Following months of extreme pressure and another very busy weekend, St Mary’s Hospital is facing unprecedented challenges and has been forced to cancel outpatient appointments until at least Friday, with the re-introduction of compulsory mask-wearing also announced.
The hospital has today (Monday) confirmed that all outpatient appointments are being cancelled until at least this Friday (23rd December). Cancer treatment and urgent operations are being prioritised but all other planned surgical activity is being postponed. Impacted patients are being contacted.
Controversially, harking back to COVID times, compulsory mask-wearing in clinical areas is being introduced with immediate effect – although this is not on the direction of the Government. It’s said this is due to a rise in cases of flu.
One of the main reasons for the pressure on the Island’s only hospital is that 25% of people in hospital are ‘bed blocking’ – and don’t actually need to be in the hospital at all. This means that 1 in every 4 beds is occupied by an individual who could be better cared for elsewhere, such as at home or in care.
Families and friends are being asked to support the NHS by collecting patients from the hospital as soon as they are ready to be discharged and to consider offering short-term support and care for their loved ones at home over Christmas and New Year.
It has also been revealed this afternoon that some routine GP appointments across the Island may be cancelled to allow doctors and nurses to tend to those who are poorly.
Juliet Pearce, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied health Professionals, said:
“Almost every day more people arrive at the hospital than leave and many of these urgently need our help and a hospital bed.
Article continues below this advertisement “Our teams are working extremely hard to find beds for everyone who needs them. We have added as many extra beds as we safely can, turning our Endoscopy Ward into a 10-bed ward to support the Emergency Department. We have appealed to all of our staff to work extra hours.
“The biggest difference we could make is to safely discharge those patients who no longer need specialist care in a hospital. 25% of people in our hospital today could be better cared for somewhere else.”
Dr Michele Legg, Island GP and Clinical Director at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, said:
“I cannot emphasise enough how hard colleagues across the Isle of Wight are working together to ensure our patients continue to be able to access the care they need when they need it. Within General Practice this means that some routine appointments may be postponed to help clinicians treat patients who need to be seen urgently, but we will do our best to minimise disruption.
“Please be patient with us as we try to find the best possible way to help you. People can also help by looking out for elderly and vulnerable people in the community during this period of cold weather, and by choosing the right service at the right time.”
The Trust is asking members of the public to:
- Be extra vigilant in the cold weather and when surfaces are slippery
- Support friends, family and neighbours with keeping warm, shopping and collecting prescriptions if needed
- Think about the most appropriate NHS service for your needs and to only call 999 in the event of a life-threatening illness or injury.
- Visit NHS 111 online or call NHS 111 for heath advice, or alternatively contact your local pharmacist or GP.
- Download the Healthier Together app for advice if you have children or carer responsibilities. The app can help you decide whether you can self-care at home or if you need help, which service is best for the needs of children aged up to 18. It also provides advice and guidance for pregnant women.
- Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu if you are eligible and have not yet taken up the offer. Visit www.nhs.uk/wintervaccination to find out more
- Call NHS 111 or visit www.iwmentalhealth.co.uk if they are in need of mental health support
The same awkward Idiots who didn’t comply to mask rules first time round, won’t
Comply now to wearing one.
because they don’t work..its all political gesturing for you sheep to baa to.. look it up its a con lol
Oh please. I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but masks DO WORK, the greater number of people who wear them, infection rates slow. How many people did you know that had be a cold or flu when COVID was at its worst? Masks were mandatory, though some ignorant people still opted not to comply.
Hospitals need to protect the sick and the weak. Masks are a good piece of equipment to help slow viruses down.
Did you wear a mask during the Foot & Mouth epidemic of ’99? Swine flu? Avian flu?
If not, why not?
“Foot & Mouth epidemic of ’99? Swine flu? Avian flu?”
Are you for real? These are not human viruses. Little to no risk to humans.
Just like “Covid” then
And not us the Covid. And if it was then a pathetically useless piece of cloth wouldn’t stop. It’s just virtue signalling hysteria. And BS!
The wearing of masks was a political decision because sturgeon in Scotland implemented them without warning, no to be outdone Hancock did the same..its all in his own recently published book, its all a total scam, people are dying because of the lockdown not covid, less people died during covid years, look up the death rates and you must read hancocks book, all of you should and teach your kids the evils of political power, military psyops were implemented to scare the public, all based on politics not science, the silencing of medical personel ..and you trust these idiots, your much poorer now, community is weaked, less hospital beds, massive imigration, fake wars, divershitty, NHS bigots and race bullies.. but it’s our fault???
Do your research they do nothing .Why are you not questioning why they were never worn before? Three years ago in flu season no one would have even thought of wearing a mask let alone being told to wear one . Political posturing at best. Stop giving your rights away.
Perhaps you could explain to us all then what political gain St Marys will get from this move?
Yeah cos wearing a flimsy cloth mask stopped people getting cancer from asbestos, didn’t it?
Masks don’t stop viruses, they stop bacteria. How many times do people need telling this?
Oh get a grip. The masks do nothing!
People will not do proper research it has been proven over and over they have no effect. If you were never wearing masks before in flu season why now. Wake Up!
“Oh get a grip. The masks do nothing!”
What!?? If masks do nothing then why do they wear them when doing operations??? Next you’ll be telling us washing is a con and not needed. Your idiocy is beyond belief.
To protect themselves from blood particles entering their bodies through eyes, nostrils and mouth.
We have become too clinical, exposure to germs and viruses are the best defense, it was during the sixties when I was a child…but now it’s paranoia and big businesses are making a fortune….
What a poor excuse of an Hospital St Mary’s is!
More appointments cancelled, how the Fcuk will people ever get better.
Unblock the blocked beds and open up shop F.F.S
Why are we paying for!!
What an obnoxious human being you are!
Perhaps you ought to take a shift at the hospital and sort the critical incident out; as you so obviously possess the skills, knowledge and experience to firefight such incidents.
Our social care on the island is crippling under pressure – our council do not seem to recognise this; nor the government. In fact, its a nationwide issue. Some people may not be able to return home because they may need expert care, a placement in a residential home or are waiting for a care package to be put in place – which during this week of the year will be incredibly difficult! I implore you to come and work in the hospital and really see what is going on – not sit behind your device and pass judgement!
Completely agree with you .. I’ve just spent a week in St Mary’s & I cannot fault the staff of any of the other services … sadly the general public are at fault taking up resources that could quite easily be dealt with other ways
And you know what??? Being. Victim of propaganda doesn’t make you an expert does it??
Our social care on the island is crippling under pressure
..
wouldn’t be if so many weren’t spending their entire lives leeching off the state only to slide swiftly into state pension age and then demand more of the cradle to grave care they think they are entitled to.
also, if there weren’t so many people turning up in this country on dinghys, taking up valuable space that hard working, taxpaying british people should be having, then there would be less pressure.
not to mention the sob stories, sad cases, liars, hypochondriacs and time wasters that infest the healthcare system.
Erm a a family member, senior nursing staff at scary Marys is quite vocal in that night shifts are great because they get so sleep while being paid enhancements.
Whoever the senior member of staff is must work in a very quiet department then, as most wards, certainly the Emergency floor, has no time for rest. Most nurses will not receive their breaks because they’re too busy. It’s quite obvious here that the public will believe what they want about nurses and the job that we do. Understandably, everyone has their own experience – but we’ve been sold short of the system and can only do the best with what we’re given. We’re handling more patients than is safe at this current time, this is why mistakes happen – but we’re told we’re wrong for striking – when this is one of the reasons why – patient safety.
How do they unblock the beds then?
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD NHS?
THE TORIES HAPPENED TO THE NHS,
Calling some patients “Bed Blockers” is rude and very demeaning to them. They don’t want to be there and would like to be home in their own beds, but they still need some help.
Where are these patients’ family? Why are they not rushing to take care of their loved ones.
Or has society changed so much that we no longer care about elderly people in our society?
So many folk of today don’t care for their elderly parents
they only use them, when they sadly become no use to them anymore they
choose to forget about them.
Very sad and cruel.
OI, BABY BOOMERS, GET OFF YOUR LAZY AR**S AND COME AND COLLECT YOUR PARENTS ! OAP’s are for life and not just for Christmas.
Their children are no longer living on the island, for a reason. They cannot collect them.
Probably cant afford the ferry fare
Perhaps the people who are stuck in hospital need expert care, such as residential care placements or at home care to enable them to carry on living as independently as possible. Some families may not be able to provide such care if they work all week, evenings or have small children who also require looking after. Do not judge when you don’t understand the circumstances. Perhaps some people don’t have family on the island, perhaps they have opted to go to a nursing home, but are yet to be allocated a space; or perhaps it’s not deemed safe for them to go home without care in place! It’s not the hospitals fault, it is the government for not funding health and social care properly!
Residential care placements not nursing homes
Not all of them have family
This bloody Government needs to sort out Social Care. Adult carers are desperately needed and nothing is being done to recruit and train staff to look after adults who are stuck in hospital who should really be in a care home environment or in their own homes receiving help.
Would you accept a rise in your tax levels to pay for it
Local authorities fund social care through a combination of a grant from central government via the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and local revenue-raising mechanisms, such as council tax and the specific social care precept.
The local clinical commissioning group is mandated by the NHS to transfer a set amount to a local authority via the Better Care Fund. Social care funding is not ring-fenced, which means that local authorities can decide how much of their budget they allocate to care.
So to simplify it is a completely in the hands of the Council and the NHS to allocate the correct amount of funds to Adult Social Care.
And to simplify it more, most local authorities have closed their own LA care homes and so now have to pay extortionate costs to house a person in privately owned provisions thus shooting themselves in the foot with the care budget!
Alas when a family member perhaps suffers from dementia etc the family find it difficult so they don’t want that family member home , and I can totally understand how hard it is to cope with this , but they really don’t need medical help, they need a safe place .
A Nursing home , but this cost’s so much , the island really needs a cottage hospital .
So our Hospital can be freed up for medically ill people, .
Michelle Legg needs to either get her facts correct or stop being fed rubbish by St Marys.
There is capacity in Community Care and has been in the past. However because of the flawed tender process to only use 4 (mainland providers) the NHS and Council wont even bother to speak to providers outside of these 4. Most of whom have capacity to take some of these people on. Ridiculous as it sounds.
No wonder we continue to hear St Marys struggling with no beds when they operate the way they do.
We very rarely heard of this problem before the Council tendered the service, yet now its continuous. Obviously severely flawed and unworkable and putting lives at risk. Well done IOW Council, you should be so proud.
Where have you got this information from? As that has not been my experience at all.
I’m involved.
I’m certain that all medical people know that masks don’t stop viruses, they stop bacteria. But, I guess these decisions are being made by non-medical people, managers etc, and they can justify their job by ‘being seen to do something’ even if it’s ineffective.
And quite how wearing a mask helps cut the number of ‘bed blockers’ is beyond logic.
Exactly!! But the stupid are easily led.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me….
What we need is more houses and people on the island.
we need 1500 + new council houses plenty of room on the south/west side of the island
Hope others read your /sarcasm, many won’t!
and dont forget about the africans..gotta have loads of them African nuclear physicists and scientists to live here in diversity street, Porchfield,..maybe some drag queen story types in each local park as well, just to balance things out …pmsl
And knowing the crisis at StMarys the IWC keep rubber stamping planning applications for developers, Time for a halt, forget about the Island MP, he’s not interested , can only agree with and deliver Rishi’s agenda .. whilst working his way up the ministerial ladder .. so more protests aimed at the IWC and Local Trust need to happen … to have some joined up thinking…. is therefore urgently required ..
Doctors don’t want you healthy, bad for business.
So carry on drinking and gorging yourself this xmas. You get what you deserve when you later moan about health issues, lmao
It’s the hospital being let down by the councils inability to sort social care.
The council is utterly f!@#$%g useless.
Lucky I’m exempt from this nonsense.
Such BS!!
The masks do nothing. If they did then there wouldn’t be a need for them now as they would have worked before.
Why strike when you can just be totally useless and ineffectual anyway???
You sir, are absolutely disgraceful.
I implore you, like many others that may believe nurses are ‘ineffectual’ to work a shift and see for yourself, just how hard we have to work in such dire conditions!
I’d like you to have to be responsible for 14 patients lives at one time, ensuring their condition remains stable, whilst administering multiple medications, checking for contraindications, preparing IVs, cannulating, taking bloods, monitoring vital signs, assisting with toileting, personal care, updating and calculating fluid charts, documenting – for EACH patient! Let’s see how easy you find it when you’re running on empty, with no breaks, no time to eat or barely grab a sip of water on your 4th 13.5 hour day of the week…
A few days ago the IW news reported that 21 patients were sent to the mainland at a staggering cost of £1.9 MILLION pounds. Had that £1.9 million pounds been given to the hospital OR used to open a care home then that would have eased some pressure. There was a 21 bed care home in George Street, Ryde (Cornelia House) sold for less than £500K that could have fitted the bill and even with some updating and would have cost less than £1.9million and been there for further use as well.
Regarding the bed blockers the answer is put them in a hotel which will be cheaper than keeping them in hospital.This will create work for the hotel staff and allow more operations to take place.
I loathe the term bed blocking. It makes it seem like they are doing it on purpose. Treat them as human beings . They are waiting placement. If we had kept the other hospitals on the island instead of closing them down maybe we wouldn’t be in this predicament. Or turn the old prison into a makeshift hospital for the time being . Let’s show a bit of compassion. It could be us one day .
The main problem here is that the hospital is full of overpaid managers who do f***all and don’t do what they are paid for. MANAGE. No wonder there are bad decisions and chaos, don’t blame the frontline workers who are only just paid enough and are trying to do the best they can. It would be nice to know what the many managers at St Marys are actually doing everyday.
The MAIN PROBLEM is a complete lack of proper funding
They ARE properly funded.
£2.5 billion of the Department for Health and Social Care’s budget is spent on administration costs for the department and the health and care system, such as departmental running costs, regulatory costs and business services, eg, the NHS payroll.
Plus the £1000,000 spent this year alone on woke practices and training.
NHS spending £1000K on teaching staff how to talk to ‘pregnant transgender men’ absolutely ridiculous!!
I’ve got a fantastic idea.
Let’s keep granting planning consent for more and more houses and inevitably put the island’s NHS under even more pressure!
Masks dont stop anything, studies have been done to show this..people love to bow to the church of COVID and edge us all closer to dystopia
Not to concerned about wearing masks, that is what it is and I get it,
but as for GP cancelling appointments, I’d be pleased to see mine !, almost impossible to get an appointment see them.
I was discharged from hospital after being treated for a life threatening illness, and I never even had so much as a phone call or follow up with anybody from my GP surgery !
What is incredible, if everyone had warn a mask when out and about during the pandemic we would not have needed the lock downs. The morons saying masks do nothing are the ones responsible for the lock downs.
Putting a mask on is a minor inconvenience, it is not an attack on your rights.
Maybe this has something to do with the fact that it can take so long to see a GP. Prevention rather than cure.
Your telling they work so hard they are paid for the job if its to hot in the kitchen get out abit like bed blockers get them out that’s the fuck up in the system and the people who are saying they work so hard are not doing a bloody thing to get them OUT