very frightening. Glad she's OK

@canyoudtep take care, very frightening even though you had a good outcome

The Tory plan is working. Hopefully we can get rid of the rotten lot before the damage is irreversible. I wish you bil all the best, hopefully something will change that means it gets sorted sooner if possible.

This happened to my friends mum who ended up waiting a week for her surgery after a fall

It is frightening the way things are going. I waited and waited for an op and there just seemed to be no end Ito it ☹️. My partner for private medical insurance through his new job and the difference was incredible. Had an appointment within a week and the op around 2 weeks later. The care just blew my mind. We now have the entire family registered.

It isn't fair though is it? The inequality in it all. And to be left in agony until Monday/Tuesday is just bonkers.

I really hope he's ok and I recommend private healthcare to anyone we is thinking about it x

In 2011, I broke my foot and ankle. Went to A&E the day it happened where they x-rayed and put on temporary cast, made appointment for the fracture clinic 2 days time (a Friday£. I was told similar. I was on standby all weekend but told operation would be Monday latest. It was done on the Monday

at the fracture clinic, I did ask the orthopaedic surgeon if i could see him privately (I do have insurance) but he told me the fracture was too unstable, needed surgery before he could see me privately on the Monday evening

My point being, sometimes you have to wait but they’ll see you in the correct window of opportunity. They have to triage cases and treat accordingly.

very sorry for their injury. I hope they have a speedy recovery.

@Moniq123 and all others wanting private medical. It is not thousands per year anymore. I took it our recently, as a close family member was diagnosed with a critical illness, which is being treated through private medical,and I was shocked that for full cover was less than £46pm.

I imagined it being £300 to 400 per month, as that's how much it used to be, but the broker has said since covid causing the NHS to cancel so many life savings ops and treatment that many have taken out private medical the price has come right down.

Please anyone who doesn't have it at least look into it as it really is not expensive and covers things like OP is going through, and my excess is also only £100.

Family covers are also very cheap and most companies will cover children for free and offer large discounts for couples cover.

We had an identical situation last year. DD was 2w + 1 day old and had only been home out of NICU for 1day. Stopped breathing in the nightime - on hold to even talk to 999 operator for aaaages, then call handler talked us through CPR whilst we waited ages for someone to arrive, then single emergency handler arrived, then ambulance. Luckily she had come round just as emergency handler arrived and was crying. It was horrible. Don't underestimate the impact on you and DH - make sure you take care of yourself as it takes time to get over something like that. Glad she is ok now.