Only one in three go to Northampton General Hospital A&E by ambulance
ALMOST two thirds of people who attended A&E at Northampton General Hospital in a 12-month period were not taken by ambulance.
Accident and emergency doctors and nurses have been consistently seeing huge numbers of people each day for more than a year leading to a raft of measures being rolled out by the NHS to relieve the department.
Statistics published yesterday show that between 2010 and 2011 more than 59 per cent of A&E patients got there under their own steam, with only a quarter needing an ambulance.
Watchdog members yesterday questioned whether all those ‘walk-ins’ really needed emergency treatment.
Moya McVicar, of the patient watchdog Northamptonshire LINk, said: “Many people do get someone to drive them to hospital and they are genuine A&E cases.
“But I think there are huge numbers who don’t know what else to do when they feel a bit poorly but go to hospital. The doctor’s surgery shuts at 5pm so they think the only other place is Northampton General.”
NHS Northamptonshire has been desperately trying to get the message out that there are a range of NHS services for patients between their doctor and A&E.
The NHS Direct telephone service, pharmacies, and the minor injuries unit should all be considered before choosing the emergency department, health bosses say.
Elsewhere, the new figures suggest that, despite its problems, NGH is not faring much worse than other English hospitals.
The average waiting time after an initial assessment between April 2010 and March 2011 was two hours 28 minutes at NGH, just two minutes longer than the national average for England.
NHS Northamptonshire bosses have been struggling to find a pattern in the type of person they need to target with their ‘choose the right medical service’ message.
But national statistics published yesterday show most people visiting the emergency department in a 12-month period were aged in their twenties.
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There are 5 comments to this article
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forgetnot
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 01:22 PMThe best advice on this is Prince Phillip, helicopter, and a fleet of doctors and nurses waiting to attend.
Reginald Molehusband
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 10:58 AMMoya McVivar is in part correct. I tore the cartilage in my knee one lunchtime three months ago. As I was on a remote farm track which I know an ambulance would have struggled to find, I rang my wife and she drove me in (money saved for NHS). I sat in A&E for over 6 hours; I appreciate that three people who came in the first hour deserved to be seen before me (three suspected heart attacks for me with a previous history and a man who had suffered deep wounds to his hand on a saw), but after 3 pm and especially after 4 pm, there were waves of women bringing children in with frankly little more than sniffles (pneumonia) and headaches (brain tumours). There was one thing these women all had in common: they were all grossly overweight and heavily tattooed; one of them sat with her mother gassing away on her mobile while one of her two kids deliberately emptied a blackcurrant fruit drink all over the floor at the entrance to A&E. Had I not embarrassed her in front of a packed A&E, I am sure that juice would still be on the floor today. Some people are simply too stupid to deserve treatment!
lady muck
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 10:19 AM4x4fan I totally understand the roles of the various organisations which you set out. My point is that many people do not have this knowledge and this is a prime cause of their attendance at A & E when they should attend elsewhere. I have a daughter who is a nurse at NGH...I am sure she would appereciate any bonus (as I would have done when I worked there).
4x4 fan
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 08:51 AMPerhaps lady muck needs to take a step back and look at what she has just said. The system of A&E, MIAMI, Normed and NHS Direct operates UK wide. The NHS is split between GP's, when they close patients can opt if they choose to ring NHS Direct for advice if they wish. Normed operates as an out of hours gp service. MIAMI as it states is Minor Injuries And Minor Illnesses, though I've heard that this service is being cut later this year. You then have A&E to treat those who have accidents or are faced with an emergency. Has Lady Muck ever looked at the processes of Triage? I say well done to the staff at NGH & MIAMI etc for doing their level best to provide a service under increasing financial cuts and redundancies through cost cutting measures. Perhaps they should all be rewarded in a bonus payout like the RBS bosses as reported in todays news.
lady muck
Friday, January 27, 2012 at 07:50 AMThe NHS has created a complex and confusing system.In Northampton, there is A & E, MIAMI, NHS Direct, and Normed. By definition, in an emergency, patients don't have time to work out what's best...they just get straight to A & E . On arrival, they are dealt with by a triage system. If this is working correctly, the triage nurse should simply re-direct the patient to the appropriate body, even if this means waiting until morning to attend MIAMI or going home to 'phone NHS Direct.
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