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.

@AlwaysCheddar

Op is right to ask. 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. One person says beds are empty, another sats London nightingale is being used (but it’s closed)... too many ‘stories’.

I’d like to know how many people have died of Covid alone - and none of this in the past 28 days rubbish.

@AlwaysCheddar, does this help?

twitter.com/katymcconkey/status/1343605350579269632?s=21

@ghostyslovesheets

no others could counter the facts with other facts - that's a discussion - telling me my facts are biased as the news is owned by big pharma and 5g is killing people and Bill Gates wants to microchip me is not factual - it's bollox

This ^

You could go much harsher and weld people’s doors shut like they did in Wuhan

Tired of people constantly dragging this out as though it's in any way symbolic of China's strategy. That happened in about a dozen cases out of a billion when the authorities panicked cos they didn't know what was going on.

Instead I'll give an example of what is symbolic do China's response: there are probably still more Chinese people wearing masks in crowded outdoor spaces than there are British people doing the same. And that's despite China having zero daily deaths for more than half a year and the UK currently having 500+ every day. Different Outlook. They are questioning our concepts of human rights every bit as much as we are questioning theirs.

My son is a doctor in the Midlands. I will not say where. In his hospital at the moment bed occupation is very high, and the projection is that it will reach capacity either just before or just after New Year. The critical factor being staff rather than beds (which are already largely full). At this point, ambulance crews will need to find space wherever they can which will not be easy. He likened it to flood water about to burst the banks, with staff anxiously watching to see if they can cope with the numbers.

@RedToothBrush

BIL is an A&E consultant.

We asked him how things were at work. He was cagey about it. Said it was worse than its been in previous years (always said it was incredibly stressful in December / January). Said he'd been working extra unplanned shifts over Christmas as there'd be staff shortages and he'd had to go in as an emergency (unheard of). Said it was far more diffiult to get things done and it was taking longer due to the limitations of PPE. He said they were coping but only just.

But it was the cageiness that really was the most telling thing. He's never been like before.

He's in a T3 area with a low incidence of the new strain. So not one of the worst affected areas.

So yeah its bad.

But why believe me and his account than the news reports like this one:

news.sky.com/story/covid-news-live-latest-uk-updates-pressure-mounts-on-englands-hospitals-as-vaccine-patients-receive-booster-jabs-12174643
COVID news live - Warning of six-hour waits as ambulances back up outside hospitals

Unless you are a gigantic bellend who wants to encourage conspiracy bullshit and put lives at risk and put staff under even greater pressure?

This is coming from people who actively don't want to believe it because its doesn't suit them. Its inconvient. They would rather be in denial.

We've had a friend of DH just this week, spout bullshit about how a friend of ours has long term covid complications because she took drugs in her youth. Which is fabricated bullshit. She's in her 40s and fit and healthy. He's obese in his 50s and a prime candidate for problems - he just doesn't like the restrictions. He's a bellend at the best of times but he's outdone himself with this one.

Its disgusting what people will say / do to justify the unjustifible.

And this^

Saves me replying to all the people downplaying this crisis in yet another thread.

I can well imagine @Kidsaregrim ,when I was a nurse that was my experience of NHS managers ,and that was a long time before COVID

Kent is at -100 beds. They need to transfer 10 critical care patients out urgently but cannot do so as there is nowhere for them to go and no ambulance to take them. It might have changed as that was 10am. Most of South is at OPEL 4.
There are problems with oxygen supplies and pressure. People transferred from Maidstone to Tunbridge Wells last night to get oxygen.
Now prioritising military support as demand is higher than they can meet.
Over 340 people in one emergency department in South East. ( hour ambulance stacks at another hospital. 14 hour wait to be seen in emergency departments. One trust using their x ray department to accommodate patients. No hospitals without ambulance stacking.
Tragically one trust had a member of staff die yesterday, has two of their doctors in critical care and 12 very poorly in other hospital wards.
No scaremongering. The hospitals in the south are seeing huge demand that they are only just coping with. There are no more places to hide extra beds and no more staff to care for people.

There were 1094 bed occupied with Covid patients on mechanical ventilation as of Dec 3 and there were 84 thousand NHS staff off sick. I wonder what the upcoming data for the current month will show.

NHS Gov data

www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/

Title: COVID-19 daily situation report
Summary: Summary information from the daily situation reports including bed occupancy, admissions, diagnosis, discharges and staff absences.
Period: Data as reported on 03-Dec-20
Source: COVID-19 NHS Situation Report
Basis: Provider
Published: Thursday, December 10, 2020
Status: Published
Contact: [email protected]

Beds data - reporting the position as at 08:00 on Thursday, December 03, 2020

Mechanical Ventilation beds
Beds occupied Beds occupied by confirmed COVID-19 patients
England 3,693 1,094
East of England 291 81
London 1,038 256
Midlands 588 244
North East and Yorkshire 528 167
North West 503 178
South East 453 110
South West 292 58

Total beds
Beds occupied Beds occupied by confirmed COVID-19 patients
England 113,058 12,896
East of England 11,898 1,035
London 18,556 1,685
Midlands 21,592 2,843
North East and Yorkshire 17,405 2,551
North West 16,756 2,434
South East 15,752 1,442
South West 11,099 906

Staffing data - reporting the 24 hour period of

Total number of staff absent from work through sickness or self isolation? Of which, the number of COVID-19 related absences of staff, either through sickness or self-isolation?
England 84,999 32,280
East of England 6,858 2,429
London 9,208 3,129
Midlands 19,506 8,422
North East and Yorkshire 16,632 6,242
North West 15,335 5,656
South East 9,813 3,570
South West 7,647 2,832

It's definately worse than April.

Our ward has been a red ward twice year, it's only a matter of time till we are again due to oxygen supplies running out.

Most wards in our hospital are slowly turning to red ward due to increased admissions over christmas off covid patients.

There are NO extra beds!!

A&E was the busiest it's ever been on boxing day and still we had admissions from elderly men climing ladders in a storm!!!!

We all need to be safe and act safe.

From a worn out, worked throughout christmas nurse.

What about the drunken fools on NYE

@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.

Nope, staff are desperately trying to get the word out, no one is pick it up. Several organisations are trying to get the news out. It’s horrific.

I’m a healthcare professional and it’s getting worse.
It’s not just the fact that we need covid beds, we need normal beds for normal winter illnesses and staff sickness is always higher this time of year too, even more so this year when everyone is at rock bottom because no one has had a respite from anything while things were relaxed in the summer because when covid wards weren’t needed for covid, they were filled with sick sick patients who had neglected to come to hospital in the first wave due to the fear.

But people have decided to believe what they want and will do what they want regardless of this information.

Just as a quick aside to the point about staff off sick across numerous industries (not just nhs) - I know 2 people personally who were off sick with “covid symptoms” because they fancied Christmas off... not saying all are doing that, but it’s a fair assumption that there’s a decent proportion that are!

@MrsBlobby43

My brother works on a covid ward. Couple of weeks ago he had 24 patients in. As of yesterday 168! Not all on ventilation but a good majority.

My goodness....

That's a vast increase in workload.

While I don't work on the wards, I see the effects of lockdown down on people's health daily. I work as a mental health nurse with kids and teenagers, and the amount of young people who have become seriously mentally unwell as a result of lockdown is staggering. I understand that we have to curtail the virus but kids not having stability and predictability in their day is having serious consequences

My daughter is ward sister of an orthopaedic ward. Except it isn't any more. It's a Covid ward and has been for six weeks. She's nursing Covid patients wearing no more PPE than a blue mask (like everyone wears to the supermarket) and a plastic apron. So yes, of course she and most of her colleagues have gone down with Covid themselves.

In no other winter has her ward needed to be appropriated for, say, flu patients. This isn't a normal winter flu season in hospital.

@mummyoneboy19

Just as a quick aside to the point about staff off sick across numerous industries (not just nhs) - I know 2 people personally who were off sick with “covid symptoms” because they fancied Christmas off... not saying all are doing that, but it’s a fair assumption that there’s a decent proportion that are!

Relative had temp, heavy sweating..{So much so I had to take fresh bedding as they were isolating} and they looked dreadful {Young healthy person} NHS said to go for a Covid test.

It came back negative.

Clearly other lurgies about at the moment.

I work on an elective surgery ward in South of England tier 2 currently but elective surgery has been stopped since just before Christmas.
We now have mostly elderly medical & dementia patients without Covid who have been moved out of the Medical wards to make room for all the patients (believe me there are many) with Covid).

However we constantly have bank staff coming to work on our ward from Covid wards, porters & Estates dept staff coming in who have been all over the hospital so how long will we stay Covid free??

We have to do the test at home for Covid twice weekly.
Personally I can't wait to get the vaccine.

@saraclara

My daughter is ward sister of an orthopaedic ward. Except it isn't any more. It's a Covid ward and has been for six weeks. She's nursing Covid patients wearing no more PPE than a blue mask (like everyone wears to the supermarket) and a plastic apron. So yes, of course she and most of her colleagues have gone down with Covid themselves.

In no other winter has her ward needed to be appropriated for, say, flu patients. This isn't a normal winter flu season in hospital.

That is outrageous.

Nursing staff need decent PPE..Not a flimsy 'Supermarket' mask...A proper ventilator type mask {Uncomfortable to wear, but safer}

I don’t mean they were ill - I mean they were lying about being ill so that they could have Xmas off.

One of the people I know are NHS too.

I’ve worked through this pandemic ( nhs nurse ) I was covid positive in April . Was very sick with it but thankful I survived . I work frontline on an acute medical unit . Myself and my colleagues are drained . We are shattered . We are demoralised . Things are definitely ramping up again. The “ escalation “ beds on the unit I work on opened again yesterday as the hospital rescued capacity . At work we all know a third wave is coming .

@purplepoppet92

While I don't work on the wards, I see the effects of lockdown down on people's health daily. I work as a mental health nurse with kids and teenagers, and the amount of young people who have become seriously mentally unwell as a result of lockdown is staggering. I understand that we have to curtail the virus but kids not having stability and predictability in their day is having serious consequences

Very valid point and important to hear from people like yourself working directly with these patients...no one will listen on this thread though as all they sadly want to hear is wards are packed out and that we need another lockdown.

Reached not rescued

@AlwaysCheddar

Op is right to ask. 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. One person says beds are empty, another sats London nightingale is being used (but it’s closed)... too many ‘stories’.

I’d like to know how many people have died of Covid alone - and none of this in the past 28 days rubbish.

I lost two people close to me to Covid. They both had underlying conditions, but it was Covid that killed them. Had they not caught Covid they'd be alive today. Their condition would not have killed them. Covid did.

It's ridiculous to say that somehow these people don't count, because their bodies couldn't fight the virus as well as other people's. THEY STILL DIED OF COVID. The mention of other conditions alongside it on their death certificate means nothing. Covid killed them.

Paediatrics and we are much quieter than usual. Doing elective surgery but nowhere near pre Covid levels. Our PICU has only had two children in with just Covid. There have been others with it, but were in for other reasons.