WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018 CAMBRIDGE-NEWS.CO.

UK SERVING YOUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1888 75P

More than 300 people

reported to Addenbrooke’s A&E within 24 hours.
The hospital took the
extraordinary step of cancelling all
surgery, including cancer and urgent cases,
after it ran out of beds with 33 patients
waiting for a space. . . .

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4 CAMBRIDGE NEWS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018 CCN-EO1-S2 cambridge-news.co.uk

News
Here’s how you can
support NHS staff
THE News is standing with
the extraordinary staff at
Addenbrooke’s as they
continue to battle through
one crisis from another.
Yesterday, the hospital
reached breaking point,
cancelling all surgeries and
pleading with people to
attend A&E only in an
absolute emergency.
Here at the News we
continue to be blown away
by the incredible work of
all the dedicated staff who
keep the hospital afloat
even in these times of
crisis.
The NHS has been
battered by continuous
cuts and even stellar
hospitals like
Addenbrooke’s can’t
escape the trap.
Staff are being stretched
to their limits and services
at the hospital appear to
be reaching breaking
point.
In the last few months
the hospital has been
besieged by one crisis
after another.
Back in September
nurses protested against
the real terms wages
falling and slammed the
shortage of nurses across
the NHS.
In December last year
the winter crisis peaked
with ambulances unable to
get patients through
hospital doors. Instead,
dedicated staff sat with
patients in their
ambulances.
There seems to be a
never-ending tale of woe
with Addenbrooke’s but we
can’t blame the staff.
Everyone from nurses,
doctors, cleaning staff and
caterers are fighting to
keep Addenbrooke’s going.
Aneurin Bevan, the
mastermind of the NHS
said: “The NHS will last as
long as there are folk left
with faith to fight for it”
So we’re supporting the
staff who fight to make the
NHS a possibility in our
county every day.
Help us support them:
Think twice before you
head to A&E. When you’re
at the hospital don’t forget
to tell the staff just how
much you appreciate
them.
Here’s what the hospital
needs:
■ Only go to A&E in an
absolute emergency or
after an accident.
■ Patients can help by not Nurses on Ward D9 at
bringing large numbers of Addenbrooke’s pictured
friends and family to A&E. during a quieter period –
■ Don’t visit patients if you a carol service and
have flu-like symptoms or Christmas party in 2016
diarrhoea.

Letter shows extent

Bes e
i
t
c
Pr id £ 3 0
Up
, 0
to
of crisis at hospital
P a cas
in 4 dvan 0
h a 0 RACHAEL MCMENEMY AND NO beds available, 33 outstand- the target waiting time. 7am sent home at 10am really not
8h ce RAYMOND BROWN ing bed requests and 50 patients The hospital is diverting ambu- fair very stressful for him!”
our waiting in A&E. lances and pleading with people A Cambridge University Hos-
s newsdesk@
cambridge-news.co.uk It also says all surgery has been to only go to A&E in an absolute pital spokesman said: “We can
cancelled, even operations for emergency. confirm that the hospital is at
We buy any home A LEAKED document has detailed
the ongoing crisis at Adden-
cancer and urgent cases. Across social media people
The document says: “We have have been detailing their stories
Opel Level Four, the highest level
of alert, after seeing exceptional
in as little as 7 days brooke’s. taken the extraordinary from the last 24 hours. levels of acutely unwell patients

An internal newsletter sent to
the News, shows the extent of the
 Get a free, no obligation cash offer crisis with no beds available,
within 24 hours diverted ambulances and all
 Completion within 7 days – or to your timing operations cancelled – even can-
cer and urgent surgeries.
 No estate agent’s fees Cambridge University Hospi-
 We’ll pay your solicitor’s fees tals, the trust which runs Adden-
brooke’s, called the cancellation
 Any condition, any location of every operation an ‘extraor-
dinary’ event.
It has also been reported that in
CALL FOR FREE the last 24 hours patients have
0808 273 1287 had to queue out the door at A&E
and some patients reportedly had
www.webuyanyhomeang.com to wait more than 12 hours to be
seen.
The hospital confirmed yester-
day they were operating at the
‘highest level of alert’.
The leaked newsletter, dated
UK’s No. 1 Home-Buying Company yesterday says there are currently
“
action to cancel all Sinead Benton needing inpatient beds. We are
planned surgery wrote on Facebook: taking action to ease pressures
including cancer and “I was there with and create flow through the hos-
urgent cases, to free my sister last pital.
up resources across night the queue “We are temporarily diverting
the organisation.” We have taken the was out of the ambulances to other trusts and
Ward G3 is closed door at 4.30pm elective surgery has been can-
extraordinary
entirely due to she had to stand celled. We would like to apologise
infection control action to cancel all outside for an to patients for the inconve-
issues and all non planned surgery... hour even though nience.
emergency meetings Internal she could barely “Patients can help us at this
have been cancelled. keep herself upright time by only coming into A&E if it
The hospital is also using
newsletter
to then have to wait is an accident or emergency and
a day surgery unit as a tem-
porary discharging facility.
in the waiting room for
4 hours to be seen. To then wait
by not bringing large numbers of
family or friends into the depart-
According to the leaked doc- in the assessment area for a ment where seating is at a pre-
ument there were 316 people who bed. Didn’t get the ward until mium.
attended A&E on Monday with 2am.” “Details of further medical sup-
131 breaches of the four-hour Karen Isaacson also wrote on port can be found on the Cam-
wait target. Facebook: “My father-in-law (87) bridgeshire and Peterborough
By yesterday afternoon there has just been sent home can- Clinical Commissioning Group
were an additional 79 breaches of celled operation (cancer)... in at website.”
cambridge-news.co.uk
People are being seen in the A&E
for sore throats and headaches
SOME of the reasons
people are turning up for
emergency treatment at
Addenbrooke’s have been
revealed as the News
reports that the hospital
has issued a black alert in
its A&E.
It is the highest level
alert for hospitals and
announced when health
chiefs feel they are unable
to give lifesaving
emergency treatment.
And it may be no surprise
the hospital is under
pressure, as new NHS
statistics show more than
100 people went to A&E in
Cambridge with a sore
throat last year.
The data, which covers
April to November 2017,
lists at least 134 visits to
its emergency department
because of the complaint.
The list also includes 382
visits for headaches and
253 visits for coughs.
It is the first time the
NHS has released figures of
this kind, which provide
analysis of A&E visits to
NHS hospital trusts, broken
down by chief complaint.
While in some instances
these complaints can be
quite debilitating or the
symptom of a more serious
problem, in most cases
someone with a headache,
a blocked nose or a sore
throat should be visiting
their GP rather than going
to A&E.
Experts were quick to
point out that people going
to the hospital with minor
complaints were not the
main source of pressure on
A&E departments.
Dr Adrian Boyle,
chairman of the quality
emergency care committee
at the Royal College of
Emergency Medicine, said:
“The number of patients
presenting to the
emergency department
with these complaints is
relatively low and crucially
these patients are less time
consuming to treat and do
not require admission.
“Many of these patients
CCN-EO1-S2
have responsibly tried to
seek medical care outside
the emergency department
before arrival, either by
seeing their GP or phoning
NHS 111.
“The real pressure on our
emergency departments
comes from the increasing
number of patients with
multiple and complex
problems – patients who
need to be admitted
urgently but very often
face long waits due to
inadequate bed numbers.”
Across hospitals in
England, more than
272,000 people were left
waiting in A&E for more
than four hours in February
alone – 15 per cent of all
attendances.
CAMBRIDGE NEWS
Trust criticised for also
treating private patients
FOLLOWING the declaration of
a major internal incident after
it ran out of beds,
Addenbrooke’s has been
criticised for treating
thousands of private patients.
Ambulances are being
diverted and all operations
have been cancelled, even
cancer and urgent surgeries.
But data released using
Freedom of Information laws
has revealed the number of
private patients billed by
Addenbrooke’s in a year was
2,000 – bringing in £5.3
million.
The number of private
patients invoiced between
January 2017 and December
2017 was 2,024 with the
number of private patient
transactions at 3,478.
The total value of invoices
generated was £5,331,659.
A total of 8,451 private
patients used beds at the
Cambridge hospital from 2012-
17.
Cambridge MP Daniel
Zeichner told the News: “NHS
hospitals should be for NHS
patients, which is why I
strongly opposed the decision
by the Conservative/Liberal
Democrat Coalition back in
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018 5
News
2012 to lift the cap on the
number of private patients that
NHS hospitals can treat.
“At that time, I challenged
the then chief executive of
Addenbrooke’s, who at the
AGM said that the ‘direction of
travel’ was for Addenbrooke’s
to attract more private
patients.
“Addenbrooke’s still takes
relatively few private patients –
the real problem was the
Government’s failure to listen
to advice last year that the
NHS needed more resources.
Mrs May ignored the advice,
and the pressures we see today
are a direct consequence.”
The hospital trust has
defended the number of
private patients it treats.
A hospital spokesman said:
“Cambridge University
Hospitals looks after a tiny
proportion of private patients
compared to many other
hospitals and the reason for
that is simple: we lack the
capacity to accommodate
them.
“Any private patients that we
do see are treated when
demand on our hospital beds is
not high, as NHS patients are
always prioritised.”
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