‘We are tired and close to breaking point but no-one seems to care...’
STAFF ON WALES’ NHS FRONTLINE SPEAK OUT AS MINISTER APOLOGISES FOR CANCELLED OPERATIONS IN WINTER CRISIS:
HEALTH minister Vaughan Gething has apologised to patients who have had routine operations cancelled because of winter pressures.
His apology came after health boards told some patients who were due to have non-urgent operations this week that they would not be taking place.
But he said he felt patients would understand that urgent cases came first.
Mr Gething said: “Of course I am sorry for anyone who has had their planned treatment interrupted by the extraordinary pressures we’re seeing in the emergency system.
“In planning for winter, the health service reduces the level of planned admissions for operations in any event.
“Given the pressures we have seen, understandably there has been extra cancellations have taken place.
“I don’t actually think anyone facing a planned operation that was cancelled would say it’s more important that they have treatment than someone who is a genuine emergency.
“Who on earth would say it’s more important that they have, for example their knee, than it is, for a frail 85-yearold who really needs to be in a hospital bed in an emergency situation.
“But I am genuinely sorry that if anyone has had their care or treatment postponed because of the pressure we’re facing, of course I’m sorry,” he told the BBC.
Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board said its hospitals were “very busy” and they had to prioritise the sickest patients.
Cwm Taf University Health Board has also cancelled six operations this week.
It follows concerns from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) which suggested Wales’ A&E departments are struggling to cope this winter.
A spokeswoman for ABMU said on Wednesday: “We are having to concentrate on treating emergency cases and the sickest patients who need to come in for their planned operations.
“This means, however, that most of our routine planned surgery this week has had to be postponed (this is in line with our winter pressures management plan).
“We are very aware of the inconvenience this causes patients. We apologise, and thank them for their understanding and patience. We will reschedule their operations as soon as possible .”
The spokeswoman added: “This will likely be at short notice, and again, we ask them to bear with us. Please avoid ringing to check, as we may not have that information because of the ongoing pressures of the situation.”
ABMU covers Swansea, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot and has two A&E departments at Morriston and the Princess of Wales hospitals.
In addition, Cwm Taf University Health Board says it has had to postpone six elective orthopaedic procedures over the past week.
It has also opened an additional 20 beds across its two acute sites – Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr and the Royal Glamorgan Hospital near Llantrisant.
Prime Minister Theresa May has also apologised for delays to operations and hospital admissions as the NHS in England struggles to cope with mounting winter pressures.
On a visit to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, she said she recognised it was “difficult” for somebody who has had their operation postponed and hoped procedures could be rescheduled “as soon as possible”.
Mrs May said: “I know it’s difficult, I know it’s frustrating, I know it’s disappointing for people, and I apologise.”
She spent an hour and a half speaking to staff and patients at the hospital, which had 99.8% occupancy on New Year’s Eve, and thanked those who worked over the Christmas period for their efforts.
The Prime Minister told doctors and nurses in A&E: “Thank you very much to all of you for everything you’ve done.”
Responding to Mrs May’s comments, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was “not good enough” to say the problems are “frustrating” and “disappointing”, stating that the “Tory Government has caused this crisis”.
He tweeted: “Nurses, doctors and patients are pleading with her to properly fund our health service, but she is ignoring them.”
Mrs May said the NHS was “better prepared for this winter than ever before” when asked whether the health service was in crisis, after Mr Hunt tweeted questioning whether former prime minister Tony Blair remembered “his own regular NHS winter crises?”.
“Of course there are winter pressures that the staff are having to cope with, we’ve put extra resources in, we’ve planned measures to ensure that people who need urgent care are getting that treatment and getting that care,” she said. “There are the pressures there but whatever resources we put in, actually what makes the difference is the staff - it’s the hard work and dedication of NHS staff.”
The Prime Ministeer defended the Government’s spending on the health service, saying “record levels of funding are going into the NHS”.
NURSES in Wales have said that the crisis in the Welsh NHS this winter is the worst they have ever seen.
People working in hospitals have described seeing nurses in tears and say colleagues are at breaking-point.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Wales likened A&E departments to “a battlefield” and a union claims staff are “in despair”.
In Wales, staff are treating an increasing number of sick people. Added to that are warnings that there are not enough staff to cover shifts, enough beds for patients and a strain on ambulance services.
We asked people within the NHS – either as staff or patients – to describe what they were dealing with.
Among the accounts we heard were:
A wheelchair-bound patient who spent 33 hours in his wheelchair at hospital;
a man with sepsis who waited hours for an ambulance, before being sent a taxi;
a nurse saying they have never seen the NHS under so much pressure;
another saying: “We are all tired and close to breaking-point but noone seems to care”;
An agency nurse describing nurses in tears, patients in corridors and staff not having any breaks during 12.5-hour shifts.
Here are the accounts in more detail:
Lindsay Regan’s husband, Jonathan, is in a wheelchair. She says he had a 33-hour wait to be treated at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff.
After his consultant told him on Tuesday he had high blood pressure, he was told to see his GP for treatment. She was worried about the level, which his wife described as “dangerously high”, and referred him back to hospital.
He was taken to UHW’s medical referral unit on Tuesday at around 4.30pm. He remained in the waiting area until around 10pm, when he was seen by a nurse.
Staff brought in extra chairs, and asked any visitors to stand to make room for patients.
Mrs Regan, from Heath, Cardiff, said their assessment area became considerably busier when another assessment unit was closed.
“My husband was sat there in his wheelchair. He was left there for 33 hours,” she said.
She said she was told a lack of staff was the reason: “They said it was because of New Year and that the doctors weren’t in to sign patients out and there was a backlog of people waiting.
“They said tomorrow morning [January 3] there would be a lot more beds and he could be admitted. They didn’t want him to go home but he told them he was fed up and he would sign himself out.
“They talked him out of it because he had dangerously high blood pressure and he could have a stroke and die.”
He was then given medication, while still in his wheelchair, and at around 10pm on January 3 his blood pressure had gone down sufficiently for him to go home.
“I had got to the point I was going to take him home anyway. I couldn’t see him like that, he hadn’t slept or eaten and he was getting worse.
“People should know what’s going on. I’ve been a taxpayer all my life, for what? My husband sat in his wheelchair for 33 hours. It was dreadful.
“The only way my husband would have been treated was if his heart had failed and he had had a heart attack. That’s the saddest part.”
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board has been contacted for comment.
An agency nurse with six years’ experience working in A&E said: “This is the worst I have ever seen. I have been working in Merthyr all over Christmas and I have seen nurses in tears, with lots of patients in corridors and staff not having any breaks on a 12.5-hour shift.
“We are all tired and close to breaking-point but no-one seems to care.
“The government just don’t care and people still come to hospital that don’t need to be there. Nursing homes send people in that don’t need to come in.
“The teams in A&E and the ambulance service are working above and beyond what they should be but so many are at breaking-point but scared to go off sick due to pressure about sickness policy.
“A&E and ambulance staff get the blame but there is nowhere to move patients to. The NHS in Wales is on the verge of imploding on itself.”
A staff nurse working in A&E in south Wales says she has never seen pressure this bad.
“My colleagues and I are at breaking-point. It is incredibly frustrating to see the media and people on Facebook constantly slandering the NHS, A&E especially.
“I think the public are becoming increasingly ungrateful for the service we provide and despite seeing us struggling, continue to add to that pressure by being rude, complaining and publicly shaming the NHS.
“In turn, this wears down NHS staff, and I know countless staff who have had to take time off due to stress. A&E is stressful enough without having to worry about whether you will have the facilities to adequately care for your patients.
“It is stressful enough without having to worry whether this is the shift where someone comes to harm because you were physically unable to meet their needs.
“As a nurse you are constantly riskassessing and problem-solving, but more and more often the problems are more complex and the risks are becoming unavoidable.
“All too often you are found in a situation where one patient has been incontinent and needs washing and changing, but they are bariatric and you are physically unable to move and wash them yourself but no-one else is there to help you. Another patient is screaming in pain and requires morphine, a controlled drug, which two nurses must sign out and administer – but you can’t find another nurse to counter-sign.
“While this is happening, another patient who is confused and at risk of falls is wandering round the very busy unit. Unless you have a spare healthcare assistant to observe this patient, chances are they’re going to come to harm and whilst you are stuck with the first two patients, there’s very little you can do about it.
“On top of this, another patient has collapsed in the waiting-room and requires immediate medical care.
“Whilst all this is going on, you are expected to keep up with hourly observations, make teas and coffees for patients, transfer patients for urgent scans (which can take you off the floor for up to 30 minutes) and keep a smile on your face. And we all do.
“We smile at work, then we go home and break down because no matter how many breaks you miss or how long you stay after your shift finishes, you can never get it all done. It’s physically impossible and the government has tried to convince the public that it is [possible], leading to higher expectations.
“The way it’s going, patient safety is going to be continuously compromised until more staff, more resources and more facilities become available.
“At the end of the day, when bad things happen despite our best efforts, it’s us, the frontline staff, who will be struck off and punished, not the government.”
‘We smile at work then we go home and break down because no matter how many breaks you miss or how long you stay after your shift finishes, you can never get it all done...’ ‘My husband was left in a wheelchair for 33 hours...’ ‘This is the worst I have ever seen...’ ‘My colleagues and I are at breaking point...’
Karen Lucker’s 24-year-old son has a history of sepsis and has been admitted to hospital three times in 13 months.
On New Year’s Eve district nurses called an ambulance for him at 11.20am.
They were told that the ambulance would take 15 minutes – but she says it arrived 3.5 hours later.
“The paramedics called through to the hospital but were told by the medical assessment unit in Gwent that due to the infection he would be higher risk if they took him in.
“They called a GP. The GP came out within half an hour and said he needed to be admitted. He said that he would get him a bed in Ystrad but that the ambulance would be up to four hours. Five hours later a taxi turned up to take him to Ystrad.
“Had we been informed that it was going to be a taxi we would have told them that this isn’t possible for my son. He was incredibly poorly and a wheelchair user.
“I rang the ambulance service again and was told they would try and get an ambulance to take him to the Royal Gwent. Two hours later and still nothing, the offer of a day ambulance with one driver.”
They tried to take him in a car but his condition worsened and they kept him at home that night.
On New Year’s Day the district nurses called again for an ambulance, which arrived in 20 minutes.
Her son remained in the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, yesterday but they were trying to have an air mattress delivered as he has a condition which causes his skin to break down quickly.
“Two mattresses were delivered to the hospital but both went flat. We’ve been told now that if another is not there by 4pm the hospital will have to pay for one and rent it. I find this quite disturbing. My son is 24 and is able to speak for himself but there are vulnerable people who can’t.
“I appreciate the staff are under pressure, I have seen it first hand. Something needs to change, though, before people start to lose their lives due to this crisis.”
Jacovia Downing says a family member who collapsed over Christmas couldn’t be found a bed
She wrote on our Facebook page: “The ambulance came but couldn’t take them to hospital due to having no bed available, so after being stabilised for an hour they had to leave the patient home.
“They went to the GP the following day, had blood tests and went home. GP came banging door at 6pm saying they need to get to hospital straight away.
“Was kept in A&E overnight as there was no beds. Our hospital’s at breaking point. They had suffered massive internal bleeding and lucky they didn’t die, after blood transfusions they were sent home and tests came back with devastating news.
“My sister then fell ill on Boxing Day and by New Year’s Eve she was seriously ill. Out-of-hours GP was called at 11am and we sat waiting for a call back. Unfortunately, due to the crisis, no-one turned up so we rang again after waiting over five hours and were asked to bring my sister to a walk-in centre.
“They took one look at her and admitted her and sent her round to A&E where she was put in isolation on drips severely dehydrated and suffering from inflammation and viral infection, they think.
“Due to no beds being available she spent over 24 hours in A&E before a bed became available. The staff were at breaking point at Withybush Hospital [Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire] due to the amount of sick people coming in but they never complained. They worked extremely hard trying to ease the backlog of patients waiting within A&E and the patients in the ambulances queuing outside.
“Our hospitals are at breaking point. The staff are doing their best but sadly some poorly people who need to be in hospital are stuck at home as they cannot get a GP or ambulance to attend.
“The staff are doing an amazing job in such difficult times. If you’re just suffering from a cold/flu avoid Withybush hospital so very sick patients can be seen. Don’t call an ambulance unless needed.”
Chief executive of the NHS in Wales Dr Andrew Goodall said: “It’s been a challenging period for the NHS in Wales. There’s been significant pressures.
“Plans are in place. There are some which are run on a national basis and the real focus is on the local plans from the health boards and ambulance service. Nine days ago the position was that most of Wales was at level one or two with 10 sites reporting green status.
“It shows how quickly it can become a challenge.”
He said the Welsh Ambulance Service has had a particularly busy period during December.
“Their December activity was very high and was the first time red calls went over 2,000. That shows an exceptional demand for life-threatening calls.”
He said there was a further spike over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
“We do learn from previous experience but the levels the ambulance service saw would have been above their expectations.”
He said hospitals are geared up for a busy period in December but this year’s cold spell had seen a large number of patients aged over 85 being admitted. Dr Goodall said those patients can have especially complex needs.
Dr Goodall said 400 new beds have been brought into the system in Wales, and operations were delayed to free up beds and doctor time.
GPs have also reported a busy period and the 111 non-emergency service had twice the number of calls on New Year’s Day.
He was asked how the system will continue to cope as the older population grows.
“It has to be a system response,” he said. “It has to be an overall approach. A&E has to be able to accept patients and then they need to be moved through the hospital. We need to be able to discharge them as quickly as possible, which requires us to work very closely with the social care providers.”
Staff concerns, sent to WalesOnline and the Western Mail, were also put to him.
“I would say it’s been a very challenging period of time. It’s important to recognise that the system does care and it’s about creating the right environment for staff and the treatment patients want.
“Staff have been fantastic in their response across Wales. I would like to express my thanks to the staff for the service they give to the NHS. Absolutely, we care.”
Richard Lee, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s director of operations, said on Wednesday: “During the Christmas and New Year period there has been sustained pressure across the whole health system.
“On New Year’s Day we responded to more than 1,800 incidents, and have also encountered significant handover delays at hospitals.
“We’re acutely aware of the worry this causes for patients and relatives waiting longer for an ambulance as a result, and the frustration and concern it leads to for our staff, who work tirelessly day in, day out to help the people of Wales.
“We recognise that some patients do face longer waits than we would like when system-wide pressures occur, and continue to work with our NHS Wales colleagues and partner agencies to ensure their safety.”
‘Something needs to change before people lose their lives...’ ‘There was no bed...’ ‘Staff have been fantastic in their response...’ ‘On NewYear’s Day we responded to more than 1,800 incidents...’