Winter brings crisis to hospitals, but so do time-wasters with minor ailments

Two patients died recently while waiting for hours on trolleys in hospital corridors, and the British Red Cross says the National Health Service is facing a “humanitarian crisis.”

The deaths prompted claims that the health service, which provides mostly free treatment to all citizens, is “broken”. There is an acknowledged chronic shortage of beds and staff, with overworked doctors and nurses struggling to keep up.

Ambulances sometimes queue for hours outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients.

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the Red Cross, said: “We are responding to the humanitarian crisis in our hospital and ambulance services across the country. We have been called in to help get people home from hospital and free up much needed beds.”

Reports said a woman died of a heart attack after waiting for 35 hours on a hospital trolley and a man waiting for a bed suffered an aneurysm and could not be saved.

Dr Mark Holland, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “For a long time we have been saying the NHS is on the edge, but people dying after long spells in hospital corridors shows that the NHS is now broken.”

The “broken” claim was denied by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who argued most hospitals are coping better this winter than they did last year.

“This is the most difficult time for the NHS when GP surgeries are not open over Christmas, then a lot of people are sent to hospital when the surgeries re-open,” he said.

Pressures, he warned, would only intensify with the arrival of more cold weather forecast for the coming days.

Speaking in Parliament, Hunt said a government commitment that all patients would be dealt with inside of four hours should be revised to cover just those with urgent problems. As many as 30 per cent of people seeking emergency treatment did not qualify as urgent cases, he said.

One reason for overcrowding is the misuse of Accident and Emergency departments.

Health officials said 53,024 people visited hospital A&E departments in the North East of England between December 1 and Christmas Day, but only 29 per cent needed emergency treatment. The rest had minor ailments, including such trivial complaints as a broken finger nail.

Other minor ailments presented on an emergency basis over the festive period included alcoholic hangovers, backache, toothache, coughs and colds, sore throats and diarrhoea.

LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY

David Evans, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Trust, said: “People must start taking accountability for their actions and the impact they have on the NHS. If it is not a serious or life-threatening emergency, please do not waste the time of busy hospital teams who are there to look after patients who are very sick.”

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Police in Northern Ireland are urging parents to learn texting codes their children use or receive which might indicate the presence of a sexual predator online.

Some abbreviations are relatively bland, such as HAK, meaning “hugs and kisses,” and WYCM for “will you call me?” and LOL, “laugh out loud.”
But others refer to sexual acts, drugs and suicide.

The police referenced a list published in the United States which included questions which sex-seekers might use, such as RU/18 (Are you over 18?), ASL (“Age/sex/location) and WTTP (Want to trade pictures?)

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Most of us have heard that plaintive morning-after refrain, “I wasn’t that drunk, was I?”

Soon there will be no excuse for not knowing because a California tech firm has invented a bracelet-like gadget which tells you via a smartphone app what your blood alcohol level is as you imbibe.

A spokesman said: “The alcohol that’s in your blood diffuses through your skin and we pick up those trace amounts that would naturally just go off into the air.”

The gizmo, named Proof, will allow wearers to pre-set alcohol consumption levels, so there will be no excuse for wondering how you could possibly have got so drunk.

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A lady goes into a bar and spots a guy she rather fancies. “What are you drinking?” she asks. He says, “Magic Beer! A glass of this and I can leap out of the window and fly three times around the building.” When she looks doubtful, the man jumps out, flies round the building then lands back inside.

“You want to try?” he says. So the lady takes a swallow of Magic Beer, jumps out of the window and crashes 100 feet to her death.

The barman looks at the man and frowns. “You know you can get really nasty when you’re drunk, Superman.”

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