2nd November 2015

Short post this week, it's been a busy one. As the clocks fall back, the reality of winter pressures fall upon us and the 'black bed state' alert becomes a frequent occurrence.

Trauma Tales

This week saw an increase in arrivals to A&E with lower limb injuries. Wednesday started with more patients requiring surgery than available orthopaedic theatre time, a difficult situation for all to manage. 'Black bed state' meant no planned surgeries could go ahead and this left Theatre 6 without a list. 

What happens next?

Surgeons, as you've gathered, love to operate. A few calls later, Theatre 5 had CT Seok Cho, F2 Christian Asher and me...

whilst Theatre 6 had Arshad Khaleel with Trauma Fellow Tim Iliopoulos scrubbing up.

Clearly none of these guys were hanging around idly waiting for the call. Everyone has a fully occupied regular timetable. So this is where we should take our hats off to the people who make this mobilisation possible - meet Ronnie, Claire and Anju

Spreading the workforce thinly means a huge amount of work for these ladies, over and above their roles as schedulers. Clinics need covering or rearranging, staff need pulling from one area to another and patients need calm and complete explanations of what's taking place, where delays might occur and what contingencies are available should they wish to rebook. 

It's a big job and Anju and her team in the Rowley Bristow Orthopaedic Unit do it with good humour and compassion: thanks to you all this week. Buckle up: winter pressures are upon us and there'll be more of the same for a while to come.

Forthcoming Attractions

On Monday 2nd November, Dr Fluck is hosting a Junior Doctors Meeting with Suzanne Rankin to discuss issues arising from the #JuniorDoctorContract and mitigating the consequences to patients of potential industrial action

The meeting is in PGEC at 5.30pm. Please go: make your voice heard.