Patients in London have told of their “horrendous” experiences waiting for treatment in A&E, as new figures highlight the crisis facing hospitals in the capital.
A severe wave of flu and other seasonal illnesses has left the health service at breaking point, with patients being treated on corridors or told to stay away from emergency departments.
Data published by NHS England shows that the number of patients occupying beds in London hospitals despite being fit for discharge reached its highest total this winter on January 6. There were 1,806 medically well people languishing on wards, a rise of 32 per cent in a fortnight.
Many beds in hospital are taken up by elderly, vulnerable patients with no social care package to be discharged into. This can lead to gridlock in A&E as sick patients cannot be allocated a bed, which causes delays for ambulances attempting to hand over their patients.
On Wednesday, the Standard spoke to patients at Barnet Hospital, which is operated by the Royal Free London NHS Trust. Last week, a flu patient described waiting for 12 hours overnight in the hospital’s A&E after coughing up blood.
Barnet resident Heather Drewell, 85, was taken to hospital three times by ambulance in December for dangerously high blood pressure.
“My experience was horrendous. I’ve been three times, and every time waited 12 hours, no water, no nothing,” she told the Standard, adding that patients had “no idea” when they might be seen.
She said she eventually had to drink from taps in the bathroom after being told that water machines were broken.
After each visit, staff told Ms Drewell to see her GP – but she claimed that getting an appointment with a family doctor takes “months” in the area.
Barnet resident Heather Drewell, 85, was taken to hospital three times by ambulance in December (Supplied)
Mahmoud, 62, a former soldier in Iran, described making the decision to re-bandage his own arm after arriving at A&E to find over a hundred people already waiting there.
Instead of waiting, Mr Mahmoud used his army first-aid training and supplies bought at a chemist to repair the bandage that had come off his torn bicep.
“I thought, this is pointless, so I went and did it myself, although I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone,” he said.
He added that staff at the hospital were “very sincere, helpful and talented” but “just have to deal with too much”.
Another Barnet resident, Shakla Zovack, 43, had to spend five hours waiting in the children’s section of A&E with her fifteen-year-old daughter who was experiencing stomach cramps.
She said: “I think I will just try to avoid A&E in the future.”
Some A&E users, however, reported having a better experience and the Trust hopes that a £10 million redevelopment of urgent and emergency care will help improve performance.
Connall Gallagher, 27, visited A&E with a fractured leg (Supplied)
Connall Gallagher, 27, visited A&E with a fractured leg after being punched on a night out in November. He said he only had to wait 30 minutes to be seen by a doctor, but his visit was weeks before the NHS usually comes under its most acute pressure over the New Year.
“It was pretty good actually, I was really lucky, and everyone I know that has gone would probably say the same,” he said.
Mr Gallagher, who came to the UK from Ireland for work, also praised the NHS. “It’s free, and that’s the most important thing.”
In another shocking case study, June Argyle Stocker, 70, who has lung cancer, was still waiting for a bed on a ward at Whipps Cross hospital after two days after going in with respiratory syncytial virus.
She said she had been placed in a corridor in the hospital in Leytonstone, east London, which they were calling “the corridor ward” where “you are within touching distance from other patients”.
“I had to use the toilet whilst another patient was in the bathroom, she was waiting for a nurse to shower her” and said food was being served on paper plates.
“It is very untidy and disorganized but the nurses are doing their best in a terrible situation’”, she said.
Analysis of NHS data by the Standard reveals that London’s hospitals remain under severe pressure even though the worst of the flu season may have passed.
Some hospitals have restricted visitor numbers while others are encouraging people to wear surgical masks to limit the spread of viruses.
More than nine in ten (92 per cent) of beds in London’s hospitals were occupied on January 12, with occupancy rates running as high as 98 per cent in some Trusts.
Over a fifth (23 per cent) of ambulances took more than 30 minutes to hand over a patient to emergency departments in the capital on January 12.
But the number of Londoners in hospital with flu fell by 7 in a week, suggesting the wave of disease may have already peaked.
The crisis is so bad that it has forced some NHS trusts in the capital to temporarily divert patients to other emergency departments to relieve pressure.
The Whittington Health NHS Trust, which operates Whittington Hospital in Archway, diverted patients on four occasions between January 5 and 9th, according to NHS data.
It came in the same week that the Trust was criticised for posting adverts calling for nurses to take on 12-hour “corridor care” shifts, as patients could not be treated properly in its emergency department due to overcrowding.
NHS guidance suggests that A&E diverts should be an “action of last resort”.
A spokesperson for the Royal Free London NHS Trust said: “We would like to apologise to any of our patients who are experiencing longer waits than usual in our emergency departments due to increased demand for services across the NHS.
“We are grateful to all of our staff who are working incredibly hard to see and treat patients as quickly as possible.”
The £10 million redevelopment of the hospital will aim to improve the flow of patients, reduce waiting times and ensure people receive care in the most appropriate setting.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said earlier this month some patients’ experience of the NHS this winter makes him feel “ashamed”.
Mr Streeting told LBC he had seen A&E patients confused and crying out in distress, while others had been being treated in corridors, during a recent hospital visit.
Streeting promised to do “everything I can” to “make sure that year-on-year, we see consistent improvement”.
He said it would “take time” – but the government would publish an urgent and emergency reform plan “shortly”.
“In the meantime, I feel genuinely distressed and ashamed, actually, of some of the things that patients are experiencing and I know that the staff of the NHS and social-care services feel the same – they go to work, they slog their guts out, and it’s very distressing for them, seeing people in this condition, as well,” Mr Streeting said.