Horror I witnessed last night NHS

[ElisabethZott]

At 3pm yesterday I took my 88 yr old mum to hospital as she had an unexpected, sudden anaphylactic reaction to one of her meds and her tongue and throat swelled up to the extent she was struggling to breathe/talk/ swallow. I drove her there because I knew the ambulance wait can be hours.
I witnessed pure absolute carnage. I worked for the wonderful NHS for 30 years and yesterday I had first hand experience of the struggles the poor staff. I have never seen such a horrendous sight of so many trollies with extremely sick and dying patients lining the corridors. I couldn’t begin to count them but there were dozens and dozens. It’s only early November, I can only say, for your own sakes, unless you have a life threatening condition, do not go to A&E.
The staff were absolutely brilliant but there’s not enough of them. The care and kindness they showed us amazing. DM didn’t join the trolley queue as her airways were compromised so we went to the observation ward where she has stayed on a trolly overnight. All A&E wards were rammed to capacity with people not even having their own bay, they were just squeezed into any available space.
Once mum had steroids and anti histamines and she stabilised ( because they were working at full speed to treat other patients) the staff simply didn’t have to time or capacity to help mum. She was offered no water, no blankets no food ( her tongue swelling had gone down a little and she hadn’t eaten all day ). You can see by the tone of my post I am no way being critical of the fantastic medical team , they were pushed to the limits. I don’t really know the point of this thread except to say I am so worried what’s going to happen when winter starts properly.

Thank you NHS but you too need looking after too because you are really broken and sick

well you know Tories and Brexit

ffs its because we closed down the borders that the NHS is stuggling. that and crippling underfunding. stop reading the daily fail please!!

It’s a disgrace! I’m scared to death of getting ill or having an accident. However are we really sure that the other political parties could mend it ?!?!

Pharmaceuticals is worth billions if not trillions they want you sick.

This. The NHS is actually very well funded (controversial!) for its output but there is a huge amount wasted on pointless management . I work for a FTSE company and by no means am I saying privatise the NHS - I don’t agree with it - BUT some proper private sector ‘style’ cost cutting of the non- medical areas seriously wouldn’t go amiss. Too much paperwork, too many management consultants and surveys , not enough channelled into the front line and well paid , motivated staff. Listen to the doctors and bring back the ward matron . (Also might I add and this one doesn’t get publicised - MIllions and millions £££ are being churned into unproven heat pumps that won’t work in old building stock when decarbonising the gas network / boilers that heat most hospitals , with wind power / solar would be better - a bit engineeringy this bit but related to my job) Also why do ambulances sit and wait to hand over patients for 6, 8 hours? Have a dedicated handover team and send the crew back out. It’s ridiculous!

So sorry to hear about your mum, hope she's doing better?
I've only ever had good experiences with our local A&E(DS has Ulcerative Colitis)thankfully but I absolutely agree that something must be done to help the NHS.

Yes glad you said that because I have family in Wales and it seems worse than england .

I agree . You have nhs managers paid more than the PM . Plus I know someone who supplies to those purchasing managers and makes a huge profit . Says it’s like printing money .

huge overhaul needed.

The thing is yeah that this lot have had to borrow massively to pay for poor financial management and racked up further massive interest payments on their borrowing so all services have suffered. We are f- -d already and Labour have v little wiggle room. Expect another 7 years of a limping economy before you see much if any improvement.

There are millions of pets in UK, bet they get emergency treatment quicker and more efficiently than humans do in the NHS.

But animals are not treated for free are they? Most pet owners have pet health insurance, or should have.

See my point? Notwithstanding NI contributions which I am sure will be pointed out. NI contributions are not sufficient anymore.

My relative has done some consultancy work for the NHS and has been shocked at what they saw.

They identified a problem, found a solution then as they were preparing to get the solution implemented they came up against a wall of whoa you can't do that.

It had to go to this person, then this group, then another person another group......

The problem is still there, the solution is still there ready and waiting but no one will make a decision, the bureaucracy is ridiculous.

They also found a way of helping ambulances of load patients, they were told in no uncertain terms that queues of ambulances were good as it meant they got more money from the government.

A lot of beds are filled with people that don't need to be in hospital but there is now where else they can go.
Some just need some help put in place so that they can return home, go to nursing homes, mental health places etc.

All these facilities that should be there to empty beds just aren't there anymore.

It's not just down to lack of money, because there's plenty of money being wasted, it's appalling management. None of the managers encountered would last five minuets in the private sector.

People calling for a GE now thinking Labour will solve the problems, good luck with that, they will bring a whole heap of different problems.

So you want to see a 2 tier health system in the UK like they have in America where the rich can get treatment whilst the poor just die?

NI contributions have never been sufficient, but even worse now that so many people don't pay them due to the lower threshold being increased, exemptions, etc., and of course, there being no NIC on rental income, interest, dividends nor pensions. Only the working mugs have to pay NIC.

I was a nurse back in the 80’s. Qualified SRN, when all you needed to start the job were a couple of o’levels, and a years training before going onto the wards. Matrons were in charge of the wards, and knew what needed doing, visiting every day. There are no longer matrons but multiple senior management layers, who have no idea what goes on on the wards, and don’t even visit, just make decisions about things that they have little idea of. The quality of nursing care is crap. My SIL lives in America, and when she came over for six months in the summer as BIL had had a stroke and a Leukaemia diagnosis, she couldn’t believe how poor our NHS is, compared to over there, where of course it’s private. Simple things like communication between the hospital and GP - none existent. No follow ups, no care plans. God knows how people cope who have no relatives to look out for them.

But that's what it's come to now. Waiting lists on NHS to see a consultant are ridiculously long. If you can pay privately for an initial consultant appointment you then revert to NHS you effectively jump up the queue.
As for A&E I'm not sure I would ever go back there unless I was absolutely sure I was dying.
I spent 24 hours on a hard chair with serious heart condition not even a trolley or cubicle availabe

The USA isn't the only alternative. How about Canada, Australia and most European Countries who have perfectly workable health systems that don't cost a kidney.

Why does everyone think the USA is the only alternative system to the NHS.

Okay. I feel like you should know the answer to this, but if you asked in good faith - here you go. Firstly because a&es are specialized. Here, hospital A treats strokes and eyes, hospital B treats cardiac events, hospital C treats (bizarrely) burns and major hand injuries. No point taking cardiac patients to a&e C. They will have a dabble, but outcomes are much better at a&e B, even if they have to wait.
Re handovers...of course the paramedics can't drop off and run! Who will continue the treatment they have started? Where will they dump the patient? How will they get the trolley back? The drip? Who will continue the resus?
Some hospitals have set up tents in the carpark manned by paramedics to continue the treatment that has been started on route. Buy how many patients can each tent paramedic cope with? Plus then the tent patients never become priority as they have someone responsible in charge of them so they end up in the bloody tent for days.

New initiatives like the tents are started all the time and they are sticking plasters.

@Livelovebehappy

There are no longer matrons but multiple senior management layers, who have no idea what goes on on the wards, and don’t even visit, just make decisions about things that they have little idea of.

Nail on the head. Management don't even work in the hospitals around here. They have their own office block in a different town, along with a small army of administrators. Many probably have never set foot in a ward, some probably never even set foot in one of the hospitals they manage.

One thing that compounds the a&e issue is where you are in hospital and then released eg after an op or being on a ward but if you experience issues relating to your op or whatever you were in for the only route in is via a&e, whereas actually you need to go back to whichever department was treating you - witnessed this not only for myself during post op complications which saw lots of visits stays and follow up ops but also my fellow ward-mates - the whole hospital uses a&e as a re-entry route - you can't come back to the team that was treating you, it has to be via a&e.

People need too be educated on when using A&E is appropriate. Too many use it like a drop in GP service, and a family day out, clogging up the waiting areas with multiple family members, for issues that should be dealt with by their GP. But I know getting a GP appointment is like pulling teeth. I remember years ago, before answer phones, we just called the GP and made an appointment. Occasionally it might be engaged, but ran smoothly enough. Now, you call and are put in a queue of 20 people, with many surgeries now adopting same day appointments, won’t allow you to book ahead, and if all the appointments are gone, you have to start the whole process again the following morning. Why is this happening? There are no less surgeries than back then, no fewer doctors, no fewer reception staff taking calls.

to

Trust me, this is every large Uk hospital to one extent or another. Smaller ones may be functioning better.

Not entirely true, I'm a renal patient and can access services direct in some circumstances.

Also GPs can refer to specialities, but that takes us back to GP appointment issues.
But some trusts do use the ED route.

The poor don’t die. They just get the basics, without the bells and whistles that those with more money or insurance get. It’s no different from many other areas of society over here, where there are two tier systems for areas such as schooling - private or local comps. People who have jobs with good salaries vs those who are minimum wage. People who can afford to buy their own homes vs those who are stuck in social housing in shitty areas. People wouldn’t be left to die, and in the long term could actually get better treatment, as those that could afford would get insurance or employer provided private care, the very rich would just pay for it, leaving an NHS type of system serving less people, for those that can’t afford private.