NHS - Don't go in on the weekend

H

harry

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Apr 16, 2005
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I'm sure that many have wonderful experiences of our NHS yet recent experiences have left me very wary.

A close family friend (71 years old) had severe stomach pains last week and was taken to hospital just after midnight on Sunday. He was operated on at 3am and called my dad from the general ward early Monday afternoon in good spirits. Eight hours later he was dead.

Who is there doing the emergency ops in the early hours on weekends?

My son had to be rushed in a month ago (12 years old) on a Saturday: the ambulance drivers said that if he was an adult he would have to be diverted to Merthyr as Cardiff was full.

My youngest daughter was born premature 4 years ago and had to go to Gloucester as there were no beds available for her in Cardiff?

We know many doctors who work there and they always say weekends are the worst time to have a heart attack etc as the hospitals are virtually on shut down.

Anyone else had experience of weekend NHS?

By the way, the hospital I refer to is the University Hospital Of Wales in Cardiff
 
I've spent quite a few weekends in a hospital bed over the last five years and I would agree that there is only a skeleton staff of doctors available at those times.
 
we are getting to the point that there are two things you never want to do now..get old or get ill in this country

we have a regime that values £ over people..brag about the economy getting better..for them like..don't give a monkeys about real life though...it can only get worse under the money worshipping tosspots

one day the Tories will value the NHS to the degree they valued it when someone put a bomb under Maggie..and they all came out thanking them and saying how great the staff were etc...typical when it suits mentality..then when you get better get back to the fundraising obscenities where you laugh about the poor and bid 200k for a worthless object for the cause
 
I was in for 5 days including a weekend when I foaled - apart from having my inducing pessaries fitted by a giant handed sado massichist with talons there were plenty of staff around all weekend. Guess it's like everything and the different areas are all different. When my dad was in after his stroke there werent all that many nurses in his department, but that was 10/11 years ago. The home care he received was ok, but not a patch on what my mums friend has recently had for her husband. The hospital my friend works in in Devon is all well staffed certainly in the departments she's in ( she'd make sure everyone knew if it wasn't!) all 24/7. Guess some would say that's because we're in the south though.
 
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Four weeks ago three days after an operation I started to bleed at home. My nearest A & E is literally round the corner. I took my discharge report and told the receptionist that after this recent surgery, it was bleeding. She in all honesty seemed more interested in taking a copy of the report for my file' she said, and take a seat. At that time there were about 5 other people. This was 10 o'clock on a Saturday morning, and as the A & E is the only one for multiple areas, I expected it to be packed. I was seen after 15 minutes. I have to say if I had had to wait longer I would have been annoyed as I was bleeding, but I guess just right time. Staff were very good and took their time over the running repairs, plus my surgeon got to hear about it, based at a totally different hospital, by the time I got to see him next. So I can't complain too much on this occasion but last time I was in A & E with a broken big toe, which has split and was bleeding profusely, I was there just over 6 and a half hours, and at one point they wanted to keep me in to try and stitch it in theatre. Eventually one of the doctors agreed to 'give it a go' and the only available space was a storage cupboard.
 
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