Why is A&E empty but building 4000 people hospitals?

[Luci459]

Been to A&E and it was dead!

Went to a children's hospital and it was also dead. We were the only people in there.

The media are saying the hospitals are over run? Groups of nurses and doctors huddling round in the hospitals I was in.

@Bubblebu Wed 01-Apr-20 03:37:03

There is no need to second guess the NHS.

Just do what your cancer nurse is asking you to do.

Email her your temperature daily.

You are not wasting her time by doing what she asked you to do.

You are wasting her time if you are ignoring her emails and making her send follow-ups.

Agreed, @mathanxiety.

@Bubblebu, just do what your nurse is asking. You don’t need to give any thought to whether she’s being redeployed! Likewise your oncologist, who clearly thought your condition merited trips to hospital to rule out a serious condition.

My mother just had cancer surgery — because her oncologist thought it was serious enough to need to be done now.

She is not sending me emails. I do have her email address but not because she (or any other NHS staff) have sent me emails themselves, all NHS appointments come by letters in the post. But after surgery my cancer nurse gave me her email address incase I needed it.
She is leaving me voicemails whilst I was out on my 1 hour worth of exercise per day.
I did not ignore it I just did not answer the phone because I was out.
Yes I really am (and have been for a while even before my surgery) scared to be in a hospital for many reasons not least because of C19.
And I do not think I am alone.

And last week she asked me to take a photo of my surgery scar and email it to her which I did.
If my temperature is C19 I would rather not know from a cancer nurse if that makes sense.

@Bubblebu

Please do as the nurse has asked. She is working in your best interests and you are not following guidelines. If you are worried about COVID-19 and want to be safe from complications/serious infection/death then you are putting yourself in harms way with your actions much more than your nurse is.

We are monitoring all our patients temperatures each day in high risk groups in order to identify an increase early - potentially going up before the patient even feels it - in order to test, treat or plan with them what we will do. Going out for exercise when you have had surgery and are high risk is foolish, keep fit at home.

Stay home, think smart and follow your clinicians advice. If you don’t and you do catch it you are at a higher risk of dying, so let your nurse protect you

That makes no sense, @Bubble.

I think a combination of

All the time wasters are staying at home

and the message to stay away/not overload the NHS. I've had lots of messages to not phone the surgery etc unless urgent, try to sort through the app. I phoned yesterday (urgent) & got through to reception straight away, never had that before.

Button I am guessing you work for the NHS but I do not.
I do not know what the guidelines are.
All I know is I have been through 6 months of chemo and cancer surgery; they put me on other medicines to induce menopause in a very short space of time resulting in extremely unpleasant hot flashes (I am in my 40s) which I have had throughout my chemo; so I have had on off "hot" (and not in a good way hot!) moments for months and months. And at the end of my recent treatment they told me to travel on public transport to A&E twice (and isolated me I assume because of C19) and hospital and GP surgeries multiple times. I was terrified of what I was exposing myself to but I did what I was told.
And yes the treatment was fantastic and I am very grateful.
I have a manual thermometer and I am not confident in my ability to take my temperature at the best of times.
The side effects of chemo were bad enough.
I am not exercising in a risky way, my social distancing is if anything extreme, but if I should very literally not go out of the house for 6 months I will go mad. Would you be able to do that?
And perhaps not being able to exercise is why I am posting all night long and not being able to sleep.

Sorry if this post sounds a bit ranty, I do not mean it to. But during my cancer treatment I was advised that gentle exercise (eg a half an hour walk) would aid recovery and that is why I have (only twice so far) taken a short walk round the village I live in.
I have no idea what is happening "inside" the NHS it all feels very unclear to me that is all I am saying.

The peak is estimated to be on the 12th of April, lets really hope and pray the hospitals are 'empty' by then, that will be an incredible achievement - a miracle some might say.

We are preparing for the biggest medical challenge of our lifetime, this is the quiet before the storm so to speak.

People aren't going to a and e because they are scared of covid.
Some of the activities that lead to going to a and e are not happening.

@Bubblebu one of the reasons that it’s confusing is because in the last couple of weeks the guidance and planning has changed so much (hourly sometimes! )
Most nurse specialists are working towards keeping people out/away from hospital, and directing them to ‘cold’ (non Covid) sites if possible if they need eg bloods taken. That’s why she’s asking you to email temperatures in. It doesn’t always make sense from the outside, although you can always ask.

If she is going to be redeployed, she will probably let you know in advance, someone should still be monitoring any calls etc. The nurse specialists (outside respiratory) are probably going to be some of the last to be moved.

People not turning up with a non emergency ailment due to fear of catching covid 19. Fewer genuine accidents due to the lockdown.
I know doctors from a few different hospitals, they tell me they have lots of covid patients but so long as they follow advice re not just turning up to A&E with a cough and fever they can keep people segregated for now.

OK Cold thank you
This does make me feel guilty about not taking my temperature and I will try to do that this morning but I really am not confident I will get it right; nor that between now and 12 April at some unknown time I will not get absolute radio silence phone wise from all NHS staff I have had contact with.

But maybe that is me...….
Of course it has been an hourly changing situation for almost everyone not just the NHS, I do appreciate that.
And it does feel stir crazy to be told by people that I very literally may not go out for up to 6 months. Most healthy people would find that very difficult and I realise it is being asked for my own good as well as the good of others but it feels extremely sad not even to be able to take a little half an hour walk.

People sick with coronavirus are not hanging Round a&e.

They’re either ok enough to be at home. Or they’re so sick they’re in hospital and either in icu or some form of semi high dependency ward on oxygen. It’s the wards where the pressure is.

"Fewer genuine accidents due to the lockdown"

How can one possibly know that? If people are not going to A&E due to fear of covid who knows what is going on in the home?

Accidents whilst cooped up inside? Domestic violence incidents? People trying to diagnose or treat themselves (incorrectly) at home? Mental health related incidents.
It could be anything.

i'm pretty sure accidents are more common at home than anywhere else.

Viva your post sounds extremely confident and if you work for the NHS then it sounds like the NHS are far far more certain of the way C19 is diagnosed than the general public is.

i'm pretty sure accidents are more common at home than anywhere else

Not road traffic accidents, football injuries, falls from ladders, stabbing etc. Most injuries caused at home are very minor. We just go to hospital as a precaution, especially if there's a lot of blood.

Soon
not true.
Maybe less RTAs because of work from home.
But football injuries might happen in a back garden, anyone at home might fall from a ladder and domestic violence whilst locked inside could involve stabbings or quite frankly anything.
If people are not going to A&E I am not really sure how the NHS is reaching the conclusion it is because there is less demand for it (although I do understand why they have tried to dissuade people from going and yes of course when A&E was open there would have been some yes some time wasters).

When you email your temp to the nurse, why not add in that you’re worried she’ll get redeployed & leave you hanging & ask if there’s a plan for that scenario.

In terms of temperature taking, I think there are instructions around on Internet. Is it an old mercury thermometer?
My tips - if you’re shaking it down, make sure you
a) have a good grip of it (don’t throw it at the ceiling).
b) make sure you’re not standing by a hard surface to smash it off.
c) if you’re doing underarm, don’t forget it’s in there & walk away, dropping it in the floor.
I’m not going to admit how I learned these lessons.

If you’re doing under tongue, leave at least half an hour from any very hot or cold drinks or food.

Wtf are you doing going out for exercise when you have just had cancer treatment? Bubblebu? I have just had cancer treatment ( last one 2 weeks before official lockdown) and I have not been allowed out at all since then! You are supposed to not go out at all for 12 weeks at least! What's the point of saving your life if you can't follow one simple rule? Yes it's driving me nuts I can't go out but I am on my 4 th week if lockdown. Send your temperatures in, answer your bloody phone do your bit!

Whenever I’ve been in A&E, it’s been full of drunk people who’ve been out partying. I’m guessing they’re just all at home!

@soontobe60

According to Rospa most accidents happen at home, football & falls from ladders would also occur in the home. Are stabbings commonly accidental?

Every year there are approximately 6,000 deaths as the result of a home accident (road traffic deaths are about 1.7-1.8k a yr)

More than two million children under the age of 15 experience accidents in and around the home every year, for which they are taken to accident and emergency units

Cold - sarcastic thank you
Sostenueto - were you told by the NHS you were not allowed to go out of your house at all after cancer treatment? Because I was not. The contrary actually I was told to go into hospital on multiple occasions whilst on chem and just before my surgery on public transport.

When I went out yesterday briefly did not see one person. Not a single soul. It was very literally a half an hour walk around the village I live in.