I don't doubt there are very serious resourcing problems at the moment, but in my past experience I have sensed a deep-rooted belief amongst some who work in hospitals (and that won't include those posting here) that patients don't deserve to have a view about how they are being treated or how long they have to wait, and if they do express a view this is 'demanding'.
In such cases, under-resourcing is invoked as an excuse for patient neglect and contempt, whereas in actual fact it is more likely to be poor management or indeed an inappropriate attitude towards patient care, lacking compassion. I am saying this because I've gradually seen it creep across to the private sector as well, so I don't actually think it has a great deal to do with money at the end of the day, and more with a shift in the nature of professionalism.
Why do I think this? It's because of what happens to you if you have the experience of turning up to an empty department, i.e. when there is no good reason for a wait, when departments are clearly not on a war footing.
- We turned up to an NHS A and E once on a Monday morning about five years ago after DH had fractured his arm in multiple places, and it was actually empty apart from the receptionists. They had completely cleared it. I checked all the bays. Nothing, nobody. Peeked around all the various areas, empty (I work in the hospital sometimes, so I know the A and E behind scenes layout quite well). I asked where everyone was, as I was starting to feel a bit weird at the thought of an empty A and E, as though we were about to find ourselves starring in an episode of Black Mirror or 28 Days Later or something. The receptionists confirmed it was completely empty, they had cleared it. We still had to wait an hour to be seen. Was everyone off on a collective tea-break after a busy time of it? Probably. Would this be acceptable in my industry? Actually, I think if students were left waiting an hour in a reception area with absolutely no explanation for a delay and no proper idea what was going on, with no contact from any professionals at all, during office hours, they might have grounds for complaint. And they wouldn't be in pain with broken arms.
- Another time DC3 fell over and bashed his head and we had to wait over an hour to be seen then as well. This time we were in an empty children's A and E and I was actually in early labour. I finally approached a cluster of nurses having a cup of tea in a room with a sign that instructed me not to knock as they were dealing with patients. They were absolutely not dealing with patients and they had been in there en masse for the whole hour we had been there. I informed them we would be leaving as nobody had seen us, it was over the magic hour, and I needed to get back home as I was in labour. Like a miracle they suddenly stirred and found a doctor to see us. They had basically forgotten we were out there, and not been checking the waiting room at regular intervals. I might give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were completing lots of patient paperwork but in actual fact I suspect from their furtive reaction that they were just skiving off.
- Then there was the private hospital which, despite the fact that it was half empty one night, decided it was too much trouble to feed everyone who had been having late afternoon and early evening surgery. Instead, the main nurse in charge went around people who had been starved all day for jaw surgery and told them the kitchen was closed and they wouldn't be able to have anything to eat unless they could manage a sandwich (which we had all been told by the consultant not to eat, for blindingly obvious reasons). I had to send DH to the local Tesco to get me something; later I found out special soft food had been left for us but the nurse simply hadn't bothered to go into the kitchen to collect it. This was on top of the recovery nurse neglecting to give me the post-operative pain relief drugs I had been written up for because she just felt disinclined to do so, and when I explained I was in a lot of pain and I thought I should have had something, who told me I should expect to be in a lot of pain as I had just had an operation. As I say, lacking compassion. Disliking patients. Finding them a nuisance.
So why is this? Lots of reasons, but the more patients as seen as cost-centres and commodities by the organisations who treat them, the worse it is surely going to get (and I include large private healthcare organisations and insurers in my criticism). It is not the NHS, it is a sign of the times and one I am not very happy about.