I just wanted to post a very brief follow up to my previous experience at our local A&E. Yesterday I spoke to the Head of Nursing at the hospital in response to my email explaining our poor experience and my concerns for the way those with non-visible disabilities and challenges.
Unsurprisingly the outcome of our conversation was mostly along the lines of “rules are rules” and nothing can really change. The key messages from her were as follows:
- Security guards are unfortunately required to stand on the door of A&E due to the amount of abuse and threats hospital staff regularly receive. The only way they can attempt to deal with this is by making them very visible as you enter, which is really a rather sad reflection on our society.
- The “one person per patient” rule is required to keep numbers down in what can be a very busy A&E, and nothing to do with COVID. A&E is at bursting point at times so although it was quiet when we attended, they need a single, simple rule for all times and all people.
- She accepted that the lack of empathy at the time wasn’t great and would be speaking to the staff to improve this in the future. When people are scared/worried/in pain the last thing they need is a robot barking instructions at them.
Now here’s the key bit for me. When I said that I assume things would have been different if we were bringing in a physically disabled person who needed more than one person to support them I was told that the “1 person” rule would still apply but “we have staff on hand to assist with disabled people”. I questioned whether they also have staff on hand to assist with those with learning disabilities and other “hidden” conditions and she admitted that they did not.
Unfortunately I was correct in my assumptions that those with learning disabilities are treated worse than those with physical issues (and the physically disabled aren’t exactly getting the red carpet treatment). The head of nursing admitted this was an issue but offered no suggestion to even attempt to address this gap.
At the end of our experience it wasn’t a massive issue in the big scheme of things. Victoria was more traumatised by the whole experience than she needed to be, Becs was in more pain following her surgery than necessary and I spent 3 quid on a coffee while I waited that really wasn’t that great. But the issue for me is that this is a systemic problem in our society. A lot of progress has been made to support those with physical disabilities (and rightly so) whilst very little goes to aid those with other issues. The police, for example, spend a stupid amount of their time dealing with those with mental health issues, who should be cared for my medical and social services. We almost criminalise mental health because we don’t have the resources to deal with it properly, and the same is often true of those with autism and similar who often find themselves on the wrong side of the law when they should be in the care of support services.
A sad indictment of our times for such a rich country as ours, and one I will keep pursuing through any means I can. There must be a better way.
The advent of hospital passports were supposed to help with this but these are mainly for those who find communicating their details and remembering their medical history hard.
As you refer to the staff who care for children do understand but are so bound by the rules from those above who think they know better.
Sounds like this was a covid rule that just found its way into helping them to deal with another issue of frustrated parents.
Access to health care when you struggle to navigate it is so hard for those with hidden disabilities that I’m afraid that many don’t bother.
Resister as a carer with your GP and with the councils website for the person you care for and above all help them to be as independent as they can be.
I’ve set both mine up with nhs apps on their phones and at least this enables some ability to get help themselves with assistance.
Little is easy and healthcare never really bounced back from the pandemic.