News
RCN MEMBERS have called on the college’s ruling council to put pressure on UK governments to address the crisis in emergency departments (EDs). A resolution proposed by East Dorset branch member Kathy Moore at RCN congress in Bournemouth last month stated that there is something ‘seriously wrong’ with the UK’s EDs. It claimed that, in trying to alleviate pressure on EDs, staff are resorting to inappropriate methods, with one ambulance service installing a treatment tent in hospital grounds. Ms Moore said that there are relentless pressures on EDs, adding: ‘We have a crisis in A&E and the care of our patients is being compromised.’ She said the crisis is made worse by growing staff shortages, particularly cuts to district nurses’ posts. ‘Hospitals are reaching a tipping point,’ Ms Moore said. Sarah Neill, of the RCN children and young people acute care forum, said that the pressures could not be reduced with a ‘sticking-plaster’ solution. ‘We need to think about why people use emergency services,’ she said. ‘Children make up a significant number of A&E patients and we need to find out why they are taken to emergency departments. ‘We need to ensure that they get access to the right people with the right skills in primary care.’ Brighton and Hove branch member Lucy Frost said that attending an ED is often a ‘terrifying experience’ for older people. ‘Older people need to know that the ED is a place they can trust,’ she said. ‘But the system is broken and needs fixing.’ Carey Johnson, of South East London RCN branch, said the links between primary and acute care should be strengthened to improve the discharge process. Ms Moore’s resolution was passed with 99.49% of the votes cast. See opinion, page 11 6
July 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 4
Wearing skinny jeans can stop blood flow to your legs A WOMAN spent four days in hospital recovering from nerve compression syndrome due to prolonged squatting in ‘skinny’ jeans. The 35-year-old woman had squatted in tight jeans for several hours while emptying cupboards for a relative. Later, when walking home, the woman’s feet had become so numb that she tripped and fell, and spent several hours lying on the ground before being discovered. Hospital staff found that both of the woman’s calves had become so swollen that her jeans had to be cut off.
The case was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry by Thomas Edmund Kimber, from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia. Professor Kimber said that investigations revealed the jeans had prompted the development of compartment syndrome, or reduced blood supply to the leg muscles, which had caused swelling of the muscles and compression of the adjacent nerves. After being on a drip for four days the woman was able to walk unaided and was released from hospital. iStock. The person pictured is a model
RCN congress calls on government to solve emergency care crisis
Co-location will ease pressure on services, claims report PATIENTS WHO attend emergency departments (EDs) know that alternative healthcare services are available to them but cannot always access them, a report has concluded. Time to Act – Urgent Care and A&E: The Patient Perspective, published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Patients Association, states that many patients attend EDs also because they are advised to do so by other healthcare providers. The report calls for well staffed and resourced out-of-hours services to be co-located with EDs to ease pressure on the overstretched urgent and emergency care system. It claims that such co-location would simplify decision making and ensure all patients are streamed to the most
appropriate care provider in a safe and timely manner. Publication of the report follows a survey of patients’ choices, decisions about, and experiences of, EDs undertaken between September 2014 and February 2015. President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Cliff Mann called for the co-location of primary care services at ED sites to be implemented, as supported by NHS England and the Keogh review, in the 60% of systems where it does not occur. Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy said: ‘The arguments for co-location are compelling. Now is the time to act to decongest emergency departments and, in so doing, benefit all patients.’ Find out more Time to Act – Urgent Care and A&E: The Patient Perspective can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/oy9soau EMERGENCY NURSE
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RCN MEMBERS have called on the college’s ruling council to put pressure on UK governments to address the crisis in emergency departments (EDs). A resolution proposed by East Dorset branch member Kathy Moore at RCN congress in Bournemouth last month stated that there is something ‘seriously wrong’ with the UK’s EDs. It claimed that, in trying to alleviate pressure on EDs, staff are resorting to inappropriate methods, with one ambulance service installing a treatment tent in hospital grounds. Ms Moore said that there are relentless pressures on EDs, adding: ‘We have a crisis in A&E and the care of our patients is being compromised.’ She said the crisis is made worse by growing staff shortages, particularly cuts to district nurses’ posts. ‘Hospitals are reaching a tipping point,’ Ms Moore said. Sarah Neill, of the RCN children and young people acute care forum, said that the pressures could not be reduced with a ‘sticking-plaster’ solution. ‘We need to think about why people use emergency services,’ she said. ‘Children make up a significant number of A&E patients and we need to find out why they are taken to emergency departments. ‘We need to ensure that they get access to the right people with the right skills in primary care.’ Brighton and Hove branch member Lucy Frost said that attending an ED is often a ‘terrifying experience’ for older people. ‘Older people need to know that the ED is a place they can trust,’ she said. ‘But the system is broken and needs fixing.’ Carey Johnson, of South East London RCN branch, said the links between primary and acute care should be strengthened to improve the discharge process. Ms Moore’s resolution was passed with 99.49% of the votes cast. See opinion, page 11 6
July 2015 | Volume 23 | Number 4
Wearing skinny jeans can stop blood flow to your legs A WOMAN spent four days in hospital recovering from nerve compression syndrome due to prolonged squatting in ‘skinny’ jeans. The 35-year-old woman had squatted in tight jeans for several hours while emptying cupboards for a relative. Later, when walking home, the woman’s feet had become so numb that she tripped and fell, and spent several hours lying on the ground before being discovered. Hospital staff found that both of the woman’s calves had become so swollen that her jeans had to be cut off.
The case was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry by Thomas Edmund Kimber, from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia. Professor Kimber said that investigations revealed the jeans had prompted the development of compartment syndrome, or reduced blood supply to the leg muscles, which had caused swelling of the muscles and compression of the adjacent nerves. After being on a drip for four days the woman was able to walk unaided and was released from hospital. iStock. The person pictured is a model
RCN congress calls on government to solve emergency care crisis
Co-location will ease pressure on services, claims report PATIENTS WHO attend emergency departments (EDs) know that alternative healthcare services are available to them but cannot always access them, a report has concluded. Time to Act – Urgent Care and A&E: The Patient Perspective, published by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Patients Association, states that many patients attend EDs also because they are advised to do so by other healthcare providers. The report calls for well staffed and resourced out-of-hours services to be co-located with EDs to ease pressure on the overstretched urgent and emergency care system. It claims that such co-location would simplify decision making and ensure all patients are streamed to the most
appropriate care provider in a safe and timely manner. Publication of the report follows a survey of patients’ choices, decisions about, and experiences of, EDs undertaken between September 2014 and February 2015. President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Cliff Mann called for the co-location of primary care services at ED sites to be implemented, as supported by NHS England and the Keogh review, in the 60% of systems where it does not occur. Patients Association chief executive Katherine Murphy said: ‘The arguments for co-location are compelling. Now is the time to act to decongest emergency departments and, in so doing, benefit all patients.’ Find out more Time to Act – Urgent Care and A&E: The Patient Perspective can be downloaded at tinyurl.com/oy9soau EMERGENCY NURSE
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Dec 06, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
