Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

NHS hospitals ordered to cancel all routine operations in January [truncated title]
The Telegraph ^ | 1/3/2018 | Laura Donnelly and Henry Bodkin

Posted on 01/04/2018 7:48:21 AM PST by Brilliant

Every hospital in the country has been ordered to cancel all non-urgent surgery until at least February in an unprecedented step...

The instructions... which will see result in around 50,000 operations being axed - followed claims by senior doctors that patients were being treated in “third world” conditions...

Hospitals are reporting growing chaos, with a spike in winter flu leaving frail patients facing 12-hour waits, and some units running out of corridor space.

[The] NHS medical director...ordered NHS trusts to stop taking all but the most urgent cases, closing outpatients clinics for weeks as well as cancelling around 50,000 planned operations...

The chaos follows a rise in flu cases when many hospitals were already close to capacity, with high numbers of frail patients stuck on wards for want of social care.

By Tuesday night 12 NHS trusts... had declared they had reached the maximum state of emergency...

In addition, 10 hospital trusts said they were at the highest level of pressure - better known as a “black alert” - under a four-point scale of “Operational Pressures Escalation Levels” used to bring emergency plans into motion, when patient safety is at risk...

Many more trusts refused to provide information about pressure levels, with several saying NHS England no longer allowed them to divulge the information...

A number of NHS trust chief executives described the pressure as “relentless” with several...saying they had never seen such pressure during 30 years in the health service.

Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: "The position at the moment is as bad as I've ever known. We are simply not coping, we were at full capacity before the sorts of pressures that we should be able to manage - like a rise in flu - is pushing us over the edge..."

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: healthcare; nhs; obamacarefuture; singlepayer; socialism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
Granted, they are having a flu epidemic, but the healthcare system needs to plan for emergencies like this by building excess capacity. They apparently did not. It's socialism at its finest...

Now that we have Obamacare, I don't think we are any more prepared. I would admit that we weren't well prepared even before Obamacare, but the government has been running the healthcare system in this country for 100 years anyway. The enactment of Obamacare was just when we finally admitted it. Instead of letting the government run the healthcare system, we should have gotten the government out of the business of restricting the number of doctors and the amount of investment in the healthcare industry.

1 posted on 01/04/2018 7:48:21 AM PST by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

But I remember the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics where the NHS was touted as Britain’s finest achievement. Patients, doctors, nurses all dancing with hospital beds. Was this not an accurate portrayal?


2 posted on 01/04/2018 7:52:45 AM PST by hanamizu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Ain’t “universal health care” great?


3 posted on 01/04/2018 7:55:30 AM PST by fwdude (Why is it that the only positive things to come out of LGBT organizations are their AIDS tests?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Yes, but it’s free (if you don’t count the heavy taxes to pay for it).


4 posted on 01/04/2018 7:59:34 AM PST by Petrosius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fwdude

Socialism is a failure that many are eager and more than willing to repeat.


5 posted on 01/04/2018 8:01:09 AM PST by Spok ("What're you going to believe-me or your own eyes?" -Marx (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Also, the NHS issued an order that read: “Your hangover is not our emergency.”

Of course, this is not showing up on the American edition of The Guardian which slams American healthcare every day.


6 posted on 01/04/2018 8:01:48 AM PST by miss marmelstein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KC_Lion

Ping.


7 posted on 01/04/2018 8:04:25 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

8 posted on 01/04/2018 8:06:33 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

And the British Left and their media are SOOOO proud of the NHS.


9 posted on 01/04/2018 8:09:59 AM PST by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

Geez, sounds like an announcement from a third world country.


10 posted on 01/04/2018 8:10:16 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi (NOPe to GOPe)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hanamizu

I remember that. Before Brexit and Trump./s


11 posted on 01/04/2018 8:13:00 AM PST by Rusty0604
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

The truth is with financial pressures on hospitals they cannot afford excess capacity. This could be happening here shortly.


12 posted on 01/04/2018 8:16:39 AM PST by Mom MD ( .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

“Many more trusts refused to provide information about pressure levels, with several saying NHS England no longer allowed them to divulge the information...”

So Brits are forced at gunpoint to pay for it but they’re forbidden from learning about silly little things like service levels, patient outcomes, etc.

Seems fair.

L


13 posted on 01/04/2018 8:17:17 AM PST by Lurker (President Trump isn't our last chance. President Trump is THEIR last chance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

And the country’s leadership will continue to ignore the cause of this chaos until citizens feel like they are living in Venezuela.


14 posted on 01/04/2018 8:20:47 AM PST by immadashell (Save Innocent Lives - ban gun free zones)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant
(from the article):" Many more trusts refused to provide information about pressure levels,
with several saying NHS England no longer allowed them to divulge the information... "

Welcome to Socialized Medicine !
Britain trying to catch up with Venezuela


15 posted on 01/04/2018 8:43:35 AM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

I wonder if their tidal wave of Muslim invaders is having an effect.


16 posted on 01/04/2018 8:47:11 AM PST by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hanamizu

#2 They did not return the beds to the hospitals.
They probably took them home after the ceremony as they are comfortable.
That is why there is a shortage....


17 posted on 01/04/2018 9:14:37 AM PST by minnesota_bound
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

I’ve read that sufficient levels of vitamin d protects you from influenza. It’s hard for anyone to get enough vitamin d from the sun in England. Having a higher level of melanin would make it even more difficult as darker skin keeps you from readily absorbing vitamin d.

A flu epidemic could be more severe/widespread among certain demographics.


18 posted on 01/04/2018 9:19:24 AM PST by NorthstarMom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Brilliant

For those too embarrassed to ask.....

The National Health Service (NHS) is the name used for each of the four public health services in the United Kingdom - the National Health Service in England, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland - as well as a term to describe them collectively.


19 posted on 01/04/2018 9:20:26 AM PST by faucetman (Ju"st the facts, ma'am, Just the facts)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fwdude
“Ain’t “universal health care” great?”

I know the system well. At the level of ‘leadership’ and ‘administration’ it is chock-full of smarmy academics who often suck at their jobs - but are good at self-promotion. Like all things socialist, it winds up being an extremely hierarchical system in which there are the ‘lords’ and the little people (i.e. those who get their operations cancelled).

20 posted on 01/04/2018 9:21:12 AM PST by neverevergiveup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson