Should hospital outpatient shut?

[Zombiemum1946]

Should hospitals shut their outpatients departments and staff redeployed (is it unreasonable) ? If you're keeping kids off school would you still take them to a hospital app ? I work there and there're over 2000+ people pass through the outpatients dept every week . The depts are scattered all over the hospital and inpatients are seen in the clinics as well as outpatients. Appointments are generally 10-15 mins apart so you can't deep clean between patients. The waiting rooms are usually packed as is the cafe.

They are closed here. My husband has cancer and his outpatient appointment was cancelled as the hospital has cancelled all non-emergency cases.

I'm an outpatient and I will have to sit in the hospital for hours this week as my treatment can't be delayed as I will get sicker. Its not overly serious but I'm already weakened and if I get weaker then I'm at risk of getting corona virus.. .

On the other hand going to the hospital could give me corona virus. Last week it was business as usual and it was so busy inside the hospital. Rammed in some places. I can't win, damned if i do and damned if I don't.

No. You can't just ignore every other medical need to cater for COVID-19 prevention.

I agree that not all outpatient appointments should be cancelled. For example what about people who have monthly injections with Macula degeneration to preserve their sight? Mostly over 75s. These people absolutely have to keep attending as otherwise they could be blind by the time things go back to normal.

Yes. Our acute hospital has been cancelling outpatient appointments already. Mine (in next two weeks) were somewhat urgent, I have a related condition . It's a difficult balance for the medical teams. I think it's the right call though. The hospitals and facilities - that are already full- will be needed for the seriously ill coronavirus patients.

I am terrified of everywhere closing. Dd has what we think is a part-dislocated hip, pelvis looks completely twisted, one leg shorter than the other, and is in so much pain she can't sleep at night, hasn't been able to get a GP appt until April (which may well have disappeared by then), worried permanent damage will result. The school doctor is convinced she needs an x-ray, but even before corona it was so hard to get even a GP appt for a referral. Walk-in clinic refused to see her.

For some yes!

Today in our xray department, we had patients waiting well over an hour for things like hips and knees before potential surgery. Given that the likelihood of them having joint replacement surgery anytime soon is pretty remote, they just clogged up the waiting room and kept complaining. They were exposed to each other in close proximity all that time. We had to halt inpatients from wards in order to clear the backlog, so poorly in patients ended up waiting longer. Our workload has increased 10 fold in terms of mobile xrays done in isolation wards, which means radiographers are out of the department longer. Routine theatre is still going on alongside the emergencies which also takes radiographers away from xray. And staff are already going off sick...

*GrumpyHoonMain

Some hospitals have started some outpatients clinics in hotels etc. There is also discussion that pregnancy scans may be outsourced to a private provider so pregnant women go into hospitals as little as possible.*

Now that is an excellent idea, particularly for more vulnerable groups. Obviously some op clinics are essential to maintain health in some people.

Completely depends. I’ve had outpatient apps for Acne, suspect mole checks, fracture clinic after a car accident.

The acne apps could wait, suspect mole checks absolutely not, fracture clinic absolutely not but could this possibly be done in the community??

Agree with the other poster that it’s easy for people to think that outpatient means not urgent or important but they are in many, many cases. 2 week cancer pathway is normally all outpatient apps.

Unless you’re a minor, potentially about to be told bad news (cancer pathway) or are elderly I’m not sure why you’d need a family member there tho so that can be knocked on the head for sure. I still don’t understand why people treat a hospital visit like a family outing, it’s the same in A&E.

Blood tests for our patients are generally done by GP practice.
My routine blood test cannot always be done at my local gp centre as by the time it gets to my hospital it doesnt gjve a true reading. I have a hosp appoint on thursday and i got a letter to.say i definately need to attend as my last bloods done at gp centre were down and i need to be checked properly. I cant wait another 6 weeks for a blood test or to see my Dr. Its a royal pia doing a round trip of about 2.5 hrs (last time it was 4hrs!) for a blood test and 10 minutes appoint but its better than the alternative!
Many 'check ups' are very important to stop a condition deteriorating.

Essential appointments that cant wait will go ahead, but pre ops and elective surgery will mostly be cancelled. Anaesthetists are able to run an intensive care unit so they can be redeployed to staff theatres turned into makeshift intensive care units, as they have ventilation equipment inbuilt. It's scary times but if things go the way they have in Italy we will need to prioritise. I am so proud of all the NHS staff you are superheroes.

@emmabridgewater20 most people take someone with them for support or as an escort. Some are scared of hospitals, are forgetful, are underage, have special needs, mental health issues, worried relatives who want to ask questions, tests that can make travel home difficult, have no-one to collect kids or look after them. We don't question the reasons as it's personal choice, we've had this discussion with infection control and the patients wishes and needs come first. We've had consultations with whole families present including relatives on speaker phone.

@willow2017 that's a good point and it would be perfectly feasible for a blood clinic to be set up. All you need is a blood trolley , sharps box and a couch. If Pre assessment clinics are slimmed (urgent only) down or suspended, those staff could easily be doing bloods on a drop in or appointment basis. With consultants triaging clinic lists and mangers reorganising clinical area use, it could be done.

Well at my O.P. I go in to the dept, get my blood done straight away and go sit outside my consultants door . There are usually only about a dozen people in and out there for appoints with 4 different Drs all the time i am there. I have to wait up to an hour for my results before i even see the Dr. The main waiting area is for other op patients seeing different specialists. All the bloods are done in one room off the waiting room no need to set up anywhere else. I dont see how moving us all somewhere else would help.at all.

It will probably be in the works for anything none life threatening. Give it time.

Too simplistic a question. Outpatients is a very wide umbrella of symptoms, conditions and so on, including things that are critical to health or will become critical to health if treatment is delayed.

It's one thing to delay assessment of my runners knee until next summer, but Mandy's broken arm in a cast needs follow-up appointments to be kept, Joe's sight loss needs to be investigated now before it becomes permanent, and Caitlyn's cancer referral needs to be followed up on.