Does anyone else live in a town where the hospital is too small for a growing population?

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The population is currently around 200k and expanding. The hospital is fast becoming a patchwork of extensions and near constant building site. We have only just got a changing place. My town has always needed a surrounding hospital. It would end 2 bus across town with 2 grizzly children when in need od urgent medical treatment or opthalmology. The roads are full of roadworks, an awful bus service and many friends cut off in villages with children and grandchildren. No medical drop in centre in town making it near impossible to get help for many,

Yes, my local hospital had an a&e extension done and that counted as a new hospital!!!

it needed the extension as they closed the a&e in the town 25 miles away (due to staffing) so everyone from that town now has to get to our city. Takes 90 mins on a bus, there’s only a few buses each day, nothing at evening or Sunday! 🤷‍♀️

Which is great……but in my mind a replacement hospital is not a new hospital. I guess technically it might be but the govt spin has been that the new hospitals are extra hospitals which will cut waiting times, increase bed space, etc. which is generally bollocks.

it’s like all the new nurses and midwives the tories reckon they have, and the new police officers. All lies.

And this 'older person', I'm 60, has paid higher rate tax for the last 35 years. I'm still working full time so I and many others have already contributed. We still are.

It’s a bit simplistic to say older people don’t contribute, I agree. But it’s not really true to say they contribute by generating need. There’s a crisis in social care and need far outstrips the available workforce or the resources made available to pay them. Sending large numbers of EU nationals away because of blue passports and straight bananas hasn’t helped much with that either.

…and by older people I mean those in their last decade. Not those of us who are still economically active and/or performing unpaid carer roles.

Abandoned before they've even started in some areas, 13 years of neglect from this awful government

ours was too small and a second one to the north was needed before ours was opened i believe. beds cut and lack have made it worse

I live next to Scotland's newest city, A + E closed a few years ago and the hospital was downgraded to a big outpatient unit with only a psychiatric and elderly care ward still open. They did have a hospice until really recently but closed that too. There is a minor injuries unit but they will only let you in the door if you have been referred by NHS24.

Meanwhile they keep building more and more new houses and GP services are also in crisis.

It was an hours drive when I needed to take my DD to A and E recently and even at 5am almost no disabled parking.

I spent a lot of years paying tax and national insurance. In my day we had to have made contributions for 39 or 45 years, and I think that has reduced.

Modern medicine can keep people creaking on for years with discomfort and pain. I am one of them. I have had enough years for a life. I am over 70. I would like to die quietly in my bed like a member of my family did - who wouldn't want to? Doctors could give me a little injection and I could nod off nicely, forever, but it's the big, shrieking no-no. There are so many houses going up where I live and we keep wondering how on earth we are going to get enough doctors and dentists and schools for all of the people.

Cough cough Lincolnshire

This has to be Swindon. I am there too. It is a hole!

I'm in a city that has three pretty big hospitals and I live a mile from one of them which has just had a lot of investment and is essentially being modernised and rebuilt. I think the provision is pretty good.

I have been to a&e/minor injuries twice this week for various things and both times was seen, x rayed and out in 90 mins.

I was genuinely impressed with it.

Don't get me wrong, can't see a GP for love nor money. But the hospital seems good.

I think some of it is due to care being so specialised these days and risk management/litigation. It’s easier to provide specialised care people might need in a timely manner in a central location rather than offering a local service that is ripe for litigation if things go wrong and they can’t get the right specialists, lab services in action quickly enough.

Im lucky cos I live in London and have two hospitals within 10-15 mins drive, another about 25 mins away (the borough one but we’re nearer two out of borough, but in Trust) and a walk-in 10 mins drive and they’re still all really busy cos, London. Getting a referral through is hard, unless it’s a potential growth (gynae were good last year for me but symptoms were red flag - luckily it was not cancer).
I would never live remotely as access to services would be so sporadic and I’m not a fan of driving.

Our hospital is awful for many reasons typically a 6-8 wait in a&e and 4 hour plus for kids . It's 15 min from my house but if it's my child i drive an extra 30 min to either a minor injuries (excellent never waited more than 20min) or a renowned children's hospital (Aldo excellent wait time usually under 2 hours)

I am in cornwall and we have one acute hospital that serves the county, from Penzance/Lands End it's an hour to the hospital with no traffic. It's constantly completely full and buckling under the pressure, without the summer season and the tourists that double the population while they are here.

awful. the planning is all wrong all over

My friend didn't choose to live in a village it was where SBC put her and partner as they needed a bungalow.

When we came back to uk after19 months in Denmark I'm afraid my criteria for renting included 'does it have a proper A&E within 3 miles' - we ended up back in Bath but it's sad that these days it has to be a big consideration. I'm 61 and don't drive either so consider it kind of important.

I'm pretty sure Swindon has this- is it that you need 'another' one on top??

I always felt a bit unsafe that way when we lived in st Albans- it felt far too big not to have a proper A&E

Not just hospitals. There aren't enough schools, GP surgeries, police, buses, trains. And too many people needing those services!