AIBU to question my husband's treatment in a hospital waiting room?

[SadlyNotATroll]

Posting here for traffic sorry. DH had a routine blood test on Thursday and was sent straight to hospital after some concerning numbers relating to his kidneys I think. He was there all day Thursday having tests and sent home. Was called at 10:30 on Thursday evening saying he had to go back in the next morning. I don’t want to over share his personal details on the internet but he is being treated with IV antibiotics but isn’t actually being told what for. Last night they had no beds and he slept in a chair in the clinic waiting room. I say slept but he didn’t sleep at all. Today he’s still there and being told he will be needing to stay in over the weekend but they have no beds. He has no privacy and is sat upright in a chair.

I get that the NHS is in dire straits, I really do. But how can he be treated in a waiting room chair and be expected to sleep and recover there? Do we have any recourse at all? Please don’t think this is a nurse/NHS bashing thread. The staff have been wonderful and it’s not their fault at all.

@mumumental , who do you think was running the nhs since 2010? I'm not a Streeting fan but the current state of affairs did nof occur since the election 2 years ago

It seems pretty standard. I spent 12 hours in the surgical assessment unit last year. There were people there who had been there 2 days! It’s shocking that this is happening in a first world country.

DH had a routine blood test on Thursday and was sent straight to hospital after some concerning numbers relating to his kidneys I think

How on earth did he manage to get immediate results on the NHS?

This happened to my mum she went to hospital with a chest infection admitted her AMU but needed to be on a different ward but no beds she was sat on a chair from 6am till 5pm she went downhill at 10pm and 2 days later she died aged 67 from pneumonia still makes me angry 3 years on she should be here

These posts scare the living shizzle out of me. So many questions and one overwhelming sense of doom. 'Everyone is lovely' and 'it's no one's fault' is what allows these things to happen and to continue. Someone has to be held accountable in order for change to happen. Animals get better care than this.

That’s a ridiculous comment. I assume you are referring to old people who they’ve been unable to find support for, or another home to take them safely,
Would you like an 80 year old turfed out of bed, and forced to sit in a chair ?

Outrageous comment.

Soooo…we’re not the only country that has universal heathcare then. I’m glad I could get you to fact check yourself on that while you were fact checking me.

There’s a slight issue in what ChatGPT has said - many of the countries in its third list, such as Austria, offers a two-tier system in which individuals receive basic publicly funded care but also have the option to purchase supplementary private health insurance, which covers an enhanced offering. Which isn't too different to our system - there are plenty of treatments, procedures and medications that aren’t available on the NHS, but you could pay privately to access them or take out private medical insurance if you chose. In many of those countries, the more money you earn, the more you are expected to take out the insurance. Several of the countries have an earning threshold for that. But there’s still basic, publicly-funded care (as far as I am aware).

Im well aware of it. He didn’t cause the problem. He just made it worse.

There are fundamental failings within the NHS, which will not be fixed by spaffing more money into it. We have had a plethora of reports from numerous Trusts detailing both institutional failings and callous management and staff. Money alone will not fix this.

Sorry, my view is based on personal experience and the plethora of enquiries and reports conducted into the failings of numerous Trusts detailing both institutional incompetence, neglect and callous management and staff. Users of the NHS have been badly served by those who hold it in some kind of religious adulation, which enables these failures to continue.

This goes back years though, hospital closures, disastrous "care in the community", super clinics that never opened, ppi, longterm community mental health and elderly care hospital closures, mismanagement of funds and procurement, advances in medicine so people survive and live longer, changes to nurse training entry, elderly no longer cared for at home. There's never going to be one person or government accountable.

Assuming this is all true, it doesn’t sound at all right. Write it all down in simple bullet points and then call the hospital and ask to speak to the “call for concern” number. If the switchboard says they don’t have it, ask to speak to the site manager or duty manager.

Bedblockers are generally very elderly and frail, waiting for either s nursing home place or package of home social care. Your suggestion is really inappropriate.

I bed blocked for 3 days. I need hospital transport to get home as couldn't go in a car. The hospital kept forgetting to arrange the transport. 3 extra days in hospital I didn't need. I doubt I was the first that happened to.

My son has just gone to Australia, the list of medical issues he's been trying to get sorted here have all been resolved in a month in Australia. A CT scan within 2 weeks for his bad back, it's amazing but it's an insurance based system. No one without Medicare gets treatment, no illegals. This is the way forward but people won't go there.

Dd spent 24 hrs before corridoor bed just this week. 2 years ago i spent 36 hours on metal chair before coridoor bed only got that cos i physically left to go get privste mri then they panicked & begged me back must have realised after 12 hours i was missing though i told reception . Then i found a corner on floor to sleep not affecting anyone and never complained being on floor to which they refused again had to threaten to leave again they found bed. 36 hours. Never again hemiplgic migrane not stroke. Next time ill stsy home & take my chances.

I was admitted as an emergency and diagnosed in an a&e waiting room with a life changing illness. I spent t 3 days on a chair in a&e as there were no beds. This is now the norm and anyone who thinks otherwise has clearly not had inpatient treatment via a&e. It is disgusting.

I was on a gurney in a corridor for hours, eventually got wheeled in to a janitorial room to be examined. That was 20 years ago, things obviously haven’t improved.

I’m guessing that the blood test showed a high level of a certain protein which can possibly show that he has inflammation due to some sort of infection somewhere.
Theyre probably giving him broad spectrum antibiotics as they don’t know where the infection is and I’m assuming they will be testing his blood every morning to see if the protein is reducing.

So it excludes the poor and defenceless, the most vulnerable? I'm glad 'people won't go there'.

Why not, it's true.

Sad but this is why I prioritise private health insurance over most other expenses. I have a £10 sim only mobile phone, free view only tv, old banger car (no finance) etc etc

This is a typical NHS attitude.
Firstly, different Trusts have different pressures and so not all are experiencing such significant bed shortages
Secondly, different Trusts have different procedures in event of bed shortages. Some do offer treatment in a chair if the treatment is urgent, some have different solutions.
Unless you are in charge of and a spokesperson for the whole NHS you can’t make that statement. And if you are in charge of the whole NHS please set out your plans for recovery for the next five years 😂

I work in an acute NHS service. This sadly happens frequently. Unfortunately, it's because there are literally no spare beds to put patients in. It's horrible and soul destroying to be trying to give patient care in these conditions (I really feel for the nurses who do most of the patient contact , as well as dreadful for patients.

When I am covering the oncall, I say at least 2-3 times, and often more to a patient "I'm so sorry that we are seeing you in a corridor/ in a chair (for the chair patients we take them to a private area, but there is no bed there, and even if there is a trolley - for those not in healthcare a trolley may look thickly padded, but it's not designed for people to be on day and night and they risk pressure sores - they have to get on the trolley for the assessment then go back to the chair).

I often have to write in the notes "not examined fully as in chair/in a corridor" as I can't do the full exam I would want, and need to document why in case of a complaint/bad outcome.

I hope that your husband gets sorted soon, OP.

It is ridiculous I totally agree however, if he’s there he’s in
In the queue, so to speak .a year and a half ago. I had an A
and e admission ordered by the GP. After 12 hours The doctor in A&E said I needed to be admitted for further tests.and she
Said that the lack of treatment could end up in total and permanent paralysis
It’s serious because my legs weren’t working properly and the usual things were ruled out. I’d already seen a neurologist privately as I was frustrated with my GP for not taking it seriously a year and a half later I can hardly walk the big mistake I made was leaving the hospital. I didn’t want to sit in a chair all night because I couldn’t sit down because when I sit down, I can’t feel my legs but I left because I had a dog at home. I live alone and they didn’t have any beds anyway hence a year and a half later I’m an even worse muddle and they haven’t sorted anything out. Now facing huge consequences of being untreated.
The state of the Nhs is it’s broken but he’s in and they can’t leave him there another night surely he needs to say that he is not coping