-
Asked by kodie ;] to Psychiatry Ward Team, Neel - Psychiatrist, Home Treatment Team, Early Intervention Team, Ed - Mental Health Nurse, Arts Therapy Team, Annabel - Head of HR on 24 Jan 2019.
-
Sheffield Psychiatry Ward Team answered on 24 Jan 2019:
Hi Kodie 🙂 Emma here!
Oooh that is a very good question! For me I think it comes down to having more people to look after than ever before – the demand is increasing but the supply isn’t necessarily increasing to match it.
For example, people are living longer now than ever before, so we are now seeing more health conditions in later life whereas in the past (when healthcare wasn’t as good!) the life expectancy was less. This means there are just more people having heart attacks, strokes etc than when the hospitals were built.
Lots of older people have multiple and quite complex needs, so they take some time to assess properly when they are in hospital, and also more time to discharge from hospital safely because they often need carers or other support once they go home. This means that there are fewer beds available for people to go to from A&E, which backs up to a delay there.
We also only have a limited number of GPs and alternatives to A&E. I’m sure you’ve tried to get a GP appointment before and it’s been very busy so you can’t get one immediately unless it’s urgent. This means a few things – people often go to A&E because they can’t get in with a GP or because they don’t know that they can often call 111 or speak to a pharmacist. This slows things down. Alternatively, people might put off going to the GP because they can’t get in for a while but then their illness gets worse and becomes an emergency.
It’s definitely worth pointing out though that if someone is seriously unwell they will get seen earlier in A&E – people often complain that they are waiting a long time to be seen (which can be frustrating!) but behind the doors there may be lots of people who are life-threateningly unwell and need a doctor more than them, such as heart attacks, strokes, car accidents etc. On the whole A&E teams work very hard, pretty much non-stop and still manage to see most people within 4 hours!
-
-
Neel Halder answered on 25 Jan 2019:
I remember hurting my knee when I was younger and had to wait 6 hours for a x-ray. Waiting times depend on the pressure on the service. More and more people are using A&E sometimes when they don’t need to (like for sore throats). Also unfortunately many people are using it when they get drunk or do drugs and have problems as a result. This is affecting an already busy system. We need more people working in healthcare too. Sometimes the government can help by implementing waiting targets as they have done in the past.
-
Home Treatment Team answered on 26 Jan 2019:
It take so long to be seen in A&E due to the high numbers of people that attend A&E that don’t really need to go there and could go and see their GP for minor conditions instead. With regards to mental health patients being seen in A&E, the process can be longer as it may require a lengthy assessment to find to get a clear picture to what has caused a deterioration in their mental health. Some times when people may have harmed themselves then they will be seen first by the A&E medics and then assessed by the home treatment team to see if we can work with them at home or if they require admission to hospital.
-
Arts Therapy Team answered on 30 Jan 2019:
ooh political and not my area of work (although people in distress/ suicidal go to a and e) – not enough resources – including staff and people sometimes go instead of GP
Comments