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.

There should be assessment centres set up at the hospitals to triage patients as there are in other countries (NYC has tents) rather than it being done over the phone. I read about the people manning 111 — they are given very minimal/basic training.

I worry the failure to include non hospital deaths in the official figures is an attempt by the government to manipulate people

In fairness what other reason could there be??? Along with an attempt to shift the focus from the initial response and consequences of 'herd immunity'. From reading various threads on MN, the Gov's spin in any and every direction seems to be working on some people too!

....when in fact it is the fault of the government for not funding and running an adequate health service

It isn't the government on the end of the phone telling people who can't breathe to stay at home, while there are empty beds and staff doing nothing. It's the NHS doing that.

I support the NHS and more funding but not everything can be blamed on the government

“Whereas NHS Direct was a national operation, 111 is actually a series of local services.

There are 46 different services across England.

These are run by a combination of providers from ambulance services to private companies and the old NHS Direct service.

They are manned by trained call handlers. NHS Direct operated on a ratio of two call handlers to one nurse, 111 is often 15 call handlers to one nurse, according to the Royal College of Nursing.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22370621

It's not a secret (some people here saying they don't hear about it) -
BBC news a few days ago showed that a&e depts aer very quiet and doctors urge to turn up if anyone has symptoms of heart attack etc.

I'm hugely worried about all the routine / investigative apps cancelled as well as follow ups! Anbd dental check-ups / treatments.

But if anyone is feeling ill, don't bother with 111, just turn up at A&E and you'll be seen quickly.

“We’ve had everything from patients who have self-presented at the door saying: ‘I’ve had a cough for a few days,’ to people who have walked up the stairs to get to the emergency department and can barely hold a sentence with you. We’re also getting crews bringing in patients of various ages who are struggling to get breaths while they’re on oxygen.”

From this photo essay about University Hospital Coventry:

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/nhs-frontline-meet-people-risking-lives-tackle-coronavirus?

Can I be honest, we have had the virus and called because we couldn't breathe, each time we were told we are ok and it's just the virus. At one point my husband had severe chest pain and difficulty breathing I did the online check and it said call 999, I thought it was a bit severe and called 111 who sent an ambulance, the ambulance man came out and did all he could to stop my husband going to hospital. He said "I'm not going to lie you'll be put on the corona ward and you might catch the virus and die a horrible death" needless to say he terrified my husband and he didn't want to go. We opted to have him call a 111 doctor and the paramedic failed to tell them about my husbands liver condition and shh'ed me when I asked him to mention it the doctor said he should stay home. We called our doctor the next morning who said my husband should have gone to hospital. I have also heard of people being told unless their lips are blue and they are floppy then they can't help them. This is why your hospital will be empty. People are dying at home because they are being turned away or put off going in.

No. You don’t get to kill someone else so you can live.

Erm - isn't this the basis of "self defense"?

I don't think this is just happening in the UK. Today's lead article in our city's newspaper (they tend to be more regional in the US) focused on doctors' concerns that heart attack and stroke symptoms are being under-reported as people are afraid to come into the Emergency Room.

I also heard an interview with a senior doctor in one of our regional health systems. The interviewer directly asked her how many COVID-19 patients they have in their hospitals at present and she answered 200, spread over several large facilities. I was astounded as I'd assumed far more.

Obviously that's good, but it definitely leaves capacity for treating other patients.

pinkoneblueone - that is awful.

I am getting a real feeling - from multiple sources - that the emphasis is on not overwhelming the hospitals, keeping people at home, and they've gone slightly overboard with the whole thing, and people who need hospitalisation are not getting it. I really hope this is not true. It's quite clear that many people are still sick and dying. People like your DH should be being given hospital care.

@pinkoneblueone stories like this are absolutely horrendous and should be headline news, not "woman in Essex goes out to buy a pot plant from the Range!"

No wonder our death rate is so high if our hospital is basically a pre-morgue

This thread is oddly reassuring in a way. My biggest fear in all of this is not being able to access healthcare for c19 (like the poor woman in London who the paramedic wouldn't take to hospital) but also any other critical health condition.

I am also terrified by the lack of "routine" (this word is being widely misused imo) healthcare and dental care.

This can't go on for too long or like others have said on this thread we are going to be piling up treatments and procedures and checks and people are going to start getting very unwell and dying of other things.

You can't get a dental appointment unless you are in severe pain or your face is swollen. How long can that go on for?

People are being expected to self diagnose issues at home which is not acceptable. It requires an expert to take a look and often an X-ray.

My dentist has told me this is basically because there is no PPE.

It's a fucking disgrace that this government has allowed this to happen. Where is the fucking PPE!?!?!? Why didn't they have a stockpile? Why haven't they responded to the U.K. companies offering to make it? What the fuck are they actually doing? Make some fucking decisions!

I am so anxious about this. It is the thing that is causing me the most worry. It is really impacting my mental health.

@Theflushedzebra I can absolutely assure you this is true. I was so so angry about it. The man minimised his difficulties it was like he couldn't be bothered. We had been ill for about 37 days by this point as we have been in the moderate Category of the virus and this was his final stage of the virus as i am 3 days ahead and now feeling a lot better though tired. Men seem to get this worse and he is still suffering chest pain though he can breathe a lot better than he could.

I am also in SE as another person he also commented on her location.

There was a hospital I think in Scotland on bbc news at ten today, reporting unceasing new waves of Covid admissions and staff feeling the day when it gets better or slows down never comes.

I think it’s really important to remember that they’ve been saying for weeks that London (and perhaps some parts of the Midlands) were 1 to 2 weeks ahead of the rest of the country.

London’s cases seem to be dipping, which is great, but other areas are still struggling

The Scottish hospital on the news has a full ICU and HDU and the hospitals around it are also chocka block. Glasgow hospitals are also exceptionally busy.

In our maternity unit people are being discharged straight from labour ward so the postnatal ward is empty. No one is staying in for some extra breastfeeding support etc. like they would usually.

Babies who would normally be on observations for something, e.g diabetic mother are being sent home and mums told contact us if you’re concerned.

@Indella Well if it’s so empty then why are you discharging people like diabetic mums early?

GP surgeries should not have been allowed to close either - they could easily manage face to face appointments while implementing some sort of social distancing. I worry about the elderly in my community not having easy access to the GP anymore.

pinkoneblueone - yes- I have heard a number of stories along the same lines sadly. I believe you. And it's awful - I meant I hope it's not very widespread - but I'm wondering. If "protect the NHS" means keeping everyone at home, even when they need hospital care, and half empty hospitals, then something has gone very, very wrong.

Our trust is now planning not for. A surge but for a prolonged sustained and continuous level. We're currently about 75/80% occupancy with similar levels of staffing due to sickness. Pretty much all opd work has ceased. Got an email today to start working on a plan as to how we can safely manage the wards and a&e and these patients whilst beginning to plan for how we can start doing clinics again (mainly by telephone/video. We are currently doing twice daily ward rounds by the consultants (normally 3 or 4 a week) and these are taking 45 mins rather than the usual 3 hours as nothing changes that quickly, so got some capacity

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Northern hospital

I did say to DH the other day that whilst a lot of NHS staff are working long and difficult shifts at the moment there must be some whose jobs are quieter than normal. DD mentioned the particularly miserable receptionist at our dentist surgery which is obviously now closed.

I find it totally scary that 111 is promoting staying at home until literally your dying breath. Being a single parent i will inform my eldest child to just go straight to 999 should i ever get like that with any illness. Are people being left to die at home in a massive majority, they aren't even counting deaths in the home. Very scary indeed, how many 10s of thousands of people are dying at home??
This needs to be put to the government and counted in overall deaths like other countries

This is shocking to hear as the news reporters are not talking about this at all!

They won't because it hasn't been in their interest to report this so far. Up to now, the media have been largely supportive of the government, but over the last few days they have really started to turn on the Government (not just over PPE) and in a sense, rightly so.

Whether there is any truth to what I've read I don't know, but there is a cabinet divided on the lockdown, Johnson and Hancock in the camp of stay locked down, Gove, Sunak and co. in the start to end it camp. Apparently a "senior government source" (well they alway are aren't they?) has said that Johnson is frightened. As I've said, whether there is any truth to this, who knows (it was the Daily Fail after all). Agreed he has had this virus and I bet it was frightening, but he is the PM and the main part of his Job Description is leadership under difficult circumstances I'd suggest.

Cancer treatment has been suspended in most cases as the chances are if a patient receiving treatment gets COVID19 they will die. If the ward and departments are full in oncology departments, like they usually are, then it will spread like wildfire. Anyone who’s ever been to an oncology outpatient appointment will know just how busy they are and unless some patients are cancelled social distancing would be impossible.

If some areas in hospitals are quiet then their staff should be redeployed into busier areas but to be honest at this point quiet has got to be better than busy. There are still lots of people dying from this virus and hospital unless you absolutely have to be there is best avoided.

I think that 111 and the ambulance service are between a rock and a hard place. If they took everyone into hospital that had shortness of breath and chest pain then that would mean that most people with the virus would need to go to hospital as unfortunately that is two of the common symptoms of the virus. In most cases if you don’t require oxygen they won’t admit you. I appreciate that this is very distressing to the people who are frightened and feel abandoned.

The communication around all of this has been a shocking example of a public health campaign. No care in the community and what used to be a trigger happy 111 suddenly refusing ambulances, people dying at home (that we won't know figures for for months I suspect, let alone cause of death), elderly dying of COVID in care homes. What an absolute mess and needless waste of life.

This all sounds so bizarre to me. I live in a different European country with strict lockdown in place. The whole point of it is to flatten the curve so that the healthcare system isn't overwhelmed and can continue to function. My dad is still having his chemo treatment and essential treatment is still being provided for those who need it. I'm not sure you could get a bunion removed but you can certainly have life saving treatment.

Hi,

I am pleased to hear hospital staff saying they are not busy. I am sure your counterparts in Northern Italy and Madrid wish they were not busy.

I think the government and NHS plan was to create as much Covid capacity as possible. They did not know how successful the lockdown measures would be. I believe the public have been more compliant than expected. If you look at the Furlough scheme, the numbers claiming are about 3x what was expected. Which suggests far more non-essential businesses have closed down than expected.

I think it could have been very different and it is good that there is surplus capacity in the health care system.

The next challenge is making sure it stays that way, whilst gradually easing lockdown measures.