bed blockers adding to the lack of hospital beds

[newcovidisolations]

My mum was medically discharged to leave hospital into rehab (following a stroke) well over a month ago but due to no rehab beds being available she is still taking a hospital bed from someone who needs to be admitted from a&e. She has now tested positive for covid and despite no symptoms at all is now taking a private room on the ward for 7 days as they insist she isolates.

Over 3 weeks ago I rang every private rehab within 50 miles and none could assess her to see if she could transfer until 5th Jan. Despite fees of over £2k per week with extra charges for all physio.

She could possibly have regained mobility with daily physio in rehab had she been discharged weeks ago whereas now she could have far more care needs for the rest of her life.

The system appears broken to me and could affect any one of us and I cant understand the lack of protests. Any of us could need the hospital bed not just the elderly. Her ward is not just used for strokes.

I have to say I agree in certain circumstances.

I was on a renal ward last year for a few nights and at the time the youngest patient there. On my bay all the patients were in their late 70’s 80’s all with renal failure, clearly in pain, confused and at times so very distressed, no interest in food and just sleeping most of the day.

It was really quite upsetting to see and I felt so much for their families.

Who wants to sit and sleep in a chair all day with a catheter in, clearly sore and uncomfortable and ringing on a bell and waiting for a member of staff, who are so rushed off their feet that they don’t have the time to reposition you in a chair or pass you the cup that’s just out of reach. These were patients that had been in there weeks with no end in sight… I would not want to end my days like this.

I’m sorry if this post is upsetting but I do think it’s a conversation that needs to be had.

I work for a charity which advises and assists the elderly. Many have just about given up ! They have no clue how to access social care or for example an OT assessment at home to make things safer for them and even when they do waiting lists are long. They have given up trying to get drs appointments as they have to wait so long and Gp's don't seem to want to see them face to face. They are waiting months or years for simple operations that could drastically improve their quality of life like knee and hip replacements or cataract operations. Many seem to have grown up kids who live miles away with busy lives and elderly people understandably don't want to ask them for help with things like form filling etc. I've had recently widowed old people recently in tears trying to navigate all the forms they need to fill in for changes in pension, sudden change in income etc.

The NHS hasn’t been fit for purpose for a number of years. It needs to be dismantled and rebuilt, with some services being streamlined. No one party will admit to this, as guess what - it’s not a vote winner.

The main issues is the ageing population & the strain on social care & nhs.

My point is the whole system is overwhelmed with too many elderly people and not enough resources to cope in every area. Charities are trying to pick up the pieces but have no income coming in - our charity is struggling just to survive and looking to have to sell buildings etc to keep paying staff wages. Government bodies like DWP are overwhelmed - even in the midst of the biggest costs of living crisis and old people struggling to pay heating bills etc, pensioners are waiting up to 5 months for pension credit claims to be processed, and the whole pension service seems to be in some kind of meltdown as is the wait for disability benefits to be processed. I am constantly trying to ring pension credit services after 4/5 month waits to try to speed up claims as the elderly sit in cold houses afraid to turn on their heating. Every system seems to be overwhelmed and not functioning well.

Thats completely untrue.

You are not comparing like with like, there was no covid in 2016, so the billions spent dealing with that over the last 2 years?

Any increases in spending this year have been wiped out by inflation at 10%.

Easy rhetoric.

How would you maintain services whilst you " dismantled and rebuilt " ?

Quite simply, you wouldn't be able too.

People are not being over cared for on the ward my mother is on. I cant speak for the NHS as a whole but on this ward some of the patients I was describing falling out of chairs, crying for help are in 40s and 50s. It is definitely survival of the fittest here. It has been very traumatic to witness and despite having spent a lot of time in hospitals I would not have believed the last few months if anyone had told me. This is not just people in their 80s.

I cant imagine any new staff wanting to do this even for 20% pay rise and very few existing being willing or even able to continue to retirement age. Totally soul destroying. My mum had soiled nappy for 3.5 hours. The HCA who put gloves on ready to change her after i asked got screamed at by someone who was presumably her boss in front of ward of patients for wrong priority and had to leave my mum. Who would continue to do a job changing adult nappies with that treatment as everyone so stressed. Absolutely heart breaking for everyone

It is not coincidental that the "number of years" corresponds pretty closely with a certain party being in government.

@Iamacatslave sorry, was replying to your post

I can think of at least 2 medicine for the elderly hospitals just in the area I live that my Gran was in back in the early 2000s, she died in 2007, that closed down and weren’t replaced. Yet old people needing that care haven’t gone away. My Gran had a stroke and once it was clear there was no recovery to be had she was moved to these hospitals which will have meant her bed in the acute stroke unit was available for someone who had a chance x

I worked in the care sector for 20-odd years, and "bed-blocking" has been happening since I first started working as a carer in 1997. Nothing to do with this particular government (although it is crap)

@Keskadale its not “easy rhetoric,” it’s the truth.

I had same with Mum who was ten weeks in hospital after a nasty fall. She had dementia but no PoA, no cottage hospitals, (why they were ever got rid of I don't know), no help.

No attention, no physio, nothing to do. I gave up most of my work to ensure I went in every day to help feeding and taking her to the loo and chatting with her as the nurses simply couldn't. (I worked freelance and it hit my earnings very hard indeed).

Eventually got a care home place - long story... but for ten weeks she "blocked a bed". Really bad for her, for me and for anyone waiting to go into hospital who needed that bed.

I started in 1993, left 2020. In my experience it is much worse now (and has been for years) than when I joined.

No because its not possible.

the NHS has to function 24/7, it can't have down time whilst your dismantling/rebuild takes place and anyway, what does that even mean?

it's just hot air.

My dear aunt has severe dementia with aggressive and violent outbursts. Last year she was trapped on a surgical ward for 17 weeks awaiting a secure nursing home place.

While on a pre-booked and time-limited visit to the ward I witnessed the look of horror on the face of a young woman who’d been admitted for routine surgery the following day, as she witnessed my aunt’s violence. She must have been terrified at the thought of sleeping close to such a volatile individual, never mind fearing for her safety post op. I felt helpless.

The whole system is such a bloody mess.

There 50k nurse vacancies in the NHS, a further 150k in adult social care, predicted to be 350k in 8 years time.

This is why people cannot get specialist rehab or secure nursing/ MH unit places.

You can reform all you like but that doesn't get you people and the NHS is not easily fixed with technology, its a hands on job.

We need to re join the EU's single market and accept FOM again.

This experiment with Brexit will destroy the UK.

I agree.
But England loves the Tories and Brexit more than anything else in the world. After all, who wouldn't want the freedom to pump shit into the sea, that's worth more than a well funded and staffed health service on it's own.

This experiment with Brexit will destroy the UK.
100% worth it though.

Ha ha dead right there!

Even when their own shit is being pumped into the local river they themselves use... its worth it to get Brexit and a Tory MP.

My MiL has been in hospital since before Christmas, she said out of bed and despite safe lifting her into bed she couldn't sit up, as she was more confused than usual we called 999 , a paramedic came out in a couple of hours but she decided MiL needed hospital treatment as she was no longer breathing properly so she ordered an ambulance which took 3 days . Once in hospital she developed a chest infection (as did both DH and I)

her chest infection is now clearing but they won't send her home as she still can't sit, won't eat and any questions are answered with her default answer of No.
We could have her home if we had a hospital bed to prop her up. But finances aren't available so she's stuck in hospital, and TBH is likely to die in there.

@Tolerant yes have had a couple of male patients like that on my mums ward and the thought that our 18 year old daughters could be on the ward with such violent men as the ward is mixed and there is no security just a couple of female hca at times is horrific. There was one man on the ward handcuffed but at least he had several police escorts

This was unfortunately the experience we had with our gran, she was ‘lucky’ enough to get a place in a rehabilitation hospital after a stroke at home, but refused to participate in any of the physio exercises, they’d come round multiple times a day and she would refuse or get aggressive so they’d leave. She’d even refuse to try squeezing a stress ball to help her hands regain strength. She stayed in there for 6 weeks, when she should have only needed 2-3 max.

She still hasn’t recovered properly due to lack of participation in the original rehab routine, and when she was readmitted following another stroke a few years later, she again needed more care than she should have due to the original refusal to participate.

She enjoyed the constant attention in the rehab Center, so didn’t want to leave

Totally agree as sad as it is that’s the real issue