hospitals – Page 2 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Delayed Discharge in NHS Lothian returns to pre Covid-19 levels

The number of days that patients who have been delayed from leaving hospital because of no appropriate place to go to has risen to 7,829 for July 2021, the latest month statistics are available for.

This is an increase of 2,004 from 5,825 delays throughout June and triple the number of bed days occupied from delayed discharge at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when 2,531 delays occurred.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic SNP Ministers made the decision to move hospital patients into care homes, to free up hospital space for dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. It later emerged that patients being moved from hospitals to care homes where not tested for Covid-19 leading to higher rates of Covid-19 deaths in care homes than anywhere else in Scotland.

The level of delayed discharge in NHS Lothian has now returned to pre- pandemic levels with the number of bed days in hospital for delayed discharge being 11 higher than March 2020, 7,278, when hospital patients where moved to care homes.

Edinburgh and the Lothians were in the process of recovering from a Social Care crisis before the pandemic hit, with the peak of delayed discharge in hospitals being in October 2018, when 11,855 combined days when patients were not able to leave hospital, despite being back to health.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “These figures are very concerning, with the number of patients being stuck in hospital without a suitable destination, returning to pre pandemic levels.

“In Edinburgh and the Lothians there has been a long standing challenge to provide social care, which started to shift towards care in the community.

“We are now seeing increasing numbers of patients not able to leave hospital and the Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board are planning on closing more care homes.

“Patients leaving hospital must have a suitable destination to go once recovered, so that we are not in a position where people are waiting days on end in hospital, when they don’t need to be there.”

Two metre distancing to remain in healthcare facilities

Physical distancing will remain in place at health care settings across Scotland from Monday (August 9) when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted elsewhere in the country.

Hospitals, GP surgeries and dentists will be among the locations which will continue to observe the current two metre distancing requirement to help control the spread of the virus.

The measure will be reviewed as the NHS remobilises safely from the pandemic.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The safety of patients and healthcare staff is paramount.

“As we move beyond level 0, we must remember that the virus has not gone away and safeguards like distancing may be needed in some settings as we learn to live with COVID-19.

“Physical distancing in our health system will remain for now as we move safely out of lockdown.

“We will keep the situation under review and will publish a plan for the safe recovery of our NHS in the coming weeks.”

Deputy Chief Nursing Officer Anne Armstrong said: “Hospitals and other health care settings have developed new ways of working to meet the challenges of the pandemic, but there is still a risk of hospitalised cases and winter threats.

“Physical distancing will help protect staff and patients as part of the ongoing management of confirmed or suspected COVID cases.”

Prepare Emergency Departments now for the next phase of challenges, says RCEM Scotland

The latest data released today by the Scottish Government for March 2021 show that attendances at Emergency Departments are beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels.

In March 2021 there were 90,833 attendances to major Emergency Departments across Scotland. This is a 30% increase compared to February 2021 and a 7% increase when compared to March 2020.

Despite this increase, 87.5% of attendances to major Emergency Departments in Scotland were seen within 4 hours, meaning one in eight patients are waiting for four hours or more before being seen. Although, this represents an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to February 2021.

In March 2021, 315 patients spent 12 hours or more in an Emergency Department, this is down by one third compared to February 2021 and down by over one quarter compared to March 2020.

Data also show that 1,358 patients spent eight hours or more in a major Emergency Department, this is down by over 22% compared to the previous month and down six percentage points on the previous year.

Dr John Thomson, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “We are beginning to reach pre-pandemic levels of hospital activity and demand for urgent and emergency care services. We fear a return of the pre-pandemic crowding that put patient safety at risk.

“The health service is in recovery, elective care waiting lists are growing, attendances at Emergency Departments are increasing, and the already depleted workforce is exhausted.

“As a result, some hospitals are beginning to face pressures with patients delayed for hours. We must rapidly assess and address our resources, capacity, and the way we deliver care.

“The College launched its campaign Summer to Recover: Winter Proofing the Urgent and Emergency Care system for 2021 which presents a series of actions the Scottish Government, NHS Boards and ED Leadership Teams can take to prepare their departments for the challenges ahead.

“There are threats of a further wave of covid in the late summer and a potentially gruelling winter with seasonal flu in the community. We saw how the NHS in Scotland was underprepared and under-resourced for the pandemic and the brutal winter which followed, now we have a chance to learn and do what we can to ready ourselves for the next phase.

“Staff are exhausted after a difficult year and are facing new challenges on every front, by preparing now and ensuring that departments are ready for this next phase, we may be able to manage demand and cope with system pressures.”

Hospital and care home visiting update

Keeping residents and patients safe over Christmas and New Year period.

Visiting arrangements for hospitals and care homes in Scotland will remain in place over the Christmas and New Year period, it has been confirmed.

For the general public, there will be UK-wide easing of restrictions on travel and gathering between 23 – 27 December.

However, in a joint-letter to NHS Boards, the interim Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer and National Clinical Director clarified this would not apply to hospitals over the Christmas period, given the increased vulnerability of hospital patients compared to the general population.

Christmas and New Year guidance has also been published for the adult care home sector, recommending that indoor visiting should continue to be supported where it is safe to do so, as well as setting out specific safeguards that care homes can put in place to safely support festive activities.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “While most people will see a limited relaxation of existing restrictions over the holiday period, hospital and care home visiting guidance will remain in place to protect patients and residents.

“However, we are encouraging Boards and care homes to continue to apply this guidance with flexibility and compassion, given how important the Christmas and New Year period is for many families, to ensure no-one is unnecessarily isolated over the Christmas period. Essential visits should also continue regardless of local restrictions, as they have throughout the pandemic.

“In care homes this will be facilitated by testing of designated visitors, which will be rolled out to all care homes from Monday onwards. Testing is not required for visiting but it does add an additional layer of protection, and we will make PCR testing available for any care homes unable to make use of lateral flow tests before Christmas.

Coronavirus (COVID-19): hospital visiting guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19): adult care homes guidance

Visiting in care homes is subject to care homes being free of any COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days, actively participating in the care home testing programme and having visiting risk assessments approved by the local Director of Public Health.

Letter to NHS Boards: see below:

LETTER-Christmas-Preparation-and-Visiting-Guidance Download

Free hospital parking extended at Royal Infirmary

Free parking has been extended at three of Scotland’s PFI hospitals until January – one of these is Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

The extension was confirmed by Health Secretary Jeane Freeman in a written answer yesterday:

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN ANSWER

25 September 2020

Index Heading: Health and Social Care

Bill Kidd (Glasgow Anniesland) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the car parking arrangements at Ninewells Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

S5W-32056

Jeane Freeman: On 30 March 2020, the three PFI hospital car park providers at Ninewells Hospital, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary agreed to remove car parking charges for staff, visitors and patients initially for the three months and extended further by additional three months until 30 September 2020.

The Scottish Government have now reached agreement with the three PFI hospital car park providers to extend the free car parking arrangements by a further four months until January 2021. This extension of free parking continues to support staff and remove the barriers to our staff working with the NHS during these unprecedented times.

Lothians Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said: “The extensions of free parking at PFI hospitals in Scotland until the new year is welcome news, but we need to see a long term solution to allow for free parking at all three PFI hospitals permanently.

“The lifting of parking charges shows that the removal of charges can be achieved and I will continue to work with MSPs of all parties to find a long term solution.

“This is now the second extension to the free parking charges without any clarity on what SNP Ministers are trying to achieve.

“Increasingly questions are being asked over the inability of SNP Ministers to secure a deal and whether value for Scottish taxpayers money is being achieved.”

There is no charge for parking at the Western General Hospital.

Binmen are tops in new key workers game

The unsung heroes and heroines of the Covid-19 pandemic are bin men and women, alongside couriers, shop workers, journalists and of course, doctors and nurses.

A brand new edition of Top Trumps, honouring Covid 19 key and essential workers, has hit shops … with profits being donated to the NHS.

The game lauds and applauds those key and essential workers who have saved Britain during the Pandemic : from doctors and nurses to less high-profile professions such as pest controllers, midwives and sea merchants.

Politicians, who are depicted on the Top Trumps card by Boris Johnson, and journalists are included too.

One of the four scoring sections in the new game is ‘Unsung Heroes’, and in that category it is the partners of key workers who come out top – they get a maximum 10 out of 10. Binmen and binwomen scored a point lower at nine out of ten. Less unsung heroes like doctors (8), nurses (8) and police (7) fare lower.

In its card citation Top Trumps point out that being a partner of a key worker is “stressful and worrying”.

Claire Simon, from Top Trumps, says: “Every single front-line key worker is, of course, a heroine and hero and would each score 10 (or even 11) out of 10 by any reckoning if we had devised a Hero category.

“By creating an Unsung Heroes category we have ensured varying marks, in keeping with the game’s core classic and its unique and much-loved branding.

“From our research, which has been intensively conducted over the six weeks, partners of key workers came out top in this section. There are an estimated one and a half million partners of key workers in Britain so that’s a lot of Unsung Heroes and Heroines.

“Many of the public we spoke to pointed out that partners too are putting their lives on the line, albeit less directly. As well as being there physically they are providing emotional support. For that reason we listed partners as key workers.”

Other features of the pack include:

Binmen and binwomen being named as the most stylish of all the key and essential workers. That’s because of their fluorescent and neon clothing, which is all the fashion rage at the moment. They score 10 /10 on ‘Street Style and as they are also runners-up in the ‘Unsung Heroes’ section then they are very much the card not to bin during the game! In its card citation Top Trumps point out that refuse collectors first began their profession during the 14^th Century Black Death that swept across Europe and add: “In terms of facing a pandemic, refuse collectors can rightly joke that ‘we’ve bin here before’ ”.

Stuffy politicians score just 1/10 in the style section – with teachers not doing much better and obviously in need of extra fashion homework. They get just 2/10. Journalists only manage 5/10.

Religious and spiritual workers are listed by Top Trumps as the very oldest profession of all the workers in the pack in an ‘Originated’ section. They are named as first appearing in 50,000 BC, which easily wins this category.

Gadgets and gizmos winner is the journalist, which isn’t surprising bearing in mind the lightening media advances with Zoom and the like – since the start of the Pandemic. The profession with the least formal gadgets and gizmos includes mental health workers.

One of the very best cards to hold in Top Trumps terms is the courier. That’s because it features very well in the Originated section: at 2400 BC. It also scores very highly in the Unsung Heroes category – notching up a nine out of ten. And in terms of gadgets and gizmos it is only shaded by journalists.

Claire Simon, who is Global Marketing Manager at Top Trumps, added: “We are sure that this new edition of Top Trumps can lift spirits in this very challenging and unprecedented period of time, as well as raising money for the NHS, with all net proceeds going direct to the NHS.”

In this version of the celebrated card game 30 different professions are listed, each marked in typical Top Trumps style across four separate scoring categories:

Unsung Heroes: In the pack Top Trumps explains: “All our key workers are heroes, but some jobs are often less praised. We want to make sure key workers are given the praise they deserve”.

Street Style: Top Trumps explains: “Neon is in! This section assesses the gear and garb a key and essential worker wears”.

Gadgets & Gizmos: “What equipment the worker uses and carries to do their job.”

Originated: “The year in which profession was established (or in the case of religious and spiritual workers the estimated year: 50,000 BC!).

Top Trumps Britain at its Best: Key Workers is available priced £5 exclusively at: winningmoves.co.uk and comes in a twin deck (the other pack being Britain at its Best: Hospitals.

Key workers recognised in new pack

A brand new edition of Top Trumps, honouring Covid 19 key and essential workers, hits shops tomorrow (Monday 4^th May).

The game lauds and applauds those key and essential workers who have saved Britain during the Pandemic: from doctors and nurses to less high-profile professions such as pest controllers, midwives and sea merchants.

Politicians, who are depicted on the Top Trumps card by Boris Johnson (controversial! – Ed.) and journalists are included too.

One of the four scoring sections in the new game is ‘Unsung Heroes’ … and in that category it is the partners of key workers who come out top. They get a maximum 10 out of 10.

Binmen and binwomen scored a point lower at nine out of ten. Less unsung heroes like doctors (8), nurses (8) and police (7) fare lower.

In its card citation Top Trumps point out that being a partner of a key worker is “stressful and worrying”.

“By creating an Unsung Heroes category we have ensured varying marks, in keeping with the game’s core classic and its unique and much-loved branding.

Other features of the pack include:

Binmen and binwomen being named as the most stylish of all the key and essential workers. That’s because of their fluorescent and neon clothing, which is all the fashion rage at the moment. They score 10 /10 on ‘Street Style and as they are also runners-up in the ‘Unsung Heroes’ section then they are very much the card not to bin during the game! In its card citation Top Trumps point out that refuse collectors first began their profession during the 14^th Century Black Death that swept across Europe and add: “In terms of facing a pandemic, refuse collectors can rightly joke that ‘we’ve bin here before’ ”.

Stuffy politicians score just 1/10 in the style section – with teachers not doing much better and obviously in need of extra fashion homework. They get just 2/10. Journalists only manage 5/10.

Religious and spiritual workers are listed by Top Trumps as the very oldest profession of all the workers in the pack in an ‘Originated’ section. They are named as first appearing in 50,000 BC, which easily wins this category.

Gadgets and gizmos winner is the journalist, which isn’t surprising bearing in mind the lightening media advances with Zoom and the like – since the start of the Pandemic. The profession with the least formal gadgets and gizmos includes mental health workers.

One of the very best cards to hold in Top Trumps terms is the courier. That’s because it features very well in the Originated section: at 2400 BC. It also scores very highly in the Unsung Heroes category – notching up a nine out of ten. And in terms of gadgets and gizmos it is only shaded by journalists.

In this version of the celebrated card game 30 different professions are listed, each marked in typical Top Trumps style across four separate scoring categories:

Unsung Heroes: In the pack Top Trumps explains: “All our key workers are heroes, but some jobs are often less praised. We want to make sure key workers are given the praise they deserve”.

Street Style: Top Trumps explains: “Neon is in! This section assesses the gear and garb a key and essential worker wears”.

Gadgets & Gizmos: “What equipment the worker uses and carries to do their job.”

Originated: “The year in which profession was established (or in the case of religious and spiritual workers the estimated year: 50,000 BC!).

Top Trumps Britain at its Best: Key Workers is available priced £5 from Monday (4^th May 2020) exclusively at: winningmoves.co.uk and comes in a twin deck (the other pack being Britain at its Best: Hospitals* see further below for some details on this pack).

And the dual Britain at its Best deck really IS Britain at its very best, literally. The whole product – from concept to completion – is 100% British, with the cards being manufactured by The St Austell Printing Company in St. Austell, Cornwall.

The £5 price for both packs includes postage and packaging and the Top Trumps makers say £1.50 from each dual deck sold go to the NHS.

TOP facts about Top Trumps Britain at its Best: Hospitals pack

The pack features UK Hospitals from Britain’s oldest (Barts – 1123) to one of its very newest (Nightingale, London – 2020).
It’s full of fascinating facts and the 30 different cards feature leading UK hospitals inc. Guy’s, Addenbrooke’s, St Thomas’, John Radcliffe and Manchester Royal Infirmary.
The four scoring categories are: ‘Year Opened’ ; ‘No. of beds’ ; ‘Fame’ and ‘Rainbow Rating’.
St. Thomas’ Hospital, where PM Boris Johnson was successfully treated during his recent Covid 19 confinement, features as one of the 30 cards.
Highest in the ‘Rainbow Rating’ section is Great Ormond Street Hospital, which has a rainbow theme throughout.
But arguably Britain’s most crucial hospital is a moving one, not a permanent structure or even semi-permanent as in the case of the Nightingale. And that is ‘The Ambulance’ (which features on its very own card)..
.. ‘The Ambulance’ has just the one bed so in terms of Top Trumps that’s a low rating. However it comes high in the OLDEST category, dating back to 1487.

TOP facts about Top Trumps generally:

Top Trumps first hit shelves 40 years ago – very rapidly becoming a playground sensation.
Early packs tended to focus on younger themes such as ‘Awesome Animals’ and ‘Pop Stars’ but by the 1990’s – with the initial fan base now in their twenties – all themes became universal.
More than 1,000 different topics have had the Top Trumps treatment .. from ‘007 James Bond’ to ‘Great British Bakes’ to ‘Harry Potter’.
The biggest selling deck ever is ‘Dinosaurs’ – and overall more than 50M packs of Top Trumps have been produced since inception.
The game is enjoyed and played all over the world and in 16 different languages, including Icelandic and Japanese.
Top Trumps is owned and produced by Winning Moves UK, which makes a host of other classic Brands too, including: Official versions of MONOPOLY, Waddington’s Number One playing cards and very many more.