NHS crises takes a new shape as mother
of a debilitated kid left lying on two NHS seats because of an absence of beds
has hammered Theresa May's self-important dissent of a NHS emergency.
Rose Newman sat tight for five
hours in an A&E with child Jack who had suspected meningitis as
over-extended staff attempted to adapt to the sheer volume of patients and the department
in "chaos".
Without any beds accessible to
permit him to rests and facilitate his anguish, mum Rose was forece to improvise
while the upset baby held up hours to be seen.
The unbearable situation made the
27-year-old mum to give some knocks to the Prime Minister, who rejected Jack's
situation as one of a "small number of instances" when it was
highlighted in the House of Commons by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Jack, who turn two in about a
month time, endured intense tonsillitis a week ago.
The little boy had a turn for the
most awful on Wednesday and Rose, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, took him to a
stroll in health centre where staff cautioned her to take him straight to the
Conquest Hospital at Hastings, where there are better facilities to her nearby health
centre.
PE teacher Rose said: “As a first
time mum, it was really scary. The fear we had, the not knowing what was going
on, was crazy.
“Theresa May said she accepted
there had been a few instances where things like this happen. That is
laughable.
“In that waiting room, there was
a woman sitting opposite me, head in hands, I don’t know what had happened to
her but she had been there for eight hours.
“Another baby, younger than Jack,
had a big rash across her, had to be put on a drip, and they’d been waiting
more than six hours.
“So ‘a few instances’, I saw more
than that in one day in that one hospital. It’s not a few instances, I can’t
believe she even said that. She needs to wake up.”
Mr Corybn fired a broadside at
the Tory handling of the NHS during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of
Commons on Wednesday, where he asked: “Does the Prime Minister and the Health
Secretary think this is an acceptable way of treating a 22-month-old child
needing help?”
Mrs May ummed and ahed before
answering: “I accept there have been a small number of instances where
unacceptable practices have taken place.”
As if that was not enough, she went
on to also hit out at the Red Cross, who raised an alarm saying the NHS was in
the grip of a “humanitarian crisis”, calling the description “irresponsible and
overblown”.
But Ms Newman said Mrs May was
“out of touch” with the realities on ground.
According to Rose: “Jack suddenly
went really downhill, quite floppy, quite unresponsive, had a rash and a
dangerously high temperature.
“I took him to the walk-in clinic
to see an emergency doctor because it was about 6pm and they said the symptoms
couldn’t be ignored.
"The rash wasn’t going when
you pressed it and it could be meningitis.
“When we arrived at A&E, Jack
was seen by the pre-assessment/triage nurse who warned us the waiting time was
really long.
“She phoned the children’s ward
but they were too busy and couldn’t take him.
“We waited in A&E and a nurse
gave him something that was supposed to take his temperature down but that
didn’t have any effect.
“That nurse then went off shift
and said a doctor would be along soon. We sat there for hours.
“We were in a sort of side-room,
not quite the corridor, not a proper waiting area. I think it should have had a
bed in it but it didn’t.
“We couldn’t cuddle him to sooth
him because he would take on our body heat so we were trying to make him as
comfortable as possible.
“When I asked about a bed, they
said there simply wasn’t any.
“Luckily I had brought his quilt
with me so we pushed two chairs together just so he could lie down.
“It was really distressing. Jack
was in a really bad way, really poorly and there was just no-one and nothing
available.
“I was grabbing people as they
went running past and asking them where the on-call doctor was but they had to
run off, they had their own things to attend to.
“I asked the A&E doctor if
this was unusual and she said this was all day every day.
“They’re at breaking point. There
were ambulances queuing out of the door, no beds and she was really apologetic
but there was nothing she could do.
“No-one could do anything. They
were running around like chaos. It was really bad, really scary.”
The mum stated that She and Jack waited
five hours before the on-call doctor was able to see them.
He allayed fears of meningitis
and was able to get the tot’s temperature down so the family could eventually
go home in the early hours.
Jack was treated on the makeshift
bed.
Rose, of Eastbourne, east Sussex,
said she was under no illusion where the blame for the problems in the NHS
lies.
Jack’s mum further stated that:
“I’m such a fan of the NHS. I had a serious illness a couple of years ago and
they saved my life. I am so grateful to the NHS and it is so unique.
“They were brilliant when we were
there and the staff wanted to help, they really did, you could tell, but they
just couldn’t. They don’t have the resources.”
Jeremy Corbyn said: “I’m
delighted that Jack has made a full recovery.
“I’d like to thank healthcare
staff – including those who treated Jack in Hastings, and his aunt, Sian – for
all they do to help and treat patients.
“I’m disappointed at Theresa
May’s response to my question about Jack’s experience.
"The Prime Minister showed
just how in denial the government is about the scale of the crisis in the NHS.
“This shocking case shows the
sheer scale of the crisis gripping our NHS.”
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