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NHS winter crisis looms

(439 Posts)
JessM Fri 09-Dec-16 19:46:17

The NHS is struggling and winter is setting in.
Jeremy Hunt is asking for "efficiency savings" - in other words he is making cuts when demand is rising steeply as a result of our aging population. This means that every year the NHS needs a lot more money, to just maintain their service.
Over the last 6 years Trusts have been heavily pressured by Jeremy Hunt to cut beds - "increase bed occupancy" - to become "more efficient". So there are fewer beds in the system to cope with the inevitable rise in winter admissions.
Social care budgets have been heavily cut in England so there is less of a safety net for frail people living at home - so more likely to end up in hospital.
Noro virus outbreaks in hospitals are already up on the last few years - and that tends to close whole wards.
Today I read that 7% that is one in 14 English people are waiting for non-routine operations. Suspect there aren't going to be many beds available for those on the lists. Longest waiting list for 9 years
www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/08/one-in-14-people-waiting-operations-demand-nhs-soars
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38263593
And is this a taste of things to come - flu closing school in Manchester? if there is a flu epidemic things are going to get really nasty. Best advice is, if you haven't had a flu jab yet, get one. They're about a tenner in a pharmacy near you, if you're not entitled to a free one!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-38241513

JessM Wed 08-Feb-17 09:10:50

Not just talking about it Nellie I think it's a done deal for next year's intake.
Where did you get the 1% from djen ?
I think a lot of the figures are invented. How do they know how much money is being not collected if they are not trying to collect it (which is what the Govt are alleging).

whitewave Wed 08-Feb-17 09:15:30

That's what we have been banging on about for years iam64 the NHS is not safe in the governments hands.

Spending per population head has not increased and is set to drop within the next couple of years. The governments rhetoic of spending being higher than its ever been is simply a case of smoke and mirrors.

The NHS must be removed from government interference or it will be gone. Trump and cohorts are rubbing their hands in glee at this new and lucrative market.

JessM Wed 08-Feb-17 10:52:28

The infuriating thing is that the Tories say vaguely positive things about the NHS while busily undermining it from all sides.
I think it was ITV news yesterday showing nauseating footage (not recent I think) of Hunt in scrubs helping on a ward. FFS

Iam64 Wed 08-Feb-17 12:57:15

ww I know, I've been banging on about it as well. I was impressed that a CEO allowed filming, doctors and nurses agreed to be filmed and interviewed. I'm waiting for anyone to try and claim the NHS is safe with this government. Mrs May talks the talk quite well but I've yet to see any constructive action to support the NHS. I can't remember the numbers but when Blackburn hospital was built, the population it served was very much smaller that it is now. Add to that an ageing population, lack of social care, closure of geriatric wards and it isn't surprising it's over stretched.
I'm not suggesting a return to geriatric wards but we do need more good quality nursing homes.

durhamjen Wed 08-Feb-17 17:41:41

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/178082?reveal_response=yes#response-threshold

Is anyone else confused by this?
Sign it and put it on facebook, etc., if you can, so that it reaches 100,000 and is debated.

durhamjen Wed 08-Feb-17 17:49:38

Jess, I can't find where are got the 1% from, but Fullfact say 0.3% and the government agrees!

fullfact.org/health/health-tourism-whats-cost/

Depending on what figures you use, it could cost more to collect than they can bring in.

Jalima Wed 08-Feb-17 17:54:01

I am not sure of numbers attending, except that they have increased considerably Iam64 but the catchment area has 530,000 patients and one A&E consultant said
Dr Khalid Haq, one of Blackburn's consultants in emergency medicine, said he had never known a department to be so busy in his 26-year career.

Even if there were more doctors, nurses and other staff would there be the room to accommodate more and more emergency patients?
And why the large increase in patients going to A&E?

I'm not suggesting a return to geriatric wards but we do need more good quality nursing homes
I mentioned in another post that my MIL spent a month in a council-run convalescent home many years ago which was an excellent stepping stone between a stay in hospital and going home - it was not intended to be permanent but was intended to build up her strength and ability to cope again.

Iam64 Wed 08-Feb-17 18:28:47

Julima, in a previous life I was a sw team manager and could well have been making decisions about your MIL and indeed my own and my lovely parents. The difference was we had a degree of ownership and good working relationships with our own L>A care services, whether that was residential, nursing or a home care package. I don't claim it was perfect, it absolutely was not but at least we had some services We also had local knowledge and connections with both the hospital wards and other services. There always were difficulties about whose budget was plundered to help Mr or Mrs X but it wasn't anything like as stretched as it is currently.
Dr Khalid Haq was a joy, wasn't he. I found the two BBC reports moving and good journalism.

durhamjen Wed 08-Feb-17 18:32:44

Hospital on tonight on BBC2, about who you operate on, the old or the young.

durhamjen Wed 08-Feb-17 19:58:24

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/178082?reveal_response=yes#response-threshold

The petition asks for the NHS to be protected FROM trade deals.
The government response is that the NHS is and always will be protected IN trade deals.

Government taking the voters for idiots again.

Ana Wed 08-Feb-17 20:46:55

My tv guide didn't say Hospital was about operating on young OR old - rather that it was about operating on young AND old.

We shall see.

durhamjen Wed 08-Feb-17 20:59:28

The young one might be too old to have the operation she needs, it says in my guide.

Ana Wed 08-Feb-17 22:03:21

I'm glad my tv guide was correct.

So glad both Debbie and John are doing well.