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.

We have private healthcare too but it won’t cover you for a heart attack, emergency, etc., you’ll be sent to A&E like everyone else.

And what are ‘illegals’ supposed to do when they get ill?

Undocumented people do get initial emergency treatment and charged but don't know how that's followed up. Asylum seekers get medicare, street clinics help the homeless. The UK has a reciprocal arrangement with Australia but you need insurance too.

Report this to PALS, it's not acceptable, although I respect that the staff were doing their best to facilitate his treatment.

Unfortunately if there’s no bed there’s no bed. If they are at full capacity they will be looking at all patients to see if any are able to be discharged early. (Often before they are actually ready)
An alternative would be if he can ask to go home between IV antibiotics.
He should absolutely be told why he’s receiving antibiotics though.

Agree, it needs investigating to stop it happening to others

Op does your dh even know why he’s got to go back in the dr usually tell you why.

Myself and my colleagues also have this discussion often, all Nurses with years of experience who have never seen things so bad. It's becoming indefensible

This is going on all over the UK and has been for years sadly.
I find it very odd that he hasn't been told what he is being treated for though? What are they saying when he asks?!

This. He would not be expected to stay in this situation the whole weekend.

And why don’t you know what he’s being treated for? Have you asked?

Assuming this thread is legit, you seem very passive.

Same here. We have an “IV lounge” and people stay there overnight in a reclining chair. My adult child has received treatment this way and although it was rough, it still saved his life and we were very grateful. A bit like @GreenFootstool’s story.

Oooh! Privatisation! That'll fix everything! Hopefully, the Privatised Health Service (PVS) will be as brilliantly successful as other privatised industries, e.g. Thames Water. The UK can follow in the footsteps of the USA where people who need cancer treatment go bankrupt paying for treatment.

You may well work in the NHS, but I can assure you that in my local hospital this is indeed what happens.

I must got suburb service from NHS. I had tummy pain for two nights and then it moved to right. I was suspecting appendix and she told me to go to go. It was 10 am I send online request and got appointment at 11am. Saw go who suspected appendicitis and sent me to emergency surgical assessment unit. There was only two other people in waiting room. I got seen soon and bloods taken. A while later I saw nurse practitioner who suspected appendicitis and send me to CT scan. A little wait and then ct. At four appendicitis confirmed and at 5 pm I got a bed. Surgery at 8pm.

Nobody is ‘told’ that they will be sitting in a chair for treatment for an entire weekend. Just like people aren’t told they’ll spend the weekend on a hospital trolley in A&E for a couple of nights. It just happens. Surely, working in the NHS, you realise how bad the NHS is? I’ve got many stories where friends and family have experienced beyond poor service in the last few years.

Neglect of the elderly when it comes to hospital treatment happens. A lot. And I’d rather funds were spent on 85 year old Elsie’s treatment, who has spent her life working and contributing to society, than saving the life of a 25 year drug dealer who has been shot, or a 40 year heavy smoker with COPD.

There is a cottage hospital in my town that was brilliant for providing beds for the elderly who had been discharged from hospital, but weren’t ready to return home. For some reason they decided to shut one of the wards a few years ago, so they lost a load of beds. They’ve not even been replaced with anything, they’re just empty.

That happens a lot at our local hospital. My elderly dad was there for 6 weeks last year. Moved around 3 wards, and every ward he was on, the majority of patients nearby had at least a one day delay in being discharged. The longest was 3 days (2 days of discharge paperwork not ready, then one day for medication not ready). If the paperwork wasn’t ready by 4 pm, then it was too late.

Drop dead on the street while passers by step over them presumably.

Do you realise there has been a decrease in last 30years of 50% of beds in England alone, yet the population has increased in that period by almost 22%.
Do some research before shrilling about bed blockers and personally I pray I never have to stay over in a hospital myself.

I am a hospital consultant and sadly this is not unusual. That doesn't make it ok though and I'm so sorry. Not good enough. However, raising a complaint won't do anything as no-one has made a decision to treat your husband this way. It's just how things are at the moment. No nurse or doctor would argue thar this is acceptable care. Demand is far outstripping supply and the NHS is absolutely f&*%ed. The only way to fix it is to increase funding and therefore taxation and who will vote for that? It's not sustainable and some form of private system is the inevitable outcome sadly. In the meantime, people will keep dying in corridors. It's a travesty.

I can make any statement I like.

So what are you suggesting? Compulsory euthanasia? What would be the criteria?

There's a theme that some people at the end of their useful life. I.e. dementia should be taken off all medications for physical ailments and let mature take it's course. I hear it more and more often IRL especially.

What makes you think privatisation would be some sort of miracle fix?