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.

Same as what kidsaregrim and the other midwives have said.

Add to that impending continuity plans for midwifery (which 80% + of midwives don't want or can't do) and there is another real threat to the profession looming.

In answer to the op, the trust I work for is inundated with covid patients. Easily as bad as the first wave.

@RedToothBrush I think the problem is that there are lots of “absolute bellends” about and that’s why we’re still in the same/ worse predicament 9 months later 🤔.
Hats off to your BIL, I hope he’s keeping safe.

Ran into an acquaintance who's wife works in adult ICU. They've got three units open. But when I last checked the majority ate not Covid patients. Our trust briefing publishes numbers a couple of times a week and it's about 250 positive patients. In t trust if about 3000 beds.

We have an A&E nurse in the family. Tier 4. Worked nights Xmas Eve and 3 nights since. She is exhausted, it's just work, sleep, repeat. Much busier than usual winter after the summer/Autumn slump when some people stayed away. She says lots of staff are off sick and it's only working with a great team that keeps her going at times.

I heard that Bath hospital (tier 2) is struggling as 300 staff are currently off with symptoms/being tested and that cases are going up there. My friend works there.

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

Agreed. The Covid positive patient
I looked after, died from his brain tumour. But will still have been classed as a Covid death.

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

It only takes a modicum of intelligence to realise that this isn't like every other NHS winter crisis though is it.

Debate all you like later but right now is not the the time for dithering and whining about human rights.

Now is the time for every single person to reflect and think about how they'd feel if their mother/father/whoever fell down the stairs and got injured other injuries and illness available, requiring hospital treatment; and how they'd feel if said loved one was in the ambulance for 8 hours waiting to be handed over but they can't because there's literally no one to hand over too. That's if the ambulance actually manages to get to them to administer treatment and pain relief.

All the deniers are in for an awful shocking the next few weeks sadly.

@Allispretty

That’s not true . We all know lockdown has its consequences as well , but don’t you realise why people with Mental Health problems can not get all the help they need as well ? Because as was mentioned on another thread a lot of the teams are themselves off sick with the virus .With the new strain that is obviously spreading really fast it’s even more important to get it under control .There is no perfect answer . Half the population will disagree whatever happens . But at the moment the best we all can do it limit contact and try and reduce cases as much as possible .

I know most people won’t listen to the government but at least listen to the the nurses and doctors . Their message is clear .

@Kidsaregrim

That must vary between trusts then because I know at a hospital near us front line staff have been getting the vaccine .

That’s is something I do hate about the whole NHS trust system . It’s a postcode lottery

The thing is, you can't just think of staffing in terms of 1 patient = 1 nurse in ICU. To turn a patient takes 3 nurses - 1 for the head (tube), 1 for upper body, 1 for lower body. To prone turn a patient takes at least 5 staff, including an airway trained doctor. When you overfill the ward with patients, you have to make choices that are not ideal. Patients may get turned less frequently than normal, nurses don't get breaks, etc.

Not NHS here but Police. Half of my team are off currently as 5 tested postive with 2 days so anyone they worked with are now off too self isolating. We now are working 14hr shifts and having rest days cancelled to cover other teams in the same situation.
I was outside an A&E in London the other day and it was packed! Ambulances were being turned away to other hospitals.
We are all exhausted and it seems things are only getting worse 😔
Sending all the strength I left to our NHS as they need it.

*Strength I have left

@SpikedTea thank you for the work you do. Personally I think all emergency service workers and NHS staff should have been first for vaccine.

To the people on here saying we shouldn't lock down... what do you think of the countries who controlled covid by locking down from the start, where people can go out and stimulate the local economy now, eat in the restaurants, get coffee, see their families, browse the shops etc? Attempting an elimination strategy, even if not 100% successful, has protected their economies and especially the small, local businesses. Would you not like to be in their shoes? Do you still think we did the right thing?

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’m really struggling to understand why the fuck this matters? Aren’t the deaths of nearly 70,000 people who would still be alive and quite happily walking about if they hadn’t caught it enough for you? The reality is that unless you are young (not middle aged) and in peak physical fitness, you could find yourself in real trouble.

@laurely

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 .

A HCP I heard of in April was extremely ill with Covid. The person was not in any 'Risk' group, and middle aged.

I'm not a Praying type, but I literally prayed the person would pull through.

They did...By being nursed by their fellow colleagues.

Their job meant they ''had'' to get up close and personal with patients.

Full on respects for all working in Front line of this crisis.

Father in Law died alone in Hospital, collateral damage because of not getting routine treatment in time. {Cancer related, not Covid}

But a kindly Nurse sat with him {so we were told}

Hope this was the case ...That she did have time to be with him as he slipped away.

It must be hard for staff.

@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

Waves from a London ECMO centre, we have been full for weeks, one in one out but because of the service only a proportion are London patients the rest are SE, SW and east. Routine surgery has stopped so our ITU beds are once again expanding into non level 3 areas.

And for those who think covid only kills the old and the sick, the average age in my ITU is 43 (21-59) most had nothing serious wrong with them before otherwise they wouldn't have been offered ECMO and would now be dead. Its sobering and quite frankly terrifying

I was treated in A&E as a priority 2 weeks ago. There were patients in beds in the corridors all around.

Had I had to wait an hour for a bed I wouldn't have been able to have the time critical treatment I did receive. That will be the reality of cases continue to soar. Our local hospitals struggle every winter it can't cope with a 10% increase on top of the usual.

[quote Travelledtheworld]@SpikedTea thank you for the work you do. Personally I think all emergency service workers and NHS staff should have been first for vaccine.[/quote]
Same here.

Front line Workers first.

Dh is a hospital consultant. Over 200 Covid patients in our local hospital, ITU basically full. Elective surgery stopped. Clinics beginning to get cancelled, and face to face clinics converted to telephone again - the outpatient nurses have been redeployed to the wards.
He’s stressed, exhausted, and worried for his patients that should be seen in clinic, that need diagnostic tests, and that need beds on his specialty ward.

I have two relatives who work in the local town's hospital, they say ICU is full and half the wards are covid wards.

It is not scaremongering. People are in denial, wake up.

@Kizziebel @Trollsinthedungeon

My ICU department has gotten off very lightly in terms of COVID patients as our place is a last resort for accepting known covid+ patients. However we’re feeling the effects of months of patients not having routine check ups or going to A&E with chest pain etc, we’ve also expanded the specialities we operate on to bring down the waiting lists. Bring in the full PPE, the patients who test positive after admission and the staff shortages and we’re struggling.

I am in a tier 4 area. Today my trust has 150 patients that have tested covid positive in the last 14 days. A further 50 patients that tested positive >14 days ago (long term covid patients) and a further 35 awaiting tests. My team of 20... 9 are currently positive or isolating awaiting results. We are under extreme pressure (black alert) and queues of ambulances outside a&e. We are currently hospital tier 5 of 6. (Hospital tiers are different to local tiers) and we are now cancelling all routine clinics and non urgent procedures. Its not only covid we are struggling with but huge volumes of mental health patients. More than any year i have ever seen, likely due to the long term mental health effects of covid. Sadly, this is also the case on the childrens wards. I have never heard of so many children being admitted with eating disorders. At our trust the extremely clinically vunerable staff and those working daily with covid positive patients are bing offered a test. They have allocated 5% tests to staff. Its a waiting game until we are called for it... I am currently at home pregnant with a fever, my husband has a new continous cough, fever and feels very unwell. We are awairing our results. I beg you please stay home. We cant protect you if you dont protect us.

@Somanysocks

I have two relatives who work in the local town's hospital, they say ICU is full and half the wards are covid wards.

It is not scaremongering. People are in denial, wake up.

I think you are right.

Endless justifications as to why Covid isn't important, and ''Freedoms'' are:

''Oh, it only kills the elderly'' {So that's ok, then}
''It only affects those with underling health conditions'' {So that's ok, then}

''It mainly kills fat men '' {So that's Ok, then}

''Most people are asymptomatic'' {So that's OK, then}

Endless justifications as to why we shouldn't be careful.

This thread I will definitely be forwarding to some of the ''Fuss about nothing'' people I know of.

[quote Humpty11]@RedToothBrush I think the problem is that there are lots of “absolute bellends” about and that’s why we’re still in the same/ worse predicament 9 months later 🤔.
Hats off to your BIL, I hope he’s keeping safe.[/quote]
His vaccine is scheduled for Wednesday.

Speaking to the family this week, we will breathe a collective sigh of relief.