A & E Delays killing up to 500 per week

BTW, some healthcare professionals are being funded or part funded for training, my DiL gets a grant to help living expenses whilst she trains as a Speech Therapist, because there are shortages in her area of care. No excuse not to give the same for nurses now.

I'm not sure about her tuition fees or living expenses, but the student nurse I childmind for has been awarded a grant to cover 85% of her childcare fees during her three year degree course.
She said it's to encourage mature students to apply.

But Hetty and BigLouis people aren't being admitted at my local A&E with a splinter or constipation.

As I mentioned above, my last actual experience of A&E was in 2019, but I walked past the entrance many times over the last few months and the same system is in place. There's a huge notice outside explaining how the system works. People with minor complaints aren't causing the problems because they're not getting past the receptionist. I had assumed all A&Es are the same.

Next door to A&E is an Urgent Treatment Centre, which doesn't accept walk-ins. People have to be referred by 111 or a GP, so patients there aren't going with very minor complaints either.

The waiting times in A&E are being caused by people brought in by ambulance (who couldn't be treated by paramedics on the ambulance) and a few walk-ins who have already been triaged by clinical staff. I assume these people have some symptoms which are considered serious.

People don’t actually come in with constipation or a common cold, though. They present perhaps with stomach pain, which could be caused by a myriad of things, or with a sore throat/runny nose/cough which could also be any number of things but are eventually diagnosed as colds.

I think it's also worth pointing out (I know, sorry) that there are vulnerable people with communication disorders or complex disabilities who get sent to A&E with a carer because the GP doesn't know what is going on either and they may have something more serious going on rather than a UTI or whatever. I think we are guilty of thinking of statistics in neurotypical/non diverse ways

You can't really blame them for being worried.

When I had a heart attack, I was initially very hesitant about phoning 999. I was actually quite apologetic on the phone and said I hoped I wasn't wasting anybody's time. Thank goodness I did ring and somebody helped me with the phone call or I'd be dead. I honestly didn't realise how serious it was at the same time.

I expect most parents have been worried sick about their children, who aren't very good at describing symptoms. A sore throat could just be a temporary reaction to a cold or it could be a strep infection. How are parents/carers to know?I'm not surprised they err on the side of caution with them.

Dd says when you have to chase round the department to catch up with said child patient who is haring about the place, generally you can be pretty sure they don’t have Strep A! They haven’t seen any Strep or Scarlet Fever in their area, thank goodness. She also said not one patient/parent has mentioned either of those diseases.

They’d had diphtheria in the Adults A&E, though, which is scary.

well it's just been on the itv news about a poor little girl who has died from sepsis who had been seen in Wigan by various medical professionals and even waited in A&E for hours. I feel for the staff in A&E too, it must be such a tiring, thankless job and their so much death and exterior human emotion from family members too

there not their

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

eazybee 'So easy to blame the Government.'

well who else? Can you cite any other countries in the developed world who is having such a crisis currently. NONE. Al under pressure, of course, but all coping.

From a parent/carer's perspective, I'd never forgive myself if my child's "childhood symptoms" turned out to be something serious.

Maybe there needs to be a public information campaign about where to draw the line with asking for medical help, especially with children.

SueDonim Your DD's experience isn't typical of all A&Es and certainly isn't causing the ambulance queues.

Recently my daughter had an infected finger. A simple course of antibiotics could have resolved it and get on with her day. Call GP, told to see a pharmacist. Ok, sees a pharmacist, you need antibiotics (really?), tried to see GP over next two days, no chance. Then phoned 111 as the infection was by now travelling and incredibly painful. Gets a text from the GP about her “swollen finger” saying ring tomorrow. In the meantime we decided it needed urgent care. They triaged and agreed it now needed lancing and antibiotics. Waited hours, then at half past eleven at night (we were the last there) they closed and sent us to A&E. Waited for more hours then went home (no chance of such a “minor thing” being dealt with, of course no one had actually looked at it for seven hours or they might have felt differently.. Demanded to see GP next morning, saw GP, who said oooo, that looks nasty, antibiotics, painkillers etc. marked it, said if it gets worse straight to urgent care. Within the hour the infection has spread again and back we went to urgent care. Lanced, after being roundly told off for her GP not doing it (!) and for leaving A&E, seriously annoyed by now. The infection was by now black. She is a senior school English teacher. Had to have a week off work. Kids had to have a cover teacher. She had endured severe pain and was so close to having sepsis. All for the want of an early treatment with antibiotics. I despair. Sorry for the long message, but seriously, how to make something simple turn into something serious. Not to mention the knock on effect on the school where she works.

JaneJudge

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

It has arrived with asylum seekers, apparently

An increase in cases of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae has been identified among asylum seekers arriving into England in 2022 and 2023.
Gov.uk

Will the government introduce a vaccination programme for children?

JaneJudge

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

My teenage GS had Strep A (swobbed and confirmed) the week before Christmas, he along with sibling and parents were prescribed antibiotics.
It was also in another GS’s school along with Scarlet Fever.

Callistemon21

JaneJudge

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

It has arrived with asylum seekers, apparently

An increase in cases of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae has been identified among asylum seekers arriving into England in 2022 and 2023.
Gov.uk

Will the government introduce a vaccination programme for children?

I thought children in the UK are routinely vaccinated against diptheria.

GrannyGravy13

JaneJudge

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

My teenage GS had Strep A (swobbed and confirmed) the week before Christmas, he along with sibling and parents were prescribed antibiotics.
It was also in another GS’s school along with Scarlet Fever.

There were 15 confirmed cases of scarlet fever in Essex by 6th December.

Yes U.K. babies are growstuff unfortunately during lockdown the vaccination programme was rather patchy

growstuff

Callistemon21

JaneJudge

Strep A has been rife here, all the staff at works kids had it. Where has the diphtheria come from?

It has arrived with asylum seekers, apparently

An increase in cases of toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae has been identified among asylum seekers arriving into England in 2022 and 2023.
Gov.uk

Will the government introduce a vaccination programme for children?

I thought children in the UK are routinely vaccinated against diptheria.

I'm out of touch with childhood vaccinations - yes, you're right.

There was one case at our local school that we are aware of, notified on 15/12.

It was in one of the papers (Essex Live, I think).

There have been clusters in Colchester and Tendring.

my county borders Essex and if there were several cases where I work, God knows how many cases there actually were. The school my youngest goes to sent out lots of medical stuff saying it had been in school and stay away if there were any symptoms.

Nanatoone, your report of the escalation of your DD's finger infection is like that moral tale we all used to be told "For want of a horse shoe nail, the battle was lost". Dreadful and so unnecessary, I hope your DD is recovering well.

It is a horrible story, your poor daughter x

I know that over-prescription of antibiotics is a huge problem, but I wonder if pharmacists should be allowed to prescribe them in emergencies. People don't usually have a problem seeing a pharmacist and they're trained to know about drugs. In cases such as this, it must have been blatantly obvious that ABs were needed.