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 was a message early on about staying home unless not coping and that has been misinterpreted

QuietHospital people choosing to not go in or 111 incorrectly triaging?

I work in a private hospital in SE. Cancelled all private patients as requisitioned by the NHS with the intention of carrying on urgent/cancer diagnostics and surgery that couldnt take place in 'COVID' hospitals. Excellent idea to help keep waiting lists moving.

We get sent a dozen patients a week. We would normally see hundreds. Picture replicated nationally from the information and figures we are sent. Thousands of private beds empty...

@Indella I guess that makes sense, but as you say, very worrying. I know that I'm questioning whether to bother with my final routine appointments, as it seems unnecessary risk for a straightforward pregnancy, though hopefully I'd still go in if I had reduced movement concerns.

It does seem that the government/ media have done a good job of terrifying everyone away from medical care in general. Not ideal.

I think a lot of people don’t realise how the NHS works and just believe all the covid stuff and “save the NHS”. In the end the economic crash will leave the bare bones of the NHS.

^ this. I could weep because I do actually care about the NHS.

We need to get this thread on Good Morning Britain tomorrow I'm sure Piers would have a bloody field day

Where I work looks like what people are seeing on TV. Busier than I have ever known it. I know there are some pockets where it is not busy but most of those staff are in the process of being redeployed to where it is busy.

@mitsyblue I feel the same. Work is fairly calm (I’m still busy doing the job of 3 people while colleagues have been moved to staff empty covid wards). Being at home watching tv makes me anxious, then I get to work and it all feels like propaganda. Don’t get me wrong, a small percentage of the population are very sick with this virus. But most of us will be fine and have it very mildly. Where I work most of us have now had symptoms.

frommywindow how does that work, is the taxpayer paying?

Also, as per a poster here whose father had a hip replacement cancelled, are you not allowed to do that kind of thing?

Echo this for the hospital I work at in the southwest. Completely dead whilst a horrendous backlog of vital work builds. I fear that the economic catastrophe about to unfold is going to harm so many more people.

If this is the case why are we constantly being told we don't have enough Ppe surely quiet hospitals could send it to busier ones until stocks can be replenished ( obviously not all of it )

@Quitthat ‘routine’ appointments are still very important, so many things can be diagnosed from a routine appointment that can affect your health or babies health and you wouldn’t have others or known. Reduced growth for example. It’s really important to still attend. I understand why people are choosing not and feel scared but precautions have been put in place, people waiting in cars to be called in for their appointment etc. to severely minimise the risk to everyone. I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this during your pregnancy, can’t imagine how terrifying it must be.

I'd much rather the Nightingale hospitals are there, and not used, than end up in the same situation as Italy. And they apparently have some of the best healthcare In the world. We should all be incredibly proud that the NHS has coped.

@MarshaBradyo both. I’ve called ambulances for patients and it’s been a 2 hour wait. Luckily I call back and pester or tell the patients to get a cab. Not many have people in the know advocating for them. They just accept it because of all the messages we’ve been fed. 111 were taking ages to answer phones.

I agree Toddler

I would take a loved one to A and E. My friend a GP says they are doing remote conferencing courses to pass the time today. I did the online questionnaire to my gp. emailed at 8am, they phoned me within half an hour, prescription done and collected at 10.

Our health board is so quiet all round. My only hope is that one hospital which has been a hot bed of c diff and mrsa for four years will finally be cleaned and rid of it.

Some figures here for those who enjoy a full set of data!

www.icnarc.org/DataServices/Attachments/Download/c9b491af-ea80-ea11-9124-00505601089b

My trust has enough PPE.

Op it’s good to know you can just turn up at A&E. I would do that for sure.

I remember some reports about not being able to do that and being turned away, not sure if it was just the media.

Toddler “ We should all be incredibly proud that the NHS has coped.”

If it has coped by cancelling other necessary treatment, it hasn’t.

Just111, am I right in think c diff is a big killer in terms of hospital acquired infection?

My hospital is exactly the same (Birmingham). Across the trust we have a record number of empty beds.

IMHO our “peak” will come when life goes back to normal and all those poorly people who have been staying away from hospitals come back (from necessity). And then bring with them a possible new wave of Covid.

I work on a ward where we NEVER had an empty bed for longer than an hour. Generally speaking, the next patient would be waiting in the corridor before the previous had left. For the past 3 weeks we have rarely been more than 50% full.

The government I do blame - they should be standing up at every briefing repeating if you are sick - covid or not - you must present for care. There is capacity. There is absolutely no point to any of this if people don’t get treated.

The media? People need to take some responsibility for themselves - blaming decisions on something you’ve seen in Twitter/mumsnet/daily mail is really silly.

OH scheduled for an op. Cancelled due to covid, he then booked private, cancelled the night before due to covid. This is a time sensitive operation, torn rotator cuff. His surgeon not happy, the private hospitals must be making money or they would not be doing this, what a waste.

I've known about this for a while but didn't think anyone would believe me.

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

The media isn't reporting it because it has gone way over the top in its estimations. I'm sorry but that's the truth. Thank goodness people are now speaking out about the reality of what is happening.

We have GOT to be honest and open about what is happening, not give our trust to the media and let them report a narrative that's just not true. I don't know where we will end up if we don't.

So it seems like the ambulance and paramedics are log jamming the flow to the hospitals?

This is fascinating and it feels like something has gone very wrong. Total hats off to the massive organisational efforts to get those Covid ICUs ready at the outset and no denying the intensity and challenge of the life-saving efforts but all this talk of empty, under-utilised wards and staff and the huge backlog of routine ops - I find it very troubling. I don’t know what to think.

The Scottish ‘Nightingale’ hospital cost £43 million to build and they hope and believe that it won’t be needed. How weird it will be if that is the case. Good but weird. But then it’s a weird old time.