No wonder the NHS is short of money.

[Crispypen]

Dad has now been in hospital for 2 whole weeks. He has no medical need to be there. He had some pain and was advised by GP to go to A&E.

A&E doctor wanted a scan. He was in hospital for 8 days before he got the scan and has now been waiting a further 5 days for someone to tell him the outcome of the scan.

He is getting absolutely no medical treatment. They do his routine obs everyday, but he's not on a drip or any medication, receiving no medical care, just waiting.

He's been told he could leave, but if he does he won't be in the system anymore and needs to start from scratch with GP.

According to ward staff, this is not unusual.

Apart from being horrible for the patient, the cost must be huge, and presumably "they" know, but are unable/unwilling to fix it.

Can anyone in the know shed any light on why such inefficiency can't be avoided?

Wes Streeting did ask for any suggestions tohelp improve the NHS. Defintely forward your information to him with the hospital name.

Ah interesting. I knew I liked him! I will do that.

Why does he need an urgent scan? Do they think he may need urgent surgery? Or are they looking for a condition that may mean he deteriorates rapidly? If he's had the scan can't he be followed up in clinic with the results or with his Gp?

I've worked in many hospitals and this isn't usual practice. Most scans can be easily changed from Inpatient to outpatient, and if a patient isn't at risk of needing urgent surgery they can be discharged and followed up. This is usual practice. Most of our inpatients get scans within a day or two and results in hours to a day or two.

It sounds like the hospital are trying to get your dad his scan as quick as possible, but he's also probably lowest priority in the hospital, as not receiving any medical care, and therefore others with more urgent need bump him.He could obviously leave, and accept that he ultimately doesn't need an urgent scan and therefore be followed up with his GP.

The way to solve this would be to not admit your dad in the first place and make him follow up with the GP. Thay would obviously take longer for him but yes would save the NHS money

Well known issue unfortunately. My aunt was kept in hospital for 4 months because her care company refused to provide her at home care due to level of care required and the hospital wouldn’t release her without a care plan. She was almost scratching at the walls after 3 weeks, If she could have, she would have discharged herself. It’s ridiculous.
There was an article in the BBC about it a couple of years ago saying that a percentage of beds taken up are by the elderly waiting for at home care or suitable accommodation.

They will be prioritising inpatients. But they will prioritise inpatients who are say airway risk, head injury, high risk deterioration, bleeding, trauma, at risk of needing urgent surgery, sepsis etc. Your dad is obviously medically well, not deteriorating so he is not a priority for a scan. He will get bumped when someone as above needs a scan or a report

Normally you have an inpatient radiology list which completely seperate to your outpatient list. They don't mingle. It's just that there is a lot of patients on the Inpatient list who are likely way more sick than your dad.

The only way to resolve this is to a) not admit your dad, or make him wait longer for his scan as an outpatient or b) increase capacity.

That happened to me once.. had a gallstone attack and they kept me in 2 weeks even though I was fine after the attack.
But these days it feels like they chuck people out way too early

Some health authorities have whole arrays of accountants who add up the totals that should be paid but no one claims it. That'd require a whole raft more people.

The NHS is not set up to deal with it.

When I was staying at a BiL’s place in France, an elderly fellow guest was taken ill in the night. An ambulance arrived pretty quickly but he had a heart attack shortly before it left - he was ‘brought back’ by the medics,

I had sat with him until the ‘pompiers’ arrived, and he’d told me where his paperwork was (all in a small bag) so that went with him.

Dh and I visited him the following morning (big hospital in Dijon) - he was unconscious, and the first thing any of the staff asked us, was whether he had insurance.