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British Two patients die on trolleys in same A&E after long waits in one wee
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Two patients die on trolleys in same A&E in one week as NHS struggles to cope
'The emergency care system is on its knees,' says president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/worcestershire-hospital-patients-die-trolleys-a-and-e-nhs-crisis-a7513546.html
Two patients have died in the same accident and emergency department in the last week, it has been revealed, as latest figures show the NHS coming under increasing pressure.
Both deaths happened at Worcestershire Royal Hospital’s A&E department in Worcester.
It is understood in one of the cases a female patient on an emergency trolley on a corridor within A&E suffered an aneurysm and later died in a resuscitation bay.
Another patient died after suffering a cardiac arrest on another trolley within the department after waiting 35 hours for a ward bed elsewhere in the hospital.
News of the deaths came as it emerged that overflowing A&E departments shut their doors to patients more than 140 times in December.
Data from NHS England for 1 December to 1 January this year shows there were 143 A&E diverts across England, a 63 per cent rise on the 88 recorded for the same period last year.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed investigations into the deaths, as well as that of a third patient on a separate ward in the same period, were ongoing.
All three deaths happened between Saturday and midnight on Tuesday.
The hospitals trust said A&E departments had been “extremely busy” throughout Christmas and New Year.
NHS officials say A&E diverts should only occur as a “last resort” and are put in place when departments cannot cope with any more patients.
Instead, patients are sent to other hospitals for treatment.
The latest data shows there were 42 diverts over Christmas week (the week ending 1 January) – the highest on record.
This compares with about 20 diverts on average over a typical winter week of the NHS.
NHS England guidance says A&E diverts should only occur during exceptional circumstances.
It says: “Diversion of patients as a result of lack of physical or staff capacity to deal with attendances or admissions should be an action of last resort and should be agreed with neighbouring trusts.
“Robust network-wide escalation planning together with trusts’ own internal planning should mean that any increase in activity can be managed internally, by for example diverting staff from elsewhere in the hospital.
“Therefore, diversion of patients for respite reasons should only need to happen in exceptional circumstances, where internal measures have not succeeded in tackling the underlying problem.”
Several hospitals have issued pleas on Twitter for people to stay away from A&E unless they have a genuine emergency. These include hospitals in Mid Essex, Ipswich, North Cumbria, Kingston, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
Dr Taj Hassan, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The emergency care system is on its knees, despite the huge efforts of staff who are struggling to cope with the intense demands being put upon them.
“Internal major incidents are being declared in many systems around the country – every hospital in Essex has been on ‘black alert’ – and staff in emergency departments are working at and beyond their capabilities. This cannot be allowed to continue.
“The scale of the crisis affecting emergency care systems has reached new heights, as we predicted, mainly due to a lack of investment in both social and acute health care beds, as well as emergency department staffing.”
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: “Over the festive period we saw the NHS creaking under the pressure and struggling to cope.
“Every year, our overstretched and underfunded NHS and care systems face unsustainable pressure in the winter months.
“Too many patients in the main, the frail or elderly finish their treatment but are left stranded in hospital unable to return home because the health and care system isn’t able to give them the support they need.
“Hospitals become dangerously over-crowded, staff are put under impossible pressure and some of the most vulnerable patients are caused terrible and unnecessary distress.
“The Government must be honest with people. The NHS needs more money.”
Other data compiled by the Nuffield Trust shows a third of the 150 English hospital trusts warned they needed urgent action to cope last month.
In the worst cases, seven of the 50 trusts that issued alerts announced they were unable to give patients comprehensive care.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, which collated the figures for the BBC, said: “Anecdotally what you are hearing from chief executives of trusts is that they are experiencing very, very high levels of pressure in their A&E departments.
“The growth seems to be way above what you might expect from what’s happened from the population.
“People feel that they can’t get to see their GP. The population is getting older and sicker, but I don’t think that’s the entire reason behind it.
“The other big pressure is the ability to discharge patients. If you can’t get patients out of the back of the hospital, home, then obviously, the whole system begins to seize up.
“As we know there are major problems in social care. But also NHS community services. The ability of hospitals to get people out is still really tricky.”
In December 2015, the Worcestershire acute trust was placed in special measures by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission, which raised safety concerns over A&E, paediatrics, maternity and gynaecology departments.
On Friday, the trust launched a 12-week consultation on a shake-up of healthcare at its three hospitals, including a proposal to concentrate emergency care at Worcester.
In a statement, the trust said: “We can confirm that both of our A&E departments experienced an extremely busy Christmas and New Year period and these pressures are continuing.
“We have robust plans to deal with such demand and partners across the NHS have supported us in ensuring that patient safety and emergency care are maintained.
“These pressures have unfortunately led to patients waiting longer than we would aim for, however all A&E patients continue to be seen and treated in order of clinical priority.
“Our focus continues to be on providing safe emergency care.
“In relation to the specific issues raised, we will not comment on individual cases for a number of reasons including protecting the privacy and dignity of our patients and their families.”
NHS England data for the week ending 1 January shows there were 372,000 attendances at A&E during the week, 40,000 more than the previous week (332,000).
There were 92,000 emergency admissions over the course of the week, up on the previous week (89,000).
The busiest day of the week for attendances was 27 December when there were 60,000 A&E attendances. Emergency admissions peaked at 14,600 the following day.
An NHS England spokesman said: “Over the Christmas and New Year period A&E visits and everyday hospital admissions peaked on the 27th and 28th December, and NHS 111 had its busiest week ever.
“However, hospitals report their bed occupancy levels were slightly lower than the same period last year, despite a higher number of beds out of action as a result of higher levels of diarrhoea and vomiting and norovirus.
“Plans remain in place to deal with additional demands during the winter period, and the public can still play their part using local pharmacy and NHS 111 for medical advice, alongside other services.”
if it like this now god know whats it going to be like when you get your country back ..
The worsening crisis in the NHS is happening even though demands on A & E have actually been lower this year than last. Further evidence of the withdrawal of resources from our vital services while we waste money on nonsense like brexit.
This is the direct result of unfettered immigration, caused by the libtards and still is supported by them.
In 2004 Worcester acute trust was highlighted in prime ministers question time for having more administrators than actual hospital bed numbers 1250 admin v 1200 beds approx, after this revelation the government axed 25%+ of said admin staff in the trust= difference in productivity= nil!! Previous governments through the years, especially 80s 90s 00s have spent a mind boggling amount of money on management/administration in hospitals throughout the UK whilst simultaneously neglecting the staff at the sharp end IE Nurses, Doctors, ODPS, Care Assistants. Mr Bevan will be rolling in his grave at the abuse of the wonderful system he first proposed being run along the lines of a commercial enterprise run by bureaucratic MUPPETS!!!
There is no crisis in the NHS.
Otherwise they would not keep inviting my 92 year old mother for investigations and treatment. When she asks for a blood test 'because she has less energy than she used to', a series of tests and consultations follows. When she had a fall and suffered superficial wounds and bleeding, the paramedics had to be persuaded not to take her to A&E, and to dress the wound at home. At over 90 years old, she gets treatments for conditions that could become malignant 'over time'.
There is no crisis but, if there is a problem, it is a culture that must do something in order to avoid recriminations for doing nothing.
Have clinics where you pay £49.99 for a visit to a doctor to sort you out there and then. NO GP's. NO NI contributions - Many people do not need the doctor until they are in their 50's Imaging putting aside that money over 35 years from NI contributions. People can pay £50 a month for sky subscription or an Iphone - YET CAN NOT PAY FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THEIR LIVES -Their health. JOKE!
The NHS is a mess - It is an antiquated monolith from the 40's. GET RID OF IT. Sell it off - Stop NI Contributions and start people paying for their own way in life. NO MORE SCROUNGERS....
Do we not have to ask ourselves what exactly has changed to bring about this appalling situation? On the face of it, more money is being spent in the NHS than ever before, so why the crisis? What seems to be the case is that there are more calls on the resources of the NHS than ever before; more visits to GP's, many more to A & E and an explosion, entirely predictable, in care for the ever increasing number of elderly. I understand that up to 80% of an individual's NHS "spend" occurs in their last five years of life. We also have an increasing population, which was not the case only a few years ago, partly by mass immigration of people who have never contributed to the NHS and many of whom will remain outside the income tax "take" as low earners, yet consume NHS services. The birthrate has also shot up in recent years and all these factors are combining to make a perfect storm for the NHS. The Government has to face up to these realities and re-structure the NHS to meet these challenges or sustained chaos will become the norm.
My brother was dying before Christmas. He was put on a trolley in a corridor in A&E in Hastings. After several hours on the trolley he said he would rather go home and die that stay there any longer. A few days later they got him into a Hospice and he lasted a few hours and died.
I propose a bailout. We did it for the RBS -why not do it for the NHS - where actual real living breathing humans are at stake?
One has to wonder just how much further the NHS has to deteriorate before the people of this country finally say that enough is enough.
When this government is challenged all it ever does is trot out the prize propaganda fascists like Hunt, Javid etc to tell us how much extra is being spent on the NHS and how much services are improving. This is no different to the chocolate rations being increased from 30oz to 20oz in Orwell's 1984.
Sadly the decimation of the NHS is what the people of this country have voted for. They have voted, as a majority, to decrease the well-being of the country through brexit and for the government to spend huge amounts of money to ensure that this happens. Right now it seems that the most basic levels of common sense have completely escaped so many as we become a poorer, crueller nation that has no value for decency and compassion.
"That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were."
Aneurin Bevan HOUSE OF COMMONS, 30 April 1946 Second reading of the NHS Bill
The Tories destruction is the NHS is very nearly complete.Their goal is in essence simple to understand. It was, is and always will be to destroy what remains of the "Keynesian"/social democratic welfare state that emerged during the long post war boom (an era referred too as "the golden age of capital") and replace it with a neoliberal "workfare" state. Those needing social care, be they children, old, sick, disabled, unemployed, etc., are viewed as nothing more than potential economic units to be exploited to the max. for private profit.
Whereas the role of the state in the "Keynesian"/social democratic model was to try to extend the social rights of each and everyone of its citizens, the "workfare" model is concerned to provide welfare services that benefit business, both national and international. The net result is that the needs of the individual/society take second place to the need of business to accumulate ever increasing profits, forever.
The greedy, short sighted British electorate voted for a Tory government and now they are reaping the benefits.
The UK hands over 13 billion a year to somcalled poor countries such as china, India, Pakistan and Nigeria.
Stop this madness, divert our money to British causes
The article above fails to mention that the British Red Cross have been brought in to help with what they (BRC)describe as a 'Humanitarian Crisis'. The article goes a long way by use of statistics to deflect the blame away from the government (who should really be held to account) and lay the blame on anything else. This is a perfect example of the levels of skewed journalism that disgraces newspapers. The Independent is a contradiction in name.
In Devon they are privatising the NHS bit by bit and the service worsens. The STP (Sustainability and Transformation Plan) commissioned by Jeremy Hunt and delivered by Carnall-Farrer Management Consultants at a cost of millions has recommended the withdrawal of thousands of beds and the closure of a major hospital. It is an evil plan that will lead to many deaths. They don't care.
Nurses and doctors don't get paid enough as it is. Stop paying managers who clearly cannot manage. It just needs streamlining properly. It's like a lumbering behemoth leaking cash out of every orifice. Packing the country with people who haven't paid into the system doesn't help either. We are run by incompetent fools and it has to stop.
If every nurse and doctor took a pay cut imagine how many extra doctors and nurses the NHS could employ. Instead they stand by whilst patients needlessly die.
End Social security Tax and make people pay their own way in life - PRIVITISE THE NHS NOW! Sell it for 100's of billions and free this country of socialist idiots.....
It's true. GP service increasingly difficult to access. Therefore A&E and ambulance service over used and over-referred to via 111 and desperately under-resourced.
It's free and easily accessible (if you don't mind waiting, a long time) and it's full of people who shouldn't be there but struggle to get a GP or choose not to.
It's the last resource for a failing NHS system and it itself is subsequently failing as a result, badly.
We need to go back to the drawing board about what the NHS is for, what an ambulance is for, what A&E is for and how we intend to fund it.
There two patients died after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors in Worcester, Britain.
NHS faces 'humanitarian crisis’ at hospitals, British Red Cross warns
Sat Jan 7, 2017 10:54AM
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is facing a “humanitarian crisis” as hospitals and ambulance services struggle to keep up with rising demand, the British Red Cross has warned.
The warning came following the deaths of two patients after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors in Worcester.
Worcestershire Royal hospital launched an investigation on Friday into the deaths and did not deny reports that they had occurred over the New Year period.
On Friday, medical officials said more patients could die because of the crisis engulfing the NHS.
The deaths prompted claims that the health service was “broken,” and long waits for care, chronic bed shortages and staff shortages were leading towards what the head of Britain’s emergency room doctors called “untold patient misery.”
One woman reportedly died of a heart attack after waiting for 35 hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor, and a man died from an aneurysm while also waiting on a trolley.
Another patient was found hanged on a ward at the Worcestershire Royal hospital, which acknowledged that it was under great pressure, partly due to the extra strain hospitals face during winter.
Many patients who visited Worcestershire Royal hospital this week told The Guardian of long waits, corridors lined with patients and overstretched staff.
“For a long time we have been saying that the NHS is on the edge. But people dying after long spells in hospital corridors shows that the NHS is now broken,” said Dr. Mark Holland, the president of the Society for Acute Medicine.
“We have got to the point where the efforts of staff to prop up the system are no longer enough to keep the system afloat. We are asking NHS staff to provide a world-class service, but with third world levels of staffing and third world levels of beds,” Holland said.
“That so many other hospitals in England are facing the same pressures as the one in Worcester means that other fatalities could occur. I would suggest that the same thing could happen in other hospitals, because lots of hospitals are under the same pressures,” he added.
NHS Providers, the membership organization for NHS, warned in September that the system was on the verge of collapse unless urgent funding was provided.
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