St John Ambulance volunteers drafted into hospital due to 'unprecedented demand' over Christmas period

Staff say they were 'not qualified to be on wards'

Alex Matthews-King

Health Correspondent

Tuesday 02 January 2018 17:30 GMT

Staff raised concerns that St John Ambulance volunteers, trained in pre-hospital care, should not be working on wards (PA)

Volunteer first aiders from St John Ambulance were deployed onto wards at a Northern Irish hospital over the Christmas break.

“Unprecedented demand” led the Antrim Area Hospital to call in volunteers to provide additional support to patients "under the direction and delegation of registered nurses”, a spokesperson said.

She added: “Volunteers from St John Ambulance have provided some input at different times at Antrim Area Hospital over the two nights of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, working under our volunteer arrangements."

The additional support "helped to alleviate the pressures on very busy staff, thus allowing them to focus on other priorities”.

However, some staff had even complained to the trust after seeing St John volunteers, who chiefly work in pre-hospital care and provide first aid, The Irish News reported.

A staff member told the newspaper that they were “not qualified to be on wards”, adding that the trust should have followed proper protocols and called in more “bank” nursing staff.

Pressure on the NHS across the UK also saw patients and ambulances diverted from A&E.

It prompted a senior medic from one of the UK’s biggest A&E departments to pen an apology for the “third world” conditions in stretched emergency rooms.

Dr Richard Fawcett, a consultant in emergency medicine in Stoke-on-Trent, one of the country’s largest A&E departments, tweeted: “As an A&E consultant at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust I personally apologise to the people of Stoke for the third world conditions of the department due to overcrowding.”

He added that earlier in the week, the hospital had had to divert ambulances to other hospitals because of demand.

Milton Keynes University Hospital also said in a statement that it was “under extreme and sustained pressure”.

“Please DO NOT attend the hospital’s emergency department unless you need emergency treatment,” it said.

The trust’s chief executive, Professor Joe Harrison, said: “Staff are working under incredible pressure to look after the patients in our care. I cannot overstate that. We are doing our best in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.”

It said it had opened extra “escalation beds to cope with demand”.

It comes after The Independent revealed that pressure on emergency services over the festive period meant nurses and GPs were being asked to attend to pensioners with broken bones, to save ambulances being sent out.

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Show all 6

1/6Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

The elderly

“We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,” Theresa May has said. Waits of over 12 hours in A&E among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to figures from NHS Digital.

Getty

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Patients going to A&E instead of seeing their GPs

Jeremy Hunt has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments”, saying that around a third of A&E patients were in hospital unnecessarily. Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to A&Es when they should not. He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm. But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service.

Getty

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Simon Stevens, head of NHS England

Reports that “key members” of Ms May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street. Mr Stevens had allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required.

Getty

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Previous health policy, not funding

In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”. She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels. “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister. “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.” But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals.

Getty Images

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

Target to treat all A&E patients within four hours

Mr Hunt was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all A&E patients within four hours. The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”. Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules. But Ms May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for A&E, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame.

Getty Images

Everyone the Government blames for the NHS crisis – except themselves

No one

Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days. He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour A&E waiting time target. Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”. “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt. “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby. “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in.

Getty

In the North-east, there were also “tragic” cases of p atients being left on the floor with “serious fractures” while waiting for an ambulance with nurses drafted in.

The pressures “escalated rapidly” in England, despite a last minute injection of £335m for this winter issued in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens had requested the £350m a week pledged by Brexit campaigners, amid widespread concerns about how the health service will cope this winter as it is asked to make ever deeper “productivity” savings.

Dr Chris Moulton, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), told The Independent: “There’s no doubt about it, this year seems to be worse.”

RCEM figures from the two weeks prior to Christmas across 56 hospitals show operations being cancelled and patients stuck in hospital because of a lack of capacity to discharge them.

“This year, Christmas Day doesn’t seem to have been any better than a normal day. It’s now just another very bad day, that’s unusual.

“Out of the 56 hospitals we collect data from, we think there’s about 1,000 operations being cancelled a week.”

A serious outbreak of flu is adding further pressure this year.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies