The stark reality of two planes crashing a week
The stark reality of two planes crashing a week
It is not often we hear about planes crashing and certainly in the real world the aviation industry is often said to be the safest method of travel. When we hear about a plane crashing our hearts go out to their loved ones and we shudder to think what their final thoughts were. Why then when we face similar statistics for our patients every week in the latest data from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, do we struggle to stand up and listen to what patients and their families are telling us.
The stark reality is that overcrowding in the emergency department, use of temporary escalation spaces has become the norm. Over the last decade, the recurrent stories of people waiting on trolleys in the emergency department seems to have lost its sting. It only really becomes a reality to the eyes of us all when it happens to someone we care for or love. We, as clinicians, all recognise that this is just the tip of the iceberg. If we reflect on the reasons for the delays we consistently see within our emergency departments and think about Lord Darzi’s vision for the future of the NHS, that we need to consider the complete journey that our patients navigate, often scared and frightened by the news stories of poor care. For those of us who have lived experience, this is more real than others. There is nothing worse than being called down to an emergency department or having to try and see a patient in a temporary escalation space where their dignity is compromised, and where the care we are aiming to provide is substandard. It is no wonder harm comes to these patients. These are often the patients who are not only victims of a long stay in the emergency department, but also in temporary escalation spaces and may, due to the effects of deconditioning, suffer prolonged length of stay.
The power of our profession
Physicians and indeed the Royal College of Physicians have a long-standing history of raising concerns and speaking up about the problems and challenges for our patients. We have to stand united in our views that whilst ever we see our hospitals struggling to manage demand and overcrowding on our wards and in our emergency departments, we will always be managing increased risk. There is a real risk not only to patient safety but to the reputation of our profession. In covid, we all remember the difficult days and nights fighting an illness which was unexpected and initially hard to treat. We thought were the true knights of the realm doing what we do best caring for people and the majority thanked us for our efforts. Now though despite what seems like a daily occurrence fighting the tide of admissions, many are disillusioned. There is though huge power in the consistent messaging and to know that we as a profession are united. Every one of us is in a similar boat, some are more vulnerable in the sea that is the NHS, whilst others are in the calm before the potential storm.
The future of our NHS
We and the next generation of physicians are the future NHS. Our trainees look to us to navigate our boat or even our ship so that we do not hit an iceberg like the Titanic. We have to keep reminding managers and the leaders of the NHS what the true reality is at the front door. Last year in 2024, it has been identified that there were in excess of 16,644 deaths related to waits longer than 12 hours in our emergency departments. This is no longer acceptable. Whilst it is suggested that an increase in the number of available beds in those areas where services are already stretched, this potentially will increase risk to our patients. We all know that before temporary escalation spaces/ corridor cases that wards would pop with no staffing model, no named physician and we can’t return to care which feels even more unsafe for our patients. This is why patient safety has to remain on the agenda, and we need to keep calling out our concerns about overcrowding and temporary escalation spaces. There are numerous financial pressures on our NHS, and we all recognise this, however patient safety cannot be compromised just to make cuts in spending. We owe it to our patients and staff to prevent two planes crashing a week within our NHS. Or even worse, for a local disaster to occur which forces good and excellent staff to leave their profession. Patient safety and improvement programmes must survive if we want a future NHS fit for purpose.
