How can this be?

She's still in A&E! - but has IV fluids now, although the nurse failed to turn on the flow and my DD spotted it and went to find someone to do it! Steroid and antibiotic infusions awaited still. They are then going to add in a further infusion of a "biological", which is something to suppress the immune system I think. But at least she is no longer dehydrated which is a relief.

DD says the staff are frantic and unable to do their jobs properly - the patients just keep coming. It's so sad.

I hope your daughter is feeling more comfortable now, Luckygirl, and that you can relax a bit.

I hope she will be in a bed soon and on a ward where it won't be quite as manic and she will be looked after.
It's appalling that anyone should have to go through that.

Unbelievable the state this country has got into.

Glad your GD is at least being treated now

V3ra

^One local hospital used to have an A&E ward which took admissions like your DGD without going through the waiting room.^

When I worked there 20+ years ago, ours had the MAU, medical assessment unit.
This was the stepping stone between A&E and the wards. I don't know if it's still the same today.

Luckygirl I hope your poorly granddaughter gets a bed soon, what a distressing experience for her and all of you x

Oh yes, the Medical Assessment Unit!

I spent about 10 hours in ours last year, something that could have been sorted in a couple of hours.

One woman had been there for three days, sleeping on the bench seats, waiting for beds. Two others for two days.

At least they got fed meals and I got some sandwiches.

What in God's name is happening to this country. That poor poor girl. I'm so very sorry and sad to hear of her plight. I hope by now she is receiving the help she deserves.

I'm so sorry to hear this, it should never be happening.

I’m sorry too lucky girl I hope she stabilises soon xx

Our hospital has a ward on A&E where you wait until you get a bed. It gives very good care whilst you wait to go to the appropriate ward. Maybe you should phone the Consultant's secretary and see if you can get things moving.

icanhandthemback

Our hospital has a ward on A&E where you wait until you get a bed. It gives very good care whilst you wait to go to the appropriate ward. Maybe you should phone the Consultant's secretary and see if you can get things moving.

Yes our local hospital similar. This is a fairly new initiative to get people off trolleys as soon as possible. The other local hospital has closed the main corridor to increase A&E space for beds/trolleys.
The hospitals are on their knees, and this is not accidental but the results of Austerity, and NeoLiberalism. If you are not familiar with the term look it up.

I’m so sorry that your DGD has not had the security of prompt and quality care as they would have done a few years ago Luckygirl. I do hope that her consultant will review her care, and she will receive the necessary and appropriate treatment without further delay.

You are right Farzanah
These holding wards are horrible as well

Before anyone mentions India. All my Indian friends and colleagues, some who work in the NHS or have partners that do all say it is worse than India

If we’re judging against foreign hospitals we need to compare like with like. My dd has worked as a medic in Indian public hospitals. If you think the NHS is bad (which I do, in present circumstances) try being in a hospital with no electricity, where you have to go and buy blood if you need a transfusion or drugs because the hospital doesn’t supply them, where your doctor is seeing 100+ patients a day.

I’ve also volunteered in West African hospitals, where there is no electricity overnight, so they depend on generators, if they can get the diesel to operate them, there are often no functioning life support/kidney dialysis/monitoring machines, no incubators, mothers or babies die because they cannot afford life-saving caesarians, there are no nappies or bed linens, blood or drugs available.

People who state that the UK has a third world service really haven’t been to such a hospital and seen the reality.

Our NHS needs intensive care itself, but it’s not on a par with those places.

She is on a ward now. She has been through so much in the last 24 hours.

I am aware that we are better off than third world countries .... but so we should be. We are a relatively rich country - it is about government priorities.

I find it especially distressing as both my late OH and I dedicated a large chunk of our lives to the NHS and felt that it was something to take a pride in. This is no longer the case. Staff are burnt out, exhausted, underpaid, and know full well that are providing a very poor service because of the pressures - this is soul-destroying for them. It is not just the patients who are suffering.

I am very sad with the treatment my DGD has been receiving - not just on the last 24 hours, but in general. Her condition needs active monitoring and prompt treatment - she does not get this, not at all. Her mother spends much of her time trying to contact people to get treatments moving and prevent a flare-up. They have had so many chaotic situations - e.g. turning up for an investigation which requires a blood test first and there is no-one to take that blood - unbelievable I know. The staff doing the investigation had a wasted slot, and she had taken time off uni to go to the appointment. It is all pretty grim.

I really feel for you and your DGD Luckygirl.
It is very stressful to feel that your loved ones are unable to access the timely care that they need.
I spent all my working life in the NHS and I know it does not have to be like this. We are a rich country and the way money is allocated is a matter of choice, and not necessity as the government would have us believe. It is sad to see private, for profit companies, taking over what was once an NHS that was the envy of the world.

I’m glad your DGD is on a ward now and I hope she can get some rest. My late sister had Crohn’s and it was always hit and miss at to whether her appointments would go ahead, instructions from the consultant not followed up, inappropriate tests and so on. That was only after the literally years before they diagnosed her correctly, she’d been back and forth so many times to the doctor and really, it blighted the last 15 years of her life.

SueDonim

If we’re judging against foreign hospitals we need to compare like with like. My dd has worked as a medic in Indian public hospitals. If you think the NHS is bad (which I do, in present circumstances) try being in a hospital with no electricity, where you have to go and buy blood if you need a transfusion or drugs because the hospital doesn’t supply them, where your doctor is seeing 100+ patients a day.

I’ve also volunteered in West African hospitals, where there is no electricity overnight, so they depend on generators, if they can get the diesel to operate them, there are often no functioning life support/kidney dialysis/monitoring machines, no incubators, mothers or babies die because they cannot afford life-saving caesarians, there are no nappies or bed linens, blood or drugs available.

People who state that the UK has a third world service really haven’t been to such a hospital and seen the reality.

Our NHS needs intensive care itself, but it’s not on a par with those places.

Hospitals in some foreign countries can be wonderful, like 5* hotels with top doctors from around the world and wonderful nurses in attendance.

I know people who have been patients in these hospitals - because they had good medical insurance when travelling.

If they had had no insurance and had to go to the local public hospitals they would probably have endured conditions such as SueDonim describes.

I am aware that we are better off than third world countries .... but so we should be

I do agree and we are perhaps in danger of ending up in even more dire straits if disillusioned staff keep leaving the NHS.

I would be so furious about this. crohnes is such an awful disease to have..
sometimes we are too polite. she should not have been allowed to sit with others waiting to be admitted! was it you with her? I would have gone to the reception and insisted she be admitted or have a bed in another waiting area.

I watch gp's behind closed doors on tv and have seen the doctor send a patient straight to a & e to be admitted and told them they will go straight through as they have phoned and arranged it. my heart goes out to your DGD

My mum went through something similar last year. We had a phone call from the vascular consultant to say they had arranged the admission for her major surgery and to report to the same day urgent care dept of our local hospital the following day. Mum had pre op tests in the department and was then taken to A&E where she waited four days for a bed. She was then admitted to MAU and waited another two days for a bed on the vascular unit before she could have the surgery. It’s an absolute disgrace that this happens for planned surgery.

The NHS has reached the stage where the only people able to cope with the privations involved in accessing it are the fit and healthy, and when they do get access they are left wondering whether it was worth the effort.

DH was blued and twoed into hospital last Sunday, diagnosed with heart failure and has had a pace maker fitted. he has been going back and forth to the GP and even had a referral to A&E for 6- 9 months with what we now know were clear signs of heart failure, but no one recognised it. It was only when he became an emergency and an ambulance rushed him directly to the cardiac critical care unit, that diagnosis was finally made and he had the pacemaker fitted and 4 days later is home and well.

If you have to be ill, make it emergency and then the care is superb.

M0nica my Dad (92) had a CRT pacemaker fitted just over five years ago and is doing well, so best wishes to your husband 👍

Dad had walked down to the surgery to order his repeat prescription. Felt a bit funny, his pulse was 35 😳
"Straight to hospital with you," said the doctor!
He went by taxi as the ambulance wait time was four hours.

If you have to be ill, make it emergency and then the care is superb.
🤔

Perhaps in some areas.

One of the reasons that care in A&E is stretched is that people who could and should go straight to the ward are filtered via A&E. My DGD was at the hospital because the consultant had ordered her admission, and that is exactly what should have happened - and what used to happen.

V3ra Thank you for that reassurance. DH is 80 and had bypass surgery 3 years ago. I am very aware how much his continual presence with us is the result of incredible developments in heart surgery during our lifetimes.

*Luckygirl3 My local hospital has a Medical Assessment Unit and a Surgical Assessment Unit and this is where you end up if you are sent direct to hospital by your GP or, with heart problems, direct to Cardiac Critical Care. I have been sent to the MAU twice for emergency minor surgery and it is where DH ended up when he was sent there for a low heart rate last summer. Why no one picked up his heart failure then I just do not understand.