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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/11/nhs-winter-crisis-hospital-felt-like-something-out-of-a-war-zone
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| NHS winter crisis: hospital 'felt like something out of a war zone' | NHS winter crisis: hospital 'felt like something out of a war zone' |
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| Senior doctors have taken the unprecedented move of writing to Theresa May, warning that winter pressures mean some patients are dying prematurely. The Guardian asked for your experiences of hospital pressures. Here are two moving responses. | |
| Chris Page, 53, from Greenwich, London: ‘My wife had sepsis and we were told to wait in a chair for three hours’ | |
| My wife had been ill in bed for a long time. We thought she had flu and on Monday went to our GP. The doctor looked at her and said she needed to go to hospital. The doctor told us to call an ambulance so we could circumvent going to A&E. | |
| The ambulance arrived in about 20 minutes and took us to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich, which was already full when we arrived. Admissions staff said: “I am really sorry, but there is nowhere [for you] to go.” This was at around 9.30am on a Monday, it wasn’t Saturday night in the emergency department. | |
| We were told to sit in a chair and wait. My wife was quite distressed. The hospital was jammed and eventually – after about three and half hours – she was taken through resus [resuscitation]. She was then put into a room for assessment, but because it was so busy the curtain had to be pulled around the bed and another three patients were moved into the same room. Two of them were sharing a drip stand. | We were told to sit in a chair and wait. My wife was quite distressed. The hospital was jammed and eventually – after about three and half hours – she was taken through resus [resuscitation]. She was then put into a room for assessment, but because it was so busy the curtain had to be pulled around the bed and another three patients were moved into the same room. Two of them were sharing a drip stand. |
| I went out to get a coffee and on the way to the canteen I met with a blocked corridor. I thought: “That’s weird.” A porter came up and said: “You have to go another way.” I looked over and all I could see was a corridor full of beds, around eight or 10 patients, a mixture of young and old. It felt like something out of a war zone. | |
| The staff were impeccable throughout but they were obviously under a lot of stress. The problem was that there was simply nowhere for patients to go. They did what they could for my wife, who was quite ill with sepsis, and she eventually made it on to a ward that evening at about 6pm. | The staff were impeccable throughout but they were obviously under a lot of stress. The problem was that there was simply nowhere for patients to go. They did what they could for my wife, who was quite ill with sepsis, and she eventually made it on to a ward that evening at about 6pm. |
| The whole process made me feel really sorry for the people who work there. You kind of feel like apologising to them for the fact that you are taking up their time. They were so amazing, faultless and doing everything they could but there was just not enough room for them to operate. It was just regretful and it’s sad doctors and nurses have to work in these conditions. | The whole process made me feel really sorry for the people who work there. You kind of feel like apologising to them for the fact that you are taking up their time. They were so amazing, faultless and doing everything they could but there was just not enough room for them to operate. It was just regretful and it’s sad doctors and nurses have to work in these conditions. |
| A trust spokesperson said: “Like many other NHS trusts, we are experiencing very high demands for our services, with large numbers of very sick patients visiting our A&E departments. We are extremely sorry that the care we provided on this occasion didn’t reach the standards that our patients expect and that we aim to offer.” | A trust spokesperson said: “Like many other NHS trusts, we are experiencing very high demands for our services, with large numbers of very sick patients visiting our A&E departments. We are extremely sorry that the care we provided on this occasion didn’t reach the standards that our patients expect and that we aim to offer.” |
| Anonymous locum doctor, Scotland: ‘I worked in an overflow ward which didn’t have enough equipment or staff. It was completely unsafe’ | |
| Last week, for two days, I was a locum doctor on a general medical ward. It was so busy in A&E that they had to open overflow wards. | Last week, for two days, I was a locum doctor on a general medical ward. It was so busy in A&E that they had to open overflow wards. |
| A number of patients were moved, but many were confused as to why. We were supposed to move only those who were stable but I believe some that were sent were not. One patient had quite severe heart failure and another was withdrawing from alcohol. | A number of patients were moved, but many were confused as to why. We were supposed to move only those who were stable but I believe some that were sent were not. One patient had quite severe heart failure and another was withdrawing from alcohol. |
| But the problem was that, once we had transferred patients, we realised there was not enough equipment or enough staff to man the ward. We were missing syringes and tubes so it was hard to take a patient’s bloods. We were also missing stickers for ECG machines. Lots of patients were transferred without their zimmer frames or medication, so we had to order more. | |
| Nurses were going to write a letter to say how unsafe it had all been. We didn’t really know what patients were going to be sent over and were given no handover documents. One patient was transferred without their medical notes. It was completely unsafe. | |
| Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, health spending increased by an average of 1.2% above inflation and increases are set to continue in real terms at a similar rate until the end of this parliament. This is far below the annual inflation-proof growth rate that the NHS enjoyed prior to 2010 of almost 4% stretching back to the 1950s. As budgets tighten, NHS organisations have been struggling to live within their means. In the financial year 2015-16, acute trusts recorded a deficit of £2.6bn. This was reduced to £800m last year, though only after a £1.8bn bung from the Department of Health, which shows the deficit remained the same year on year. | Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, health spending increased by an average of 1.2% above inflation and increases are set to continue in real terms at a similar rate until the end of this parliament. This is far below the annual inflation-proof growth rate that the NHS enjoyed prior to 2010 of almost 4% stretching back to the 1950s. As budgets tighten, NHS organisations have been struggling to live within their means. In the financial year 2015-16, acute trusts recorded a deficit of £2.6bn. This was reduced to £800m last year, though only after a £1.8bn bung from the Department of Health, which shows the deficit remained the same year on year. |
| Read a full Q&A on the NHS winter crisis | Read a full Q&A on the NHS winter crisis |