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.

Most hospitals have a PALS patient liaison service. Get in touch with them and explain the problem. Your DH absolutely must ask what his treatment is for, unless the antibiotics are a safeguard while further investigations are taking place.

I have seen NHS adverts, I can't remember the exact wording, but something like "corridor nurses for A&E". It's completely normalised in my view.

I have seen NHS adverts, I can't remember the exact wording, but something like "corridor nurses for A&E". It's completely normalised in my view.

@Anonymouse27 yes I worked in A&E for almost 2 decades. While adverts for corridor nurses where not advertised nurses are allocated to corridor care and it’s absolutely awful for the patients. It’s not accepted as normal by clinical staff I can assure you, but with safety is a priorty these patients have to be looked after. Corridor care was horrendous and actually even worse in the 1990’s then things improved 2000-2020 then it’s all gone back downhill and full circle again.

Yes complain, but politely of course, if not right now, afterwards when hopefully DH is recovering at home.

I'm assuming all the options have already been explored, trollies in corridors, beds on other wards etc but that does not make it right, appropriate, or helpful. If there is room for a chair, a parent campbed might be a possibility if they are not in use or I'd probably take a yoga mat and pillows in if that's the only option.

I had something similar and spent several weeks in hospital, I recall very little as I slept mostly..
Fortunately I did get a bed.

I hope DH finds out what's wrong, gets treated quickly and returns home safely. But do complain loudly and politely to the right people, obvs not the nursing staff who must be having a shit time.

Agree, but in our local trust it does mean a bed, even though it's in a corridor.

Can you imagine what it’s like not being able to lay down AT ALL for three days, even as a healthy person?

Inadequate social care. Impossible to discharge people because although they no longer need medical care it isnt actually safe to send them home. No money for care packages, home support etc

Actually why am i telling you - you're a nurse you know this! But it has been eye opening for me the past year.

This is the hold up with the beds from what I have seen

Wouldn't need to, would just need to not aggressively treat infections etc.

This.

Pneumonia used to be referred to as “the old man’s friend” as very elderly frail people would die from it. Now there’s endless rounds of hospital admissions with antibiotic drips.

One of my neighbours spent the majority of his last 3 years in his mid 90’s in hospital on antibiotic drips. He refused to go into a care home so they would have to keep him there until he was back up on his feet. Either a urine infection or pneumonia each time. Months in hospital, back home for a few weeks, then back in hospital again. If that’s what the NHS is doing for extremely elderly frail people I can see why there’s a shortage of beds.

By that logic you would not keep premature babies, or those with obvious health conditions, alive either. It leads to life long money being spent by NHS and in SN education but I bet if it was your baby you'd want everything done to keep them alive.

We did actually make the decision to put an end to my mother's trips to hospital to be put on a drip then returned to the care home. She had advanced dementia and keeping her alive that way seemed cruel. The decision was made for her benefit.

Not the same thing at all as I was mentioning an elderly man who was 92 when he started going in and out of hospital, and 95 when he finally died. There’s no comparison with keeping a very frail elderly man alive for longer and treating a premature baby.

We had a similar situation in our local hospital. We were told that even when a bed becomes available it takes 2-3 hours for the bed and surrounding to be cleaned.

Ask all the people who don’t pay their taxes.

The NHS could do better with their money. But it doesn’t excuse those who don’t pay up.

Even if that baby will need lifelong care? I'm playing devil's advocate by the way. I don't think like this but it would reduce the number of seriously disabled people taking up space in hospitals. Horrible thought and it has been tried before.

Happened to my son in law- he had AKI and was on a drip for a number of days, in a chair. The treatment didn’t need a bed in itself, but due to underlying health issues they couldn’t let him go home until they could see the numbers going in the right direction. They eventually set up a bed in a room for him but then discharged him that same day. I’d rather be safe than sorry and take the chair x

Actually I think this happens already to a certain extent, especially if the person has made an advance decision in writing that they do not want their life to be prolonged unnecessarily, as my mother did. She died of a chest infection in a care home at 93, when she was extremely frail, immobile and had no quality of life. The care home followed her wishes (she was already on an end of life care pathway) and did not allow a doctor to have her taken to A&E, so she died in a peaceful environment with her loved ones. She did not have dementia.
What I have a problem with is some kind of blanket withdrawal of care for older frail people, or those with dementia. No doubt it would greatly help the NHS if they stopped treating anyone over say 85, or with dementia. It speaks to the extreme ageism of our society that there are people who would support such an approach, even on MN.

Yes, it must be absolutely horrific. As I said, I lay on the floor with a broken hip and shoulder in my house for 24 hours because I was too scared to go to a&e in case they forced me to sit on a horrible chair! It's awful that they won't even let you lie on the floor.

You chose to lie on the floor with a broken hip (how did you even know it was broken if you hadn't been to A and E for an xray?) Because of the possibility you might have to sit on a chair? Thats ridiculous.

I know. Thanks for the empathy. I didn't know it was broken but I heard it crack and absolute agony and then I couldn't move at all. And my arm was agony. If I knew it was broken I'd have known they'd put me on a trolley so I wouldn't have been so scared.

How many premature babies need lifelong care?

My firstborn was very premature but after 10 days in scbu he was home. He is now in his 30s.

I'm not just talking about premature babies but babies born with severe disabilities who in the past would have died. Also I'm glad your son is OK but many premature babies have learning difficulties in life. I'm not advocating leaving them to die, quite the opposite, I'm presenting it as a similar situation to leaving elderly people with pneumonia or infections to die as per a suggestion above.

Insist you see a doctor or refuse the treatment! How do you even know for sure they haven’t got him muddled up with another patient and giving him the wrong treatment (it DOES happen).

But they won't be 'free' so abused, people going to the GP with a blocked nose for free spray on prescription. Even southern Ireland a GP visit is €70

I have absolutely no problem with babies receiving extensive medical care. But, when my dad spent 6 weeks in hospital last summer, it was a complete eye opener. He was on 3 different wards, none of which were elderly wards, but all of which were full of extremely elderly people.

There were always at least a couple of people with severe dementia too. One who, whenever he was awake was constantly loudly asking for help as in “help, I need help, someone help me please”. He would shout for hours, even in the middle of the night. Needless to say, the nurses just ignored him. Also, a lady who, whenever anyone went near her was obviously absolutely terrified. She would scream “don’t touch me, please please go away, someone help me”. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I don’t think that a blanket ban on treatment over a certain age is appropriate, but it does seem like the NHS does strive to keep people alive even when they’re very elderly and incredibly frail.