Elderly driver who crashed in hospital car park is taken to A&E 15 MILES away

Run_to_da_hills

It happened in the UK but the same story sounds all too familiar with HSE cutbacks and is something that we could see happening in Ireland.

An elderly driver who crashed in a hospital car park had to be treated 15 miles away because its A&E department had been closed by health chiefs.

The woman pensioner, who had cut free by firefighters just 50 yards from the former emergency ward, was sent to another casualty unit after smashing into two vehicles.

Like many other hospitals around Britain, Burnley General’s the A&E department was downgraded to an urgent care centre 15 months ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1134830/Elderly-driver-crashed-hospital-car-park-taken-A-E-15-MILES-away.html

Victor

Oh come on, its the Daily Mail.

Concentrating resources at fewer centres (within reason) delivers a better standard of service for a given cost.

Can you imagine the quality of service in A&E if there was a full A&E on every street corner? The availibility of resources would mean it would be manned for 4 hours a day by a nurses aide. Now nurses aides are perfectly decent people, but don't rely on them for removing a nail from you foot.

medic_1

A construction worker who was renovating a Louth hospital last year fell from a two storey roof and sustained serious injuries had to be transferred 30 miles to Drogheda for treatment... He fell right infront of the ED, was treated outside by the staff but they refused to take him inside as it was 'not their job to deal with trauma'...
It's on our doorstep now and with further downgrading/closures of ED's around the country, things are not looking any better...

Run_to_da_hills

medic_1 wrote: »

A construction worker who was renovating a Louth hospital last year fell from a two storey roof and sustained serious injuries had to be transferred 30 miles to Drogheda for treatment... He fell right infront of the ED, was treated outside by the staff but they refused to take him inside as it was 'not their job to deal with trauma'...
It's on our doorstep now and with further downgrading/closures of ED's around the country, things are not looking any better...

Accordingg to this blueprint. "Nenagh and Ennis will have no intensive care units within a year and no overnight surgery"

http://www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/hses-8364260m-ae-overhaul-1598775.html

Ennis is now a very large town, it has its fair share of RTA's, heart attack patients and industrial accidents, covering the west coast and surrounding towns. This is a disgrace.

Bang Bang

Victor wrote: »

Concentrating resources at fewer centres (within reason) delivers a better standard of service for a given cost.

Two examples of stupid "policies".

We received a call (ambulance) to a hospital main reception for a person who presented themselves there suffering from a week long stomach upset. The hospital called an ambulance with the nearest crew (us) responding from the far side of the city.
A quick examination and then we walked with the patient TEN yards to the A&E.
When we enquired as to why staff called an ambulance they informed us it was hospital policy to call an ambulance when a patient does not present themselves at the A&E reception!!!
Stupid and dangerous waste and abuse of the Ambulance Service.

Another day and another hospital we received a call for a person with a minor knee injury.
Again we had to cross the city for this call where we found the patient within view and easy reach of that hospitals A&E. Again there was nursing staff with this patient as the previous one. A quick examination revealed a minor abrasion to the persons knee. We walked with the patient and nursing staff the short distance to the A&E reception.
We also enquired as to why they called an ambulance and they informed us it was hospital policy to call an ambulance for any person suffering an injury on hospital property.
Another stupid and dangerous waste of the Ambulance service.

TheNog

Bang Bang wrote: »

Two examples of stupid "policies".

We received a call (ambulance) to a hospital main reception for a person who presented themselves there suffering from a week long stomach upset. The hospital called an ambulance with the nearest crew (us) responding from the far side of the city.
A quick examination and then we walked with the patient TEN yards to the A&E.
When we enquired as to why staff called an ambulance they informed us it was hospital policy to call an ambulance when a patient does not present themselves at the A&E reception!!!
Stupid and dangerous waste and abuse of the Ambulance Service.

Another day and another hospital we received a call for a person with a minor knee injury.
Again we had to cross the city for this call where we found the patient within view and easy reach of that hospitals A&E. Again there was nursing staff with this patient as the previous one. A quick examination revealed a minor abrasion to the persons knee. We walked with the patient and nursing staff the short distance to the A&E reception.
We also enquired as to why they called an ambulance and they informed us it was hospital policy to call an ambulance for any person suffering an injury on hospital property.
Another stupid and dangerous waste of the Ambulance service.

Whoever created those policies should be shot with balls of their own shite

brayblue24

True story this,

A few years ago I was on beat duty (in Dublin by the way) when I actually saw a person being hit by a car in a hospital car park. Rather than just bring them in to A&E an ambulance had to be called and when it arrived the crew then brought the poor unfortunate round to the back of the hospital to A&E!!

Couldn't believe it.

Victor

I ssupect those are mis-guided cases of hospitals trying to ensure there are independent witnesses and not wanting to get blamed for being both cause and resolution of a problem.

Paulzx

Its just more ass covering and delegating responsibiliy elsewhere. Pass the problem onto someone else and then you can't be blamed for anything.

The bull**** pc culture fostered by management everywhere has led to this type of crap going on

Victor

Paulzx wrote: »

The bull**** pc culture fostered by management everywhere has led to this type of crap going on

I'm sorry, but you've mxerd up your reactionary rhetoric.

Eru

Victor wrote: »

I'm sorry, but you've mxerd up your reactionary rhetoric.

He just means that management are more concerned with passing the blame and responsibility than making a call using common sense for the greater good.

Paulzx

Thankyou Eru. Its nice to have a translator on hand to give some people a dig out.


Victor,

No "reactionary rhetoric" here, just the truth. Welcome to reality.

tallaght01

It's a crock of balls really. But risk assessors and such people make these decisions.

There's also an element of A+E staff not being trained in transfers. Reasonable amounts of people in A+E can't use, for example, a scoop stretcher, or mobile oxygen etc.

Lots can. But it's all about certificates and courses. In my A+E, I'm pretty sure none of us are certified to transfer patients, on paper. But quite a lot of us have done a bit of pre-hospital stuff. But when the management tools say to the head docs and the head nurses "are your staff trained in transporting patients?", we have to say no.

That's the crux of it. Where do we draw the line? If it happens 10 yards outside the gate do we call an ambulance? 100 yards? 500 yards?

In Australia, I'm on the rapid response team within the hospital, and can get paged to an incident anywhere within the grounds of the hospital, which I think is a reasonable boundary. But we're more flexible in A+E there. I treat adult emergencies that roll into my paeds A+E, and go with them to the adult hospital in the back of the ambulance, and vice versa.

In the original example, if the patient is haemodynamically stable, then there's questionable benfit in bringing them to an urgent care centre, where there's probably nowhere to scan their head, chest or abdomen. Probably can't transfuse them, and there's probably no access to ICU or theatre. If it was me, I'd want the oul scoop and run approach, to be honest.

Eru

Personally Tallaght I think it comes down to personal responsibility and gratitude for the assistance of others. Neither exists anymore and were becoming more and more American.

No one accepts that they themselves may actually be at fault and to blame for whatever bad situation hits them, its always someone elses fault and if theres no individial to blame then blame the state.

People also dont appreciate (some do but its the minority) help and assistance given to them. If your claiming dole its your 'right' not 'assistance'. If the Gardai assist you after a crime its 'their jobs' not them being 'helpful'. If you recieve medical assistance again, thats what they are 'paid to do' instead of nice Mr Doctor, nurse or Paramedic busting his ass to make your situation better.

You set your house on fire smoking in bed? Well why the hell didnt the firemen save that Picasso from the sitting room while they were putting the flames out?

And when Mr Doctor tries his best to save you from whatever self inflicted wound you have but fails to cure you. Do you thank him for his help and efforts? Of course not, you sue him for failing to solve your problem.

This is the way it works now and its why were living in a world thats getting worse not better

Overheal

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Accordingg to this blueprint. "Nenagh and Ennis will have no intensive care units within a year and no overnight surgery"

http://www.independent.ie/health/latest-news/hses-8364260m-ae-overhaul-1598775.html

Ennis is now a very large town, it has its fair share of RTA's, heart attack patients and industrial accidents, covering the west coast and surrounding towns. This is a disgrace.

Clare really does need its own A&E. If you need A&E in the Lahinch area youre effectively ****ed if you had to go to limerick. But saying that, the new bypasses would make the travel time between ennis and limerick hospitals (esp.for an ambulance) nearly negligible. If Clare is going to retain its own A&E it will probably need a new facility somewhere else that reduces the travel time from the extremities around the burren area.

Run_to_da_hills

Overheal wrote: »

Clare really does need its own A&E. If you need A&E in the Lahinch area you're effectively ****ed if you had to go to limerick. But saying that, the new bypasses would make the travel time between Ennis and limerick hospitals (esp.for an ambulance) nearly negligible. If Clare is going to retain its own A&E it will probably need a new facility somewhere else that reduces the travel time from the extremities around the burren area.

One must also consider that Ennis is closer to Shannon Airport if there was an emergency. It is quite regular to see / hear a number of appliances leaving Ennis to attend incoming emergency landings.