If you care about the NHS, this call from a paediatric nurse is a must-listen
9 December 2019, 12:30
An emotional paediatric nurse told James O'Brien about the real state of Accident and Emergency in the NHS.
The front page of the Daily Mirror told of how a four-year-old with suspected pneumonia was treated on the floor at A&E because of a lack of beds.
Speaking exclusively on LBC this morning, Boris Johnson apologised to anyone who had had a bad experience while using the NHS.
James O'Brien asked listeners to talk about what really happens when people arrive at NHS. And that's when Becky called in from Chessington, having just finished a night shift.
She gave a very honest account of exactly how hospitals are trying to cope without the resources that they currently need.
She said: "We are feeling the strain. In the last week, we've seen 260 children come through my department. On Friday night, there was a wait of two-and-a-half hours to be seen by the triage nurse.
"That's not to say that in those two-and-a-half hours, we're not approachable. If you're worried that your child is deteriorating, please talk to us. We can always do a set of observations on your child and estimate the concerns.
"We had a child in our department for 28 hours the other day because we had no beds to transfer this child out who was critically unwell."
Becky spoke of the amount of abuse that doctors and nurses are receiving from angry parents because of this.
She stated: "On a night-shift, we have one doctor in our department and one doctor covering the paediatric ward. They can only go as fast as they can.
"Doctors aren't getting breaks, we aren't getting breaks. It's just heartbreaking that we can't do anything about it."
James pointed out: "You sound almost incredulous yourself. If you, as a paediatric nurse, can't quite believe what you are seeing, how are the rest of us supposed to process this?"
