The exhausted faces of staff will stay with me for ever, says Michael Newman, while Rachel Curtis was left terrified after taking her daughter to an overcrowded A&E
Rishi Sunak tells us that there is no crisis in the NHS (Doctors criticise ‘delusional’ Rishi Sunak for denying NHS is in crisis, 3 January). I have just spent a week in hospital following an emergency. I managed to get to A&E; four hours into my wait to be seen, I collapsed and was taken into a treatment room. A stay in hospital was needed. Two hours into my wait for a bed, I had to relinquish my position in the treatment room for a chair as someone else needed to be treated in the room. At 11.30pm that night a bed was found, I was stabilised and checked, and told that I would have the vital procedure the following day. This was cancelled, and the next day allocated. This too was cancelled. Four times, in fact. Nowhere in the chain was there an act of deliberate neglect or prevarication. I was in the real world of NHS 2023, starved of resources to cope with demand.
Through my ordeal I saw fellow human beings stretched to the very limit, yet still managing to give me gentle care and the highest quality treatment. The staff at the hospital represent the best of humanity. Every person – paramedics, A&E, ward staff and medics – faced a mass of sick people all needing individual attention and crammed into every available space. The exhausted looks on the faces of staff will stay with me for ever.
