{"id":54994,"date":"2020-04-27T13:10:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T13:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=54994"},"modified":"2021-12-16T19:27:50","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T19:27:50","slug":"people-are-dying-and-well-im-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/global-city\/people-are-dying-and-well-im-not","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;People are dying and well, I\u2019m not&#8217;: Covid fears keep patients away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left\">Emergency departments around the world face massive attendance drops as non-Covid patients feel too scared and guilty to seek help. But is avoidance only making an inevitable return worse?\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"345\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55022\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid-500x265.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"345\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55022\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/waitingroomcovid-500x265.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption>Emergency waiting rooms are near silent. While some physicians see it as a potential for a shift in focus on A&amp;E use, others worry of an impending surge. Source: Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nearly 20 hours after the chef\u2019s knife slipped two inches under my left knuckle, Mary, a nurse at the University Hospital of Wales, is finally stitching my left hand back into a hand. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Nothing phases her. Not the tourniquet I\u2019ve fashioned out of athletic tape and a kitchen rag and not the blood still trickling down my palm as she synchs the third stitch with a tug.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Yet, when I admit I had no intention whatsoever of visiting the hospital until a friend all but tied me into her car, Mary&#8217;s fingers quit moving. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">She tells me that in the previous week her colleagues called dibs on patients sitting in the waiting room like seagulls squabbling over leftover Greggs&#8217; wrappers. Despite it being nearly 2pm today, she has seen less than 10 people.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWhen all this is lifted, patients are to going to flood in,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be worse than ever, and we won\u2019t be ready for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Around the world, non-Covid patients are avoiding emergency departments from mounting fears of Covid-19, thus leaving emergency physicians worried of not only an inevitable surge of patients but worsened states of health. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about a big spike in Covid coinciding in a big spike in non-Covid, very sick people,\u201d says a doctor from the University Hospital of Wales who wishes to remain anonymous<b>.<\/b> \u201cIt\u2019s a worry, but it\u2019s based on instinct more than anything else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/gov.wales\/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary\">NHS Wales<\/a>, A&amp;E attendance dropped from 84,143 patients in March 2019 to less than 62,000 in March 2020. A similar reduction rippled through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/statistics\/statistical-work-areas\/ae-waiting-times-and-activity\/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2019-20\/\"><span class=\"s2\">NHS England,<\/span><\/a> from 2.2 million to almost 1.5 million. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">Emergency visits in the United States are down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/04\/14\/doctors-worry-the-coronavirus-is-keeping-patients-away-from-us-hospitals-as-er-visits-drop-heart-attacks-dont-stop.html\"><span class=\"s2\">by about 50%.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 8px 0;font-family: Arial!important;font-size: 13px!important;line-height: 15px!important;text-align: center;border-top: 1px solid #dadada;margin: 0 30px;width: 640px\"><a style=\"color: #989898!important;text-decoration: none!important\" href=\"https:\/\/infogram.com\/1814c90d-dbdd-4986-a185-c3e0e6adf00b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wales A&amp;E March 2019-2020 Comparison<\/a><br><a style=\"color: #989898!important;text-decoration: none!important\" href=\"https:\/\/infogram.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Infogram<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In the last month, the UHW saw roughly a quarter of its usual A&amp;E attendance. The trickling numbers, the UHW doctor says, can be parsed in one of two ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Patients often &#8220;chronically abuse&#8221; the nature of accident and emergency, a sentiment echoed by many emergency physicians. A&amp;Es are often used for sniffles, prescription refills, grazed knees or two-week tummy aches that called for paracetamol. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIt\u2019s against the code of a physician to turn people away, so we take anybody and anyone who comes. But in doing that, people who actually need help sometimes don\u2019t get the attention they need,\u201d says Charles Mansour, a fourth-year medical student in New Orleans.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In some sense, the dwindling is positive. A&amp;Es no longer face abuse. Increased calls to NHS 111 have re-routed non-emergency medical issues, perhaps for the long run.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 8px 0;font-family: Arial!important;font-size: 13px!important;line-height: 15px!important;text-align: center;border-top: 1px solid #dadada;margin: 0 30px;width: 640px\"><a style=\"color: #989898!important;text-decoration: none!important\" href=\"https:\/\/infogram.com\/28f37df0-6ccf-4e5e-b1ab-d9f53b2a76a9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">England A&amp;E March 2019-2020 Comparison<\/a><br><a style=\"color: #989898!important;text-decoration: none!important\" href=\"https:\/\/infogram.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Infogram<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n<p><span class=\"s1\">But therein lies another problem: Many who don\u2019t know how unwell they actually are are also opting for avoidance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cWe\u2019re seeing things in post-mortems that could be completely avoided with the wonders of modern medicine,\u201d the UHW doctor says. \u201cThese people need to present because they need life-saving treatment, and they need it now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The major breaking point is knowing into what category each patient falls: the worried well, the slightly worried well, the worried unwell and the not worried unwell &#8212; this last group being the most vulnerable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, these lines have blurred as many patients fear becoming venal burdens to overworked staff or inadvertently becoming cross-pollinating bees with death wishes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"428\" height=\"526\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery-.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-54998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery-.png 428w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery--244x300.png 244w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 428px) 100vw, 428px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"428\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery-.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-54998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery-.png 428w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/ParkRoad-Surgery--244x300.png 244w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 428px) 100vw, 428px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption>NHS guidelines illustrate what constitutes A&amp;E emergencies and what do not to help limit overuse and underuse of services. Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heathersidesurgery.nhs.uk\/info.aspx?p=9\">Park Road Group Practice<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s why 29-year-old Anne Neilson was perrenially apologising to the nurse patrolling the UHW\u2019s front door on Sunday morning, as if she\u2019d personally turned the young nurse\u2019s mother into a toad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI felt guilty for using their \u2018services\u2019 in a time like this,\u201d says Neilson. Woken up at 4am to massive pressure pushing on her chest, Neilson couldn\u2019t breathe. She was shaking. In any other scenario, a call to 111 would have swiftly followed. Yet, Neilson sat for nearly an hour, debating <i>call or don\u2019t call<\/i> as if frantically settling love from daisy petals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cAll these calls from people thinking they have symptoms or phantom symptoms,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople are dying, and well, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"406\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-500x312.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-200x125.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"406\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-55146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne.jpg 650w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-500x312.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2020\/04\/anne-200x125.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption>Anne Neilson required drips for potassium and sodium after breathing difficulty. Source: Anne Neilson. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Patients&#8217; growing guilt exacerbates what front-line nurse Alyssa Anderson considers hospitals&#8217; current cyclical game of tug of war.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Patients are meant to stay in the ED for four hours, the Texas nurse explains. Problems that occur here propagate throughout hospitals. Done right, hospitals run like smooth flowing dams. Done wrong, the interconnectedness is double-edged. With hospitals&#8217; finite limit of resources, growing Covid-sections bring resource depletions in other areas (i.e. A&amp;Es, CV units). When given reasonably reduced action, those areas can spare them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But when a large number of seemingly innocuous wounds are left to fester out of fear, things turn septic and the dam cracks. More ambulances are dispatched rather than patients driving themselves. Beds become scarce. Queues grow longer. Add antibiotics, drips, scans, oxygen, maybe ventilation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All of these things cost thousands of pounds. <span class=\"s1\">More than people would think,\u201d the UHW doctor says. \u201cI guess that\u2019s the major issue for us. The more unwell people are, the more they need. Unfortunately, the more they need, the less likely it is they\u2019ll get better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">\u201cEven the little bit of pickup we\u2019ve had here and there shows how little we\u2019re ready for a massive surge,\u201d Anderson says.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Global pandemic or not, humans are invariably human. Heart attacks don&#8217;t disappear. We use chef&#8217;s knives to de-pit avocados. Bones break. That\u2019s our brutally beautiful joie de vivre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIf anything, it means [going to the ER] is the one thing that shouldn\u2019t change<b>,\u201d <\/b>Mansour says. \u201cHumans are so afraid of change and things they don\u2019t understand. Right now, we\u2019re living in a grey area and people fear it, but they shouldn\u2019t. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">&#8220;The ER is essential. Moving forward, this might be good for the emergency community. People might actually use us for emergencies rather than a primary care. <\/span><span class=\"s1\">But they need to use us now.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As more general patients avoid emergency departments out of fear, physicians worry of the impending surge to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":55357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"coauthors":[672],"class_list":["post-54994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-city","category-science-environment"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;People are dying and well, I\u2019m not&#039;: Covid fears keep patients away - 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