[NSC] Royal Sussex County Hospital.

[Commander]

111 need to change risk thresholds as far too many come to a&e when they don't need to.

This is so true. Call 111 and you have to spend 15 minutes convincing them you aren't having a stroke, before they eventually tell you it's 'best you go down to A&E to be sure' for your sore arm. I've long thought there needs to be something in between the Drs surgery and A&E that actually works properly.

A couple of years ago I came back from holiday with an ear infection. It was pretty bad but I wasn't dying, and I spoke to the Drs surgery who said that as it was late on a Friday and it was a bank holiday on Monday, I'd be best to go to A&E at the Princess Royal as that was the only place I'd be able to get antibiotics. I sat there for 5 hours and was eventually seen (comically, they actually pulled a bit of plastic out of my ear and it turns out it wasn't an infection after all) and sent on my way. I kept thinking this is absolutely mad, they are treating people coming in with heart attacks and strokes and I am sat here with a sore ear. There has to be a better system than that.

 

[Brovion]

...

I’d love to see an in-depth apolitical analysis of why the NHS was always this way, whilst Germany with its mandatory private health insurers has shiny, quieter hospitals, not overwhelmed by red tape. The obvious answer is that the public pay far more in whether they like it or not, and smaller entities are far more manageable than Europe’s largest manmade monolith.

Indeed. When the NHS started hospitals did little more than deliver babies, fix broken limbs and take out your appendix. Now we ask so much more from the NHS: advanced cancer (and other disease) treatments, plus dealing with HIV, male mental health, increased support for parents, IVF, etc etc, and now probably gender re-assignment.

It simply can't cope, and yet any faint suggestion that we perhaps could maybe just have a look at how other countries do it - just a look - is met with howls of protest. Even the most passionate oikophobe becomes a raving nationalist when NHS reform is mentioned: "NHS? Envy of the world y'know. Nothing Johnny Foreigner can teach us about health care thank you very much! Just needs more money and it'll be fine."

Yes 99% of the people are marvellous (certainly the front-line staff), but it is broken. 'Wouldn't happen in Germany' as they say.

 

[Weststander]

Indeed. When the NHS started hospitals did little more than deliver babies, fix broken limbs and take out your appendix. Now we ask so much more from the NHS: advanced cancer (and other disease) treatments, plus dealing with HIV, male mental health, increased support for parents, IVF, etc etc, and now probably gender re-assignment.

It simply can't cope, and yet any faint suggestion that we perhaps could maybe just have a look at how other countries do it - just a look - is met with howls of protest. Even the most passionate oikophobe becomes a raving nationalist when NHS reform is mentioned: "NHS? Envy of the world y'know. Nothing Johnny Foreigner can teach us about health care thank you very much! Just needs more money and it'll be fine."

Yes 99% of the people are marvellous (certainly the front-line staff), but it is broken. 'Wouldn't happen in Germany' as they say.

And we can yearn for that German system, without wanting any US attributes.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

An Albion fan (I bumped into him in Amsterdam) and the club’s crowd doctor is a A&E consultant at the RSCH. He regularly writes a column in a National newspaper about the current state of the NHS. He wrote the following on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.

I have just finished another set of incredibly difficult weekend nights as the A&E consultant incharge.

Some thoughts:

The NHS no longer provides unscheduled care - we provide treatment. Care is with dignity - that's impossible for our patients in corridors.

The model of acute care is not working or sustainable. We need a completely different approach - with long term investment in prevention and community care

111 need to change risk thresholds as far too many come to a&e when they don't need to.

There needs to be alternative pathways to get care overnight for those who don't have accidents or emergencies. A&E shouldn't be anything and everything

Staff are broke - supporting staff is just as vital as looking after patients

This government have totally decimated our the NHS. They are the ones who should be apologising to our patients not our staff.

Hundreds are dying each week because of lack of hospital capacity and corridor care in a&e, yet it's not on the news and no public uproar. As staff and patients we have accepted the unacceptable.

Everyone needs to know the reality of what is happening - so that politicians offer a different solution and patients get the care they deserve. Sadly most of the public have no idea of what is genuinely going on.

And finally, a post night fry up is the best antidote for the stresses of the weekend.

Goodnight!

Ps In the past I've been criticised for being too political in my job as an a&e consultant.

I disagree - what's happening to our patients is a political choice.

I am in a blessed position of being able to see the reality of what's happening to the NHS.

The GMC says we have a duty to highlight unsafe care.

Only politicians can truly make change

Hence why I feel that it's not just my right to be outspoken and political but I have a duty to speak truth to power.

A widely shared tweet is often the best way to get politicians and journalists to hear the reality.

Hence why I will continue to speak out when I see our patients and staff coming to harm.

This will be Rob Galloway, I imagine. I had the good fortune to meet him in a professional capacity once amid some utterly tragic circumstances (well, I've met him a few times but that particular night will always stay with me as one of the saddest shifts of my career, even years later). He and his team gave the most incredible care and compassion to a suffering family that night, and I've never forgotten it.

 

[BLOCK F]

I was a patient at the RSCH in the summer for a repair to an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. First impressions were, what a dreadful place to try and find your way around. On our travels to try and find where we were going, we asked a doctor for directions and even he got it wrong. I didn’t know my procedure was going to be carried out for certain until almost the very last minute, which was unsettling to say the least. Thankfully, my admission was just prior to the next scheduled doctors’ strike. Anyway, all went well with my procedure and I was well impressed by the Consultant who carried it out and also the Consultant Anaesthetist, together with the theatre staff. Not so impressed by their Registrars. I will just say, attitude. Nursing care was friendly, but patchy and they also managed to get my bag of belongings locked up and it was unavailable to me for almost 24 hours! Cock up with discharge notes sent to my GP. Anyway, the main thing was that my life saving repair was successfully carried out by my excellent surgeon. I have a check up scan coming up in 2 weeks and hopefully all is still well with my stent……. I really don’t want to have to go back into the RSCH again, but then again, no one wants to go to hospital unless they have to!

 

[brighton terra]

This will be Rob Galloway, I imagine. I had the good fortune to meet him in a professional capacity once amid some utterly tragic circumstances (well, I've met him a few times but that particular night will always stay with me as one of the saddest shifts of my career, even years later). He and his team gave the most incredible care and compassion to a suffering family that night, and I've never forgotten it.

It is indeed Rob Galloway. He treated me recently at the Amex, following my cardiac arrest last year. He’s an exceptional medical professional!