https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/08/record-breaking-heatwave-pushing-hospitals-into-emergency-measures
Record heatwave pushes hospitals into emergency measures
Unprecedented “summer crisis” leaves ambulances queueing outside
hospitals
Wed 8 Aug 2018 17.17 BSTLast modified on Thu 9
Aug 2018 00.35 BST
Hospitals are having to adopt
winter-style emergency measures, including turning away patients through being
busy, as the NHS struggles to cope with illnesses caused by the heatwave in the
UK.
Patients are being treated in corridors, and queues of
ambulances are building up outside A&E units in what hospital bosses say
are unprecedented scenes for the summer which is usually the quietest time of
year for the NHS.
Large numbers of people are falling ill with heatstroke,
dehydration, exhaustion and breathing problems, as well as experiencing falls –
incidents all linked to the record-breaking temperatures since June. The health
service was having the busiest summer on record, said hospital chiefs and
senior doctors.
Hospitals are being forced to lay on extra beds to admit people
needing to be treated as emergencies, while many GP surgeries and ambulance
crews are also facing an unusually high demand for their services.
Malcolm Tunnicliff, an A&E consultant at King’s College
hospital in London, said: “It’s the busiest summer we’ve ever had. Usually the
summer is the NHS’s quieter time, but not this year. There’s been no respite
this year.
“At 10pm on Tuesday we had a queue of ambulances outside the
A&E that was the same length as we would get in February, and lots of
people waiting to get into a bed. We’re seeing a lot of older people who have
become dehydrated because they weren’t drinking enough or because their
diuretic drugs [which increase urination] are making them dehydrated.
Dehydration is also leading to mainly older people having faints, collapses and
also becoming more prone to infections.”
Many hospitals, including those in central London near the pubs
and clubs in the West End, have also been dealing with larger than usual
numbers of intoxicated people. “Some are just very drunk, others have fallen
over and hurt themselves. This is happening seven days a week, not just at the
weekend,” said Tunnicliff.
A number of hospitals have been treating higher than usual
numbers of older people living in care homes who have become dehydrated, many
of whom need inpatient care.
Paramedics last week set up drips and looked after patients on
trolleys in the corridor of one of London’s biggest hospitals, while hospitals
in the north-west and west Midlands also had to temporarily divert emergency
patients to nearby A&E units.
Weymouth, Dorset, in August
2018. Hospitals are reporting cases of fainting and collapses due to dehydration.
The number of people visiting a family doctor in England in
recent weeks because of heatstroke has reached the highest level for five
years, according to figures collated by the Royal College of GPs’ research and
surveillance centre.
Richard Mitchell, chief executive of Sherwood Forest NHS trust,
in the East Midlands, said the organisation had experienced “a record-breaking
summer for emergency care attendances”. He added: “Our increase has been
particularly from patients presenting with minor injuries and illnesses, and
conditions such as respiratory problems, which are linked to the long periods
of hot weather.”
So far in August the trust has treated an average of 435 patients
a day, 11% more than the 388 a day it had during August 2017. Similarly, its
average of 463 daily attendances in July was 8% up on the 426 it recorded in
the same month a year earlier; in June there was a 5% year-on-year rise, from
417 to 440.
“Talking to colleagues, this position is replicated across the
NHS,” Mitchell added. Demand for care had been so great that, for the first
time, his trust had to keep using the extra beds it opened last winter to cope
with the pressures of the cold months. Those beds would normally have been kept
aside over the quiet summer months.
Points for discussion
Look at the use of the present continuous tense.
For a reminder of the present continuous tense, this is a great link:
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