Tag: NHS

Mother’s Day pride: mum and daughter tell of joy at working together at same hospital

A nurse and her daughter who work at the same hospital have both told how they love being part of the NHS family – and how proud they are of each other for the work they do.

Geraldine Sparkes is lead nurse for the Acute Medical Unit and Medical Assessment Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley, and 18-year-old Gemma is a Health Care Support Worker on Ward 10.

They live together in Paisley with dad Trevor and nine-year-old daughter Mirren, and the whole family is spending Mother’s Day together. 

The pair travel together to work every morning – stopping on the way for a coffee that’s “totally essential” according to Gemma – but because of Gemma’s shifts it’s quite unusual for them to get time off together, and Geraldine is really excited because of that.

“We’re all going out for a steak dinner, and I’m looking forward to spending the day together. I think it will be really special.”

What Geraldine doesn’t know is that Gemma “sweet-talked her boss” to be able to spend time with her mum. “It’s great that we’ll all be able to celebrate Mother’s Day together this year. I’ve got a few wee bits for mum, and Mirren loves arts and crafts so she’s been doing lots. I think it will be a lovely day.”

Geraldine, 38, has only been a nurse for eight years, after deciding to change career to care for patients. She juggled her training with her day job, as well as doing bank shifts to get additional experience, and she is now passionate about the NHS, the RAH and being a nurse.

She said: “There’s no denying that nursing has its challenges just now, but I feel so strongly that it’s a wonderful job. There are so many different roles in the NHS that once you’re part of the NHS family the world’s really your oyster.

“I’d encourage any young person to come and work with us – and especially at the RAH! Working locally is great – we really feel part of the community, and to be supporting neighbours and friends is the best feeling.”

But it’s when she starts speaking about Gemma that her pride really shows.

“I’m so proud of her. She’s been working since she was 16 and has a great work ethic. It’s great to see her in a full-time job, and hopefully it will be the start of a great career for her.

“When she first started at the hospital she was quite apprehensive, but she’s hit the ground running and I’ve been told she’s doing really well and has a great way with patients and relatives.”

Gemma has only been a HCSW since November, but she’s loving her time at the RAH. “It’s a great place to work,” she said. “I really feel like a part of the team. Everyone is so helpful – and not just the people at my grade but everyone, right up to the managers.

“I love working here and I’m really proud of the NHS. I’m always telling my friends to go for it, that working here is really worth it.”

But she admits working with her mum has taken her a bit by surprise. “It’s really weird! At home she’s my mum, but I see a completely different side of her when she’s working. She’s so committed and professional – she takes the care of her patients so seriously.

“In fact I’m really proud of her.”

Geraldine feels very lucky to be sharing today with her family, and she has one final message.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all mums today – and special thanks to my colleagues at the RAH who are on duty caring for our patients, or any other mums who are working. You’re all doing an amazing job.”

NHS ‘still in the depths of crisis’

“We remain extremely concerned about our patients and their safety and for the welfare of staff who are struggling”, RCEM says

Responding to the latest monthly Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland for January 2023, Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “The monthly data make clear we are still in the depths of crisis.

“While it is true that the data for January 2023 show improvements when compared with December 2022, December was the worst month on record. We are relieved that we have mitigated against a repetition of December, but we remain extremely concerned about our patients and their safety, and for the welfare of staff who are struggling.

“January saw continued high numbers of extremely long waits; the third highest number of 12-hour waits on record. While the weekly data from February also show that we cannot let up in our requirement for substantial improvement.

“As the Scottish leadership election begins, tackling the crisis in Emergency Care as well as the crisis in the wider health and social care system must be a priority for the next First Minister. In 2022, a total of 55,095 patients waited 12-hours or more in an Emergency Department in Scotland.

“Analysis by the College shows that consequently, in 2022, there were an estimated 765 patient deaths associated with these dangerously long waiting times – equal to an estimated average of 64 each month. This is entirely unacceptable and a marker of a system that is not functioning as it should.

“To tackle this, in Scotland we urgently need a restoration of the acute bed base, that means opening an additional 1,000 staffed acute beds where safely possible.

“There are also significant shortfalls of staff in Scotland. The Emergency Medicine workforce needs at least 100 more consultants, as well as senior decision makers, ACPs/ANPs/Physician Associates, junior doctors, and vital nurses.

“We welcomed the expansion of Emergency Medicine medical training places in Scotland by 10, but this expansion is considerably short of what is required and there has yet to be any commitment to maintain this each year.

“This winter continues to be the most challenging yet for the NHS in Scotland. A failure for meaningful action now will prolong the risk to patient safety and maintain these dangerously long waiting times at the detriment to staff who are already burned out and exhausted. 2023 must be the year that we see political will translated into action that improves patient care and conditions for staff.”

Record Pay offer to Scotland’s NHS staff

£568 million for Agenda for Change (AfC) pay deal in 2023/24

Healthcare staff across Scotland have been offered the largest pay package in the history of the NHS, with a £568 million increase in investment.

160,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – will be offered an average 6.5% increase in pay in 2023/24.

This pay offer includes the commitment to deliver the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades. 

The offer also includes the commitment to modernising Agenda for Change, which was introduced nearly 20 years ago, to support workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have engaged extensively with trade union representatives over recent weeks, leaving no stone unturned to reach an offer which responds to the key concerns of staff. Our healthcare staff have shown how dedicated and hardworking they are time and again and I cannot thank them enough for their commitment, particularly over the last few challenging years.

“Over the two years of this £1 billion of increased investment in NHS Agenda for Change, a newly qualified nurse would see their pay increase by 15.8%, and experienced nurses at the top of band 5 would see their pay improve by over £4,700.

“This ensures that Scotland’s NHS Agenda for Change staff are, by far and away, the best paid anywhere in the UK. In fact, for NHS England to catch-up with Scotland the UK Government would need to offer increases in 2023/24 of over 14% at the top of band 5, over 13% at the top of band 6, and over 12% at the top of band 7.

“We have taken difficult decisions to find this money within the health budget because we know that our staff are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis. I am grateful for the continued efforts around the table and that the trade unions will now put this to their members.”

‘Continued improvement’ in A & E performance as winter pressures ease

Resilience committee holds further meeting

The Scottish Government’s resilience committee (SGoRR) met again yesterday to discuss the challenges facing health and social care this winter.

Chaired by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the meeting focussed on hospital occupancy, and the measures being taken to reduce levels of delayed discharge and find care placements and packages for those clinically fit to leave hospital.

The most recent A&E statistics have shown a continued improvement in performance, with 70.1% of people being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – the best performance since May.

Additional funding has also been made available Health and Social Care Partnerships who have the responsibility of providing care packages for those in their locality, to provide 300 interim care home beds for people who no longer need to be in hospital. So far, 162 people have entered interim care facilities paid for using this additional funding.

The SGoRR meeting was also attended by the Health Secretary, other cabinet ministers, the Chief Medical Officer and senior representatives from NHS boards, COSLA, Integration Joint Boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The First Minister said: “The continued improvement in A&E performance is something to be welcomed, but there is still much work being done on safely freeing up hospital capacity and easing pressures elsewhere in the system. That is why we are continuing to pursue a range of measures to enable people to leave hospital as soon as possible when it is clinically safe for them to do so.

“We remain indebted to the health and social care staff in all parts of Scotland who have continued to do an outstanding job, despite the extra challenges that winter has presented.”

Figures showing the uptake of additional interim care placements and the total number of people in interim care placements.

“There can be no denying it; the Emergency Care system is failing”

RCEM launches campaign to resuscitate Emergency Care as polling reveals the public’s lack of confidence in UK government’s policies to tackle the crisis

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has outlined five priorities for UK governments to tackle the crisis in Emergency Care, after polling carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the College found 59% of respondents expressed a lack of confidence that the UK Government have the right policies to tackle long patient waiting times in A&E departments in hospitals.

The campaign launches amid the worst Emergency Care crisis on record, as reflected in A&E performance figures across all four-nations.

Five Priorities for UK Governments to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare lays out what UK governments must focus on to tackle the crisis, improve patient care, retain staff, and prevent harm.

The five priorities are:

  • Eradicate overcrowding and corridor care for patients
  • Provide the UK with the Emergency Medicine workforce it needs to deliver safe care
  • Ensure our NHS can provide equitable care to emergency patients
  • Focus on evidence-based interventions to tackle overcrowding
  • Introduce meaningful and transparent metrics to facilitate performance and better outcomes for patients.

More patients than ever before across the UK are facing long and dangerous waits. It has been widely reported that crowding, corridor care and long waiting times for patients in Emergency Departments are associated with patient harm and patient deaths.

The public are acutely aware of the issues and pressures in A&E departments, with an Ipsos poll, commissioned by the College, showing that:

Nearly half of those polled by Ipsos expressed that they did not feel confident they would be treated in an appropriate area if they personally had a medical emergency in the next week that required them to attend their local A&E.

Meanwhile, two-thirds did not feel confident that a hospital bed would be available if they personally had a medical emergency in the next week and needed to be admitted to hospital.

Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “There can be no denying it; the Emergency Care system is failing and not functioning as it should.

“We can argue about numbers and calculations of excess deaths or we can work together and take the urgent and necessary action to prevent any further harm or deaths occurring. Patients and staff are rightly concerned, they deserve to see honesty and meaningful action from our political and health leaders. This is our plan to tackle the crisis.

“The roots of the problem lie in the lack of adequate capacity in hospitals, lack of staff, and lack of social care in the community. Since 2010, more than 29,000 beds have been removed from the system despite the increasing complexity of population healthcare needs.

“While for many years, social care has faced devastating cuts, meaning patients medically ready to leave hospital do not have the support they need to leave – so they reside in hospital for longer than they should preventing others from being admitted.

“The inability to discharge patients and the inability to admit patients is causing severe exit block – our hospitals are completely gridlocked, meaning Emergency Departments are becoming dangerously crowded and patients are facing extremely long waits.

“These delays and crowding impact heavily on the existing workforce, which has been stretched to its limit for too long. There are significant shortfalls of staff in Emergency Medicine; Emergency Departments across the UK are not safely staffed and the public recognise that.”

Polling shows that just 18% of respondents surveyed agreed their local A&E had enough staff to care for them in a timely way while just 23% expressed agreement that their local A&E had enough staff to care for patients in a safe way.

Dr Boyle said: “Clinicians are doing all they can and what they can to bridge the gap between an under-resourced system and the quality of care patients require, but it’s plain as day to anyone that we have too few staff.

“We are in a dire place right now, but it is fixable. We know what needs to be done to tackle the crisis and improve patient care, but this requires sustained and continued cross-party political willingness and investment to engage with the issue and tackle it root and branch.

“Our campaign to resuscitate Emergency Care shows the way forward for governments, with five key priorities to address. The first priority must be on improving flow through our hospitals to end corridor care and overcrowding.

“UK governments must open more staffed beds, where safely possible, and run hospitals at no more than 85% bed occupancy. In tandem with this, UK governments have been right to invest in community and social care but this can no longer be short-term; we need sustained expansion, resource and funding for social care to ensure patients are discharged safely and promptly when their medical care is complete.

“There must also be recognition of the impact of the crisis on the workforce, they do excellent work, but they cannot continue to flirt with burnout or this will lead to burn away. UK governments must urgently work to retain our highly-skilled frontline clinicians – but they must feel supported, listened to and valued.

“Lastly, performance is at an all-time low and metrics are currently documenting a failing service. Together with the expansion of capacity and resourcing of social care, we must see a renewed effort to improve performance and meet the four-hour waiting time target in Emergency Departments.

“We cannot afford to be in a performance vacuum any longer, metrics must have meaning and drive improvement and better patient care. In England, this must start with monthly publication of 12-hour waits from the time a patient arrives – as it is in the rest of the UK – rather than the misleading and dishonest current metric which measures 12-hours from the time a decision to admit a patient is made.”

Action to cut delayed discharge

National exercise to re-assess hospital patients who are clinically safe to be discharged

Patients who no longer need to be in hospital are to be reassessed as soon as possible to get them the right care in the right place at the right time.

Before the end of the month each health board area will identify patients who are clinically safe to be discharged without further delay and can safely move home or to another setting such as an interim placement in a care home.

Staying in hospital is not the best option for those who are clinically fit for discharge. Being in hospital for longer than needed is not in the best interests of the individual, particularly for older patients, reducing their ability to look after themselves and return home.

This approach is based on good practice already adopted by several health boards. Patients will only be discharged if it is deemed safe, and clinical risk assessments will take into account the capacity of social care and social work and the potential impact on families or carers of patients.

This is the latest step in efforts to free up capacity in hospitals and help get the NHS through the toughest winter in its history. It builds on last week’s £8 million commitment to provide an extra 300 interim care home beds to get patients discharged quicker.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “First and foremost, we know hospital is not a good place to be for people who are medically fit to leave, because it can lead to them becoming weaker or less independent. That’s why it’s so important they can move home, or to a homely setting, as soon as possible.

“We believe this will also help to alleviate pressure on our NHS by freeing up beds and improving the flow of patients through hospitals. It is also, crucially, in the best interest of the people concerned.

“If we can reduce delayed discharge there is more chance that beds will be available for people who need them. We hope that these reviews will also contribute to reducing some of the pressures our hospitals are facing.”

Additional Winter support for NHS

Scotland’s health and social care crisis discussed by resilience committee

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chaired a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience committee (SGoRR) yesterday to discuss the ongoing pressures on the health and social care system.

The group met on Friday morning and assessed issues including the latest situation with respiratory infections, pressures throughout the system, and ongoing work to reduce rates of delayed discharge.

The SGoRR meeting was also attended by Deputy First Minister John Swinney, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, other Cabinet ministers, the Chief Medical Officer and key partners from across the system including senior representatives from NHS boards, COSLA, Integration Joint Boards, NHS24 and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Earlier this week, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf announced a number of additional measures to address demands on the system, including £8 million to procure around 300 additional care home beds, and NHS24’s plans to take forward recruitment of around 200 new starts before the end of March.

The First Minister’s handling of the health crisis was criticised by opposition parties at Question Time this week and Conservative leader Douglas Ross also called for the sacking of Health Secretary Humzah Yousaf.

The First Minister said: “It is clear that pressure on the NHS and social care system continues to be very high, and that we need to maintain our emphasis on doing everything we can to help the service through the remainder of the winter.

“The measures set out by the Health Secretary earlier in the week will help to address some of the main issues – easing delayed discharge by purchasing additional care beds for those who are fit to leave hospital, and ensuring adequate resource is in place for NHS24.

“The focus of today’s meeting was to ensure that we keep pushing ahead with every possible step to support our tremendous health and social care staff, and ensure the people of Scotland continue to get the care and treatment they need. I would like to thank every single person working in the NHS and care system for the tremendous contribution they are making.”

Additional Winter support for NHS

Measures to help NHS deal with extreme pressure

Funding of at least £8 million for additional care home beds and efforts to boost NHS 24 capacity are among the measures outlined by Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to help the NHS and social care deal with ongoing extreme winter pressure.

Health and Social Care Partnerships will share £8 million to procure around 300 additional care home beds to help alleviate pressures caused by delayed discharge. The funding will allow boards to pay 25% over and above the National Care Home rate for beds. This is in addition to around 600 interim care beds already in operation across the country.

NHS 24 is taking forward plans to recruit around 200 new starts before the end of March. In the run up to Christmas NHS 24 had already recruited over 40 whole time equivalent call operators, call handlers and clinical supervisors.

Guidance has been issued to all Boards making it clear they can take necessary steps to protect critical and life-saving care.

Mr Yousaf said: “This is the most challenging winter the NHS in Scotland has ever faced and the immediate pressure will continue for the coming weeks. My thanks to all health and social care staff for their incredible efforts during these exceptionally challenging times.

“We are ensuring all possible actions are being taken to support services, and the additional measures I have outlined today will help relieve some of the extreme pressure Health Boards are facing. We know one of the most significant issues our NHS is facing is delayed discharge, that is why I have announced further support to buy additional capacity in the care sector.

“NHS 24 has a vital role in referring people to appropriate urgent care services outside of hospitals and plans to increase staff numbers over the course of winter,  will help the service deal with increases in demand.

“Emergency care will always be there for those who need it, but for many people, the best advice and support might be available on the NHS Inform website or the NHS 24 App, or by calling NHS 24, so I would encourage people to make use of these services as many are already doing.”

Responding to the Scottish Government NHS briefing on Monday, Dr Iain Kennedy, Chair of BMA Scotland said: “”Scotland’s NHS is not just being pushed to the limit, in many places it is well past that.

“Bed occupancy of 95% across our hospitals is just not sustainable in terms of providing the safe and effective care that patients need on a daily basis either in A&E or across all wards. And we know demand is far exceeding capacity at GP surgeries too and has been for some time.

“In that context, the very fact that the First Minister and Health Secretary provided today’s briefing should emphasise the seriousness and urgency of the situation. Our members provided us with first hand testimony from all across the health service just before Christmas, and the picture that painted was really harrowing. Services and staff are on their knees.

“In terms of the short term actions that the Government indicated today, we have long emphasised the need to focus on ensuring people who are able to leave hospital, can do so – freeing up desperately needed capacity and therefore ensuring those who need to can be admitted from A&E more quickly and safely. So the focus on this is welcome, but we will need to see the details and extent of the proposals to make any judgement on the immediate impact it may have. Extra interim care beds – while something which could help as part of the overall plan – will also deliver nothing unless there are people there to staff them, which we know is a huge issue in social care.

“More fundamentally, many doctors remain to be convinced that the Scottish Government’s practical response matches up to the huge scale of the problems the NHS is facing. In particular, staffing shortages will only get worse as more staff burn out and dread going to work, unless there is a more comprehensive and urgent package of investment in staffing to support and retain them in our NHS for good.

“Longer term, these pressures are the culmination of the warnings the BMA and many others have delivered for some time, that Scotland’s NHS isn’t sustainable within the resources – both staffing and financial – we are willing to provide it with.

“We have to get serious about this and have a proper long term discussion about the future of our health service rather than just struggle to survive from crisis to crisis as the NHS and its staff endure the kind of perpetual pressures which in the past were reserved for the worst of winter.

“We absolutely agree with the assessment of the First Minister that there are no easy solutions, so the sooner we truly get to grips with the big picture issues, the sooner we can get away from having to implement short term measures in the desperate hope of bolstering collapsing services and begin actually start talking about an NHS fit for the future. That’s why a national conversation on the NHS in Scotland is required without delay.”

Opposition should be targeting Government not GPs, says BMA

Responding to shadow health secretary Wes Streeting’s comments on reform of the existing GP system, Dr Kieran Sharrock, BMA England GP committee acting chair said: “There’s no doubt that the situation in general practice – for both patients and staff alike – has never been under more pressure. GPs share the frustration of patients as demand outstrips capacity, and worry that they’re unable to provide the safe high-quality care that they want to.

“But as Mr Streeting himself alludes to, when supported properly, general practice is value for money and improves health outcomes, meaning people don’t need to go on to receive expensive hospital care. We agree with Mr Streeting that the GP contract needs to be revamped, to enable the most efficient, cost-effective part of the NHS to thrive.

“This shouldn’t be about reinventing the wheel though, when we know people value the continuity of care that their GP practice should be able to provide through the partnership model. We’re not at all averse to change and, in England, the BMA’s GP committee is already looking ahead to what contract will replace the current five-year framework that ends in 2024.

“We’ve already seen changes in recent years with a wider variety of health professionals working with GP practices and more direct referrals to people like physiotherapists that both benefits patients and reduces the burden on GPs. 

“But what cannot be escaped is the spiralling workforce shortage that we have, which has been made worse by a lack of political support and continuous attacks on the profession. Instead of blaming family doctors and their representatives for problems with the health service – the opposition should clearly be setting its sights on the Government that has overseen a haemorrhaging of GPs over the last decade.

“This is not about ‘vested interests’. We represent our members and also want the best for patients. The two co-exist.

“We have offered to sit down and discuss this with Mr Streeting, to ensure that he understands the pressures on the frontline and how these can realistically be alleviated for the benefit of both staff and patients.”

Choudhury: Urgent action needed to tackle housing crisis

“Housing concerns make up over a quarter of my casework – the Scottish Government urgently needs to start prioritising housing for Scotland”

Over the past year, housing issues have made up a significant amount of my casework – currently, approximately 25% of casework is concerned with housing issues (writes Labour Lothian list MSP FOYSUL CHOUDHURY).

Most housing issues that constituents are writing to me about relate to the lack of suitable council accommodation, with many having to live in temporary accommodation.

Recently, a coroner reported that the tragic death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak was a direct result of the black mould in the flat he lived in and constituents have, understandably, been concerned about black mould in their properties. 

The Tory Government has inflicted chaos on the country this year, with a staggering display of financial mismanagement. However, funding for local authorities in Scotland is set by the Scottish government, and it is SNP-inflicted austerity that has left Scotland’s local services under threat.

There has been a cut of more than a quarter to the house building budget. This is a disgraceful dereliction of the duty of this Government to solve our ongoing housing crisis and will lead to less homes being built for those families stuck in temporary accommodation, people sleeping on the streets, or languishing on social housing waiting lists for year after year.

Rapid rehousing transition plans and homelessness prevention are flat, meaning that there will be no more support available for local authorities to deal with the continuing crisis of homelessness, made worse by the supply of new homes being cut off.

NHS waiting times, health issues (including delayed discharge), continue to be a major problem in Lothian, with approximately 11% of my casework being related to these issues.

In Scotland, the length of time that people are having to wait for hospital procedures, outpatient appointments and diagnostic tests has shot up to 776,341 – equivalent to 1 in 7 Scots. Figures have revealed that at the end of September 2022, 2,114 people referred for an outpatient appointment and 7,612 patients waiting for a day case, or inpatient procedure had already been waiting for over two years.

These shocking figures have been reflected by the high number of constituents who have contacted me about the length of time that they are having to wait for appointments, hospital procedures, or the length of time they have had to wait in A&E.

For example, some in Lothian are being told that they may have to wait approximately 70 weeks for some eye laser treatments and over 110 weeks for some exploratory gynaecological operations.

The stress and anxiety caused by such long waits can lead to other mental and physical problems or exacerbate conditions that are already present. Constituents have also contacted me about delayed discharge from hospital due to the lack of social care available, or places in care homes.

Despite the SNP promises to end delayed discharge back in 2015, this practice has soared and in October 2022, an average of 1,898 bed days were lost every day – the worst figure on record.

I will continue to press the Scottish Government on these and other important issues, like the cost of living crisis, and will continue to make representations on behalf of my Lothian constituents as we head into the new year.