Hospital staff, tell us the reality

[Ihateme]

I’m am so fed up of seeing people comment on here that schools should be going back, that people should not be reporting mass gatherings in tier 4, how dare people begrudge a child their birthday party etc...

The hospitals are in a worse state now than they were during the first peak. Would any doctors or nurses care to confirm this? Maybe then these Mumsnetters will get the message.

@Smileyk

South Wales, the extra temp morgue facilities were closed. New super duper hospital opened, bigger morgue, backup in old hospital. They are now re-opening the extra temp morgue facilities as they've run out (or about to run out) of spaces in both hospitals....

That is horrifying!

Fed up of conspiracy theorists. If I read one more "Educate yourself" or "do the research" I'll crack. There was quite a few health workers (proclaiming to be at least) on social media today, stating that hospitals were empty. One had posted videos of the inside of a hospital.

Oddly one said she was a secretary and then a few comments later she said she was a nurse. No one picked up on it. Bit worrying that people will believe what these people say.

Paula yes and even conditions like eczema, glaucoma are included in the underlying conditions. The language used by people like JHB is shockingly ableist and should be called out. I'm so so weary of it.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

One minute media tells us we’re all going to die then says the next minute that only 371 deaths have been due to Covid with no other prevailing health factors

Hang on, where did the 371 come from?? The NHS figures back in September said it was about 1300 if memory serves, though admittedly that was for all ages ... is the 371 for an age-specific group perhaps?

In March and April there were 3264 deaths in England and Wales, of people who had no preexisting heath condition. I haven't been able to find the total to date but obviously more than 3264 and many, many more than 371.

So where that 371 came from is beyond me.

www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/numberofdeathsinvolvingcovid19withnopreexistinghealthconditionsbyage

@Kidsaregrim
Big hugs. My ex H worked within the NHS so I understand the bullying only too well. I, myself, waited nearly 6 hours in a wheelchair in excruciating agony in A & E last year, watching the staff work themselves into the ground and that was pre COVID. I wondered at the time why anyone would want to do such a thankless, heavy job - but was bloody grateful for the staff being there at all (even more so when someone had a free 15 mins to jab me with the morphine.... didn’t even care that I was probably snoring my box off on a trolley in a corridor afterwards).
It’s unfair & it’s not right, but I, for one, thank each and every one of the frontline staff.

I work in a hospital in Surrey. We currently have almost double the number of COVID patients than in April, plus a lot of staff members off sick. Back in April not that many staff members were positive.

I was working in a hospital & at the beginning of the year & it was packed & busy with covid patients being admitted however it did die down a bit during the middle of the year. I don't know what it's like at the moment as I've been out of work for a while & haven't spoken to any Dr's or nurses.

But even if the media/government are using scare tactics to over exaggerate the situation it is only because some silly people are not taking it seriously & are going about their business as usual & are causing more cases therefore making it unfair on the people who are following guidelines & trying to calm the situation. If people carry on behaving like that then it will get out of control & more lives will be lost.

@Abijay1
Thanks for your candid post. It makes things very clear for me with the emotion taken out.

Lightthefuse
Virtual hug

Hospital staff and care staff sign paperwork to say they won't say all the details to the media or social media anyway so unlikely you will hear much from them

Nurse in largish hospital. We have about 300 Covid patients in and about 30 of those are in ITU. When the second wave hit we were having 30 Covid admissions a day, which is the size of one ward. We had to stop our elective surgeries etc again, including urgent (eg cancer/cardiac) surgery.

I'm in Dublin. We've sent first responders up to the North to help out as the situation is so bad up there. They have more positive cases and deaths today than us and have had for a while now. We have a population of about 5 million. They have about 1 and a half million.

@Bebs677 where did I say I thought the picture in my local hospital was the same everywhere? The OP asked what the local situation was, I answered. Don't put words in my mouth to suit your narrative.

I work in a fairly small district hospital. We got through the first wave pretty unscathed really, we were lucky.

This time round it’s a bit different. Today I heard the news that we are opening up theatres to use as extra ICU beds as we are nearing capacity, this means elective surgery will be cancelled. We have a lot more staff sickness than before and coupled with the fact that we are generally in escalation over the winter anyway, even without Covid, things feel different this time round, a lot tougher if I’m honest.

I’m a children’s mental health nurse. Our referrals have quadrupled if not more. The next pandemic will be a mental health one. No schools, routine, social interaction, unpredictability is damaging for young people.

@gemgemgemgemgem

I’m a children’s mental health nurse. Our referrals have quadrupled if not more. The next pandemic will be a mental health one. No schools, routine, social interaction, unpredictability is damaging for young people.

I agree. I feel so sad for my teenagers. Lockdown causes so many terrible side effects, mental health in the young and mental and physical deterioration in the older population (who I mainly work with). I don’t know which is the greater evil, the virus it’s self, or the knock of effects of prolonged periods of isolation. The whole thing is just shit!

@zigaziga

You know you can fully believe that COVID is real and that hospitals are under a lot of pressure as well as questioning whether it’s right to lock up your population and destroy the economy for the next 10 years for it? - and to question how much of an impact on the total deaths the later will even have?

Has it always been understood that once hospitals near full capacity that we take away freedoms? People are right to debate this.

Questions for you....Are you happy to nominate your parents for death row?

@Abijay1 Thank you for ALL you do. From an ex ward sister.

@Trollsinthedungeon

My work is sending people home but only because we do cardiac surgery and covid patients are now in our cardiac icu so we can't do the surgery as there are no beds. We are licensed for 5 ecmo patients at one time by nhs England but we have 45 now so that's going to be a mental bill to pay. Weird one of six ecmo centres in the uk and we've been taking patients from Scotland and down south for a few weeks now.

We're lucky though in that we have a lot of ecmo machines and the staff who are trained to deal with them so we can literally make bays and bays of ecmo patients

@Trollsinthedungeon - I know someone whose life was saved after many weeks on an ECMO machine. He is in his 40s and had no pre existing conditions.

Thank you to you and your colleagues for what you do.

I want to know too! I keep seeing on here posts from nhs workers (well they say they are) who say its not as bad as media are making out.. then the next post is another nhs worker saying its really bad! I personally believe its bad... but is it? Id love to hear from nhs staff too..

Please name the hospitals where there is mismanagement. And let's start writing to our MPs , hospital management, trusts to make things happen.

Nhs nurse for 30 years.
The situation is horrendous.
I do not feel morally it would be right to share in any public forum some of the things I’m witnessing.
Suffice to say- this is not a hoax. Lives are being lost. I’ve lost colleagues too. This virus can take the life of young / old , sick and healthy.
Please - stay home, follow and respect the official guidelines.
Quite literally all our lives may depend on it

urkidding
I doubt anyone will name and shame.
Despite what they say at the induction of new staff events, the NHS does not really like whistleblowers.

I think that people literally can't imagine what it is like to work in these situations. I remember vividly the first acute death I witnessed as a care assistant, before doing my training to be a nurse. Before then, I had looked after people in a nursing home and the deaths were somewhat expected. That first acute death will stay with me forever - I remember conversations I had with the relative beforehand, professional conversations, the sequence of events leading up to the patient's death. I remember his face, before and after the failed attempt to resuscitate. That was the first of hundreds of deaths I've witnessed. It's something you sadly get used to, but still it has an impact, often for different reasons each time.

There is no hoax here. I was at hospital today with my DD and I asked the Sister how things were going. She knew I used to work at the hospital. She simply said 'don't ask, it's horrendous'. Sickness levels high, staff self-isolating. Trying to segregate patients without the infrastructure. It's not a good situation.

@Cheeseboardandmincepies

The news is scare mongering at its finest, however if you actually researched it online you’ll find everything you need to know. The media are making it out worse.

So why have they stopped schools opening fully again......

I’m a teacher - secondary and infection rates in school are widespread