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The Nhs Can't Even Keep Maternity Wards Open

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mikey4444 | 17:28 Fri 11th Jul 2014 | News
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27054688
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28246641

On a day when it is suggested that hundreds of thousands of diabetes sufferers are going to be offered gastric band surgery, it seems that we can't even keep our Maternity Wards open !

I'm not sure what happens when an expectant Mother turns up at her Hospital in the early stages of giving birth and finds the place closed. What does she do....give birth in the car park ?
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Thsi isn't new news.... there has been a shortage of midwives for ages. And yes - there have been stories that women have been driven half way round the county trying to find a unit which can take them.
/// I'm not sure what happens when an expectant Mother turns up at her Hospital in the early stages of giving birth and finds the place closed. What does she do....give birth in the car park ? ///

Or get on the next plane home.
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Usual daft nonsense I see aog ! Have you taken your pills today ?
From your link, Mikey:

//In 2008, Conservative Party research found 42% of trusts shut their maternity units at least once.//

As Boxy says, it's not new news. Doesn't make it right though.
.

It works out that most people go to the Obs unit some hours before they will give birth and this means they can be transferred.

However if they are complicated - pre eclampsia, light for dates child, premature labour, then I think there may be an increased risk...

easy to check - audit of birth complications of those booked at Hospital X and those who 'walk in' and havent had antenatal care there.....


AOG, those cases are few and far between - there are far more women already resident in the UK than those few who fly in just to give birth.
AOG - complete non-sequitur again.

There is no evidence that immigrants have over loaded the health service....

According to both Radio and TV News today, 10's of 1000's will Qualify for the Op's, not 100's of 1000's
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But what about the Mothers who arrive suddenly ? I am a bachelor but I have seen plenty of evidence in my family that babies can, and do arrive exactly when they want to, not when its convenient for NHS Management.

If we need more Midwives, then lets get more trained up. We have plenty of people on the dole....it simply isn't good enough that parts of Hospitals can close. We have been shovelling billions of £'s into our NHS for as long as I have been alive, which is 61 years now. The NHS needs to pull its finger out !
I'm not sure what happens when an expectant Mother turns up at her Hospital in the early stages of giving birth and finds the place closed. What does she do....give birth in the car park ?

actually you mean late stages of giving birth.....

A+E or ... I think they cope....
AOG - there's been a drive for more midwives for some years. You can't just "train them up", it's a full 3-year undergraduate course in the first instance.
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Baldric...see this from the BBC News website. I heard the figure of 100,000's being discussed this morning on the Today Program. Diabetes UK estimate that as many as 850,000 people may qualify :::

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-28246641

.But what about the Mothers who arrive suddenly ?

no.. what about the BABIES who arrive suddenly
= precipitate labour.

I think they cope.
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Boxy ...it was me not aog ! I don't care how long its takes. If we have needed more Midwives for years and years, then we should have prepared for this current shortage a long ago. Instead, I suspect the NHS has buried its head in the sand and relied on plenty of foreigners coming over here to fill the job vacancies.
Gastric Band and Stomach Stapling Surgery.

This is State Controlled medicine at it's best.

NICE recommends the surgery on the NHS......brownie points for NICE.

The Government of the day gives the go ahead.....bravo the Government.

Now..just under 2million will qualify....lets call it 1Million..no lets be really fair for the argument...........500, 000 will be eligible for gastic surgery and go on the waiting list for operation.

The reality is that the vast majority will never have the operation and the wait will be so long for others that they will either have died or will have had coronary bypass surgery.

But....pat on the back all round.
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PP ...I suspect hey "cope" as well PP, otherwise the news would be full of shocking stories about mother and babies dying in car parks.

The principle I am trying to get across here this afternoon is that this situation has been known about for some considerable time, and as usual, the NHS is relying on crisis management to cope, never a good idea.
sorry mikey, I was responding to the Send them Home comment.....

They have though, the Royal College of Midwives flagged this up - but if people don't apply to become midwives (and it's a university course) you can't whistle them up from nowhere. Funding in the Trusts for secondments to these long programmes is much reduced from what it used to be (and it comes from central NHS not local funds) - it's a vicious circle.
Sqad, once a year the GP I go to gives me a few pats on the back:)
Peter Pedant

/// There is no evidence that immigrants have over loaded the health service.... ///

*** Dr Graves, representing about 500 doctors, said one Bedfordshire GP had “thousands of patients on his list who entertain friends and relatives from Pakistan, India and other Asian countries and who come to England for the sole purpose of accessing free health care.” ***

*** The situation, he said, was “well recognised across the country". ***

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9836997/Health-tourists-abusing-precious-NHS-resources-say-GPs.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-report-shows-the-nhs-could-raise-up-to-500-million-from-better-charging-of-overseas-visitors

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