Is there a crisis in the NHS?

[fallen-archie]

Performance rates at there lowest for a decade, Hospitals declaring emergencies, A&E at breaking point, Hospital Beds occupied wby elderly people struggling to breath, Is everyone really so ill or are we the wimps of the west?

[tommy.irene]

Wait untill the flu comes then you will see the Hospitals breakdown.. Going by the news tonight i think its started.

[tommy.irene]

Cuts in social care are being blamed for a surge in demand for A&E services. It comes after the NHS revealed waiting times in emergency departments are at their worst for a decade. Health charities say chronic underfunding has left hundreds of thousands of older and disabled people not getting the help they need. Richard Hawkes, chairman of the Care and Support Alliance, said this has had a "knock-on effect" on the health service. "It is forced to pick up the pieces when people become isolated, can't live on their own and slip into crisis. "Every day, our organisations hear horror stories of people who struggle to get the support they need."

[angelah1847]

I work in a children's hospital - I'm not a medic, I'm office staff.  For about 4 weeks running up to Christmas our A&E department was manic pretty much 24hrs a day.  Number of attendances way above what they are normally are. GPs and 111 service referring parents with sick kids even though an awful  lot of them didn't need to be.

The staff were heroes, some working shifts well over what they normally do. Those guys are just committed to making sure sick kids are looked after, whether it's a cold or something that turns out to be far more serious.

Our A&E is now back to 'normal', it seems to be the ones that deal with adults that are now suffering and we haven't even had a flu outbreak yet.

[cookiecookuk]

TODAY WE ARE KEEPING ELDERLY ALIVE LOnGER DUE TO  MEDICINE

WE ARE KEEPING PREM AND ILL BABIES ALIVE DUE TO MEDICINE

WE ARE KEEPING CANCER SUFFERERS ALIVE DUE TO MEDICINE

etc etc etc

we can not achive this without it having a knock on effect with budgets etc 

THE NHS  NEEDS HELP 

[fallen-archie]

Lots of people experience discomfort and feel poorly, tired, even exhausted, some have blocked nose, sore throat, toothache, aches and pains, do you call 999?

[suzieseaside]

14% of A&E attendance is alcohol related (2 million people in England and Wales annually). That's a big pressure on the NHS and emergency services. Perhaps those that waste resources due to self-inflicted excessive drinking on a night should be charged for their treatment and trip in an ambulance.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/specialisms/accident-and-emergency/two-million-ae-visit...

[suzieseaside]

And in the same journal, 25% of Scottish intensive are admissions are alcohol related.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/specialisms/substance-misuse/25-of-scottish-intensive-c...

[joe_bloggs*]

Why does the NHS always go into crisis when the tories are in power?

It was the same in the 1980's and 90's

[0-anthony-0]

The so called "crisis" that is being constantly reported in the media and the details therein are not what I have experienced in my extensive experience of the NHS recently.

In the last 9 months I have been on a ward for 10 days with pneumonia, accessed through A&E, after being referred there by my doctor. Attended an 8 week pulmonary rehabilitation project. Had a colonoscopy that involved some time on the ward recovering from the sedation given, followed by 2 consultations with a gastroenterologist, after initially being referred by my doctor to a clinic at the hospital. Appointment waiting time a fortnight.  I spent 2 days on a ward having an iron infusion and a blood transfusion, after my doctor phoned an on-call consultant who arranged for me to attend a rapid response clinic the same day, which referred me to the department that arranged the ward stay and today I visited a health centre to get a further iron infusion. I have also had cause to visit my GP on numerous occasion's, getting the doctor of choice and a convenient appointment on all but one occasion, when I had to see a different GP in the afternoon rather than the morning as requested.

Did everything go smoothly and without mistakes!? NO of course not, we are humans and perfection, whatever that is, is not something we achieve at all times, though everyone encountered thoroughly did a professional job, to the best of their abilities, no doubt about that. Did I have to wait for bed to be found the times I was admitted to a ward!? of course, and it was a number of hours each time, though each time I wasn't an expected guest and it would be unreasonable to expect speedier arrangements being made.

I don't doubt the cases reported have occurred, no less I cannot relate to any so called "crisis" from my recent experiences of the NHS.

[evoman3957]

Interesting reading.

http://www.nhsconfed.org/resources/key-statistics-on-the-nhs

[sir_arthur_strebe-grebling]

The so-called 'crisis' in A&E, concocted by Labour, is nothing of the sort. Ten years ago, Labour decided that the easiest thing to measure was how quickly patients are treated. Most sensible people don't care how long it takes; we just want to be treated as well as possible.

But Labour doesn't want any discussion of the quality of treatment and 'patient outcomes'. Then we'd be reminded that Labour's Nationalised Death Service killed thousands of people (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/10178296/13000-died-needlessly-at-14-worst-NHS-... many of them whilst the arch-liar Andy Burnham was in charge, but covered up the problem.

See what happened when a journalist questioned Ed Miliband about Labour's lies on the NHS: they swore at him and shouted him down. http://order-order.com/2015/01/05/labour-room-meat-turn-on-pillock-norman-smith/

[evoman3957]

You've done it now arthur, the Neanderthals will be coming to get you; they'll belt you over the Head with one of their clubs and drag you back to their Cave.

[sir_arthur_strebe-grebling]

http://www.itv.com/news/2015-01-06/people-come-to-a-e-when-they-could-take-a-paracetamol/

'People come to A&E when they could take a paracetamol'

A doctor has blasted time-wasting patients who come to A&E when they could have taken a paracetamol to treat their illness.

Dr David Kirby, who works in Luton's A&E department, told ITV News: "People attend emergency departments up and down the country with conditions you or I would not even bother our GP with.

"The problem for us is we don't know that until we've actually seen the patient and know what the problem is".

[joe_bloggs*]

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@sir_arthur_strebe-grebling wrote:

The so-called 'crisis' in A&E, concocted by Labour, is nothing of the sort. Ten years ago, Labour decided that the easiest thing to measure was how quickly patients are treated. Most sensible people don't care how long it takes; we just want to be treated as well as possible.

But Labour doesn't want any discussion of the quality of treatment and 'patient outcomes'. Then we'd be reminded that Labour's Nationalised Death Service killed thousands of people (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/10178296/13000-died-needlessly-at-14-worst-NHS-... many of them whilst the arch-liar Andy Burnham was in charge, but covered up the problem.

See what happened when a journalist questioned Ed Miliband about Labour's lies on the NHS: they swore at him and shouted him down. http://order-order.com/2015/01/05/labour-room-meat-turn-on-pillock-norman-smith/

---

That was a party political post on behalf of the Conservative party

[al**bear]

Cuts to Social Care mean Hospital Beds  are occupied by People who no longer need to be there

OAPs, people who need Social workers, the mentally ill etc etc

Now Cameron and Co will tell you they put money into Councils for this, but with Council Tax frozen, it means that money has gone to make up for inflation and rising costs. All this when demands on Care is rising expectancy. that  means Cuts

We have loads of highly trained nurses, who can't find a Job, while at the same time we can't fill basic Nurse posts. The Tories cut Nurse training in London alone by nearly 30% when they came into office, this is the reason they are bringing in Nurses from outwith the UK.

The Tories have closed most of the Walk-in Centres and Healthcare centres  - so filling A & E with people who shouldn't be there

The Tories shut down NHS direct - it wasn't great, but was improving into the service that was needed.  They replaced it with 111, staffed by non-medical staff. Whose default answer seems to be - go to A & E

Remember waiting times only start when you enter A & E, so the figures are way worse than the ones stated. People are waiting on Ambulances for longer and others are waiting in Ambulances stuck in A & E forecourts

My Daughters local A & E had one of the best waiting times figures in the UK 96% seen inside 4hrs, thing was  they partitioned the waiting room, if you moved from one side to the other, you were counted as in the 'care centre' so were no longer waiting (even if you sat there another 4 hrs)

But of course Sir A, it's an illusion

Labour did make a big mistake, when they changed GP contracts, Doctors got a massive pay rise, while at the same time, they were allowed to slash the services that used to be required to be undertaken by them.

[electric*mayhem*band]

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@suzieseaside wrote:

14% of A&E attendance is alcohol related (2 million people in England and Wales annually). That's a big pressure on the NHS and emergency services. Perhaps those that waste resources due to self-inflicted excessive drinking on a night should be charged for their treatment and trip in an ambulance.

http://www.nursingtimes.net/nursing-practice/specialisms/accident-and-emergency/two-million-ae-visit...

---

Quite right, Suzie. Charging them would be a good idea, and I think that point has already been mooted by some official. It's not only the staff of the A&Es that I feel sorry for though, it's the Paramedics. These dedicated and profession individuals have to deal with the Fri/Sat night binge drinkers at source. They either fall flat on their silly faces because they're so trollied they can't stand up, or else they're kicking seven bells out of each other, and the Paras give these clowns the same care and attention that they would for a road accident victim. I could never do their difficult and demanding job. I'd be sorely tempted to leave these idiots lying in the gutter in their own blood, vomit, and urine. Slapping a bill on them for services rendered, might just do the trick.

http://news.sky.com/story/1138596/sky-poll-drunk-a-and-e-patients-should-be-charged

Is there a crisis in the NHS?

Consultants and A&E staff up and down the country say there is - Comedy Dave on the other hand, says there isn't.

[suzieseaside]

Interesting link embs, and it says 7 million (idiots) attend A&E per year when drunk. 

I also feel sorry for the paramedics - I saw a documentary once about them out and about on weekend nights and they get subjected to abuse while trying to help stupid drunks who take no responsibility for themselves.  Charging them might make a proportion of them think twice if they have any functioning brain cells.  Difficult in the odd case where someone might have had their drinks spiked I suppose, but I imagine that would be a small proportion judging by some morons around where I live who get caned on a regular basis, start fights and fall in the road.

[joe_bloggs*]

Play Jeremy Hunt’s Realistic A&E Crisis Simulator: how many patients can you treat before you’re forcibly privatised?

http://games.usvsth3m.com/jeremy-hunts-realistic-a-and-e-crisis-simulator/?utm_source=Us+Vs+Th3m+new...