Health Service not as sickly as we are told

Why oh why dont they all have your level of competence Purple, what a wonderful place the world could be :)
 
Mpsox said:
I've been in A&E a few times with my elderly parents. In fairness to the staff, I thin they do their best in difficult circumstances.

One thing I have learnt however, is never ever leave someone on their own on a trolley in A&E. Stay with them, be constantly asking doctors/nurses when is he going to get a bed etc? I'm not saying be rude or anything like it, but me experience is that your relative will get moved to a ward quicker, just to get you out of the way
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Agree with this, I was in A&E (UCHG) with various family members 3 times in 2009 and all 3 visits were a disaster. I think the staff wanted to do their best but the disorganisation was astounding. It was extremely easy to 'fall thru the cracks' and have nobody looking after you.
One time we got an A&E bed and we were then sent to X-Ray, when we came back the same nurse asked us where we had gone and gave out to us for leaving A&E and said our bed was taken even though I left a bag on it. They said 4 hours later they were waiting for blood results even though they had not taken blood. Spent the next 8 hours on a trolley. Soon after, our chart went missing, I saw a doctor take it but it was never returned. One family member had a burst appendix and spent 16 hours waiting for a ward bed - they were ready to operate straightaway but they cant/wont operate unless there is a ward bed available and the 'Bed Manager' was doing his best...

I overheard an orderly telling a nurse than when Brian Cowen came to UCHG (previous Saturday), they cleared out all the A&E trolleys in the hall and 'hid' them and let Brian Cowen thru (this story made the local papers) - later they had him cut the ribbon on a new ward that would not be operational for 6 months. All about HSE managers looking good...

As I said, the staff are willing but the 'system' is a mess.
 
Teatime said:
... As I said, the staff are willing but the 'system' is a mess.
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The 'system' consists of people, the staff. They either make the 'system' work or continue to draw their pay and treat their clients with the contempt detailed above and in my example below.

A family-member showed up for admission to one of the new centres of excellence for an operation. As requested, he showed up at 10:00am, fasting from mid-night in expectation of being admitted and operated on in the morning..

At 5:00pm he was seen by the admitting staff and was told he would not get to theatre that day. Falling off his feet with hunger, he requested some tea and toast. At 7:30 pm the tea and toast showed up, which he proceeded to demolish. At 7:40 pm a theatre nurse, surgeon and anaesthetist arrived at his side (he still hadn't got a bed) demanding to know why he was eating and drinking when he should be fasting. He tried explaining but none of the three were interested and berated him for messing up their schedules. My relative is a long-term VHI member and was admitted as a private patient to a public hospital.
 
Teatime said:
Agree with this, I was in A&E (UCHG) with various family members 3 times in 2009 and all 3 visits were a disaster. I think the staff wanted to do their best but the disorganisation was astounding. It was extremely easy to 'fall thru the cracks' and have nobody looking after you.
One time we got an A&E bed and we were then sent to X-Ray, when we came back the same nurse asked us where we had gone and gave out to us for leaving A&E and said our bed was taken even though I left a bag on it. They said 4 hours later they were waiting for blood results even though they had not taken blood. Spent the next 8 hours on a trolley. Soon after, our chart went missing, I saw a doctor take it but it was never returned. One family member had a burst appendix and spent 16 hours waiting for a ward bed - they were ready to operate straightaway but they cant/wont operate unless there is a ward bed available and the 'Bed Manager' was doing his best...

I overheard an orderly telling a nurse than when Brian Cowen came to UCHG (previous Saturday), they cleared out all the A&E trolleys in the hall and 'hid' them and let Brian Cowen thru (this story made the local papers) - later they had him cut the ribbon on a new ward that would not be operational for 6 months. All about HSE managers looking good...

As I said, the staff are willing but the 'system' is a mess.
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None of the above has anything to do with the system or financial resources; there are procedures in place for dealing with everything that you have described and all of the people involved will have been trained in those procedures. The problem is incompetence amongst the medical and clerical staff (that incompetence may not be of a clinical nature but it impacts on patient care just as much) and a management without the skills or sanctions to police and enforce the procedures that they have put in place.
 
I visited A+E in Cork University Hospital yesterday with my daughter who had a fall on ice and broke her shoulder. The place was very busy with patients waiting to be seen everywhere. I do not know how all the staff coped withd the numbers.

But, they had a system in operation. And when my daughter eventually was x-rayed, diagnosed and treated, I must say that I have no complaints and well done to the staff of Cork University Hospital
 
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