The recent case of 86-year-old Mary Lamerton, who died on New Year’s Day after spending the last four days of her life on a trolley in A&E, has highlighted the intense winter pressures facing the NHS. With flu cases on the rise and cold weather exacerbating health conditions, hospitals across the country are facing what health service bosses have described as the worst A&E pressures since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mary’s daughter, Sue, described her mother as the “lynchpin” of the family, who had fallen on 29 December and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. She was placed in a side-room as a precaution due to a flu outbreak in the area. Unfortunately, there were no available beds for Mary, and she spent the last four days of her life on a trolley after receiving palliative care on the final day. Sue expressed her appalled views on the standard of care given to patients who needed palliative care through this form.
Sue said that patients in A&E were mostly elderly, grey, and scared-looking, with rows and rows of them. Around 20 NHS trusts in England have already declared critical incidents due to the current high winter pressures. The pressure has increased to the point where patients had to be treated in chairs, and some people waited for hours in ambulances because the number of people arriving was so high.
A spokeswoman for University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust said they “deeply regret that we were unable to care for her with the privacy and dignity she deserved at the end of her life”. Chief Nurse Dr Maggie Davies added that emergency department teams “are working incredibly hard under huge pressure” and efforts are under way to “reduce the numbers of people coming into our A&Es and to enable patients to leave hospital sooner”.
As a retired NHS psychiatrist, Sue could sympathize with the staff who were working under such difficult conditions but could see how the staff were struggling to provide their best care. The critical nature of the situation and the ongoing winter pressures highlight the importance of effective preparation and strategies for managing patient care within the NHS
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