Warrington Hospital Again

[Coffee]

Visiting someone (again) I was wondering when Warrington Hospital is going to be refurbished?

 

THe 60/70s (not sure when it was built) front bit of the hospital needs structural refurbishment, the windows need replacing for a start.

 

The hospital lacks single bed cubicals and these that are available do not have WC facilities, the wards are large and managing disruptive patients at night seems not to be a concern. You can see the disrepair in the many doctors consultation rooms also.

 

I would have thought it be more inportant to repair/replace the hospital then the collage

[Evil Sid]

Not one to have a go i must point out that it is more important to treat the patients and get an accurate diagnosis of illnesses than anything else.

 

So the doctors rooms have not been painted for three or four years. Most patients who go into them are not worried about that but about what is wrong with them and looking for reassurance that the man or woman sitting opposite then can give them that reassurance that they are going to get better or at least live a bit longervthan they thought they would.

 

single bed cubicles are ok but the open plan style wards give the nursing staff the ability to keep an eye on the six or seven beds that are in them. if they cannot see the bed how do they know if an ill person has fallen out of the bed for instance. Ill people can be disruptive, especially if they are in a lot of pain, I know that in the last few days before he passed away my father in law was classed as a "disruptive" patient by the guy in the opposite bed. i politely told him that the person he was complaining about  was over ninety, had served in the second world war and was probably not due to last much longer. (as a side note he passed away about six hours after i had this conversation)

 

the hospital itself is being refurbished albeit slowly and piece meal. the windows along the front have been replaced in te last year or so on the upper floors and there are plans in place to replace the rest.

 

One final point in the 60's there were two hospitals in warrington to serve the community. The infirmary and the general hospital. Now there is just the Hospital to deal with the ever increasing population. Halton hospital does take some of the load off but try and explain to a person that they have to travel past warrington hospital, which is less than half a mile away from where they live, and spend up to a hour to travel to Halton for treatment. They have a tendency to stare at you as if you are a few slates short of a roof.

 

Personally I would rather see money spent of equipment that will save lives rather than fancy offices. (do agree about the windows though)

[Davy51]

Even the most up to date hospitals can  have  superbugs & botched ops & poor treatment.

[Latchford Locks]

Not one to have a go i must point out that it is more important to treat the patients and get an accurate diagnosis of illnesses than anything else.

 

So the doctors rooms have not been painted for three or four years. Most patients who go into them are not worried about that but about what is wrong with them and looking for reassurance that the man or woman sitting opposite then can give them that reassurance that they are going to get better or at least live a bit longervthan they thought they would.

 

Got to say I am proud of our NHS nobody and nothing is perfect but lets be positive and grateful for this wonderful and free service we have.

[Coffee]

Not one to have a go i must point out that it is more important to treat the patients and get an accurate diagnosis of illnesses than anything else.

 

So the doctors rooms have not been painted for three or four years. Most patients who go into them are not worried about that but about what is wrong with them and looking for reassurance that the man or woman sitting opposite then can give them that reassurance that they are going to get better or at least live a bit longervthan they thought they would.

 

 

 

Personally I would rather see money spent of equipment that will save lives rather than fancy offices. (do agree about the windows though)

 

But we are not talking about offices but examination rooms and ward facilities.

 

 

single bed cubicles are ok but the open plan style wards give the nursing staff the ability to keep an eye on the six or seven beds that are in them. if they cannot see the bed how do they know if an ill person has fallen out of the bed for instance. Ill people can be disruptive, especially if they are in a lot of pain, I know that in the last few days before he passed away my father in law was classed as a "disruptive" patient by the guy in the opposite bed. i politely told him that the person he was complaining about  was over ninety, had served in the second world war and was probably not due to last much longer. (as a side note he passed away about six hours after i had this conversation)

 

I do not know about the advantages of wards,most modern hospitals are built with far greater number of cubicals that are available in Warrington and wards with a maximum of four bed. I knew someone who was admitted into Warrington with suspected bird flu a few years ago, the cubical had no WC facilities(as most don't in Warrington) and a commode chair was provided. Because the staff were very busy this was rarely serviced. A relative was admited into Warrington in 2011 and it was decided that an endscope procedure wouuld be carried out, this involves emptying of the bowles. Lack of cubicals meant that the person was on the ward and accidents happened before the person could get to the toilet, humiliating and so much work for the staff.

 

Sorry about your relative but if a desruptive patient is on a ward this is fustrating to the other people who are there because they are unwell, whether the person is 90 and a war vetren or not is not the issue,

 

The staff on the wards will tell you the lack of cubicals is a problem in Warrington,

 

One final point in the 60's there were two hospitals in warrington to serve the community. The infirmary and the general hospital. Now there is just the Hospital to deal with the ever increasing population. Halton hospital does take some of the load off but try and explain to a person that they have to travel past warrington hospital, which is less than half a mile away from where they live, and spend up to a hour to travel to Halton for treatment. They have a tendency to stare at you as if you are a few slates short of a roof.

 

I do not know what the situation now is but Warrington handled a large number of A+E patients who would normally go to Whiston Hospital, I do not know whether it was because of the referbishment of Whiston or other reasons.

 

Talking about Whiston, this was a hospital of similar age to Warrington (I think) yet has had a referbushment. Aintree Hospital was due to be replaced with new buildings (whether this is still the case I am not sure) yet I would say it is in a better condition then Warrington.

[Bazj]

Whiston hospital was completely refurbished some years back under one of the Labour governments build and pay forever PFI deals. As a result it is saddled with a £42 million a year bill to pay.... this year and every year; to the point where the government is supposedly bailing them out to the tune of £13 million a year. The rest however has to come out of its fund allocation which means almost £30 million a year less to pay on primary care.

 

There were even rumours a year or two back that Whiston would merge with Warrington to try and ease the cash problems at Whiston; but that would just mean less money for Warrington..... so our hospital would just get tattier and tattier until they would eventually close it or take away some of the services it offered in order to save money.... patients would then be travelling all over the place to A&E or other services because they would all be split between different sites (as are some now where patients have to travel to Runcorn for some appointments)

 

It is an unholy mess which will not go away

[Coffee]

Whiston hospital was completely refurbished some years back under one of the Labour governments build and pay forever PFI deals. As a result it is saddled with a £42 million a year bill to pay.... this year and every year; to the point where the government is supposedly bailing them out to the tune of £13 million a year. The rest however has to come out of its fund allocation which means almost £30 million a year less to pay on primary care.

 

There were even rumours a year or two back that Whiston would merge with Warrington to try and ease the cash problems at Whiston; but that would just mean less money for Warrington..... so our hospital would just get tattier and tattier until they would eventually close it or take away some of the services it offered in order to save money.... patients would then be travelling all over the place to A&E or other services because they would all be split between different sites (as are some now where patients have to travel to Runcorn for some appointments)

 

It is an unholy mess which will not go away

 

I think the future is for us to be traveling to specialist hospitals around the region

 

While I do not think Warrington Hospital needs rebuilding like Whiston has I still feel it needs refurbishing

 

Although they just spent millions on A & E what have they improved I do not know apart from the fact that ambulance do not seem to queue up for as long as they used to.

[Robbo]

The majority of Warrington Hospital is not fit for purpose. How Whiston got the money and how much in debt it may be it is a great hospital providing people with the best that can be offered.

[Bazj]

But Robbo.... Whiston hospital cannot afford the debt it has. £42million a year just to pay the PFI.... it will go bust at some point or they will get to a stage where they can't afford to staff the place properly

[Davy51]

I know several people who would disagree about the service on offer at Whiston ,but at least it looks nice !

[Evil Sid]

Well plans are afoot to demolish the kendrick wing of the hospital and turn the resulting space into a car park. All services that are currently in that wing will be redistributed elsewhere as will the administrative side.

 

The kendrik wing is probably the only part of the original hospital that is still standing. Had to visit there a while back and it was stepping onto the set of the Royal. The old cast iron radiators with associated pipework and that odd shade of green that was all the rage in any hospital or school of the period. Larg high windows and long echoing corridors completed the look.  Sometimes I wonder if that is why people got well. One week in that environment and you had had enough and either got well just to get out or died for the same reason.

[Dizzy]

That building was once the Workhouse.  The architects were William & Segar Owen too so don't knock it   

[observer]

Don't think it matters how old a building is, providing it's kept bug free.  One wonders where all the provision has gone, as in the good old days, we had plenty of "hospitals" -  General; Infirmary; Winwick; Convalescent (Thelwall) and even an Isolation Hospital at Penketh.

[Evil Sid]

Well it seems that if you are in need of an operation warrington hospital will only oblige if you may be in need of intensive care treatment afterwards. if  you do not then it is off to halton, currently halton do about 226 operations a week. By the end of the year it is expected to rise to 12,000. warringon itself will deal primarily with emergencies.

 

This announcement has been made by the chief executive and at no time has anybody in the warrington area been asked about it. even a simple "would it be a good idea" would have been something.

 

For most people I know getting to warrington hospital is not a big problem whether it be as a patient or a visitor. Getting to halton is a pain especially as now the canal will be opening on a more regular basis. For me it is not a big problem to go to halton. About forty minutes drive and there I am, for my mother it is a different matter, forty minutes in a car and she is in agony with her various ailments. (the forty minutes travel time is actual, fifteen of those can be getting through bridge foot if it is an appointment at nine AM.) Travel time for me to warrington hospital is about a minute to three minutes depending on how long i have to wait for the crossing lights on the road at the end of the street. for my mother travel time is about seven to eight minutes dependent on what time of day her appointment is.(also parking, even when I take my mother, is not a problem as I drop her off and park at home then wait for her to call and say she is ready to go home again).

 

Last time I took her to halton it took forty minutes to get there dropped her off and then a further fifteen minutes trying to figure out where the car park was. ended up in the staff car park at one point. then was forunate enough to get a parking spot near the main entrance. have been told there is another car park for the hospital but have never managed to find it yet a sthere does not seem to be any sign posts to direct you too it. (in fact there does not seem to be many signposts to direct you to the hospital let alone the car park.)

 

All I can say is lets hope that halton get the parking sorted out before hand as they will end up parking on the expressway.

[Davy51]

Talking about super bugs,they have only thrived since hospitals have become so called super clean. Maybe  bugs have thrived since smoking was forbidden ....if fags kill people maybe they kill germs as well.

[Latchford Locks]

I was under the impression that the last goverment brought in a bill enabling all NHS patients to have a choice where to be treated ?

 

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceinthenhs/yourchoices/Pages/your-choices.aspx

[reader]

I am amazed at your parking problems at Halton, I cant say I have had difficulty and have visited the site for one thing or another for quite a few years.  Remember you can get the free bus service from Warrington Hospital to Halton

[Evil Sid]

It is not so much the parking as the distance. It seems absurd to me that a patient has to pass the main hospital in warrington to travel for forty minutes to halton for treatment.I agree that for me catching the shuttle bus to halton is a viable ooption but for the likes of my mother it is not.

 

I would have to pick her up from her home. drive the five or six minuites journey to my home walk with her across the road to the hospital entrance (which would take about five minutes as she is not to steady on her feet these days) then travel with her on the shuttle bus to halton stopping at where ever it stops in between and then reverse the journey.

 

The treatment she currently undegoes is all done at warrington hospital at present with one exception. she should be having a course of iron infused drips to counter anaemia. These were originally done at warrington but were then changed to halton. Due to other health problems the twenty minute (accordingt to google map directions but actualy forty minutes) causes her qute a lot of pain. The actual drip procedure could be carried out at her home by a district nurse as all my mother has to do is sit there whilst it goes in and be monitored for any problems whilst it is being done.

 

ok that may be a selfish attitude on my part but "human nature" being what it is why should my mother have to suffer those sort of travel agonies when self inflicted drink related "emergencies" take up so much of the treatment time at A&E over the weekend period?

[Davy51]

My wife has pernicious anemia Sid & she is given 6 iron/B12  injections over 2 weeks as & when required  by her GP. Couldn't  your mother get her treatment changed to her GP Sid ?

[Evil Sid]

no idea if he has not prescribed something he can't change her medication. for example, one of tyhe hospital doctors prescribed an anti biotic for her and the chemist cannot get hold of it, her doctor cannot prerscribe something else as he did not prescribe the antibiotic in the first place.

 

not sure if she has been tried with the injections but i thibnk she has and had an adverse reaction to them hence the drip i think.

 

to be honest when it comes to my mothers ailments i tend to switch off to some extent as like most people her age she tends to go into graphic detail about what has happened or not as the case may be. just TOO much information and i have a tendency to squeamishness.

[Davy51]

I get your point .

[reader]

OK understand Sid, sounds something not unlike my visits.  If you are who I think, why not get Dave or Billy to take her - bit more space and comfort

[observer]

Given that WE, the tax-payers, are funding the NHS; shouldn't WE expect a say in where medical services are located?  I notice all elective surgery has now moved to Halton, but don't recall being consulted.

[Evil Sid]

Reader I would if her appointments wern't at the times when they are doing the school runs. One of the joys of no regular employment is that I am usually available for transport services on short notice be it hospital or bingo.

 

Obs nobody was consulted it was just decided that it should be done by the cheif executive and his/her advisors, will make it easier to tick the appropriate boxes on patient waiting times and cancellations of procedures.

 

One other gripe I will put forward is the fact that the cafe facilities at halton close at seven pm, as do the visitor toilets. Another thing that will have to be addressed if they are going to have more people visiting the place.

[send in the clowns]

Why waste money ie millions on doing warrington general up , when you could spend that money on more staff to look after the patients and give them more training on looking after the welfare of said patients to......