No hospital bed

I work in theatres and this problem with beds is getting more common. A lot of people come in the same day as their op so go straight from an admission area to theatre with a bed booked for after theatre, however these beds are sometimes given to emergency patients that have come in whilst surgery is taking place so some are having to wait for another bed in recovery. Where i work we now have another area set up with beds to make patents more comfortable as a 12 hour wait is not a rarity these days as you have to wait for someone else to be discharged and the paperwork alone takes ages and then waiting for meds to take home. Its all very frustrating for patients, visitors and staff but the alternative to cancel someones surgery is also happening a lot which is worse.

littleannie
Understandably you are upset with what your stepdaughter experienced following her recent operation.
Yourself if stepdaughter is unable to do so herself can, and have the right, to make a formal complaint to the hospital concerned and should the reply not be to your or stepdaughters satisfaction then take it to a solicitor who deals with medical complaints.

I don't think Boris Johnson can be blamed for this , or the torie government or even Brexit . Cuts have been going on for years even under a Labour government . The is more people in the UK , more migrants less hospitals than there was 30 years ago . So there is half the amount of beds for double amount of people . As for the staff shortages if you apply for a job , they say they have no vacancies or they offer you place on the bank staff . Which is the hospital version of a nursing agency with no guaranteed hours . As for the staff the NHS has now are mostly foreign , lazy and don't want to do the job . Also the problems caused by the language barrier . The NHS waste so much money on interpreters for people who can't speak English . If they can't Speak English should they be using the NHS or paying private like we would have to do in there country . I was a nurse and the decline in the Nhs started 30 years ago .

Someone isn’t managing the ward very well at all. As a nurse I’m appalled and if that had happened when I was a Ward Sister I probably would have been disciplined. Bed shortages are nothing new though. I can remember in the 70’s beds being put in the middle of the ward because we had run out of room but we would never leave someone in a trolley and usually we’d find a bed on another ward just as a temporary measure. Ask your step daughter if she would contact PALS to explain how dissatisfied she was and how upsetting it was for her family. If these issues aren’t highlighted the powers that be are often not aware

Yes Dee - shortage of porters as well as no available space on a ward are two of the main reasons cited in the research for delayed discharge from PACU. Sometimes there is a bed but no available nurse on the ward. Hospitals monitor and audit discharge delays mainly because such delays cause bottlenecks and lead to delayed or even cancelled surgery. It also puts a real burden on PACU staff whose job is very intensive in the immediate post op period. What counts as a delayed discharge ( ie time since patient deemed fit for discharge from PACU) I think varies a bit between hospitals but is typically 30 mins. Of course hospitals try to deal with the causes but staffing shortages and resource restrictions all play their part. However, there isn’t an organisation in the world, especially one as complex as a hospital, that couldn’t improve its structures and IME most are trying.

I had an operation 7 weeks ago and the care was exemplary. I have continuing treatment and so far I cannot complain.

DH fell down stairs last week & went into hospital. Diagnosed with a irregular heart beat. He has amazing treatment & I cannot praise them enough but he was moved 9 times in 6 days- I never knew where to look for him!
It is a real problem for the staff as they are short of beds- & this is a large hospital- & have to move patients around all the time. He was on a bed in a corridor for some time too.

I'm currently recovering from surgery that took place last week and I have to say, while the care from staff was fantastic... some elements of procedure appeared very hit and miss.
I was in recovery for many hour's, alongside others. The nurses kept giving us apologies saying "there's nobody to take you back to the ward". Recovery was mixed sex and the woman next to me was very upset about this, she said to me that she'd been there since 11.00 am, this was around 3 pm.
I could overhear staff talking and someone saying that a number of people should have gone hour's ago!

Yes - so sorry for your stepdaughter Little annie. Do you remember the big promises made by Boris Johnson of 350 million pounds every week after Brexit for the NHS? It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic and here we are trying to leave the EU and asset stripping what's left of the NHS to allow the Americans to gain access to it. I have a granddaughter whose ear op was cancelled this week because of staff shortages. She has to continue trying to make the best of her schooling while she is effectively deaf. This Tory government has everything to answer for. Of course, the Johnson family don't use the NHS, they just pay privately and don't suffer the consequences like your step daughter.

First of all this is not down to the nursing staff but down to the bed manager , who should be held accountable . Although not being on a proper bed , she is getting better care were she is than if she was on a ward . I just hope they find her a bed in the right ward for recovery . My husband had a urology operation and they put him on an ENT ward , where he was over looked by the urology team because he was on the wrong ward . Dressings not being done and just generally being forgotten about . I'm afraid I have no trust in the NHS any more . My husband has had three bogged operations by the same surgeon and because he can't put his mistakes right , the surgeon has cut all contact with us and our GP . Five years later we are still trying to find someone to rectify his mistakes .

All I’m saying is that patients should spend no longer in recovery than is clinically necessary. The fact that they do doesn’t make it all right. I agree that it seems very unlikely that the OPs SD was on a trolley but the OP is probably upset and worried and assuming the worst. I hope it’s all sorted this morning and SD is back on a ward which is the right clinical environment for someone safely recovered from the anaesthetic. Yes I have professional experience in establishing and monitoring clinical protocols including transfer from wards to theatre and back again.

Very unlikely. It will be a theatre trolley. They’ll need it back in theatre!

The ward bed will have been taken to recovery for her to be transferred and wheeled to a ward when a bay is available. No point in having to keep swapping and disinfecting beds.

But then Maw we’ve only our own experience to go on?

I tae it you are speaking from professional experience suziewoozie ?
Read what others have written.
While I sympathise with OP’s distress, I think the situation may sound worse than it is. I think it is unlikely that OP’s DD will have been left on a hard trolley.

Maw I’m stating a fact- the fact that personal experience demonstrates that some people spend longer in recovery than they should does not negate the fact that this should not happen. Personal experience is always relevant ( and our family has also had plenty) but often shows the system is not working as it should - not that it is the acceptable standard no matter how often experienced.

Recently had hip op, and after being in recovery was wheeled in same bed to the ward. From my experience you are put into that bed when you are sedated.

As others have said, the care in Recovery is excellent and I don’t remember finding the ‘beds’ in Recovery uncomfortable, perhaps because I was well sedated, last time after a six hour op. Staff will be anxiously searching for spaces for post op patients. I left one bay and was eventually settled in another bed and bay. I don’t expect staff will be leaving a post op patient in pain. I only had to squeak for a
nurse to ask if I was in pain.
There’s no such thing as ‘my bay’ or even ‘my bed’ as they juggle overcrowded hospitals.

Have recently had bad experiences with hospital treatment for my husband, including no bed space. Hope your step daughter recovers well care going forward is of a good standard. If you feel like it please see my petition to save NHS funds (to save money and provide additional resources like bed space). Please sign and share if you agree. Here is the link
chng.it/PDLCHdQM

Well that’s us told!

Personal (extensive) experience clearly totally irrelevant.

Recovery is the best place when it is clinically justified. Otherwise, whether trolley or bed, you should be on a ward.

Is it not possible that she is in her bed but in Recovery pending an empty bay in an appropriate ward?
The word “trolley” conjures up a spartan image spartan, like A&E although even there Paw was frequently in a bed overnight while they found him a space on a ward.
Try not to let it prey on your mind, her operation has taken place and she will be getting the best care wherever she is. (I still think Recovery is often best placed for post-op patients rather than a “regular” ward, especially at night. )

I've never heard of this happening before, it's dreadful and all I can think about is cross-infection. This shouldn't be happening as her bed should be on the ward prepared for her as she returns from theatre. This is what should happen, or used to do when I was nursing.

I have to ask. If you’re not allowed in recovery, how do you know she is lying on a hard trolley?

As you say, Maw, patients generally are wheeled in their own bed to theatre. If in the meantime her bay was appropriated, where was her bed? Could she not at least have been returned to her bed while waiting for a bay? Last time I had surgery - in fact every time, now I think of it - I was returned to my bed from the operating table and taken to recovery in my bed.

Obviously sometime has to be spent in recovery, but 7 hours ( let alone 12). How truly awful and unacceptable. Recovery must get very crowded if this is what is happening in some hospitals.

littleannie I’m amazed that anyone thinks this is normal or remotely acceptable. Once you have ‘recovered’ Recovery is NOT the place to be. Apart from the trolley issue, it’s busy, noisy, bright lights etc. I hope when you go in the morning, she’s in a proper bed in a ward and feeling a bit better. And I hope she will want to complain as well.