best not to get ill at the weekends

[emmie]

otherwise your stay might be a short one

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15895663

[sandyRoe]

This business about it being more dangerous to be in hospitals at the weekend, does that go for visitors, too?

[Hopkirk]

I went into hospital at the end of a week.

Lo and behold very little happened, but on Monday morning it all got manic.

[emmie]

SR, i have no idea, but considering staff shortages, on call doctors who are usually so junior they should still be in school, and the nursing staff going awol when needed, i am not in the least surprised by this. Suggest taking your own coffee / tea, as what's served is beyond description.

[sandyRoe]

EM10, I know well enough how dangerous it can be at the weekend. Some years back my nephew had been drinking all night. On a Sunday morning while going home he fell and hit his head. An ambulance was called but when he arrived in hospital a junior doctor smelt the alcohol on his breath and left him sitting.
All the time he was suffering a bleeding inside his skull which has left him with serious brain injuries.

[emmie]

SR, i am sorry to hear that, but having been in A&E several times, and not for those reasons, saw people come in staggering around drunk and drugged, causing mayhem, whilst poor folk with genuine need, those who hadn't caused themselves harm, wait for hours and hours, whilst those like your nephew were treated.

[Everhelpful]

Well saiid,Em.

[notasyoungasiwas]

ditto

[Sqad]

This is nothing new, as it has been the case for the last 50 years.

At the weekend there are no elective operating sessions and no outpatient sessions...as a rule....so theatre staff, ward staff, ancillary medical staff are all reduced to a bare minimum.

A&E is full of drunks and needless cases sent by ABers.......the staffing level is not increased at weekends and the chaos is magnified.

The hospital is under the care of junior doctors on a rota system, who may not be involved on a daily basis,in the care of the patient.

The consultant staff in surgery, anaesthetics and medicine , will come in, but only as a last resort....often too late.

Nothing new in this story.

[anneasquith]

i was once admitted to hospital on a saturday am, to cut a long story short. woke up in ITU 7 days later :(

[emmie]

sqad, perhaps nothing new, but it doesn't fill one with overriding confidence that one will be seen by someone qualified, or at least competent, nor that statistics bear out what i said, just don't get ill at the weekend.

[BertiWooster]

Sqad

So if you are a patient that's suffered a Heart attack , for example , or been in a car crash , with serious injuries .

Is that just too bad - your fate will rest with a junior doctor ?

[Sqad]

Berti/em....probably. Depends if your hospital as a Senior junior member (if that makes sense) then he will be as competent as a consultant.....but the majority of district general hospitals do not have these (senior registrars)

To be fair.....the two examples that you mention will depend upon the quality of the staff and in the case of a heart attack, very much so. In my opinion your chances of survival of a heart attack are better if the DGH is bypassed and you are taken to a hospital with a cardiac unit.

[Hopkirk]

In my experience, whenever I need to see a doctor it is a Friday afternoon that I realise.

If this is true for everyone, perhaps the NHS should have weekends on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

[Everhelpful]

I have had 3 scheduled Bladder operations on a Saturday,Consultant was always present.

[modeller]

This has always been the case and not just in hospitals, if you just want a doctor on the weekend it is even more difficult . Maybe the Army knew the answer. I remember it going up in standing orders.

# All ranks requiring medical attention after Friday sick parade ( 7.30am ) should report sick on Monday. #

[Everhelpful]

Fully Staffed at the Freeman Hospital all weekend,the 3 times I was in.

[seadogg]

I guess that with all the savings that have to be made in the NHS it can only get worse. I broke a finger on a Saturday night, took a look at what was happening and it stayed broke.