By DAVE BURTON
Cause for concern: St Helier consultant Amir Hassan being interviewed by BBC News last night
The appalling conditions at St Helier Hospital were highlighted on national television last night when a BBC News report showed patients waiting on trolleys in corridors for hours, even days, as staff battled a “tidal wave” of admissions caused by flu and other viruses.
Hospitals across the country are struggling to cope with a 70% increase in flu cases reported in the last week, with admissions more than three times higher than last December.
St Helier A&E consultant Amir Hassan told the BBC’s Health Editor, Hugh Pym, that he was particularly worried about the spike in flu in the elderly. “Most patients are coming in with respiratory problems,” he said. “I cannot stress how important it is for patients to have their covid jabs and their flu jabs this year.”
While the situation at St Helier is considered to be just about manageable, patients have to be brought into the draughty corridors around the accident and emergency department simply because of the need to get the ambulances back on the road.
“Would I be happy for my mother to be cared for in a corridor?” Hassan said. “I would say ‘No’.
Corridor of uncertainty: as shown on BBC News last night, St Helier patients wait on hospital trolleys for hours, sometimes days, until a bed is available
“The whole system is backlogged but it was stressed that the care is safe, for now, but far from ideal.”
One patient featured in the news report was Terence, who a week ago had waited for 26 hours in A&E before being moved to a bed in the respiratory ward.
‘Bodies all over the place’: very patient patient Colin interviewed by the BBC’s Hugh Pym
Another patient, John, waited for hours on a trolley in a corridor before he could be wheeled to X-ray. Two hours later he learned he had broken his hip and needed an operation. He was wheeled back to the corridor while the hunt for a bed began.
Patient Colin told the BBC’s Pym that he had already been in a cubicle in A&E for 24 hours. “I’m quite lucky,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many bodies all over the place.”
Pym ended the report quoting St Helier’s doctors.
“Crowded and cramped in old buildings, doctors here say only a new hospital is the answer.”
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