Nightingale hospitals being readied for use

Why can't they use unqualified staff such as nursing assistants and a minimum of qualified staff to run the nightingale hospitals. They could be used to take old people who are well enough to leave ic but not well enough to go home

These patients need convalescent care; the Nightingale Hospitals were set up to be critical care units which provide different facilities to those required for convalescent patients.

Dwmxwg

The military medical staff are already part of the NHS. My niece works in A&E in a large hospital. Last night they were very busy, all patients COVID related illnesses and they were 7 staff members down. Not quite sure where these “extra” drs and nurses will come from

Military medical staff have been working in NHS hospitals for very many years, at least 20+ years to my knowledge.

ethel I already said something similar, although I don't agree with calling people 'bed-blockers'.
No-one is deliberately blocking a bed, they are being failed by the system.

Sitting on a sofa doesn't necessarily equal being able to cope at home.
Those people can still need help - just not skilled medical help - and it's not their fault that is isn't available in a sensible way.

The figures for the army do include healthcare support workers. Patients who have a long recovery requirement are transferred to community hospitals within the NHS, so the vast majority who are in district general hospitals are still unwell, many of them are on oxygen, and they need qualified medical and nursing care. Nightingale hospitals are often on different sites to general hospitals, and although they are a solution for some areas, many of them don’t have the facilities of general hospitals, who can’t spare the staff to look after patients on split sites anyway. It’s not by any means a panacea.

Why can't they use unqualified staff such as nursing assistants and a minimum of qualified staff to run the nightingale hospitals. They could be used to take old people who are well enough to leave ic but not well enough to go home. It's the bed blockers that are the problem. I know if one couple both in their 80s with covid who were over the worst and were given a private room to sit and watch tv and eat their Xmas dinner. To me if you are able to sit on a sofa and watch tv, you are blocking beds for the really ill. The likes of this could be in a nightingale, leaving the acute hospitals for the really sick.

I think you’re right Ellianne - there was a report for Wales the other day that said 8,000 NHS staff are currently off sick. In areas with low Covid incidence it’s easier for clinical areas to reorganise their staffing to cover other areas, but when staff sickness is high they aren’t able to do so and maintain safe staffing levels.

I assume the reason we have sufficient staff to run our Nightingale Hospital here in Devon is because we have a lower rate of infection/staff sickness here.
Also a lot of military personnel are trained down here.

There are only 7000 medical, nursing, paramedical etc. staff in the army - many of them are already deployed supporting troops throughout the world, and running military hospitals in the UK. To put it into perspective, if all those that can be deployed are, it would maybe staff two nightingale hospitals in the whole of the UK. It’s a minute part of the solution, although politically it sounds like an answer if you don’t check out the facts.

i would imagine that any military personnel with experience of intensive care are already being used in the nhs.
it takes 40-50 specialist staff to safely look after 10 ITU patients.
the current hosps are already under-staffed; how can they divert staff to nightingales.

And only a couple of weeks ago, our governments thought that 5 days of eased restrictions would be a good idea.

A lot of nursing doesn't require special medical skills - it's to do with keeping patients clean and comfortable.
If the army is training personnel now, to do this work, that could take some strain off qualified nursing staff.

Pandemics are only for those pesky foreigners who eat exotic animals and/or hug and kiss like Italians.

3 years ago, the government was told in gory detail how unprepared the country was in the event of a pandemic, and were advised in full detail what was needed to be done.

They did nothing.

Or needs help with flooding.

Whitewavemark2

Who is to staff these hospitals. Does anyone know?

Apparently, military personnel are to be used. They're going to be very busy, as they're also supposed to be doing the tests in schools. Hope nobody declares war.

I know we have run out Growstuff. But it should have been medics first. And should be medics first when we get our next supply.

Genty

There would be sufficient staff if the hospitals werent at full capacity with all the covd patients.

I don't understand the logic of this. Transferring patients to Nightingale hospitals would mean diverting staff from normal hospitals, so there would be even fewer staff and empty beds.

Who is to staff these hospitals. Does anyone know?

GagaJo

Dwmxwg

The military medical staff are already part of the NHS. My niece works in A&E in a large hospital. Last night they were very busy, all patients COVID related illnesses and they were 7 staff members down. Not quite sure where these “extra” drs and nurses will come from

Which is why medics should have had the vaccine first.

There aren't enough vaccines. We've run out.

And - look at the images on line of huge crowds in London last night.

NHS staff sickness / isolation is just adding to the problem. We need to vaccinate them first for our own good.

'Hospitals and ambulance services are struggling with a staff sickness rate two to three times higher than usual, as growing numbers of NHS workers fall ill or go into isolation amid a huge surge in Covid infections.

Absence rates in some hospitals are now between 8% and 12%, versus the health service’s normal level of 4%, just as the NHS comes under the greatest strain in its history.'

Dwmxwg

The military medical staff are already part of the NHS. My niece works in A&E in a large hospital. Last night they were very busy, all patients COVID related illnesses and they were 7 staff members down. Not quite sure where these “extra” drs and nurses will come from

Which is why medics should have had the vaccine first.

I heard on the news late last night that 4000 beds out of 6000 have been prepared at the London Nightingale but I do not know if anybody has been admitted yet.

The military medical staff are already part of the NHS. My niece works in A&E in a large hospital. Last night they were very busy, all patients COVID related illnesses and they were 7 staff members down. Not quite sure where these “extra” drs and nurses will come from

The new hospitals should have been used from the start in an attempt to keep our established hospitals working as normal.

It is a disgrace that so many have had treatment delayed. How many will have their lives shortened as a result?