Scale of "war zone" Northern Ireland hospital conditions made clear by readers

A Co Down mum's experience of a "war zone" of an A&E department has had BelfastLive readers sharing their own experiences of poor service in our comments section. The concerned mum said that her daughter spent hours waiting for asthma treatment in a "makeshift" ward at Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust says its hospitals continue to be under extreme pressure, adding that it's doing all it can to reduce pressure on busy emergency departments.

Responding to the story, commenter Itiswhatitisaye says: “Antrim is the same and that's after a 4 hour wait outside in an ambulance. Then 24 hours to get moved to side area and a further 24 minimum for a bed.” A recent visit was not much better for user BLKRK89: “Family member got brought to Derry hospital yesterday by ambulance and was 13 hours before even talked to, advised there was a 10hr waiting time in A&E and no beds. No doctor visit after 17 hours. Can never fault the staff, only the system and the facilities.”

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Booly shared a tale of their own recent visit: “Our hospitals, over all trusts, have the same issues. Was sent to A&E by GP on Friday and waited 18 hours to see a doctor for something I was told was urgent. Meanwhile, police came into A&E with a prisoner and he was seen straight away and was sent on his way back to custody. Witnessed drug dealing in A&E waiting room also and police walking through the department with drug sniffer dogs. Changes need to be made before the health service in NI falls apart completely.”

Parentof2 says that the pressures are impacting the staff too: “I have heard of worse cases in the past few days, and whilst I agree the doctors and nurses don't get paid enough. We shouldn't have to pay for manners, decency and humanity from the people we trust to help us get well. We can't blame Stormont for that…”

Ursula1963 says that the issues can't solely be put on hospital staff: “As much as I agree people need to stop blaming the A&E departments, they’re like this because of GP surgeries. If the GP would see people like this, the A&E department wouldn’t be like this, they would have at least 40% less minor injuries and people with colds or the like.”

Commenter Magse replied: “Absolutely agree, my husband got a docs appointment last week, after trying for 16 weeks, out of 5 docs in his surgery, only one was there, 4 were at home doing phone calls.”

User B3lfasthandyman agrees too: “The money the doctors and nurses are being paid is way below par, you can't blame them for leaving and going elsewhere to work. How can an agency nurse get nearly double for working in the same place, and not having access to a GP isn't helping either.”

With an eye on the healthcare situation over the border, Con41 says: “People up in arms about paying a fiver for a prescription or 40 quid to see a GP. I’d rather pay and have a decent health service. Would cut down on the balloons using AE for a cold or constipation.”

Hondavfr57 thinks we should look at other healthcare options too: “For a good NHS, people have a choice, pay more into the NHS or put a cap of say £130K and the rest covered by personal medical insurance.”

What problems have you experiencing going to the hospital and A&E? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.

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