- Joined
- 9 Apr 2012
- Posts
- 13,166
And how would you stop non urgent cases? Some form of payment.
A+E waiting times.
- Thread starter sityeuropa
- Start date
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 29 Mar 2003
- Posts
- 57,671
- Location
- Stoke on Trent
Define a non urgent case?
What you consider non urgent will be different for the person who is suffering or for the person who is responsible for another person and makes the decision for them (eg a child or elderly).
This is why we have triage and the non urgent will have to wait longer.
- Joined
- 9 Apr 2012
- Posts
- 13,166
If you charged £5 that would cut I believe most of the time wasters. You don't need to differentiate; the people would do that for you.
It would also deter people who needed urgent treatment, putting more pressure on acute services.
Then what is the answer?
Caporegime
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 32,889
- Location
- Rutland
Combination primary care and A&E centres where non-urgent stuff is booked in appointments and diverted from A&E. Turn up to the front desk with a cold, triaged to primary care, next appointment 6 hours time - please leave and return at your allotted time.
Keeps the department from being cluttered up with people waiting.
Sadly because the NHS is daftly organised A&E won't like this much, because as they're seeing less dross some of their funding will be diverted to primary care.
Last edited:
Caporegime
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2004
- Posts
- 32,889
- Location
- Rutland
Happening across the country already. Lots of A&Es have embedded GPs or primary care centres.
Lol that is so ignorant, there are many medical emergencies where a person is capable of walking into A&E.
Going on from Minstadave said there are a number of other answers. Going back to the original post I made:
1) Fund it properly - this one is obvious we don't at the moment and the Tories have cynically undermined it here.
2) Ensure the people are capable of doing the job and those managing them are doing their job. This means investing in training ourselves rather than bringing in alleged "paper skills" from abroad - part of this though is actually paying well not shafting people like the Tories have done on pay
3) Ensuring community support is available for the elderly - large users.
4) Ensuring community support is available for those with mental health issues - large users
5) Ensuring community support is available for young children - large users
6) Target immigrants with health promotion so they use services properly - large users
7) Ensure that all attendees who are there as a result of chemical causation are referred onto treatment programs - that would include illegal drugs, alcohol and in my mind sugar/fat - very large users at certain times.
8) Dangerous drivers and drunk drivers forced to work community service in neurorehab, as part of their light sentencing, so they can directly first hand what their idiocy causes.
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2010
- Posts
- 18,472
- Location
- Sunny Sussex
9) all sports injuries are automatically self funded
This is the key. Hospitals have been slow to get to this point. The population are using the NHS how they want to use it, i.e. get medical attention when they need it and not 9-5 sometime in the future. This is a reflection on how GP practices are letting their patients down and not a reflection on the A&E units. I can think of 2 solutions to this, either have the GPs employed by the local hospital and let them run the services to meet the needs of their whole community and forget about the 'named doctor' for ad-hoc medical ailments while letting the patient have the choice of having the same doctor for ongoing medical treatment. Alternatively, A&E needs to have a fast turn around GP practice in front of it, so walk in patients are seen quickly and directed away if appropriate or then fast tracked into proper A&E with a shorter waiting time.
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2010
- Posts
- 18,472
- Location
- Sunny Sussex
My local a&e has this. Walk in, get seen by a nurse and she filters the walking wounded to the gp on the other side of the hospital and the rest get to go through to a excellent a&e department where you seem to be processed in a very efficient manner.
I have thought about that one but then you are then adding a negative connotation to doing something that will make you healthier. There is no positive to getting wrecked out of your face.
We should be encouraging exercise because it has a benefit. We should not be supporting peoples bad alcohol consumption and excessive sugar consumption etc.
One thing I would do would be that if you present "sick" to work and need a "sicknote" then you are not given one for something that is possibly attributable to "bad" behaviour. Therefore, if someone presents to A+E with alcohol related problems and the wants a sicknote for "stress" then they don't get it unless they actually attend a program that will tackle the alcohol program. GP's shouldn't sign people off for something that is willingly self inflicted (for no potential benefit) and therefore it should be classed as deliberate non-attendance to work.
Last edited:
Ours does this as well.
There are potential problems with that....what about the cancer patient whose cancer (as around half are) is attributed to their smoking or lifestyle habits? Do we class them as deliberate non attendees, therefore losing their jobs, or at best not receiving financial support in what would be a very difficult time?
We need to educate people, things like smoking should simply be banned...you are right that any presentation due to substance abuse (of any kind) should be referred to treatment, again educate rather punish.
- Joined
- 9 Apr 2012
- Posts
- 13,166
I don't think cost is really on your mind when you've broken your arm...
- Joined
- 9 Apr 2012
- Posts
- 13,166
Labour would have done no better.
It cannot support our population, it was never designed with this number of people in mind. They're trying to maintain it by privatising certain parts, because there is no other way to maintain it.
It does when you have no money. Never underestimate how people in poverty react to services that incur, even potentially, a cost.
Anyway, as people have pointed out there is no need to start charging a point of access, other systems can (and are) be implemented to address the problem.