The Accident & Emergency Departments in our district hospitals do a wonderful job and will always remain a very necessary essential facility for the whole community. They save many lives and 'heal' people at the time of their urgent need. <p>
But there is always a price to pay. To remain useful , effective and up-to-date, these units must be adequately staffed and resourced AND TO BE ONLY USED BY APPROPRIATE CLIENTELE. Unfortunately the latter is not always the case; many go there for 'minimal' problems which could await a GP appointment next day or might even 'go away' spontaneously. That said it is also true that 'major' problems are often 'undignosed minor' ones warranting an expert assessment but does it always have to be an immediate one? <p>
Many small casualty departments have been closed in recent years ; the reason being that advanced medicine cannot often be safely delivered everywhere. Human lives are valuable and everything 'available' must be offered but that is simply not practicable everywhere - people with expertise , equipments , laboratory backup etc are essential.<p>
The recent surge may be due to several reasons -- a) changes in the contractual work of many GPs; b) increase in the number of frail and dependent people without any available care-giver; c) increase in the general expectation of the average consumer and easy availablity of the local hospital casualty not costing anything on the spot! etc . This list can be broadened. On top of everything , hospital beds have been steadily diminishing with the 'idea' that most things can be handled outside - well it is a good idea and NOT NEW but to make it deliver one needs an effective properly functioning infrastructure with appropriately trained personnel , which doesn't always exist !<p>
The pressure on our A & E depts is enormous and the staff working there are on the verge of breaking point. They are attempting to do their best under very difficult circumstances -- if the 'system' fails, it is not due to their incompetence or laziness -- we , as a society must appreciate this and support them wholeheartedly and thank them profusely.
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