My friend is stuck in hospital because there are not enough staff to process his discharge

[Jacaranda75]

My friend has been in a London hospital for a couple of weeks now (not Covid). He has been well enough to go home for a few days, but the hospital are struggling as so many staff are off with Covid or isolating after becoming close contacts. They just don’t have enough medical staff on duty to cope with even basic procedures such as my friend’s discharge. So he’s stuck there. He’s fine, that’s not really the point.

Things are really bad at the moment. Especially in London. The NHS is on its knees. People saying it’s ‘just a mild illness’ need to think about the impact that it is having.

@Trifle66 sorry to hear about your mum. Hope she manages to get home soon.

So it has mutated to be this year's common cold. I feel immense sympathy for you @Changechangychange and wish you well coping with your patient intake. DP has an unpleasant cough cold and is a v grumpy bear with it. But Omicron seems to be (to me) not a lot worse than a very bad cold. aAnd we've all had them.

@XingMing that's as maybe, but it could mutate again and we need to be prepared for that.

Well.OP you're deliberately misleading aren't you. Your friend if they were fine could up and walk out but theres aftercare needed and he's probably going to be in for quite a bit longer as the care package takes time and is reliant on outside agencies.. not to say NHS isn't on its knees it hasn't been fit for purpose for many years now.

DH's Granny has been waiting for discharge since 11am. The pharmacy is short staffed and discharge meds aren't a priority apparently.

This always happens though. In early November we were told at 1pm Monday that she just needed her prescription and then she could go. It was eventually sorted at nearly 7pm Tuesday.

I am angry with the government as you can see in my PPs @Wrongkindofovercoat - but there are decisions we can all make to avoid making the situation worse, like limiting to 2 children on a replacement rate. You can see it above - people advocating for even more kids to be born to cope with the elderly of the post-war baby boom. What happens when the 2000s baby boom kids get old - even more people to pay their tax bill?

I’m sorry but all the records show the NHS was in dire straights already in February 2019, worst performance since records began. When I ended up in hospital with attempted suicide and woke up, I just walked out of the hospital, nobody will stop you.

This is why isolating should be scrapped

So your friend isn’t actually fine and needs a care package, which wouldn’t have been able to be put in place, covid or no covid, because those services aren’t available and never have been over Christmas - hence the mad rush every year to discharge as many people as possible by Christmas Eve.

So it’s not covid related at all.

@Kshhuxnxk FFS I meant 'fine' as in the post was not about him, but more about the situation. How many more times do I have to explain this?

@HailAdrian

This is why isolating should be scrapped

How would being treated by covid-positive staff help the elderly and vulnerable who need treatment in hospital?

People keep saying the NHS is on it's knees. I am wanting to help, have lots of Nursing experience but there are no jobs ( that I can find) willing to take me on as I'm just on the NMC emergency register. I would be willing to do HCA work but local NHS trusts not taking on bank staff either. It's baffling.

[quote Jacaranda75]@Kshhuxnxk FFS I meant 'fine' as in the post was not about him, but more about the situation. How many more times do I have to explain this?[/quote]
I understood what you meant - you meant the patient was not in any pain/distress/discomfort due to the slow discharge

Even if they slash the isolation time for most, it’s unlikely it will impact on NHS staff. Where I work it is still 10 days isolation - we deal with too vulnerable a group to risk coming back earlier.

The NHS has been at the sharp end of this and continues to be. All those now believing it’s all over and are ditching masks etc don’t have a clue of the impact on their actions more widely. Or won’t until it affects them.

Misleading thread. It reads from the OP that patient has nothing wrong with him.

@Babyroobs

People keep saying the NHS is on it's knees. I am wanting to help, have lots of Nursing experience but there are no jobs ( that I can find) willing to take me on as I'm just on the NMC emergency register. I would be willing to do HCA work but local NHS trusts not taking on bank staff either. It's baffling.

That sounds bonkers! Bank always want people! Where are you?

@rrhuth exactly. He should be at home, but they keep telling him they don't have anybody available to process his discharge. He is registered disabled and already on a lot of medication, so I appreciate it might be quite complicated, but nonetheless it is concerning.

And I mean absolutely no criticism of the NHS. Having lived overseas in countries with no universal healthcare, I am extremely grateful for the NHS.

Tiredalwaystired - I am in Leicester. They so no bank HCA vacancies being advertised until the end of Jan/ early feb !!

@EatSleepRantRepeat

They love blaming the old and obese *@mojoj* , but I don't know a single obese person who doesn't have other chronic healthcare needs / disabilities that have caused that situation. I'm sure our local NHS service would be a lot healthier if they hadn't built multiple-100s of new flats and houses within 3 square miles of my home, with no extra doctors surgeries, hospitals, ambulance stations etc.

I hope people remember this next time people think we shouldn't control immigration, or the usual mumsnet approach of "if you can afford another kid, just do it" - overpopulation is a massive issue for the NHS as well.

LMAO the NHS isn't full of immigrants.

It's full of elderly people with complex health needs because we've got really good at prolonging life at all costs, but are really shite at providing social care.

The NHS is staffed by immigrants though. Thank god.

This is a classic musnet thread of multiple people firing off reckless and perhaps dangerous advice, especially on a first page.
I sometimes ignore most advice on the first page of threads for this very reason.
So many people like to jump in early, and speak any old rubbish, regardless of what it is.

@Babyroobs

People keep saying the NHS is on it's knees. I am wanting to help, have lots of Nursing experience but there are no jobs ( that I can find) willing to take me on as I'm just on the NMC emergency register. I would be willing to do HCA work but local NHS trusts not taking on bank staff either. It's baffling.

Our Trust has had a huge number of people applying to be HCA -they are leaving the hospitality industry in droves and we are currently not taking on anymore as permanent Bank staff are not getting enough hours. Also its policy that you cannot work as an HCA if you have an NMC pin. There is also no f2f training or staff available to train ( redeployed) The whole " come back to nursing/ medicine" was just Tory spin.

I work as a senior manager in the NHS, I’ve literally been home an hour. I was the rota’d bed rep for our division today. Which generally means sorting out delays, long length of stays, shuffling patients around and maintaining flow through the front door.

Here are some of the reasons patients will be sleeping in my hospital tonight instead of their own homes

• Numerous patients medically fit but awaiting care packages. Severe shortages of carers means they stay with us until care can be put in place

• Equipment delays. Patient ready to go but now in a wheelchair. Has to wait for equipment to be delivered and installed at his home before he can go

• Patient refused diagnostic MRI which they need before they can be safely discharged. Would like it tomorrow instead. Refused to listen to reason and unable to force a discharge without it. Patient happy to mobilise for a cigarette every 30 mins

• Patients family refused the care home allocated. Patient now awaiting another home

• Patient caught covid whilst waiting for a care home. Care home now won’t take.

• Patient transport not available to take patient home until tomorrow

• Patient not registered at GP surgery. Needs district nurses. Nurses won’t come unless registered at GP. GP won’t take as full, now waiting CCG to allocate GP

This is just a selection of what we have dealt with everyday.

Very very very few of the discharge delays are down to the NHS. They are social delays.

@KinN that all sounds like an utter nightmare! Do you think things are worse at the moment because of Covid, or is it always like this?

All the money pumped into track and trace, isolating and LFT should have gone to the NHS instead