How are things in hospitals?

[lingle]

I realise I can watch the news but you get truer reports here I think.

Tia

I work for a Birmingham trust and it is awful.
Had to turn another part of itu covid.
Wards are struggling
A&E struggling.

I just got home from work and would rather never go back. It feels like the beginning again. Back to March and we all know what's coming.

Go onto Facebook to see people saying the figures are being manipulated and they know nobody with covid and I want to bang my head against a brick wall.

Not good. Tier 3. My gran went in with a broken hip (shielding, noone been near her) and is now dying on the covid ward. Been up all night wondering if shes still alive or not. My grandad will have it now too as he's been in the room with her for 48 hours holding her hand and kissing her. Hes 94 and shes 92 so they won't survive and both were doing incredibly well for their ages. The nurses are working so, so hard in there but they all look exhausted and from what I saw every bed was full, I know ICU is struggling for space. Just awful

It’s frightening, the news channels seem to be playing this down.

On Facebook a lot of people talk about this as a Covid hoax, very upsetting and disrespectful considering how hard medics are working.

Beds and ICU full in my area and running out of oxygen

DC working in hospital with about 250 Covid patients. RCU and ICU both full most of the time leading to backlog in A&E because of lack of beds. Situation is bleak, tier 2 area shortly moving into tier 3. Lots of staff shortages.

What is scary is that every Winter there is a bed crisis, if Leeds hospitals are operating at 98% bed occupancy now ( remember the safe level is 85% ) before the normal Winter infections hit , I can't help thinking we are in for a hellish Winter in the NHS.

@MostDisputesDieAndNoOneShoots

Colleagues who’ve already had confirmed Covid have it again, so the antibody thing clearly doesn’t last

Do you mean tested positive twice or been ill with it twice?

A London hospital I know for a fact has 40 (9 in ICU)

Thank you to everyone working in hospitals.

I guess the media’s hero in spring was Captain Tom. Now it isMarcus Rashford whose focus is, understandably, on a different area.

What can we do to support you? Adhere to guidelines?

Perhaps what I need to do today is throw out the cloth mask and get a better quality one ...

“It’s frightening, the news channels seem to be playing this down.”

Exactly hence good to ask on here. The media seems to need “themes” that change regularly. Also on here we are more likely to get posts from the quiet people in hospitals who don’t volunteer for media interviews.

My close family member works in a hospital. South West, low incidence (apparently) and Tier 1.

She said COVID is popping up everywhere over the hospital, it has basically taken over the “normal” wards so everything else will have to wait.

I’m not clinical but work in a hospital.

Support vehicles are back in operation to support the ambulances, overflow wards open and full and clinical staff are clearly stressed out and anxious. There’s a significant percentage of people planning their exit from the NHS (me included).

We have 9 people (reported yesterday) in Bath, (in hospital) 2.5% it said in that table for beds. more in Bristol though apparently.

@Itisasecret

My close family member works in a hospital. South West, low incidence (apparently) and Tier 1.

She said COVID is popping up everywhere over the hospital, it has basically taken over the “normal” wards so everything else will have to wait.

Also have relative in SW hospital. Numbers of Covid patients is now in the high twenties (in a tier 1 area). So already very bad.

But they have been told to expect to start receiving patients from the North from hospitals without any beds left.

It is already out of control in the north and transferring patients to 'quieter' areas will redistribute the problem so the hospitals in the South will also reach full capacity. The level of PPE in different hospitals varies widely. Some hospitals have full PPE for treating Covid patients, some have rubber pinnies and a mask. Those hospitals with poorer PPE will see a massive transfer of infection from infected patients to staff/other patients and then into the community (just like in the first wave, but on a larger scale). If the government would ensure that all hospitals had proper full PPE (especially in ICUs) that would really help prevent transmission.

"it’s frightening, the news channels seem to be playing this down" Yes, the 'saving christmas' disney-esq storyline makes better broadcasting.

South coast. I was in hospital last week. My ward (emergency gynae) was quiet but apparently they had no surgical beds left in the hospital. Covid was limited to one ward.

Midwifery services struggling as staff were self-isolating or at home as their children had to isolate.

" "it’s frightening, the news channels seem to be playing this down" Yes, the 'saving christmas' disney-esq storyline makes better broadcasting."

Yes- it's like "but what's our angle? this won't be good for viewing figures we've already done this".
I'd sort of half-consciously picked up on that which was what made me turn to mumsnet. Also, I do have a role in a school and I know that the people I'd like to get opinions from are precisely those least likely to talk to the press! And I suspect it's the same in hospitals.

It's a bit like climate change - for years at a time it goes right down the priority list and it only goes up again because of certain personalities giving it a new angle (Greta, Attenborough).

The vast majority of hospitals are no fuller than they were this time last year. Treatments are continuing as normal and COVID outbreaks are being managed effectively on a local basis when they do occur.

My FIL is on the respiratory ward (non covid pneumonia) locally, has own room (side room) lots of staff...very calm

We are in that red box. Ours trust is having

Ours is still running okayish but they had to re open 2 covid wards.
We are still only able to admit half the children patients we could before which will be an issue now bronc season is ahead of us.

I live in East Lancs. I really cannot believe the Gov are just standing by and letting the NHS get overun. I am so angry, they need a bloody good kick up the backside, blatently ignoring SAGE advice to lock down, should have been done weeks ago

In terms of which wards? The surgical ward that MIL was in until Monday? - she was the only one on a 6 bed bay.

He is practically living for the current situation, talks about nothing else with a real sense of importance and is absolutely living his best life

Get him on here @honkytonkheroe - there are so many who are bloody relishing the drama of a pandemic!

I'm in a North West Tier 3 hospital and below is our update from yesterday.
We are on "yellow alert" (one step up from green but below red and black which is the worst and this is a measure of capacity).
The hospital covers a population of around 300K.

Covid-19 patients in critical care diagnosed within last 14 days 5
All patients in critical care due to Covid-19 7
Covid-19 patients admitted/diagnosed over the past 24 hours 13
Covid-19 patients discharged over the past 24 hours 14
Covid-19 patients on wards/intermediate care beds 55
Overall Covid-19 patients 60