Meeting the Target - The NHS and A&E

With the population as large as ever in the UK, subsequently in the last few years there has been a noticeable and increasing strain on NHS services across the board. However I believe, along with many others, that the Accident and Emergency Department can be considered to be under the biggest of pressures today. A programme on the BBC I watched recently showed exactly the effects of this population pressure on staff and patients alike. The Panorama documentary was a rather short 30 minutes, nevertheless a real eye-opener to the general public to appreciate the scale of the problem.

I encourage you to see it and I have embedded the video below:


What I found quite shocking is that many of the staff are under constant pressure from the many patients who arrive to the hospital every hour. However it isn't just the local pressure - government-set deadlines and targets ensure the conveyer belts of NHS services are rolling quickly. One doctor in the film says "it's a more stressful place to work than it once was"when referring to the A&E Department of today.

Judging from the documentary, the staff seem stressed, however I deeply respect their professionalism as when dealing with the wide variety of patients, they control their emotions. This is vital when dealing with the public and representing an organisation as important as the NHS. One example from the clip I especially remember is when a heavy alcoholic was admitted to A&E. His rowdy, agitated and rather unpredictable manner meant the nurses in particular were dealing with a tough patient. Refraining from raising their voice too much, they managed to control the patient. In fact if he had turned very aggressive, the staff may have been at risk from harm. The number of alcoholics and drug abusers admitted to A&E is alarming, and they are transported to hospital 'around the clock'. For this hospital alone there are '3 to 4 overdoses a day'.

The pace at which staff need to work is tremendously quickly, whilst being efficient. It shows how training is vitally important to sustain such roles in the health service.

In the video, I was rather interested to see that one GP said that she once wanted to work for the A&E department of the NHS as it suited here own interests. However she ended up settling for a job less manic as a GP, as she no longer wanted to be part of a "sinking ship". She is clearly an experienced health professional, and I respect here view which is why I appreciate the scale of the problem we face in A&E.

One of the major problems in fact is the limited number of hospital ward beds available to patients after they leave the A&E department. Some patients are left to wait hours. The large number of patients poses a dilemma. The NHS need to strike a balance between treating as many people as possible and giving each patient the thorough and correct care they need to make a good recovery.

Solutions to the problem are already being implemented. However many people simply aren't aware of alternative healthcare services that have been made available by the NHS. Walk-in centres and dialling 111 are just a named couple that one could use in out-of-hours for GP's instead of visiting A&E. More awareness is needed to inform the public that personal health advice is available very readily on a local level and is easily accessible.