Hospitals struggling as winter hits

BBC News ^ | December 12, 2014 | By Nick Triggle, Health correspondent

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Demands on the NHS tend to increase during the colder months because of illnesses like flu and norovirus.

But with winter just getting under way, pressures are already reaching record levels.

Extra money is being invested in each nation, but the four-hour A&E waiting time target is still being missed everywhere.

The mounting problems come as the BBC launches its NHS Winter project, which tracks how the health service is performing down to individual hospital trust level.

In England weekly figures are released. The latest, for the first week of December, show 91.8% of patients were seen in four hours - the worst performance since April 2013.

In Wales the data is published monthly with the figures from October showing just 84.7% of patients were seen in time - with one in 20 waiting more than eight hours.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Coming to America.

[raybbr]

...but the four-hour A&E waiting time target is still being missed everywhere.

Ain't commie care grand?????????

[Pining_4_TX]

And more to come! In the Soviet Union, patients had to wash their own bed clothes and linens in a bucket of water at the end of their beds. People used to stockpile supplies of first aid materials because they would rather treat themselves at home than risk going to a Soviet hospital.

Yeah, communism is so healthy.

[Gay State Conservative]

In Canada their "National Health Service" has a target of 6 months for hip replacements.That is,if you get you new hip within 6 months of being told that you need one you are considered to have been well served by the system.A couple of years ago official Canadian government stats showed that only 59% of people in Manitoba got their new hip within 6 months.

OTOH I,an ordinary middle class American,had a hip replacement a couple of years ago.I was in the recovery room of a world famous hospital,sporting some new titanium,12 business days after having called the orthopedic surgeon to schedule an initial consultation.

[tgusa]

running out of other people’s $$ just sucks.

[sheana]

We are one of the only counties left that has a ‘general’ hospital. It is an endless black hole they throw money into. My dad had congestive heart failure and his lungs were full of fluid so his doc sent him there, When we checked in they said it was a 9 hr. wait. They took him in after about 3 hrs because of his critical condition.
The waiting room was full of nothing but Mexicans who brought every family member with them. We had to sit outside since there was nowhere to sit inside.