[JLR2]

"permanent bed shortage in hospitals"

I have the suspicion that the now embedded lack of available beds for in patients has been brought about over recent years by the penchant some have for building big new shiny hospitals. In the Gordon Brown years many of these new hospitals were built using PFI with their heavy cost on future NHS budgets. I wonder what the total loss of beds is from these new builds as against the hospitals they replaced?

I have heard it argued that a big driver in the increased lack of available in-patient beds is caused by bed blocking by elderly patients who whilst fit enough to go home cannot be released unless there is on-going care at home available. Well a couple of things, first back in the 1980's I remember there being a row between politicians about the numbers available for 'Care in the community'  Tory governments appeared to see it or look on it as a way to save money. In effect they decided to land the caring of elderly people on their families be it husbands looking after wives or sons and daughters looking after parents. Now we are witnessing more and more sons and daughters virtually being forced to give up working to look after parents with dementia.

The second thing that I feel is when we hear of there being more and more elderly patients bed blocking it is something that in the past probably happened but because we had the numbers in available beds the problem was not so acute as it is now.

The building of new hospitals is to me not unlike what I've noticed with the building of new railway stations, indeed I could even look on the two new aircraft carriers the Royal Navy has had built for it, they've been built but as yet no aircraft to fly from them, the building of big new fancy railway stations might look great for 5/10 minutes at the head of the 6pm news but I'm sure the passengers waiting for their delayed train to leave or arrive couldn't careless about the state of the station, they simply want to get their train home or to work ideally with some semblance of a chance to actually have a seat on it.

Need to grab some coffee

[Fiz]

The main hospital here is ancient. It has the new A&E majors triage which is an extension and it's building a separate children's hospital replacing one of the car parks which will free up a whole floor and a half in the main hospital.

The city does have a newish hospital though, I think it was built about 20 years ago and it's specifically for older people's rehab aka bed blockers so we have few bed blockers in the main hospital which is good.

[Sunshine Meadows]

Fiz,

The frustration on the surgeons faces. Every week I think how can politicians live with themselves watching this? But they're probably watching Holby instead and are thinking what a great NHS we have and how smoothly it runs

I agree 


About Mr Sunshine's notes, the GP service we are with is computerised and the NHS 111 notes were there on screen because the paramedic had sat here at the house doing them as we waited for the taxi. Nevertheless, it could be that the hospital notes system relies on doctors who made notes or charts have to input that information themselves and that is causing the delay. He is off work and I am thinking maybe we should have a drive out to the hospital to get the notes overselves.

Thank you for your description of the queuing 

I was going to ask if Mr Sunshine had an arterial blood gas test 

I dont mind what people ask me here because I can always say I would rather not answer. The answer about the arterial blood gas test is no he did not have that nor did he have a cannula put in. He does seem okay now that is apart from his Bipolar symptoms being worse. I overheard a conversation with his boss yesterday and it seemed like a lot of questions to ask someone who is off work because his Bipolar symptoms are worse. Actually I am not sure about his physical pain levels and suspect they are higher than he is saying, he is on the mend though.


I had failed to remember the impact of bed blocking in the A & E process.

[Sunshine Meadows]

JLR,

I liked you post 

What with the way social care seems to have become more of an advisory service eg where to buy items like shower seats, people who have stopped work to look after a parent are going to be put deeper into poverty depending on the particular services in the area they live 

[JLR2]

Thanks Sunshine, "people who have stopped work to look after a parent are going to be put deeper into poverty depending on the particular services in the area they live"  Yup and no doubt many of these people will become victims to the benefit scrounger attacks. We have governments determined to try achieving healthcare on as cheap an initial cost as possible. I say initial cost as over the longer term I believe it would have been more economic to have properly invested in care services.

For me to see myself just how hard things were for my friend in Berlin as she cared for her father and the impact her caring was having on her was to be honest frightening. Many of the people finding themselves having to give up working to look after their elderly, and sometimes not so elderly, family are not entirely youngsters themselves with many in their 50's/60's having their own health problems. There will be those family carers who without hesitation or complaint put their own health issues to the back of their mind and do all they can to care for their family. Unfortunately we appear to have governments which are all too happy to know this and take for granted that families will not simply abandon their family to a care home the moment things get hard.

The love of family is a strong tool which I feel governments are not slow to exploit to the umpteenth degree, sadly this exploitation is short sighted as these family carers will themselves be hastened into poorer mental health through the stresses associated with caring for elderly parents. It is very hard to see the mum or dad whom you grew up with deteriorate from the confident big guy, (as my Dad was to me as a kid) or great Mum my mother was as she did everything she could to look after and bring my brothers and sisters along with me, to a shadow of themselves through such as cancer or dementia appearing as helpless as new born babies. My last remark being in relation to the way my friend in Berlin eventually ended up having to change he Dad's nappies every day and not just once. It is things like this that many I feel have no idea of ahead of themselves, there is many a time I've heard of sex education in schools being talked about, how about some teaching in schools about the unseen effects of dementia, those that thousands of family carers are faced with everyday?