Catastrophic state of the ambulance service: what's behind it?

[tulips27]

Seeing the shocking and upsetting thread where the OP has been waiting for over 24 hours for an ambulance for her relative who has a broken hip I want to ask what has cause this state of affairs? How can this be possible in our country? Can anyone offer any insight?

(Link to the thread for those who have not seen it: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4701431-i-know-iabu-blatantly-using-this-for-traffic-emergency-situation-no-ambulance-still-and-need-advice )

There are plenty of care home with empty beds, I've just visited one 40 bed home with only 12 residents. But because they're privately run and expensive they won't take anyone who requires funding from social care. The beds are there but private companies only care about their profits.

This.

Sorry to hear that @twatmas 🙁

They have to leave for other jobs. I hope you get seen soon. Thinking of you!@twatmas

Lack of social care provision leading to bed-blocking
Governments of all parties failing to prioritise health over the past few decades
Population growth and not keeping up with demand
Not making it crystal clear to staff that Brexit didn't mean they had to leave, it just meant skilled people such as themselves would in future be prioritised over potential economic migrants without skills
The stupidity and selfishness of people misusing the NHS and A&E

GP consultations are up 20% since pre-Covid, whereas A&E attendances are static. The problems in A&E are not caused by GPs - that’s just a cynical Government attempt to blame anyone but their own incompetence. As PPs have said, the problems in A&E are caused by the difficulty of discharging anyone from hospital. The Tories cut the local authority budget by a third and, with it, much of the social care budget.

It's not as simple as 'the tories' are shit, the NHS already has eye watering amounts of money thrown at it. The leadership and management in the NHS is very poor- and when studies have been done vs other countries, this is one of the main factors.
You could say the leadership starts with the tories, I don't disagree there. But throwing more money at such a shit show, isn't going to massively help.

It was nowhere near as bad as this. It’s permanently horrific at present.

Yes there were shortages of staff and long waits at times but nothing like there is now, all day every day.

The only hospital in my county is 25% full of bed blockers. They've had to cancel all operations and appointments unless emergency or cancer related.

They've already spent £1m odd moving patients to other counties with spare beds.

Ambulance crew (non paramedic but clinical) earn less than McDonald’s and Aldi workers per hour. Would you want the responsibility of saving lives for less than flipping burgers?

I would also say, people need to use them properly.

I've rung twice, child not breathing, they came very fast (under 5 mins both times). My friend is an A and E consultant, and the bollocks people show up with are breaking her A and E.

Sorry for the naivety of my question but how do bed-blockers affect A&E treatment?

Aren't bed-blockers people that have been admitted to the wards? Or are people bed-blocking A&E beds now?

Bless you @twatmas x what is shiity situation. I hope uou have got everything you need with you? I was hearing last week about people having to move trolleys to get the person at back in cardiac arrest. Enough to give anyone ptsd

*affect A&E admissions, I should have said, really.

"It was like this before the tories! This was happening when my dad first qualified as a paramedic over 30 years ago."

Wtf are you on? Admission wait times are the highest on records. People have always complained the NHS is too busy in winter true but the statistics show things are much much worse.

Has there always been I stances of long waits? Of course - but you really don't want to be breaking hips or having a heart attack or a stroke right now!

It does start (and end) with the tories. They are in charge. They have cut LA funding and social care to the bone.

If leadership is so poor in the nhs why haven’t they done something about it?

I feel like I'm losing my mind a little with it all tbh, watching the media berate ambulance crews and say how you can now only call an ambulance in an emergency.

You are only supposed to call an ambulance in an emergency!!!

In answer to your question, Tories, chronic underfunding, and overuse.

There absolutely are people who will call an ambulance to "jump the queue" despite the fact that you will still be triaged. There are also people who absolutely can make their own way to hospital but would rather call an ambulance. People who demand an ambulance for non emergencies.
People who present to a&e for minor issues.
People in this country seem to have forgotten how accident and emergency departments are supposed to work.
Also, the closure of our of hours minor injury units would have not helped.

Who was in power in 1992? The Tories.

I’m 59. It’s NEVER ever been like this in my lifetime.

Agree. Double pay for carers is unrealistic but they Gov could start by making carers matched with NHS hourly rates for a START. Sunday pay for a band 2 is very decent. Nights and weekends make a huge difference to your wage.

I have worked in a nursing home myself, I'm not sure why anybody is doing that role when you can apply to NHS for more money.

To get seen in a&e there needs to be space/staff. That space and staff are looking after people who need to be admitted to wards. There are no free beds on wards.

Yes, here we have too few hospital beds. A&E is full of people waiting to be admitted. Ambulances often queued outside and they can’t get them into A&E and then into the ward bed (that doesn’t exist until someone else discharged).

An ambulance crew can start shift outside A&E and finish their shift still there!

"Aren't bed-blockers people that have been admitted to the wards? Or are people bed-blocking A&E beds now"

Well I'd guess that patients are stuck in an a and e bed because they can't be admitted to a ward.

If it was just numpties called 999 for splinters why are they stacking outside A&E? People are dieing waiting in ambulances. They cant all be numpties. Its more than that. God forbid you ever require socail care.

Go on BBC iPlayer and watch the old episodes of Ambulance. One of the first couple of seasons.

Then watch one from say 2018. Queues and awfulness.

Then watch the most recent series. It's definitely got worse.