Child’s 145-hour ‘trolley wait’ for a hospital bed
A&E delays are at a record high
A CHILD was forced to wait more than 145 hours for a mental health bed in hospital in the longest recorded “trolley wait”.
Figures show A&E delays are at the worst levels in the history of the NHS.
Soaring numbers of patients are waiting more than a day before getting a bed, according to freedom of information data obtained by Labour.
“Trolley waits” refer to people put on trolleys or chairs, or sometimes in side rooms or other units, while a bed is found for them in the hospital.
The longest wait reported in the 12 months surveyed was more than six days – 145hrs, 11mins – at Derby Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Derby health chiefs said it was a “highly unusual lengthy wait”, but insisted the child was not on a trolley.
A spokesman said: “The child was safely cared for, not on a trolley, but in our paediatric assessment unit.”
In January, 81,000 patients waited more than four hours in corridors to be admitted.
Dr Taj Hassan, of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “This shows how overstretched our emer- gency departments are.” Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The Government’s endless squeeze on NHS funding has caused misery for patients.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Just 0.06% of emergency admissions via A&E had to wait more than 12 hours.”
THERE is no excuse for a mentally disturbed child being forced to wait six days for a bed in an NHS hospital.
It’s hard to imagine the turmoil endured by the patient and their family as the medical system failed to provide suitable treatment.
Hapless Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and his propagandists should hang their heads in shame because their increasingly ludicrous claims about improving care are insulting.
We can all accept hiccups, however regrettable, in the NHS but systematic failures lead back directly to the door of austerity Prime Minister Theresa May. The Tories are destroying the NHS we love and need.