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.

Unfortunately this sort of situation is incredibly common, not just in Covid times (although that won't be helping) complex discharges require coordination from a whole team of people and can take ages to arrange if teams are stretched.
It is a shame though that he's now taking up a bed that somebody else needs. Not sure what the solution is but I hope he gets sorted soon.

It's the staff that are off isolating with it that's causing the shortages

Surely he can self discharge (if he needs no ongoing medication) and call a cab?
Misses the point of the thread

@NoNameHere12

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

Al the money pumped into the nhs over the last decade should have been shared with social care. DTOC is nothing new. I have worked in local authority side and this issue has been around for years. Ironically it was actually easier during the peak of Covid as the government gave local authorities more money to set up interim beds.

@Snuggledupforwinter

Surely he can self discharge (if he needs no ongoing medication) and call a cab? Misses the point of the thread

This has all been answered up thread. No he can’t.

My friend is a nurse and is having to have no patient contact because she can't get hold of a test!

@Remmy123

It's the staff that are off isolating with it that's causing the shortages

The other option is for infectious staff to care for patients vulnerable to covid. Sophie’s choice. That’s why it needs everyone to slow the spread. But it feels like people aren’t willing to do that yet STILL want to bash the NHS. The same people that clapped on their doorstep last year.

@Remmy123

It's the staff that are off isolating with it that's causing the shortages

How would having covid-positive staff treating vulnerable patients help the situation?

At some point we need to realise we can’t isolate for omicron. This is a staffing issue,

Whilst we are on it I would agree with a PP - the NHS cannot be expected to care effectively for such an unhealthy population. People have to take responsibility for their health

@Thievesoil

At some point we need to realise we can’t isolate for omicron. This is a staffing issue,

Whilst we are on it I would agree with a PP - the NHS cannot be expected to care effectively for such an unhealthy population. People have to take responsibility for their health

It may be a staffing issue, but it's one that lies with adult social care, not within hospitals.

The crisis in social care isn't as headline grabbing as the state of the NHS, but it's one of the bigger factors in what the state if the NHS actually is.

If you cannot discharge safely, then bedblockers affect acute care, and that happens irrespective of original capacity of the hospital - you can't keep admitting people in when you cannot discharge them out.

Well sacking care home staff for not taking a jab that doesn’t seem to do much was monumentally stupid, even for this government

@Remmy123

It's the staff that are off isolating with it that's causing the shortages

@Remmy123

No, it isn’t. It’s been explained repeatedly why there are delays in transfer of care but I appreciate this doesn’t fit with your agenda.
This is a long standing social care issue.

@Thievesoil two residents of our local care home died after an unvaccinated care worker gave them Covid. If it were me, I would fire the bloody lot of them. You don't want the vaccine, then find another job. There are plenty of excellent overseas care and medical staff who would welcome the chance to come and work here. I think we should be welcoming them with open arms.

How many unvaxxed care home workers haven’t had covid by now though? If the booster wanes after a few months, is the plan to boost these staff repeatedly?

This doesn’t sound sensible to me.

Unvaxxed people are allowed in care homes to visit as long as they test. Why are staff any different? Arguable the risk reduction is greater in daily testing

I view not vaccinating and non-mask wearing as people not wearing condoms during the AIDS epidemic. Sure, your chances of catching HIV were pretty slim, but why would you put yourself and others at risk?

[quote Jacaranda75]@Thievesoil two residents of our local care home died after an unvaccinated care worker gave them Covid. If it were me, I would fire the bloody lot of them. You don't want the vaccine, then find another job. There are plenty of excellent overseas care and medical staff who would welcome the chance to come and work here. I think we should be welcoming them with open arms.[/quote]
Your friend and others will be spending a heck of a lot of more time in hospital if you ‘fire’ care staff. I am pro vaccination but I am against this policy of forcing care staff to have vaccines. It is adding to the social care crisis. People will end up severely neglected if we allow this to continue.

No, they are not many care staff abroad either! The good ones don’t want to come here. Don’t you think we have tried to recruit abroad?! We treat our care workers with disdain, pay them poorly and offer average working conditions.

@Mickarooni I saw a news report the other day about medical staff from Lebanon coming here to work. They were so excited and happy to be here! That's the kind of people we want in our hospitals and care homes, not these entitled Covidiots who refuse to vaccinate.

So an 18 year old in a care home needing to be vaxxed every three months is analogous to not wearing condoms?

Right you are love….

[quote Jacaranda75]@Mickarooni I saw a news report the other day about medical staff from Lebanon coming here to work. They were so excited and happy to be here! That's the kind of people we want in our hospitals and care homes, not these entitled Covidiots who refuse to vaccinate.[/quote]
We have a chronic shortage of social care workers. Where are they coming from?!

@Mickarooni Lebanon. They were nurses. We could also recruit care staff from the Philippines and Sri Lanka. My DH does this, although not in healthcare.

@Nellodee but the US has a worse outcome than the U.K. Age expectancy is lower than the U.K! That’s my point. It’s not just about how much you spend, it’s how you spend it. The US system is absolutely not better than the U.K. system. Yes, it would be for me as a middle class educated professional. It would be far superior. But it’s not better overall.

@Jacaranda75 so what about care home residents or their families who haven't had them? Are you saying they shouldn't be allowed to live there/visit?
You clearly have no idea of how things are. And your comments re aids and condoms is despicable.

@MichelleScarn my comment comparing mask-wearing to condom-wearing during a pandemic in entirely appropriate.

Anyone who thinks an organisation yhe size and complexity of a single hospital can manage without managers is an idiot. Perhaps they would prefer the medical staff to organise the HR issues and payroll, ensure supplies are available, pay the bills, organise building maintenance and cleaning etc. Or do the running around and liaising with social care that PP has described.

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