Hospital beds

[AVB]

So even the BBC are claiming that English hospitals are less busy than last year, even taking account that there are less beds available due to distancing etc. 

by my calculation 79,210 beds occupied this year vs 92,150 last year  

 

quote from BBC below  

The latest hospital occupancy data has been published in England. It shows in the week ending 13 December, 89% of beds were occupied, leaving 10,500 empty beds.

That means hospitals were actually busier this time last year, when 95% of beds were occupied.

Ideally hospitals would operate at only 85% capacity, so the right beds are available when patients need them, but in recent years it has been consistently above that level.

Hospitals are also having to cope with fewer beds this year.

They have just over 89,000 beds in total – down 8,000 on last year, reflecting the fact infection control and social distancing have meant some beds have been taken out of the system.

The national figure does mask some real hotspots in some areas where hospitals are close to being full.

But it does show there is some wriggle room overall. What we don’t know is at what cost this has come.

[Lloyd90]

They have sped up discharges massively, almost throwning people out of hospital once "medically fit" (which they often aren't).

Many many issues coming to light with people being discharged too soon, and many many issues coming through with hospital appointed discharge staff who are not properly trained or qualified, making complex legal decisions and sending people off to care homes etc, from which they will never return, without ever consulting families etc.

 

Used to be done by Social Workers in the hospitals. They have all been thrown out now. 

 

Numerous cases of family have LPOA, yet family members discharged home or to care homes, the person lacked capacity to make those decisions, yet some nurse who's been promoted into a 'discharge co-ordinator' job who has no legal training has made these complex legal decisions totally against the law and guidelines. 

 

Imagine having LPOA and your parent goes into hospital, your not allowed to visit, and next think you know they're in a nursing home, and no one has even let you know about it. 

 

 

I know they are under pressure but my god, there's some dodgy practice going on. 

[grrclark]

I heard a bit of commentary on the radio today of a senior clinician somewhere saying that hospital bed occupancy, relative to normal, is not the issue, but rather that hospitals are operating at a reduced capacity as the PPE they have to wear makes everything harder and slows it down, bed spacing has had to increase, the available bed count has been reduced due to the bed spacing, staff availability is limited due to staff isolating, etc.

Undoubtably there will be truth to some of that, but it does feel like as people are challenging the claims of being near capacity that the goal posts to measure that are being moved somewhat.

[100milesaway]

My partner was diagnosed with agressive prostate cancer 8 years ago.He underwent hormone treatment and radio therapy.The cancer is long gone but....2 years after the op we discovered that he had been badly singed in his bowel from the treatment, resulting in massive daily blood loss,this is treated with a nightly enema and is manageable.Over the past 5 years his water works have been a car crash to repeated invasive treatment which would make all you blokes eyes water. After years of struggling with blocked catheters, water infections hundreds of trips to A&E and heavy blood loss they decide to fit him with a suprapubic catheter. So in July, in he goes for the op at 5 in the evening, at 7 in the morning I get a phone call from him saying I can collect him.I get to the hospital to find him discharged wandering around the car park,he was super embarrassed as he had wet himself,they had kicked him out with no medication, no pads and no dressings.Needless to say he had an infection within 2 days but fortunately  doesn't leak anymore.. The NHS is on its knees with a definate lack of compassion from some of the staff..... From Auntie.

Suprapubic catheter comes out of tummy into a leg bag.

Edited December 25, 2020 by 100milesaway
Punctuation. Explanation.

[Vince Green]

My friend Tony went ito hospital a couple of weeks ago to have a hip replacement and they sent him home the following day. Tony lives on his own and has other disabilities that restrict his mobility.  He couldn't even get out of bed, they gave him no pain relief etc

He was told the district nurses will be round to do dressings and stitches etc but they never showed up. Numerous unreturned phone calls to an answering machine before somebody phoned back and said he had never been referred. The GP didn't know he had been sent home either 

Fortunately he has lots of good friends and neighbours that are looking out for him but a lot of cages had to be rattled 

Things are really poor at the moment 

Edited December 25, 2020 by Vince Green

[oscarsdad]

Hospital beds is a much less relevant measure for Covid - Covid patients likely need ITU, other general ward beds will be empty because staff have been redeployed or the distancing means they need to be empty...so a claim that hospital bed occupation is lower now whilst quite possibly true, paints the wrong picture of the current state of healthcare. 

[Vince Green]

4 hours ago, oscarsdad said:

Hospital beds is a much less relevant measure for Covid - Covid patients likely need ITU, other general ward beds will be empty because staff have been redeployed or the distancing means they need to be empty...so a claim that hospital bed occupation is lower now whilst quite possibly true, paints the wrong picture of the current state of healthcare. 

This is true, once a patient is in hospital the decision to send them home is based on complex decisions. If there is no pressing demand for the bed they will be left where they are for a few more days to see how they are progressing. I've seen this with my mother, then suddenly they want the bed.