NHSers - how are things?

[twitchyyellow]

Bloody awful in my camp! Has been described as 'winter in summer' for weeks.

Every bed is occupied, every overflow area open, been on Opel 4 for weeks, all elective surgery has been cancelled for 3 weeks, COVID cases doubling over night but there's no beds left unless another ward is closed and reopened as COVID.

Tons of staff sickness or self isolation, dangerous level of staffing everywhere. Really complex presentations obviously people have not been accessing medical care over the last year. It's just awful. And we're in a fairly low case area.

@CovoidOfAllHumanity just wanted to send a hug to you too I really do recognise a lot of what you said in your post. It’s fucking hard.

I'm in Primary Care. We are extremely busy and struggling, not just with our own increased workload and patients who have switched rapidly from "Thank you for all you are doing" to "I demand" and "I'm entitled to...", but also, with the volume of work passed out from the hospitals. The consultants run their phone clinic then ask us to sort bloods, medication, follow-up testing, etc when we really don't have the time and are not covered by shared care guidelines to take a lot of this on.
Local trust have got rapidly rising numbers and have just restricted visiting again so it doesn't look like there is much hope of things improving any time soon

@LadyGAgain

If would be helpful if posters could give a rough geography as it's hugely different across the country. Down here (London and SE area) we are operating well. Good capacity And patients being surgically treated. Not the same for colleagues in the north who have still not really got up and running again surgically.

Where in London are you?

Admittedly normal for many London hospitals is not good capacity, understaffed, long waiting lists, and stress all round for patient and staff both..., but definitely I have NHS acquaintances in London hospitals who say things are getting bad and they're struggling. Beds filling up, etc.

I feel for all of you.

Are there any concerns about the potential impact of the predicted heatwave? Covid + heat related illness and admissions might be a particular challenge.

I think they proved last year that covid didn't love heat so a heatwave might be welcome! For us all!!

I won't out myself but we are not overrun. Most patients with covid are unvaccinated or CEV. And the death rate is much lower largely due to the age and our vax rate. We are getting through standard operations and electives. London recovered so much quicker than a lot of the country despite how dire it was initially.

I should add that I say a daily (non denominational) prayer that we continue on an positive upward trajectory

Oh and the struggle has never waned. Massively understaffed. Huge BAME population which affects staffing and patients alike with this pandemic. The PTSD is very real. I'm honoured to be surrounded by so many Nhs workers who pitch up each and every day even though they themselves are struggling.

I'm struggling to work out where you are. London recovered!?! That's a new one. I'll have to tell my London NHS worker friends that! It will be news to them. London was in a terrible state long before the pandemic.

I'm guessing you work for Guys? It has to be there or one of the few other central London flagships. Although even they're under extreme pressure.

No not Guys.
And given you've acknowledged we were in a terrible state before the pandemic, that's the benchmark. I'm not saying it's bloody wonderful to be working here. I'm saying that the current state of covid admissions isn't adversely affecting our ability to treat non covid patients. And bloody amen to that. As too many are so much more poorly due to delays. I'm encouraged by how quickly we have been able to mobilise. Anyone who works in the NHS knows how fucking hard it is to work here. Underpaid. Under staffed. But, as a patient, I'd rather be here than in other parts of the country where my elective procedure definitely won't happen before 2022 and beyond.

Is it Guys though. Several friends (not the NHS ones) have had electives cancelled there. Not the fault of the hospital. It's because of the rising numbers of Covid patients. Perhaps you work for a non A&E specialist hospital? The Brompton perhaps?

Anyway thank you for the work you do. It's good to hear that at least one London hospital has managed to buck the trend.

@Tealightsandd every team has a valid sorry to tell - usually not a nice one for good reason. I'm just sharing that things are a lot better than they were. Largely due to fantastic people and the vaccine and the opportunity to restart. Most hospitals (including those with A&E) are operating surgically. It's bloody hard. Capacity is lower. Staffing is a nightmare. But it's happening. What a difference a year makes.

But, as a patient, I'd rather be here than in other parts of the country where my elective procedure definitely won't happen before 2022 and beyond.

I'm sorry I'm being nosy. Just love to know where in London that is. I realise you can't say but it's a shame as it sounds almost too good to be true! I'll say it again, it's great there's one London outlier, bucking the trend.

I'm guessing you're too busy to read studies. Recent figures published on English waiting times for surgery and diagnostics. London patients were facing some of the longest waiting times out of the whole country (this was for England). Figures like 14,000 patients on a list for gynaecology in London versus 500 in another region.

Just bloody awful, not with covid, just staffing.

I had some awful moments at work recently as it was just crappy, my resilience was questioned. Yeah cause being understaffed and having too many patients is totally fine isn’t it! 🙄

I suppose one of the problems for London is it's too expensive for many doctors and nurses. Housing increasingly out of reach and scarcity of social housing. Several NHS friends moved out of London in the last 10 years for housing reasons. There's an urgent need to tackle London's housing crisis - for humanitarian reasons, but also to ensure essential staff can afford to stay/come.

@BlueCookieMonster

Just bloody awful, not with covid, just staffing.

I had some awful moments at work recently as it was just crappy, my resilience was questioned. Yeah cause being understaffed and having too many patients is totally fine isn’t it! 🙄

for you and your colleagues. You're doing brilliant work.

@Tealightsandd

I suppose one of the problems for London is it's too expensive for many doctors and nurses. Housing increasingly out of reach and scarcity of social housing. Several NHS friends moved out of London in the last 10 years for housing reasons. There's an urgent need to tackle London's housing crisis - for humanitarian reasons, but also to ensure essential staff can afford to stay/come.

Totally agree.

The studies are a stark reminder for sure. And that's about the longer term bigger picture. As this is the covid thread I was commenting with that more in mind. I'm not familiar with the studies you've quoted about gynaecology patients but was it given as a % of the waiting list as 14k in London versus 500 in the SW for example could be a similar % of the population.

@BlueCookieMonster
I agree with LadyGAgain

You're all doing brilliant work. Under very difficult conditions (as has been for years but now add Covid into the mix).

Yes want to add my thanks, appreciation and respect too.

Salute. And

Just want to pop in and say I think all of you NHS workers are all bloody fantastic. ❤️
I can’t begin to imagine the pressure and all that you’ve seen/have gone through and are still going through. I’m in awe of the work you do. Sending love and strength your way and hoping things get easier for you all as soon as they possibly can.

Addictions: we’re swamped. Our staffing and overall capacity is reduced and we’re still struggling with the backlog of detoxes needed. We’re also struggling with many patients taking the Mickey to try get out of appointment reviews or having to collect their prescriptions. I worry about the knock on child protection and safeguarding implications it is having.

Ambulance service here, we are on REAP level 4 (see link)

www.emas.nhs.uk/news/behind-the-headlines/resource-escalation-action-plan-what-is-reap-and-how-do-the-different-levels-affect-how-we-operate/

Although this isnt all down to COVID, its a combination of the football, summer drinking etc Still very stressfull and we expect to be on this level for sometime yet

I work in paediatrics and the ward is full with infants with respiratory infections and viruses. It may as well be winter for all the diagnoses, illness severity and bed pressures we are dealing with.

We are also very short staffed due to pregnant nurses now having to go off at 28 weeks - we are 15 nurses down across the paediatric wards.

We also have 3 nurses of sick with stress just on my ward because of the demands we are all under.

So yes, work is pretty shit at the moment.

No cases in our hospital despite local covid rates being at their highest. A&E is 3 times as busy as normal and has been since May.

SW cancer care. Admissions to the hospital in general are creeping up. Cancer patients are terrified as no guarantee the jabs work in immunocompromised people. No restrictions will end at the hospital on Monday. Staffing is dire as people are in isolation and then getting positive tests (despite being double jabbed) so off work for a while.