UK hospitals in crisis: Overcrowding leads to dire conditions
Hospitals in the United Kingdom are overcrowded with patients. Photos have surfaced online showing people lying on beds in hospital corridors. Media outlets describe it as one of the toughest winters in the history of the British healthcare system.
The number of patients waiting more than 12 hours for a bed on a ward in England is also 19 times higher than before the pandemic, warns "The Sun," citing official published data.
A report by the Royal College of Nursing reveals that patients are dying in corridors and waiting rooms. "With no sign of the pressure easing, staff are at breaking point," reports "The Sun."
Published data indicates that the number of measles cases has reached the highest level in 13 years, with the number of infections more than double the average of the past five seasons.
The situation was described in one of the large hospitals in southern England. Despite adding 30 more beds, patients still cannot be accommodated.
We don’t call it the corridor, we call it the runway, says one of the staff members.
The newspaper provides numerous examples of patients who, after waiting many hours for assistance while in a wheelchair, finally reach a ward only to find it overcrowded, resulting in them being placed in the corridor.
Some patients will spend their time in the emergency department on a trolley in the corridor and then be taken up to a ward, only to find out the ward is over capacity by four patients so they get kept in a corridor there, shoved between two doors, adds a hospital staff member.
Doctors complain that patients vent their frustration on them due to long waiting times. The nursing staff are ready to leave because the conditions are awful and the pay’s not much better, the doctor summarized.
Hospitals have also recorded an increase in incidents involving attacks on medical staff. These incidents include sexual assault and attacks involving knives.
