QE Hospital Woolwich A&E misses target yet further – as first corona case confirmed
Hospital waits are getting longer according to the latest figures contained in a Greenwich Council report which show that Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich missed A&E targets even further in the latest quarter. Just 81.3 per cent of people were seen within four hours.
The news was revealed on the same day the hospital confirmed its first corona virus case.
While many have mistakenly said the virus is “just the flu”, large outbreaks in other nations have revealed that sizeable numbers – up to 20 per cent is reported – of those who contract the disease require hospital admission. Ten per cent require intensive care treatment according to some reports.
That’s far more as a percentage than flu sufferers. If the UK reaches Italy levels (and levels now popping up in places like Madrid) it will require many, many beds in hospitals. That is a serious test of any nation’s health service, yet a system already struggling and missing targets for some years will be presented with a big problem.
Hence the news that retired doctors and nurses may be called back to work. It also means that routine operations could be cancelled and waits at A&E increased yet further for non-emergency treatment.
For anyone who wants to follow what is happening in Greenwich and other local boroughs here is a link to a daily update of the number of people tested positive for coronavirus from Public Health England:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-number-of-cases-in-england/coronavirus-covid-19-number-of-cases-in-England
This doesn’t include the Greenwich case yet but locally the number of positive results are:
Bexley – 0
Lewisham – 3
Bromley – 1
Southwark – 5
Given the population of these boroughs the numbers remain very small.
This may be a better link as the previous one is bringing up a different page:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public#number-of-cases
The trouble with the Urgent Care Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and many other Urgent Care Units in London and the UK is a lot of people use them as their local GP Surgery. This may be because the cannot get a GP appointment for a few weeks or are not registered with a GP. Others just cannot be bothered to make a GP appointment and turn up at urgent care anyway,
So really we ourselves and Greenwich Council should look more closely at the facts before knocking the NHS to much on waiting times.
I do agree however, that the NHS needs major investment to improve patient care and recruit more Doctors, Nurses Paramedics and to buy new and updated equipment.
The staff at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Urgent Care Unit and A&E staff are brilliant and very hard working.
I think the main problem is the local population in Greenwich Borough as grown massively since 2001 when the Queen Elizabeth Hospital became the main Hospital after Greenwich District Hiospital closed.
Hospitals also now cover a much larger catchment area after other local hospitals closed completely or lost their A&E Units.
With the population set to grow further over the next few years the problem will continue to get worse with out investment in the NHS and more Doctors Surgeries and Health Centres are opened to cope with the growing demand from the local population.
Our NHS and public services are struugling to cope due to the extra demand being placed on them in Greenwich and Greater London as a whole.
Still only one case in Greenwich according to official figures.
That’s encouraging news Dave. Thank you for the update.