A&Es struggle after 'surge' in demand.

[merehazle]

A ''sharp rise'' in demand in A&E units is causing real problems for hospitals, NHS bosses are warning.

The BBC has learnt some NHS trusts have even had to take extreme measures to cope with the ''exceptional'' pressures.

One hospital had to cancel all it's operations, while another considered setting up a temporary treatment area in a tent. Over the past fortnight there have been 45 closures of A&E units - up 50% on the same period last year. And so far this has been the mildest of winters.

We are enlightened that our that our innovation must match the challenge of our ageing population. And our ageing population is often described as a ''burden''. 

Wasn't when they built the wealth of our country. I thought the burden was our leaders not listening to their own people (particularly over the last 20 - years). I thought the idea was for government to plan 'before the horse had bolted. 

Those that are expecting operations might be getting very anxious.  Those that can afford ''private'' care, wont. (hello Cameron, Blair, & Co, ).  

[6969antony]

i wish to add my experience of the nhs, concerning my daughter and grand daughter a few months ago,

being a new mum when her daughter was 15 months old and became unwell she tried to contact the gp, 177 attempts later! i kid you not, the phone was eventually answered by a hapless receptionsit, thankfully for my daughter i had just arrived at her house and was able to take her striaght to the surgery, the waiting room was nearly empty, only another mum with her toddler too, daughter and grand daughter got called in to see the doc after 30 mins waiting, but during that time we started to talk to the other mum who also had a similar experience to us, of the total calls just trying to even get in to see a doc where in excess of 150, 

so event ually off they go in to see the doc, and while i sat and waited i happened to notice why it took so long for the phone to be ansswered, the recptionist repeatedly picked the phone up and them immediately hung up while sat there filing her nails! so after about 15-20 times of witnessing this i got up and spoke to the receptionist regarding this, basically she couldnt have cared less!

my grand daughter had to be taken into hospital immediately, and once in there the nurse taking the details on hearing the name of the surgery just raised eyebrows and said not another one!

similar again a few weeks later when this time my daughter took ill, i got a phone call off her saying help! i rushed around to find her very ill, and phoned asking for a doc to call around asap, they point blank refused, i had to phone for an ambulance this time as my daughter then started drifting in and out of concuiosness,

now daughter is due next  baby in 8 weeks time and she is now scared in case they need the help of the doctor or midwives from that suregery as they have proven several times to be a complete waste of time.

so bearing in mind our experience with the docs would it be unreasonable for us to end up attending the a&e? the walkin cant treat daughter due to being pregnant, and not having notes to hand regarding grand daughter if she was unwell, perhaps this isnt as isolated and experience as they would like to make it out to be?

[suzieseaside]

Not unreasonable after what you have experienced.

I would write to the senior manager of that practice or your GP and make a complaint about that receptionist - that is appalling.

[6969antony]

i did! and her reply was even more appauling than the treatment that was given!

[astrologica]

A letter to the local newspaper......they hate publicity!

[6969antony]

she is currently 8 weeks away from having a c section, and due to the midwife not filling the correct form in 3 months ago she hasnt been seen by a consultant as she is in a high risck group due to having previsous comlications resulting in a c section, she wont find out when the new baby will be born until the week before! her husband thankfully has good bosses and they have said that normally with a baby they wouldnt have had any previous notice of when he was going to be off work, but rather than just having the hospital bags ready she also needs to have bags ready for the grand daughter too!

[upthecreekyetagain]

Why haven't you changed doctors?

[evoman3957]

My Son's an F1 Doctor ( coming to the end of his first year ) currently placed in a Hospital; that's in special measures. He's told ALL the family, that no matter how ill they are; make sure they NEVER end up in the hospital he has to work in. He's told my daughter ( his Sister ) not to even bring her Dogs in there to get treated. He says, the problem is at the top; with arrogant consultants, who refuse to except criticism, or change ( because they know best ).......so the hospital stays in special measures. The admin staff, including those that do the rostering, are incompetent......with not enough Doctors being rostered in one area; while another area has too many ( so they sit around with nothing to do ). Sick people ( being admitted to a ward on a Friday ) have seen NO senior Doctor until the following Monday.  On GP's, he says, they have been instructed to treat more patients in their communities, thereby keeping them out of Hospitals ( because they can't cope & haven't got enough beds ). There are less and less 1 GP practices, with GP's opting to form Poly clinics ( multiple GP's in each practice ).  They don't have enough training ( simply not enough time as Doctors ) to have the experience to recognise the various different illnesses that patients can have ( but they are dissuaded from referring them on to hospitals, for reasons I've stated ).............and the answer apparently.........to stretch the cover even thinner, to cover 7 days a week and to try to shorten the time it takes to become a GP...........if you think it's bad now.......night is coming !!

[6969antony]

i keep telling her to change, but being a busy mum its the last thing she thinks about unless i keep on at her, however the only other surgery she could register  with wont do housecalls, well the ones she is with now wont either, but at least they are walkable ublike the better one i keep telling her to go to

[Anonymous]

I think that taking a taxi to the other one might be faster than trying to contact the surgery she is with, so maybe it's an option worth considering.

[Anonymous]

The A&E at Manchester Royal Infirmary seems to have improved. Last time we were there we only had to wait 2 hours. Before it wasn't abnormal to be waiting for 4 to 5 hours before you got seen by anyone. They have some new system that looks at who seems more urgent. Still the wait is long enough. You do see a lot of people there that make you wonder why they are there, looking very relaxed on their phones chatting away with others, having a soft drink, not doubled over in pain or bleeding, not having pain written all over their face...............but you never know I suppose.

I was almost tempted last week to go there (I was in a lot of pain with my Crohn's), but the thought of having to sit on a metal chair for 2 hours and then another half hour in a cubicle to be seen by a nurse first, then having to wait another half hour for some doctor to arrive (with half of them too tired, or not qualified enough, or just not capable of listening to a patient, or speaking such broken English that you don't have a clue what they are asking you) and then if you need any treatment to lie on a rock hard trolley for another few hours made me decide against going and hang in there and contact my GP the next day to see if he could get me seen any quicker by a specialist.

He couldn't, but as I already had an appointment this coming week he asked me to hang in there or.....go to A&E.

[merehazle]

---

@fallen-archie wrote:
Agreed but what about the trend of people becoming soft, one sniff a day off makes two and it's off to A&E. The media is full of scare stories as are academics looking for research funding.

---

What about this: 

 Some may remember the disastrous £11. 4 bn (yes,billion)  NHS IT programme that was abandoned. How on earth did they manage/mismanage that?  If l remember rightly there was a big row about "accountability". l should think so too.

How much might we save if the abuse by drunkard's was dealt with by charging them?   I have heard of them fighting with ambulance staff and smashing up emergency equipment at A&E. The reintroduction of "hard labour "until they have paid every penny back would cure these and most criminals. Why the hell they ever ended hard labour defies belief. When criminals have a choice and their victims don't. 

They have said on the news this evening that 'health shopping' by foreigners, has cost £2bn (yes, £2 billion) in one year.

Good night.

[right-then-petal]

Goodnight

[joe_bloggs*]

Who needs doctors anyway? I mean its all out there on google anyway isn't it?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/jeremy-hunt-s-advice-to-parents-could-put-lives-at-risk-doctors...

Jeremy Hunt has been condemned by doctors for offering "ludicrous" and "potentially fatal advice" to parents who suspect their children of having a rash. 

The Health Secretary, who yesterday admitted that the NHS out-of-ours hotline needed more doctors and nurses to prevent another tragedy like the death of one-year-old William Mead, said that the public were confused about where they could get urgent medical help. 

However, he then suggested parents could look online to determine the severity of their child’s rash, attracting considerable criticism from medical professionals. 

[upthecreekyetagain]

---

@astrologica wrote:

Have a look at this Creeks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3424729/Got-papers-order-welcome-soft-touch-Britain-doctors-...

This is why the NHS has no money.

When Nigel Farage mentioned this is a debate, he was booed and derided by the bleeding heart brigade.

---

So who do you believe?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check/2013/oct/22/health-tourists-costing-nhs-2bn

[astrologica]

I believe the doctors.

[joe_bloggs*]

"They have said on the news this evening that 'health shopping' by foreigners, has cost £2bn (yes, £2 billion) in one year"

http://fullfact.org/news/unwell-and-over-here-whats-true-cost-health-tourism/

"The estimates for the irregular migrants are very uncertain and based on on out of date population estimates. The estimates for health tourism, as for any unlawful activity, are impossible to estimate with confidence and are a structured judgement."

The Conservatives have insisted that this latest research amounts to "clear and widespread evidence" of health tourism. Yet the report to which they're referring emphasises the paucity of its data and the uncertainty of its estimates. According to this report, the cost of health tourism is not £2 billion but more like a tenth of that.

"In addition, UK expats (who arguably aren't "foreigners") account for £94 million of the £2 billion sum"

suppose it doesn't sound as dramatic as health shopping foreigners cost us £2 billion,What i hear you say? yes £2 billion in one year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  must have been true cos it was on the news

[evoman3957]

astro............I believe my Son ( same thing ):smileywink:

[fallen-archie]

And I believe the queues for attention, be it in A&E or the local Surgery. We might all be living longer but we all seem to think we're dying. And at the root of it all a snivel, an ache, a hot flush or a skin blemish. We are spending more time checking if we are dying than we actually spend living. Best of all it's FREE.

[merehazle]

.....well not really Mr Bloggs.

'suppose it doesn't sound as dramatic as health shopping foreigners cos us £2 billion, what I hear you say? yes £2 billion in one year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    must have been true cos it was on the news'   (that is like wot you wrote it). 

Such DRAMA.  I was impressed with this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too.  

If the BBC news says that and they might be wrong? That is not my fault. It's what they said.   They also said that they were getting off the planes and taking a taxi to A&E.      

Oh, regards to  redchami_1 ......

[joe_bloggs*]

In other words don't believe everything you see or read in the news,

by the way who is  redchami_1 ?