Woman dies whilst waiting to be seen at A&E

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-68243636

The poor woman- She had been waiting 7 hours before she was found unconscious then dies few days later.
Now they want to launch an investigation into this case - like doh?? Isn’t it obvious that because she wasn’t treated promptly, she died? Maybe recruit and pay staff more to avoid cases like this happening again? But no, they would rather waste money and put it into investigating it instead of fixing the blinding obvious issue here that A&Es are not coping.

The Nurses in our local A&E just don't give a toss! My late Dad stumbled in there clutching his chest (already diagnosed with Heart Disease and he informed them of this) yet they rolled their eyes at him... 7 Hours later they finally saw him when he had a heart attack in the waiting room. My mum was there by this point and 2 of the HCAs were abruptly ordering him to "STAND UP MR xxx! NOW PLEASE!" He was fucking unconscious. My mum had to go and get a Nurse to intervene. Even then there was absolutely zero urgency, despite the state he was in. My Mum was beside herself with upset & anger.

My SIL died in A&E after being left in a booth for hours after being resuscitated from cardiac arrest as Resus was full. That's an ongoing investigation still. Then both times I've had to take DC in, they've been utterly uninterested despite my politeness. Last time I was there for myself a few years ago, they were angrily huffing & puffing because the Xray machine was broken and according to them, I needed an xray.

How dare I break a bone and inconvenience them, eh? I'd understand if I was a 'regular' but I've not needed A&E for myself for decades prior to this

https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/workforce/nhs-medical-staffing-data-analysis @Halloween22 this shows the extent of staff shortages. The right wing press , however, love to call the BMA militant and somesuch, when they point this out.

Depends, maybe a couple of consultants, or a handful of nurses or HCAs.... not many.

You think the onus is on the person having the stroke? No. Many in her situation can't even speak.

I live in the South East in an area of almost constant house building. Large housing estates continue to pop up but services for the people who will live in them are no where to be seen. Our GP surgeries are over subscribed and the A&E of our local hospital is like a war zone.
The Government is forever making pointless announcements informing us of millions of pounds being poured into the NHS but where does it go?
Watching the latest health minister smiling and nodding at TV cameras while announcing the latest drive to cut waiting lists is soul destroying.
The NHS needs a complete overhaul but our Government and Opposition parties have no clear, workable idea of how to rebuild it.

It's absolutely shocking isn't it. I wonder if she had a brain aneurysm? There was a guy on how to catch a copper this week actually who was having a brain aneurysm and no one believed him.
What kind of world are we living in

Is this an annual amount they spend or a one-off?
Because that money would not provide even one nurse with a salary for more than a few years.
A lot more money is needed to turn this around, sadly. What an awful thing to happen, poor woman.

On a side note I do find people are using a&e as basically an out of hours doctor, or in the hope they will go and get more tests for ongoing issues, eg a CT scan quicker.

I've been suffering from constant headaches and the amount of people who have said to me "go to a&e"... it's not an accident nor an emergency. A&E is accident and emergency and people are forgetting this which is why they are always so busy.

@Lorrymum the money is going to mates of the government for over priced contracts.

Not quite sure where you got that idea from. I didn't say that.

There’s such a thing as gross negligence manslaughter which includes cases where professionals are grossly negligent while exercising their duties. I’m not saying that is the case here, but it’s not impossible and has been applied to the medical profession before.

Why don’t you educate yourself before replying? But I suppose when you don’t have any arguments, rude acronyms are all you can add to the conversation.

How is this a surprise?

The NHS cannot cope. It's reached saturation

@custard3point14 the worry that I was wasting time was why I began at the walk in centre. He diagnosed a possible clot and sent me to A&E. They knew this (he was one of the few who gave me paperwork which helped with continuity) yet I was still waiting from 6pm until I was wrongly discharged at 8am the next morning and the clot not discovered for another 8 days.

Everyone should be primed for the walk in first. A&E should be sending people there if they haven't been first.

@embolismquestions I agree! The walk in centres should almost be the go between deciding if a&e is needed or not

@embolismquestions was it a blood clot you had? Poor you x

Yes pulmonary embolism and now have limited lung function (which I have to admit I blame on the doc who discharged me without CT which his 2 more senior colleagues had recommended) so I suffered in agony at home with it for 8 days. I am very lucky to be alive.

In my mind A&E should only be for ambulances and people told to go by walk in. I am sure I'm not thinking through some odd scenarios but for 90% that should be the case, surely?

@embolismquestions I'm so sorry. My Grandma died of DVT very suddenly after having her appendix removed in the 90s, she was only early 50s.

I agree, and the general consensus used to be A&E is only for things like broken bones or quite literal medical emergencies but that's changed. I've said to a few people I've had headache and dizziness for a week now, and the amount of people who have said I'd go up to a&e is ridiculous. But I bet so many would.

Indeed.

Why bother trying to provide a health service in the first place if that's the attitude?

reesewithoutaspoon that i didnt know. If it was a contracted out service, I’d never had known as it was all through the NHS at the hospital i had the previous scans at. It explains the efficiency .

I just wish urgent stuff was dealt with as efficiently as this was. I see the point about a routine scan being a known quantity too. It just felt wrong that something relatively unimportant worked was so fast and the woman who died in A&E and all the people on in this thread were so let down.

I totally agree with the sorry state of the NHS and it truly is scary

However, I am grateful that I appear to live in an area that is coping (South East), I was in A&E last night with my daughter who was having issues with her asthma and a viral cough - serious enough for a Dr to send us there - we went in at 1730 and were out by 2100 which I thought was pretty good.

When we went into adult A&E to "check in", it was busy but there was a lady doing the rounds with a tea trolley asking people if they wanted tea/coffee

How can some hospitals get it right and some so wrong? I live in a busy built up area too! It shouldn't be a postcode lottery

In some areas it is still good. Attending twice at different hospitals with real emergencies (ie life threatening). First was bluelighted into separate room and treated immediately, second, out within three hours. So it does work.

Some of the stories on here are so awful and scary. Does anyone have any ideas of how to help (other than voting of course). Are there any campaign groups etc I could join to push for overhaul and better funding? I know this is probably naive of me but worth asking.

@HereComesColinFrissel it is a postcode lottery but there are also places in the SE who are not coping. Not sure if we are allowed to name hospitals but mine was William Harvey in Ashford. Not a hugely poor area but has a very bad reputation. Now that Canterbury has closed we only have a choice between Ashford and Margate, both of which have been inspected and require improvements according to CQC. Although on the day they were inspected in 2023 apparently all A&E patients were seen within 15mins at WHH , which must be a joke😂

That's ridiculous that they said all patients were seen in 15 mins! I don't think that happened even when hospitals were functioning 🤦🏻‍♀️
It really isn't fair that some work and some don't, it's like russian roulette and we shouldn't be living like that in this day and age

I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you x

The address for serving the warrant is 10 Downing Street, London.