All of England’s Ambulance Trusts have issued a ‘extreme pressure’ warning at the highest level, and patients in overburdened emergency rooms face a 16-hour wait amid recent signs that the NHS crisis is worsening over the winter.
The health service is facing a number of challenges this week, including winter weather and the Streptococcus A virus outbreak, as well as long-term challenges such as backlogs of scheduled procedures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Health officials throughout the health system have warned that they are struggling to keep up with demand and are urging people to seek emergency care only when they are truly in an emergency.
Today, for the first time in over a century, nurses have not been paid, and some paramedics are set to go on strike next week.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the National Health Service has been in crisis “for many, many years now” due to underfunding from the government and will be even worse without unpaid nurses.
Shadow Health Minister Andrew Gwynn said voters are now “really concerned” about what will happen to them if they get sick.
The Labor MP added: “You know the NHS staff do wonders every day, but the system is in crisis and the staff is overworked and burnt out. Instead of negotiating with nurses to prevent strikes and implement an appropriate staffing strategy, the government is sitting on its hands and letting patients down.”
Gwynn, representing Denton and Reddish in Greater Manchester, said: “In the North West, people are waiting for an ambulance in below freezing temperatures and when they go to the hospital they have to wait in record time. In November alone, in my constituency, more than 450 people had to wait more than 12 hours for medical attention in the event of an accident or emergency.
“It shouldn’t be.”
“People have to die there”
Anya Gilroy, 54, visited the emergency room at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and said: I how at least 135 people were in the waiting room, including a man who was hospitalized but waited 10 hours for a bed to become available.
Sitting in her chair, she noticed a large stain of dried blood on the floor from the previous incident.
“I put my head in my hands and looked at the ground where the blood had been shed, and then a cart drove by,” Ms Gilroy said. “My husband said it was like a field hospital in a war zone.
“I have no complaints about the staff, everyone who dealt with me was nice. But there was not enough staff, not enough chairs, not enough carts, not enough everything.”
Ms Gilroy said she also counted 20 ambulances outside that appeared to be waiting to drop off patients.
She believes the delays will most likely result in someone getting hurt without help.
“There was a woman with a needle next to me who called for a nurse. She showed her the rash that had spread over her arm and body, and the nurse said, “You’ll have to wait,” Ms Gilroy said.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God. People must die there. It must be very stressful for the staff.”
This week, 911 received over 700,000 calls, up 60 percent from the previous week, many of which were concerned with Streptococcus A.
The number of flu patients in hospital beds rose by two-thirds to 1,162 from the previous week, and the number of norovirus patients by a fifth.
More than 13,000 bedridden patients have been discharged for medical reasons – more than a quarter more than at the same time last year – but most of them have not been discharged due to a chronic lack of social services and have nowhere to go.
All 10 ambulance services in England have now moved to REAP level 4 (Resource Escalation Action Plan), the highest level of alert based on the number of 999 calls received.
This means they can turn to neighboring trusts for help, ask employees to perform tasks that are not part of their duties, and hire alternative first responders. But with all parts of the country facing the same extreme pressures, there are few resources to share.
All ambulance services simultaneously issuing a level 4 alert last showed up during the summer heatwave and also last November at the peak of NHS winter pressure – as services grapple with rising demand, staff illnesses and hospital delays.
The latest figures show that one in seven patients wait more than an hour to be taken to the hospital’s emergency response team.
The government says it is investing in the NHS to improve the flow of patients through hospitals and get ambulances back on the road quickly, and will release a full disaster recovery plan next year.
northwest Hundreds of patients were waiting for ambulances outside hospitals this week, emergency services said. On Monday, 600 people were waiting for an ambulance and about 100 ambulances were waiting outside hospitals to transport patients.
It is understood that the situation has improved since then, but the service is still under a lot of pressure, asking people to call 999 only in case of danger to life.
in WalesThe service announced a rare “business continuity incident” over the weekend after its busiest day for NHS 111 calls.
Wherein East of England spokesman said I The service is facing “unbelievably high demand”, resulting in an increase in the number of ambulances, ambulance drivers and clinic staff.
in Yorkshiresaid Nick Smith, executive director of emergency services. I: “All NHS funds are under prolonged operational pressure and unfortunately this means there are patients who are delayed. We are very sorry that we cannot respond as quickly as we would like.”
Delays in transporting patients due to a shortage of hospital beds have become a major problem, with ambulances often queuing for hours.
The lack of resources has led to numerous reports of people injured in falls and long waits for ambulances to arrive.
in Chelmsford, EssexMatthew Ware tweeted to Health Secretary Steve Barclay that his 96-year-old grandmother lay on the bathroom floor with a suspected hip fracture for 12 hours while waiting for an ambulance.
“We’re asking you to do something about it!” he pleaded.
Patients report emergency rooms where waiting rooms are full of patients waiting to be seen and waiting for treatment for a long time. mother inside Manchester said she arrived at the children’s ward of Wythenshaw Hospital at 7 p.m. Tuesday and was still waiting for a doctor at 7 a.m. the next day.
She said she was told to wait 16 hours.
A spokesman for the University of Manchester NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are currently experiencing high demand for our services in our emergency departments at MFT.
“Our teams continue to work hard to evaluate and treat patients as quickly as possible, but there will be times when some patients will have to wait longer, and we thank them for their support during these difficult times.”
in south gateDonna Jones shared a photo of her mother waiting in line for carts at the emergency room on Monday night.
“Nine hours waiting for an ambulance, four hours later still at the end of the line,” she wrote.
“My poor mum, who probably has a broken hip, has just experienced pain relief.”
The Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust said hospitals are “extremely busy with large numbers of patients in the emergency room” and advised patients to call 111.
General practitioners are also warning patients due to the high volume of calls. Dr. Ollie Hart, General Practitioner at Sheffieldurged patients to heed the advice of other staff, such as receptionists and physical therapists, to enable physicians to care for the sickest patients.
“We are very busy with basic services at the moment, I know the NHS is working across the board,” he said. “It’s a tough winter, but together we’ll get through it.”
The Department of Health and Social Protection headed Irequest for comment to NHS England. NHS England issued a statement urging patients to continue receiving emergency care during the upcoming strikes.
Charlotte McArdle, NHS Deputy Chief Nurse, said: “No one should be embarrassed to call for emergency care today – it’s important that anyone in need of non-life-threatening help use 111 online and that people always dial 999 in a life-threatening emergency.”
“Across the country, pharmacies and general practitioners will operate as usual, and patients should contact these local services as usual.
“While strikes inevitably disrupt services, local NHS teams are working hard to meet as many deadlines as possible. So it’s important that people attend meetings as scheduled, unless they’ve been contacted to reschedule.”
Source: I News
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.