observer Posted December 9, 2013 Report Share Posted December 9, 2013 How long do you expect to wait to see a Doctor in A&E; especially if you've been rushed to hospital by ambulance? Seems some have been waiting for hours outside in the ambulance !! Well OK, A&Es may be under stress, but I thought the whole idea was to be seen ASAP, so a diagnosis and immediate course of treatment can be given? It's call triage and imo, should be administered by a senior consultant, so treatment can be prioritised. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 What is also alarming is that ambulances are being tied up for hours as well because they can't get their passengers into the hospital. Third world country comes to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Any particular one obs? So what is the reason behind the backlog. Is it the doctors on duty, possibly but they have only so much time and as each patients needs are different it can be very time consuming just to find out what they are there for. Could it be the centralisation of specialist units, close all the small hospitals and gather them into one large hospital with all the relevent specialists and that will save a lot of time in diagnosis. That patients will have to queue to see those specialist is a problem that can be sorted later maybe. Lastly it is education of patients as to what an emergency is that would warrent a visit to A&E, a large splinter in the finger,no matter how painful is not a hospital visit, unless you have put it off so long that the finger has gone a funny green colour and is now twice the size of your average melon. Some people will call an ambulance for the slightest thing as a wander round the web will show, others would sooner struggle along dying before even thinking of calling a friend to say they are feeling a bit under the weather. Maybe one solution could be small A&E style units that are just there to asses if a patient needs hospital treatment. They do not need to be at the hospital they could be nearby in teh community and have a duty doctor on 24 hour call out who could then assess if a hospital attendance was needed or not thus freeing up the main A&E departments and also ambulances. In the end though it is all down to MONEY or lack thereof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fugtifino Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Warrington doesn't seem to compare too badly against national figures: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25055444 Apart from operations cancelled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 One of the reasons given Sid was the closure of walk in centres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 No doubt it's down to increasing demand and decreasing resources. But the whole point of A&E is as the initial reception point for casualties, to provide a diagnosis on the triage principle and stabilise the patient, then refer them on to the relevant specialisms. If however, wards are full of bed blocking grumpies, I guess there's no where to send them. Which poses the question, shouldn't there be more units (like Padgate House) where the elderly can be treated outside of Hospital, thus freeing up beds for more urgent cases? As for the time wasters with the ingrowing toe nail, they can be referred to their GP; who should be capable of minor ops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 One of the reasons given Sid was the closure of walk in centres. That... .......plus the fact that people can't get appointments to see a GP without a host of attempted calls to the surgery at stipulated times only to get through after about 15 mins to be told all appointments have been taken ..please ring tomorrow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Probably due to all those who book an appointment via the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 Probably due to all those who book an appointment via the internet. More Probably due to...shortage of GP's and only opening surgeries 5 days , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 ..... or to the fact, that the last Labour Gov negotiated an increase in pay for GP's together with a reduction in hours ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 I don't know how many patients a doctor is allocated per hour these days ,but before this system was started you could go along on a Monday morning (usually the busiest day ) & a couple of doctors would get through 40 or 50 patients in less than 2 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted December 10, 2013 Report Share Posted December 10, 2013 I don't know how many patients a doctor is allocated per hour these days ,but before this system was started you could go along on a Monday morning (usually the busiest day ) & a couple of doctors would get through 40 or 50 patients in less than 2 hours. mortality rates were higher then though..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 The doctor I am with does have a saturday morning surgery for those people who work during the week and have trouble getting to the normal weekday ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 I've noticed a slight improvement for those unable or unwilling to book appointments "on line"; an open surgery morning and afternoon in the week, where you just turn up - could be waiting an hour or so though! The whole point imo. behind the GP system is to have a Doctor who KNOWS about your condition and even your family history, thus knowing the whole person; and is best placed to supervise your treatment throughout the NHS and should be the available "out of hours", rather than some (sometimes foreign) locum, who doesn't know you from Adam. Just a pity the last Labour Gov tried to fix a system that wasn't broken, resulting in this A&E crisis. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latchford Locks Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 According to the news today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25381319 It seems at long last NHS Hospitals are going to be working 7/7 great news for people needing diagnostic test / x rays etc and consultants on hand as well............ so now.. Lets put the sights on GP Surgeries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 It has happened in nearly every other workplace where 7/7 working is now the norm. Let's hope there are enough doctors to go round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted December 15, 2013 Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 There are plenty of doctors to go round Davy; the only thing is that it may interfere with their private practices that they all run on weekends... I saw a consultant up at the Spire hospital a few years ago, he worked at Warrington during the week and for BUPA at the weekends.... they mat need quite a large cash incentive to give that up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted December 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2013 The GPs had one from the last Labour Gov; problem was, it was a pay rise for LESS hours; leading to the present crisis. Perhaps the lesson in all this, is that the politicians should stop tampering with the system for election purposes, and leave it to the professionals, on the basis of an overall mission statement and continued oversight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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