Fewer people calling at A&E department as campaign pays off

D Spiteri

Oct 22nd 2008, 00:06

1. I work in the hospital, and I wouldn't call a few extra euros a month 'huge wage increases'!!!! They are just an improvement of wages in return for the large amount of work and responsibility shouldered. After all, it's the life of a person that is in our hands!!!

2. Most people who grumble about waiting for long times at A&E prior to being seen are those people who could have easily been seen to by a health centre doctor/GP and been treated much faster.

3. The discrepancy that health centre doctors are 'inferior' is totally unfounded, since doctors undergo the same training. Also, with the new training programmes held locally, health centre doctors are also working within the casualty dept. So I doubt that treatment a patient receives within A&E or a health centre is any different.

c.t. busuttil

Oct 21st 2008, 21:35

I repeat what I have always claimed: that the general public would refer to their Polyclinics if they had faith in them. Unfortunately, experience has taught us not to. Same problem as public transport. The only solution is EFFICIENCY.

James Sultana

Oct 21st 2008, 15:22

It would be interesting to know how many casualties during thae same period have opted to make a "state of the situation" decision and go to a private hospital instead .... some paying from their own pockets and some using health insurances. And before some spin-doctor comes out to tell us that since these people have health insurances they SHOULD go to private hospitals and not use the free services, its good to remember that these people ARE NOT EXEMPT neither from paying for the overspending of the infrastructural cost, nor from the 3% extra VAT which we were to pay for the hospital.

Its hard to understand how a new state-of-the -art hospital was built, huge wage increases were given to the staff .... AND YET WAITING TIMES AT THE A&E DEPARTMENT ARE WORSE THAN THOSE WE HAD AT ST. LUKES !!!!!

Corinne Vella

Oct 21st 2008, 14:21

Ramon Zammit: You'd feel differently about your suggestion if you were bleeding to death in Group B while doctors deal with Group A's ankle sprains, minor cuts and broken fingers. Cases are prioritised on the basis of their urgency, not their time of arrival.

Corinne Vella

Oct 21st 2008, 14:15

S Farrugia: The A&E department doesn't book appointments for other departments in the public hospital. When necessary, patients are referred internally when they call at the A&E department personally and are assessed there.

Emmanuel Xuereb

Oct 21st 2008, 12:53

Has the Secretariat for Health asked whether it is the campaign or the service that is discouraging people from going to the hospital emergency department?

Andrew Cassar

Oct 21st 2008, 12:49

Mr Zammit
First of all I'd like to ask if it took your mother 6hrs to be seen first by a doctor, or 6hrs to be discharged/admitted. Because if the latter is the case her waiting could have been for several different reasons (eg waiting for blood results, x-rays, seen by more senior doctor)

Unfortunately your proposed system doesn't work in an emergency situation. In A&Es throughout the world a triage system is used. Patients are split into emergency, semi-urgent, non urgent. Within each group, all things being equal, patients are seen according to who came first. But things are usually not equal. If for example one needs a cubicle to examine a patient (with back-pain) but none are available, one might decide to see another patient who came later because he doesn't need a cubicle (eg broken wrist). Likewise an orthopedic surgeon might be free to see patients with fractures, but cannot be asked to see a patient with asthma instead even though he came before the one with fractures!

Good accessibility to urgent primary care is the solution. Many non-urgent cases, though not life-threatening, might be in great discomfort and therefore still need to be seen quickly.

Ramon Zammit

Oct 21st 2008, 12:02

The system still lacks a lot in my opinion. Recently my mother had to visit the Emergency dept as she was feeling very sick and almost felt unconscious. It took her almost 6 hours to be checked and assessed. Some patients which arrived even hours after her, were checked before!! and during this time she still felt sick. This system must be revised ASAP. I would suggest a grouping system. If Group A composed of the first 20 persons arrives at 8am, then you cant have persons from Group B arriving at 12:00pm be checked before each and every person of Group A had been checked obviously not including critical emergency cases. This is essentially a FIFO system with priority to case and time of arrival of the patient. I don’t believe this is the system which is in use at the moment as otherwise the situation would be much better than it is. I hope someone from the authorities take note.

S. Farrugia

Oct 21st 2008, 11:31

I wanted to share my experience regarding this news item. Two weeks ago I had problems with my head, it was painful. I was scared. I went to my GP and after two days I called him again. He referred me to an ENT specialist. I booked my appointment for the Monday after at a private clinic. But by Friday I just couldn't take it anymore. My head throbbed, I felt my face twitching, my ears felt like there were going to explode. U just couldn't take it anymore. I called at the E&A Dept to ask if someone from the ENT dept was available. But nobody answered the phone. I called the ENT ward, for the same reason. But nobody answered the phone. After about five calls in all, I decided to call a Private Clinic. They answered the phone, they gave an appointment for the next 30 minutes. An ENT specialist saw me.