A patient has turned up 217 times at one of London’s busiest casualty departments, it emerged today.
It is one of the most striking examples of the pressures faced by accident and emergency wards, as they take on problems other health and social services are not dealing with.
The man sought help at St Thomas’ A&E, which handles about 3,400 cases a week. The hospital in Lambeth would not discuss the case because of patient confidentiality, but it is said to be a “not wholly surprising” example of demands faced by emergency wards.
It came to light after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered all his civil servants to do “work experience” in hospitals, following the Francis report into the scandal over deaths at Mid Staffs health trust. Mr Hunt’s chief spin doctor Sam Lister spent a week at Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust. In a blog he praised staff and told how “consultants and nurses worked meticulously through a relentless procession of patients”.
He wrote: “Many were elderly, and many could be described as regular attendees (including one who was checked into the emergency ward for the 217th time).” He said it was an insight into how hospitals coped with the government target of seeing 95 per cent of people within four hours. Last week St Thomas’ figure was 97.5 per cent.
Hospitals across London all have “regulars” who often require no medical intervention but know how to trigger an ambulance callout, and rely on A&E as an alternative to social services.
Dr Katherine Henderson, clinical director in St Thomas’ casualty ward, said: “If people come to A&E with conditions that are not emergencies, they are treated in our urgent care centre so A&E staff can treat the sickest patients. This is an issue across the UK.”
The trust has set up community teams so patients who are elderly or have long-term conditions can be treated at home. A project to help homeless people halved their attendance at A&E.
