A man turned up at an accident and emergency department in the Midlands complaining of wax in the air the day a hospital declared a critical incident, a nurse who works there said.
Lesley Meaney, a sister at University Hospitals North Midlands (UNHM), said the patient presented to A&E “no pain, no discomfort, just eat war wax!”
Earlier, on December 30, trust officials declared a critical incident, citing “extremely high demand for all of our services.”
Ms Meaney’s disclosure underscores the scale of the challenge facing the NHS and staff working in hospitals across the country.
Doctors say the health service is on the brink of the biggest “crisis” in its history, with delays in services exacerbated by the covid pandemic.
Covid and flu cases are also on the rise amid the colder winter months. NHS services have also been affected by a series of back-to-back strikes by workers over pay and conditions.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said on Tuesday that the government has been “frank” about the problems facing the NHS, describing it as a “challenge” rather than a crisis.
Writing on Twitter, Ms Meany added: “Seriously, what about the general population? A major incident is declared, ambulances line up, and you decide to go to the emergency department on New Year’s Eve with earwax.”
According to Labor Party analysis of NHS data, some five million people were unable to book a GP appointment in October.
Some patients decide to go to the ER when they cannot see a doctor.
In response to Ms. Meaney’s Twitter post, Tracy Bullock, UNHM’s chief executive, said: “Oh, for God’s sake. I hope they send them home immediately.”
“Earwax is not an accident or an emergency. No wonder we are full!”
Dr. Matthew Lewis, UNHM’s chief medical officer, said: “UHNM’s accident and emergency departments are some of the busiest in the country, so we urge the public to go to our emergency departments only if it’s Serious and life-threatening conditions that need immediate medical attention, such as persistent severe chest pain, loss of consciousness, acute confusion, severe blood loss, severe burns, broken bones, suspected stroke.
“We work with our NHS partners to ensure people are cared for in the right place at the right time and would ask the public to contact NHS 111, speak to their GP or pharmacist or attend a care center. outpatient or minor injury unit if your symptoms are not. life threatening.”
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‘Earwax is not an accident or an emergency. No wonder we are packed! the trusted CEO says
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Sunak was due to deliver an important speech on Wednesday afternoon to set out his priorities for the coming year.
He was expected to specifically address problems in the NHS and commit to taking personal responsibility for fixing them.
In addition to the backlog of services, there is also a severe staff shortage in the NHS.
In the summer, MPs said the number of unfilled vacancies posed a serious risk to patient safety.
A report by the health and social care committee, published in July, found England was short 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives.
Speaking to broadcasters on Wednesday morning, Rosina Allin-Khan, the Labor Party’s shadow mental health minister, said the state of the NHS is an “acute crisis”.
Ms Allin-Khan, who is a doctor and an MP, told Sky News her party has a “workforce plan” in place to ease the personnel crisis.
“We would train an additional 10,000 nurses and midwives each year, double the number of places in medical schools, have an additional 5,000 health visitors, improve our mental health services,” he said.
Dr. Allin-Khan added: “Currently the doctors and nurses are broken, absolutely broken.
“Two-thirds of young doctors want to leave the workforce, we have nurses leaving in droves, we have more mental illness days off than even Covid or flu medical staff.”
Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the NHS is facing one of the “biggest lawsuits” it has ever seen.
Asked about the “challenge” facing the NHS, he told TalkTV: “It’s significant, there’s no question about it. The health service is facing one of the biggest lawsuits it’s ever seen.”
“What we need to do is focus now on recruiting more people and getting back to a more normal service.”
In response to questions about the recent strikes, the MP added that health workers also needed “proper pay and conditions.”
