NHS crisis is real. I've seen it

[sandyorsnow]

Obviously you don't need me to tell you, I know that I'm just so random person

But I just wanted to say what I saw yesterday

I was waiting in a line outside A&E yesterday and a woman behind me collapsed on the floor. She had oxygen on anyway

I escorted her to the front and I was pushed to the side forcefully by a man at the fronts who shouted 'wait you're turn!'

Thankfully a nurse came out to assist her. And then I finally got to the front myself

I went through to A&E with DD and sat in the initial paeds waiting bit to be triaged. My DD was called instantly and the woman who was sat there with her very bored looking teen said 'that's it. I'm fucking out of here!'

DD was having a seizure.

Came up onto the wards as needed a transfer to GOSH. 6 hour wait for an ambulance and the nursing station was nearby. The doctor was on the phone every 5/10 mins demanding updates as she wanted DD moved asap

When we were initially waiting outside A&E, the ambulance bay had a paramedic standing nearby explaining to another ambiance that they couldn't let them through and they'd have to go to another hospital (25 miles away)

The system is killing people?

Surely the fact that people were queuing outside of A&E is evidence enough of a crisis??

I feel your pain. My sister died of sepsis in the summer due to failures in A&E and ambulance waiting times. She collapsed and died in the waiting room. She was 40.
The whole thing was a shit show and I regularly cry in frustration on how she was treated. There will be an inquest she hopefully we will get some anawers regarding her care or lack of .

Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry for your mum seeing that (and for the lady).

Someone in the bed opposite me waited 19 hours for an ambulance. I was lucky someone took me in by car, even though I has something that did need an ambulance, I didn't know that so got there quickly. Took 13 hours to get onto the appropriate ward. Staff all lovely. So wait times bad.

I also think though they could manage A and E much better. One would be to explain to patients, via announcements, that the triage service is there to find out who needs prioritising and you will not go in in the order you arrive. The second would be for all the staff not to hide in the dep't, and for one or two to come out into the waiting area, give painkillers (waiting without painkillers is terrible) and manage the situation, including updates on times etc. It creates so much trouble and stress with everyone not knowing, and then a few people get really sick and need urgent attention (one crashed in the time I was there). Also some people could go home. I also don't know why they stopped having a GP service in the hospital to filter out some of the more minor stuff, that worked very well. Everyone is funneled through the same area, and it is not tailored enough. I guess this is a money issue but also a structural/organizational one.

@ladywithnomanors I am incredibly sorry.

I had to take my daughter for stitches last week. The queue outside even to get in to see reception was an hour long.

Behind me was a grown man crying in agony with a badly broken leg and a woman with a child having anaphylactic shock. Both sent to the back of the queue by security 🤬

A&E needs to be gatekept - people showing up with stubbed toes and tummy upsets should be turned away and sent to the GP. And the GP's need to start seeing people again.

I am so sorry Teakup, Lady, MyCat and any one else I have missed.

Our GPs are not seeing people though for anything less than a dire emergency, so people are being bounced between the two. We used to have a GP service on site by A and E which was brilliant for urgent stuff that couldn't get a same day appointment, and a nurse that could do stitches/dressings/dog bites and so on. Like a Minor Injuries but with a doctor. Then it disappeared and all these people who still need attention are sitting in A and E. Who would rather sit in A and E with a wait time of 6-10 hours than go to the GP for a 10 min appointment? It is the problem with lack of GP appointments that is causing half the A and E problems.

I agree at the moment it's quite bad. I have a sinus infection currently which started last Tuesday, absolute agony in and around my eye. Finally caved and rang gp on Monday who said its not serious enough for an appointment, rang 111 who referred me to a pharmacist who said you need to see a doctor for antibiotics. I turned up at the surgery with pharmacist note in hand where I finally got antibiotics. Pain Is still excruciating but I know I won't get to see anyone again now.

I don't mean GPs are to blame, by the way, they are doing their best in a hugely straining service. I just wanted to explain why people with more 'trivial' symptoms are sat in A and E, through lack of choices.

I'm so sorry.

We had to call an ambulance out yesterday as I’ve damaged my a nerve in my back and couldn’t sit up let alone get out of bed

im the sort of person who wouldn’t call for help unless it’s really needed-much like most to be fair

it took 9 hours and 20 minutes for someone to get to me-another 5 hours in a&e

they where amazing-kept telling me I wasn’t wasting their time-I’d lost control of my bladder,was in insane levels of pain and they where worried about me

they kept us updated with what was going on-and that it was insanely busy

the paramedics where amazing-we got talking about people who wasted their time-I.e ringing them out for toothache or on one case a stubbed toe-she said it happened all the time

im so grateful for the care I received yesterday-it was top notch but the system is cracking and something needs to be done

If the hospital are back on Covid restrictions queues will be outside because they aren’t letting the waiting area get too full, ensuring people aren’t getting too close to each other. It’s been like this on and off at my local a&e since 2020.

NHS have been saying for months things will be bad because of covid and flu.

Anyway, what are people doing about this? Have you all written to your MPs to let them know youre not happy (understatement)? If the nurses and other staff striking have a march, I'll most definatly be joining them.

I'm a gp.

In recent months I've had to drive a collapsed child to a and e myself in the back of my own car as no ambulance coming ( they were thankfully ok). Weve also had to tell a husband to drive his wife to a and e even though weve done a ecg showing she was having a heart attack.

3 weeks ago I handed my notice in. Dont know what I'm going to do next but it's not this.

Yes recruitment 'freezes' which mean no more clinical staff but always a recruitment drive for middle management, yes always funds for that.

Not replacing higher band roles and replacing them with lower or no-one at all, no admin or clerical help for clinicians, managers always trying to find creative ways to fire admin staff, great now you have the clinicians eye deep in paperwork and you have to watch the mental gymnastics of trying to cut support staff whilst telling off clinical staff for time breaches.

Staff leaving in droves due to shitty cultures where they are being bullied whilst managers toast their tootsies at home eyeing their next promotion or a meaningless 'AHP pride in the community', 'lead for the creative enhancement of pass another biscuit strategic operational pursuits'. Burn out is everywhere.

But as long as they chase their stars, foundation trust etc who cares if the patients wallow in their own shit.

Yup same here tbh with gps not seeing patients. Yet practice nurses are still seeing people.

Im stuck in a cycle of getting chest infections, call gp, won’t prescribe because they need to check my chest and other stuff, but won’t actually give me an appointment. I quickly deteriorate and end up back on a ward.

And yea before it’s suggested have put in complaints. So have consultants, psychiatrist and local mp.

As per my post below, one big problem is A&Es covering far too wide an area. For instance Wexham park in Slough covers off Slough, windsor, Maidenhead, marlow and lots of villages around there. It's a heavily populated area all relying on one A&E which is just ridiculous, and yet close to Windsor we have 2 'planned care' hospitals (both ok) one in Windsor and one in Ascot. People are also going to A&E because they cannot get a GP appointment in a timely way, no home call outs anymore for those too unwell to get out and the local minor injuries unit (I say local- it's 8 miles away) is only available in the daytime- part of the issue is the public, part of the issue is I feel poor planning and funding . It would make sense to have a small separate 24 hours minor injuries attached to A&E that deals with bangs, breaks, sprains , bites etc.

The other issue of course is staffing and whilst covid and burnout hasn't helped- neither has Brexit. I know 2 European nurses and 2 European hospital doctors who have left UK- not solely because of the money(and they get better paid back in their home countries or cost of living is lower) or that they couldn't stay , but because of attitude and abuse and a total lack of manners or respect from certain sections of the public.

My own hospital is ok. But I've done agency in a district general in a neighbouring city and their paediatric A&E area is incredibly unsafe. I actually avoid going to that hospital now. As I refuse to put my pin at risk by being put in a situation that is well out of my scope of practice. Both the trust and the agency would throw you under a bus when something inevitably goes wrong. How on earth no one has died un that department, I have no idea.

You wait if we get a US style system- I'm going to take bets that if we are paying in (and not via NI) and it's privatised that not only will be forking out separately but unlike the USA (so I'm told) the service will still be poor.

The biggest question I suppose is - why are we accepting this??

The patients 'kicking off' and queues of people/ambulances we can see at A&E is the most visible sharp end.

The crisis has been there for years though but has been not so visible eg. I went to my nurse manager 20 yes ago to complain of dangerously low staffing levels. She gave me lip service then a month later removed even more staff from my ward.
People were literally not being fed as there was no nurse to feed them.
I hope that manager could sleep at night.
For me the crisis is nothing new, it's certainly much worse but not new.

@Stickortwister such a shame you are leaving. The problem is every area is understaffed and it's creating bouncing patients with no-one and no-where to go, who then clog up the system. It can't be down to individual GPs to solve this.