The hospital I work in is so quiet

[QuietHospital]

London hospital.
Half empty. Some wards have less than a handful of patients, some wards are closed. Most staff have been moved to wards so are falling over selves. While their regular work goes undone.
A&E very quiet. I’ve sent patients there who are seen immediately. The heart attacks, strokes and appendicitis cases are presenting too late. People with covid are waiting too long to present. If you get breathless then for goodness sake come in. I’m so cross at the initial advice to stay home until struggling.
Had a look through covid ward lists and vast majority patients are aged over 70. Hardly any patients under 60, those who are have underlying health problems for the most part. Lots more men than women affected.
It’s just a snapshot but echoed by colleagues in other hospitals.
I think we can / should start to move back to normal life soon for the well young people among us. I fear for the short and longer term economic hit. It’s crazy to have all these young well people furloughed or made redundant.

Can I ask why none of the posters are naming the hospitals? It would be interesting to know.

@Pomegranatepompom I think most staff would prefer that but obviously it would use a LOT of resources and it's not what PHE suggest

for a fellow frontliner

So what do you do then if 111 let you down and someone can’t breathe?

The hospitals aren't as busy as they should be because the government want us all to die at home - so they don't have to count those deaths, only the ones that occur in hospital.

This is the fault of the NHS. Repeatedly telling people not to go to hospital. It isnt the governrment doing that. Its 111 and the ambulances. Oh and management, the same old story

People are too scared to ring anymore. Told they have to be blue in the face and gasping so much they cant speak. Numerous mumsnetters have been told this kind of thing and said so in previous mn topics

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/uk-cancer-survival-rates-bottom-world-league-table-a9101916.html

Haven't RTFT. It's comforting to know at least one hospital in London is now quiet OP. That means there should be capacity to start treating the care home patients, who so far have been refused hospital admission.

Has your hospital been spared the loss of healthcare staff to Covid? That's good if so. It's awful hearing about all the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff who have died from or who are on ventilators because of Covid. Some so young too and leaving behind children. Awful.

I'm curious which hospital you work in. I'm wondering if it serves a more elderly population than the rest of London? You say most patients on the Covid ward are over 70. Is there a super healthy part of London where no-one under 60 has underlying conditions, including the highest risks with Covid - diabetes, hypertension, and obesity? It sounds like a lucky place to live!

It's positive to hear some places are coping. Hope you and your colleagues enjoy the brief respite. I hate to think how bad things will be if there's an early end to lockdown. Imagine all the non-Covid cases - and a huge surge in Covid patients (including the many healthcare staff infected) all at the same time! Hopefully the government won't do anything anything rash. We need to consider the impact on the economy too. With the risk factors for serious cases of Covid being so common, it would be economic chaos if Covid ran unchecked through the population. Let's hope the government thinks long-term.

Thanks @NurseJaques

A friend of our family who is terminally ill was admitted to hospital last week for non Covid reasons and has now come home. I am glad the hospital was there for them but worried about risk of infection while in there.

16,509 people lost from just 4.41% of the population infected, if you trust the current Imperial modelling.

Definitely too early for triumphalism or certainty the worst has passed.

@BovaryX yeah loads. I know, it's awful. But at the moment, ANYONE who comes in as an inpatient could die of covid. If we admit those with cancer to treat, certainly where I am, they will most likely get covid. There are definitely some hospitals doing a better job though and cancer units are probably being safer than general medical wards. It's shit but what can you do? If they're young and relatively well we're doing our best to maintain services. Sadly if you're v frail we've had to cancel lots of necessary operations/treatments due to covid.

There have been some horrible risk-benefit decisions taken by doctors recently. It's been thought through and the decisions they have to make are heartbreaking. In my experience though, I know of loads of fit elderly people admitted recently for benign conditions that needed a few nights in hospital etc and they've all died of covid. On non covid wards. We can't contain it.

@Ezira so if you were admitted you could have brought covid onto a ward...

It's not a black/white issue! A lot of people don't know they are infected, and treating people like lepers because they have a cough is not acceptable. No one is 'selfish' for seeking necessary medical help

Exactly NurseJ

IceBearRocks great post.

So what do you do then if 111 let you down and someone can’t breathe?
Dial 999? Last week when I was at A&E they had stopped walk-ins and wouldn’t let you in unless you’d been referred by 111. Suspected CV patients were being directed to a portacabin but I don’t know if they also expected a 111 referral. It seems like 111 are the gatekeepers to treatment now.

@Bluewednesday because I don't want to name my place of work. It's identifying and I don't want the daily fail picking it up

I had a hospital appointment or later this month at a well known eye hospital. They phoned me to cancel it. Unexpectedly a couple of days later the eye doctor phoned me to give me some advice over the phy (nothing I hadn't been told and followed before) and told me when all this is over to go back to GP and ask for referral again.

So I am thinking now that an eye hospital would not have been inundated with COVID patients so why did they cancel my appointment. Presumably they could not examine me whilst maintaining a social distance? I am going to phone GP tomorrow because eye is worse and see if I get offered an appointment or told to wait until it is all over.

this is the fault of the NHS. Repeatedly telling people not to go to hospital. It isnt the governrment doing that. Its 111 and the ambulances. Oh and management, the same old story

It is both noticeable and shocking that the emphasis in the UK is on protection of the NHS, rather than protecting patients. It's the inverse of what should be the priority. It is combined with this almost fanatical weekly clapping ritual. It's utterly bizarre.

16,509 people lost from just 4.41% of the population infected.

This sentence should read 16,509 people lost in hospitals from just 4.41% of the population infected. The death toll is far far higher than the figures being read out sadly and this is resulting in complacency in the general public. I have no idea why the UK adopted this very misleading counting system.

It seems like 111 are the gatekeepers to treatment now.

Yes and we’re getting repeated posts on how people are being let down. Or ambulances are two hours etc away.

If you or your family would stay struggling at home fine. Not many would.

Ezira so if you were admitted you could have brought covid onto a ward
Indeed. It’s impossible to avoid asymptomatic patients being present. But certainly symptomatic patients should be kept separate. It’s the difference between someone who might have CV vs someone who obviously does have it.

There have been some horrible risk-benefit decisions taken by doctors recently. It's been thought through and the decisions they have to make are heartbreaking. In my experience though, I know of loads of fit elderly people admitted recently for benign conditions that needed a few nights in hospital etc and they've all died of covid. On non covid wards. We can't contain it

Why are 'fit' elderly patients being admitted to hospital? Why are hospitals unable to segregate Covid patients from non Covid patients?

@jewel1968 the Chinese doctor who alerted the world to Covid and subsequently died was an Ophthalmologist. It really isn’t possible to examine an eye properly without getting really near to the patient.

@theschoolonthehill

Agreed. The number should also be qualified by time. Deaths lag infections. Of that 4.41% infected there are many deaths that will still occur in the weeks to come.

I’ve not seen any reports in the media at any time saying that any hospital has been overwhelmed.

Journalists can only report that hospitals are half full if people give them that information. We aren’t psychic.

I’m a journalist and I’ve asked my local hospital for patient admission / discharge data and they absolutely refuse to give it to me because DoH have told them not to. No doctor or nurse will go on the record to tell us the story and the official hospital line is ‘no comment’.

This is a great thread and it’s very informative but it’s not as simple as running a story saying ‘hospitals are quiet because some people on MN who may or may not be bona fide medical professionals say so’ (despite what the DM may have you believe)

So it’s all very well and good having a(nother) pop at journalists but they can only do their job if people are willing to tell them this stuff, and this is the first time I (and many other reporters) will have heard it.

I’m sure there will be some reporters who will now go and look into this issue on the back of this thread but we are still at the behest of the DoH and PHE who have decided that transparency doesn’t matter at all during this crisis.

@jewel1968 the ophthalmologists might be working in covid wards in other hospitals, the beds and theatres may be used for covid patients, the nurses will have been pulled to covid wards.

They don't want covid coming into the hospital unnecessarily so anything non urgent is cancelled. If it's not life threatening it likely won't take place. If you're frail or elderly it's possible that all treatment will be cancelled to keep you safe at home.

Doesn't matter that it's an eye hospital, it's full of beds, theatres with ventilators, doctors, nurses and HCAs, all of which are needed for covid right now.

As long as reporters look at the whole picture. Failing 111, and not just use ‘quiet hospital’ to mean end lockdown.