No wonder the NHS is struggling - can't quite believe this!

[outpatient]

Today I went to the hospital. On the from door entrance there was a member of staff whose job it was to say "do you have an appointment, so you have any covid symptoms"

That's it. She's was being paid to do that. She was there all morning, just to say that. This is in addition to the receptionist that checks you in when you actually arrive,

Is this not bonkers? NHS is screwed if someone thinks this is entirely reasonable to pay someone to do this.

It is beyond saving, and likely not running out of money just making really shit decisions WITH the money

Honestly some people on this thread are batshit, really weird - the NHS on its knees but still can't agree it's failing

Honestly, the OP on this thread is batshit, really weird - been proven wrong but still can't accept it and is reaching for other reasons to be mad

Actually my mum had to go to A&E on Sunday with a serious infection. She was triaged quickly (within 30 mins) because she was very sick and needed to be admitted. Then she didn't actually get a bed for a further 15 hours and was on a chair in the triage area hooked up to an IV antibiotic.

There are serious problems with bed shortages.

I'm sorry to hear about your mum.

I don't understand what it is in my post that you're responding to, sorry.

The total number of beds in hospitals has dropped significantly over the last 10 years.

It read, to me, as though you were suggesting that people who needed beds weren't facing long waits as they were being triaged on need.

Loads of people want to volunteer at hospitals so I'm sure the 'more useful' positions will also be full! I used to volunteer as a ward assistant at the Christie in Manchester and it was a full on application process and interview as so many people wanted to do it

If you go to reception and need to be seen straightaway, you bypass triage. Rarely happens, but it does happen.

That's not what I intended and would make no sense in context of talking about the need for a nurse on the door of A&E.

I meant that in addition to the long waits for ambulances, the long waits in ambulances outside A&E, the long waits to be treated in A&E, and the long waits for a bed once you need to be admitted — which we all know and have been talking about — there's also a long wait just to be triaged once you get into A&E. A totally untriaged person could easily die waiting if they had a life-threatening emergency and had to wait several hours to be triaged, so having a nurse on the door running a kind of pre -triage helps with determining who needs to be triaged quickly.

That can only happen if there are available beds.

The reality is that people who need medical admission are often waiting hours for a bed to be available.

I'd heard these stories but saw it with my own eyes at the weekend. It was chaos.

I eventually left my mum in the triage area at about midnight Sunday having arrived at A &E at around 6pm and the decision to admit made by around 7pm, on the assurance that they were hopeful there would be a bed coming up. 8.30 the following morning no bed, the admissions nurse was apologetic. Bed became available at 12.30 lunchtime.

A major issue is discharge with inadequate social care for the elderly from what I can gather.

@FurryDandelionSeekingMissile - not really a pre-triage, she just asks "covid symptoms? covid positive test? Why are you here?" - if they are covid+, she sends them to another area (literally points to where patient should go), if not, she lets them in. She describes her job as the A&E bouncer.

That's not what I intended and would make no sense in context of talking about the need for a nurse on the door of A&E.

I thought you meant the nurse on the door determined the order in which the patients are triaged according to severity of illness. This did, in fact, happen.

But never mind clearly we are talking at cross purposes.

That's bizarre. I've definitely seen A&Es where there's a nurse at the door asking what you're there for, sometimes pointing people towards other services, and presumably able to determine who's a right-now panic stations emergency, and who could also ask the Covid questions. But if she's only there to ask Covid questions they're paying nurse prices for something that could be done by a motion-sensitive talking teddy bear.

All I'm saying is that having a qualified nurse at the door of A&E could make sense, if you have a system which is so stretched that there's a long wait for triage and that nurse could help direct people to more appropriate services or prioritise people for triage. Whereas if it's just a person at any random hospital entrance asking about COVID symptoms, then a volunteer will do. I didn't understand why you were talking about waits for admission to a hospital ward.

I didn't understand why you were talking about waits for admission to a hospital ward.

Because I thought you meant something else as I explained earlier.

They do have nurses/ or qualified administrators at reception to A& E to triage, these volunteers are clearly doing something different.

I think it’s you that are pathetic given the responses

Posters in isolation just don’t work. We have “only four people in a lift” posters where I work and absolutely everyone ignores them. You can bet your bottom dollar if a security guard was standing there limiting it to four people* it would work

*not a necessary scenario.

Well that seems absolutely crazy and is a mismanagement problem in her ward if so.

However, do you really know that’s what her whole job entails? I do t know that much detail about what my husband does all day, let alone a mate. It sounds fairly doubtful if I’m honest, especially for a band 6.

If a Band 6 nurse that sounds like she must be triaging.

Yeah that one person at the entrance is why the NHS is struggling. Nothing to do with years of underfunding and not prioritising staff retention.

Jump back on your high horse and off you trot. Unless you can spare some time from your own very important job to perhaps volunteer yourself and actually get a clue.

And this OP is why people are handing you back your own arse. You didn't consider any other options you were just jumped straight to being critical and denigrating an NHS that is on its knees through no fault of its own.

Even if it's not a volunteer. The cost of a band 6 nurse at a door rather than 10s of staff going off with Covid is still likely to be more cost effective. Not ideal, but these are desperate times. Thanks to this government having everyone go back to 'normal' when we are still in a pandemic.

We also have a government that shows, time and time again, that it will always look after itself and its interests first. No wonder people in everyday society are doing the same and rock up with Covid because that's what suits them best, sod everyone else.

Culture is always set top down.

Probably paying the poor woman less than a security guard. Clearly some patients do not follow guidelines so it's necessary. Only recently someone on here said they had a 'sit in' and refused to leave until her son was treated.

You do understand that most of this will be prescribed by ward doctors as pain relief to inpatients in a hospital bed who can't just pop down to B&M for a packet?

Arghhh Zombie thread!! So sorry! 🙈