• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Central Bylines
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Transport
    • World
    Bruce Kent at a Stop Trident rally

    Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022) – a personal view

    Factory

    Cutting emissions from construction and automotive materials by a third

    child labour

    World losing fight to end child labour

    Protester and injunction

    Jesus wept: meet Mark Coleman, retired vicar and Just Stop Oil activist

    Cotton mill

    Gardens of the revolution: Fashion revolution at the Chelsea flower show

    Flowers

    This writer’s life: a diary. Part 3: Garden blessings

    Vigil for Visas

    Vigil for Visas: delays in issuing visas to refugees from the war in Ukraine cause misery and fear

    The motherland calls

    Your Deed Is Immortal: Russia’s obsession with her WWII past and her war against Ukraine

    Air pollution

    Deadline extended for Government’s air pollution consultation

    Trending Tags

    • Johnson
    • Ukraine Conflict
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Transport
    • World
  • Politics
    Patriotism in the UK

    Johnson isn’t a patriot, he’s a pariah

    Return to imperial measures

    The return of imperial measurements?

    Gun Control

    ‘Gun Free Zone’ (a ‘Found’ poem, extracted from Trump’s NRA conference speech in Houston, a few days later)

    Statue of a bishop

    Johnson can’t govern so he lies instead

    Fraud and government schemes

    Fraud and government schemes

    East midlands greatest hits

    East Midlands Conservative greatest hits, Spring 2022

    Voting

    Boris Johnson won’t remove himself – we all have to help

    Anti-rascism protest

    Anti-racism campaigners in Stoke-on-Trent demand change

    Johnson

    Johnson’s Rwanda asylum scheme draws praise from fascists

    Trending Tags

    • Levelling up
  • Opinion
    Adobe stock licensed image by Jorm S

    Freedom and conservatism

    This work is from the National Child Labor Committee collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.

    Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech. Fashion – Fix up, look smart! 

    Adobe Stock licensed image by motortion

    Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech: the invisible half of the population

    Official United Kingdom Parliamentary photographs 2020 Tom Randall (politician) - CC-BY-3.0

    Why do people become MPs?

    Image by Central Bylines Team - derived from eligible Creative Commons sources

    Gaslighting an electorate – the moral bankruptcy of Edward Leigh 

    Adobe Stock licensed: Gibberish
by egokhan

    Lucy Allan talks gibberish

    Image by Number 10 for flickr licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

    Red wall voters to Johnson: in the name of God, go!

    Say no to the elections bill

    Say no to the Elections Bill

    Trending Tags

    • Lifestyle
      • All
      • Art
      • Books
      • Dance
      • Festivals
      • Fun & Games
      • Movies
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Sport
      • Theatre
      • TV
      Image by author

      Anne Boleyn

      Portrait of William Byrd by The Trustees of the British Museum ©, licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

      William Byrd – “a Father of Musick”

      Waverly community garden

      Launch of Better Together Community Garden in Clayton

      Illustration by AB Wyze

      Here I’m sat

      Liverpool in Paris

      Gun Control

      ‘Gun Free Zone’ (a ‘Found’ poem, extracted from Trump’s NRA conference speech in Houston, a few days later)

      Bally Gill, David Morrissey, James Graham and Joanne Froggatt - sherwood cast

      Sherwood: what lies beneath?

      O'Rourke

      O’Rourke

      Fighter,Pilots,Cockpit,View,Under,Cloudy,Blue,Sky

      Top Gun, I feel the need…..

      Trending Tags

        • Dance
        • Food
        • Music
        • Poetry
        • Recipes
        • Sport
      • Business
        • All
        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
        cloudy beer

        UK’s first cloudy beer

        Cost of living crisis

        Crisis? What crisis? The cost of living crisis and political responses

        Adobe Stock licensed image by hanohiki

        Bad news for Newark: 110 jobs lost as town’s top employer withdraws to the EU 

        Promotion image from Colleague Box website

        Pandemic start-up success story hampered by Brexit barriers

        Image licensed by Pixabay

        Information is power: its loss can be devastating

        Photo by Matt Bango on StockSnap

        Hassle in High Peak: Robert Largan’s solar farm shenanigans

        Adobe Stock licensed - image by blackday

        British Gas-lighting a nation: how energy companies are exploiting their customers with increased prices

        circular economy

        Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech

        Dog wrapped in a blanket, luckily he does not have to pay the bill.

        Fuel bills and service blunders as energy prices start to bite

        Trending Tags

        • Levelling up
        • Economy
        • Technology
      • Region
        • All
        • East Midlands
        • West Midlands
        Image by Number 10 used under CC2 - Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 10 October 2019 to discuss the UK's Brexit proposals.

        The Northern Ireland protocol

        Waverly community garden

        Launch of Better Together Community Garden in Clayton

        Rent seeking

        A ‘high skill, high wage future’? Rentier Capitalism: who owns the future?

        Liverpool in Paris

        Mark Serwotka

        Trades Unionists demand action on the cost of living crisis at rally in Stoke-on-Trent

        East midlands greatest hits

        East Midlands Conservative greatest hits, Spring 2022

        Allens Cross Community Centre

        St Bart’s Pantry, open for business!

        women in power 2

        Women in power

        Vera Brittain plaque

        Midlands blue plaques part 1: Vera Brittain in Buxton

        Trending Tags

          • East Midlands
          • West Midlands
        • Events
        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • News
          • All
          • Brexit
          • Education
          • Environment
          • Health
          • Transport
          • World
          Bruce Kent at a Stop Trident rally

          Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022) – a personal view

          Factory

          Cutting emissions from construction and automotive materials by a third

          child labour

          World losing fight to end child labour

          Protester and injunction

          Jesus wept: meet Mark Coleman, retired vicar and Just Stop Oil activist

          Cotton mill

          Gardens of the revolution: Fashion revolution at the Chelsea flower show

          Flowers

          This writer’s life: a diary. Part 3: Garden blessings

          Vigil for Visas

          Vigil for Visas: delays in issuing visas to refugees from the war in Ukraine cause misery and fear

          The motherland calls

          Your Deed Is Immortal: Russia’s obsession with her WWII past and her war against Ukraine

          Air pollution

          Deadline extended for Government’s air pollution consultation

          Trending Tags

          • Johnson
          • Ukraine Conflict
          • Brexit
          • Education
          • Environment
          • Health
          • Transport
          • World
        • Politics
          Patriotism in the UK

          Johnson isn’t a patriot, he’s a pariah

          Return to imperial measures

          The return of imperial measurements?

          Gun Control

          ‘Gun Free Zone’ (a ‘Found’ poem, extracted from Trump’s NRA conference speech in Houston, a few days later)

          Statue of a bishop

          Johnson can’t govern so he lies instead

          Fraud and government schemes

          Fraud and government schemes

          East midlands greatest hits

          East Midlands Conservative greatest hits, Spring 2022

          Voting

          Boris Johnson won’t remove himself – we all have to help

          Anti-rascism protest

          Anti-racism campaigners in Stoke-on-Trent demand change

          Johnson

          Johnson’s Rwanda asylum scheme draws praise from fascists

          Trending Tags

          • Levelling up
        • Opinion
          Adobe stock licensed image by Jorm S

          Freedom and conservatism

          This work is from the National Child Labor Committee collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.

          Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech. Fashion – Fix up, look smart! 

          Adobe Stock licensed image by motortion

          Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech: the invisible half of the population

          Official United Kingdom Parliamentary photographs 2020 Tom Randall (politician) - CC-BY-3.0

          Why do people become MPs?

          Image by Central Bylines Team - derived from eligible Creative Commons sources

          Gaslighting an electorate – the moral bankruptcy of Edward Leigh 

          Adobe Stock licensed: Gibberish
by egokhan

          Lucy Allan talks gibberish

          Image by Number 10 for flickr licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

          Red wall voters to Johnson: in the name of God, go!

          Say no to the elections bill

          Say no to the Elections Bill

          Trending Tags

          • Lifestyle
            • All
            • Art
            • Books
            • Dance
            • Festivals
            • Fun & Games
            • Movies
            • Music
            • Poetry
            • Sport
            • Theatre
            • TV
            Image by author

            Anne Boleyn

            Portrait of William Byrd by The Trustees of the British Museum ©, licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

            William Byrd – “a Father of Musick”

            Waverly community garden

            Launch of Better Together Community Garden in Clayton

            Illustration by AB Wyze

            Here I’m sat

            Liverpool in Paris

            Gun Control

            ‘Gun Free Zone’ (a ‘Found’ poem, extracted from Trump’s NRA conference speech in Houston, a few days later)

            Bally Gill, David Morrissey, James Graham and Joanne Froggatt - sherwood cast

            Sherwood: what lies beneath?

            O'Rourke

            O’Rourke

            Fighter,Pilots,Cockpit,View,Under,Cloudy,Blue,Sky

            Top Gun, I feel the need…..

            Trending Tags

              • Dance
              • Food
              • Music
              • Poetry
              • Recipes
              • Sport
            • Business
              • All
              • Economy
              • Technology
              • Trade
              cloudy beer

              UK’s first cloudy beer

              Cost of living crisis

              Crisis? What crisis? The cost of living crisis and political responses

              Adobe Stock licensed image by hanohiki

              Bad news for Newark: 110 jobs lost as town’s top employer withdraws to the EU 

              Promotion image from Colleague Box website

              Pandemic start-up success story hampered by Brexit barriers

              Image licensed by Pixabay

              Information is power: its loss can be devastating

              Photo by Matt Bango on StockSnap

              Hassle in High Peak: Robert Largan’s solar farm shenanigans

              Adobe Stock licensed - image by blackday

              British Gas-lighting a nation: how energy companies are exploiting their customers with increased prices

              circular economy

              Reflections on Boris Johnson’s ‘high skill, high wage future’ speech

              Dog wrapped in a blanket, luckily he does not have to pay the bill.

              Fuel bills and service blunders as energy prices start to bite

              Trending Tags

              • Levelling up
              • Economy
              • Technology
            • Region
              • All
              • East Midlands
              • West Midlands
              Image by Number 10 used under CC2 - Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 10 October 2019 to discuss the UK's Brexit proposals.

              The Northern Ireland protocol

              Waverly community garden

              Launch of Better Together Community Garden in Clayton

              Rent seeking

              A ‘high skill, high wage future’? Rentier Capitalism: who owns the future?

              Liverpool in Paris

              Mark Serwotka

              Trades Unionists demand action on the cost of living crisis at rally in Stoke-on-Trent

              East midlands greatest hits

              East Midlands Conservative greatest hits, Spring 2022

              Allens Cross Community Centre

              St Bart’s Pantry, open for business!

              women in power 2

              Women in power

              Vera Brittain plaque

              Midlands blue plaques part 1: Vera Brittain in Buxton

              Trending Tags

                • East Midlands
                • West Midlands
              • Events
              No Result
              View All Result
              Central Bylines
              No Result
              View All Result
              Home News Health

              Is the NHS overwhelmed? Jake’s last Friday on Earth

              A Nottingham man died after an overwhelmed NHS was unable to help him. He sat untreated in A&E for 9 hours before being transferred. 36 hours later he died.

              June RochebyJune Roche
              09-01-2022 09:16
              in Health, Human interest, Politics
              Is the NHS overwhelmed?

              Author's own image

              Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
              ADVERTISEMENT

              My husband, Jacob, was a hard-working father of two who coached the local football team, Eastwood Town in the Notts Youth Football League, in his spare time. He was an avid Nottingham Forest Supporter. He had no history of heart problems but on 1st December last year, he had a telephone consultation at 930pm with his GP, Dr Shah, about what he thought were panic attacks.

              The doctor was brilliant – he had Jake describe the panic attacks, instructed him how to check his pulse and use our blood pressure monitor to get a reading and immediately told him to get to A&E as fast as he could. 

              There it was established that he had actually suffered two massive but silent heart attacks, as well as three strokes which had left him practically blind. His heart had been damaged and there was a big clot in one of the chambers. The doctors put him on blood thinners and on 9th December, he was sent home to recover. But two days later, things started to go wrong.

              11th December was Jake’s last Friday on Earth

              The Silent Struggle Behind the NHS Waiting List

              Straight to A&E

              That evening Jake’s chest started to get “crackly” and he became increasingly short of breath. This time, he felt pain in his chest and neck, so we went straight to the hospital. He spent that Friday night in a rammed but eerily quiet A&E reception. He was cold, blind, alone, and clearly having heart attacks. He sat in reception until 7.30 the next morning, when he was eventually transferred to the acute cardiology ward of another hospital.

              I had been refused entry and had to argue that he was newly blind and needed assistance, just so that I could sign him in and get him sat down. Then I went back to the car. I parked it as near as I could to A&E and called reception to alert them to the fact that Jake was clearly having heart attacks and had only recently been discharged. There was only one nurse on the desk, I was concerned that she may not have initially grasped the seriousness of his situation.

              As I sat in the car, ambulance lights flashed past me every few minutes.

              “Much worse off than me”

              At 3am, I persuaded the security guard to let me in, to give Jake his phone charger and a drink. He looked shockingly pale and so very tired. He was freezing cold and in a lot of pain. I was about to kick up a fuss but Jake said not to. He pointed out there was only one doctor on duty and told me to look around.

              The still, almost silent waiting area was full. Everyone was in the same position and lots of people were, in Jake’s words, “much worse off than me.”

              It was true. There were some really sick people there, some laying on the floor and others with the ashen pallor to their faces that severe pain brings. The nurse looked exhausted. The situation wasn’t her fault and she was doing her best – if I had kicked up a fuss it would have used up valuable energy that she needed to devote to these patients. And Jake would probably have been even more upset.

              The sense of despair and resignation in the room was palpable. What do you do in that situation? Should I bring the car round, take him out of there and try for another hospital? That might send him to the back of the queue.

              I had a word with the nurse, suggested I might take Jake to Derby. She said he had been triaged, that he shouldn’t be moved and would be seen by the doctor really soon. I believed her and I’m sure that she believed what she was telling me at that moment.

              As I left A&E, the security guard confirmed that there was only one doctor on duty. In Nottingham, a big city, in the middle of the worst pandemic in 300 years. He also said that this was often the case. I had no idea – how can one doctor be expected to see to all these people?

              Back at my car, I realised why ambulances passed around so often. They couldn’t park because the bays were already filled, two deep, with other ambulances waiting to take patients in. So I guess they were circling until a space became free. Throughout that night, there were so many ambulances, more than I have ever seen in one place before.

              Three little dots

              When Jake was finally transferred to the acute cardiology ward, again we weren’t allowed in. We just dropped his bag at the door. We thought he was in a safe place, being treated and finally catching up with his sleep.

              In reality, he was fighting for his life, fighting to get attention on the short-staffed ward and fighting the fatigue from having to sit upright, shivering and in pain for all those hours the night before. When he did eventually text me, he kept saying that he couldn’t breathe and was waiting for a Covid test. That came back negative but he still couldn’t breathe and we were still not allowed to be with him.

              As the time ticked by, I constantly watched for the three dots on my messages, waiting for him to text. But the dots stayed away until the following morning when he texted to say he was OK. He had had a bad night – no sleep again due to all the tests – and was on morphine for the pain. But he still couldn’t breathe. They told him he had picked up a chest infection. 

              Then the three little dots stopped and instead the phone rang from an unknown number.

              “How fast can you get here?”

              It was the first of two “how fast can you get here?” phone calls.

              At the cardiology ward, we were ushered into the family room, things were explained but all seemed hopeful. No one mentioned that Jake might not make it. We saw him: he looked so tired and kept falling asleep. His arms were full of bruises from where they had taken blood. A nurse was trying to take yet more blood from him while the patient behind us was becoming abusive to the struggling staff. Jake was exhausted, he said I should take the kids home so he could get some rest. So we left.

              The second call came at 10.55pm. They were taking Jake to Intensive Care. We rushed down in the pouring rain and ran down to ICU as fast as we could. But he died as we were ringing the doorbell.

              The doctor and nurse had tried to resuscitate him for 15 minutes. They were good people, visibly worn out but experienced and used to working with end of life situations. Even so, they were both clearly upset that they had been unable to save Jake. They must do this day in and day out, and with increasing frequency in times like these. Through the crushing heartbreak of Jake’s death, I felt so sorry for these two people who understood our pain and tried to help us, even though they clearly felt so desperately sad themselves.

              I don’t know. Maybe Jake wouldn’t have survived, whatever was done. But the long wait, the pain and the fatigue he endured in A&E simply cannot have helped him.

              For patients suffering heart attacks, the first hour is critical. The sooner a patient is treated, the better their chance of survival. Someone left sitting in A&E for 9 hours must watch that chance ebb relentlessly away as the minutes and then the hours tick by.

              A service overwhelmed

              I am convinced now that I should have live-streamed the events of that night. Maybe a news channel would have picked it up. Ordinary people, maybe even the people in power, could have seen just how bad it was. 

              But you just don’t think about that, do you? All I could think of was how to help Jake. Live streaming wouldn’t have helped him but it would have shown what is really happening. Maybe it would have helped people understand that it’s not just about Covid, how mild or severe it is.

              It’s not about being brave or afraid or pro- or anti-vaccine. It’s about the sustained cuts to funding and so many unfilled staff vacancies since 2010. Many EU staff left after Brexit and now the brilliant doctors and nurses that remain are unable to cope with the sheer numbers of people needing care during this public health emergency.

              The NHS in Nottingham was overwhelmed on Friday 11th December and my husband Jake died. 

              He was 48 years old.

              ADVERTISEMENT
              Previous Post

              Oxford by the river

              Next Post

              A tree for Eurovision

              June Roche

              June Roche

              Related Posts

              Bruce Kent at a Stop Trident rally
              Human interest

              Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022) – a personal view

              byLarraine Thompson
              27 June 2022
              Patriotism in the UK
              Politics

              Johnson isn’t a patriot, he’s a pariah

              byMike Stafford
              24 June 2022
              Ukrainian refugees
              Human interest

              Ali and Nykyta:  a Ukrainian refugee’s struggle to get to High Peak

              byAnna Girolami
              22 June 2022
              Return to imperial measures
              Politics

              The return of imperial measurements?

              byPippa Musgrave
              17 June 2022
              Gun Control
              Poetry

              ‘Gun Free Zone’ (a ‘Found’ poem, extracted from Trump’s NRA conference speech in Houston, a few days later)

              byLynda Tavakoli
              16 June 2022
              Next Post
              A tree for Eurovision

              A tree for Eurovision

              Want to support us?

              Can you help Central Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

              DONATE

              Sign up to our newsletter

              If you would like to receive the Central Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

              NEWSLETTER

              LATEST

              Image by Number 10 used under CC2 - Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 10 October 2019 to discuss the UK's Brexit proposals.

              The Northern Ireland protocol

              27 June 2022
              Image by author

              Anne Boleyn

              27 June 2022
              Bruce Kent at a Stop Trident rally

              Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022) – a personal view

              27 June 2022
              Portrait of William Byrd by The Trustees of the British Museum ©, licensed by CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

              William Byrd – “a Father of Musick”

              25 June 2022

              MOST READ

              Patriotism in the UK

              Johnson isn’t a patriot, he’s a pariah

              24 June 2022
              Lee Anderson

              Keeping up with Lee Anderson

              21 June 2021
              Bruce Kent at a Stop Trident rally

              Bruce Kent (1929 – 2022) – a personal view

              27 June 2022
              Image by Number 10 used under CC2 - Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 10 October 2019 to discuss the UK's Brexit proposals.

              The Northern Ireland protocol

              27 June 2022

              BROWSE BY TAGS

              Blue Plaques Climate change Community Cost of living crisis Covid Energy Farming Johnson Latest Levelling up My Little Town Rwanda Ukraine Conflict Voting Whistleblower
              Central Bylines

              Central Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Central England and beyond.



              Learn more about us

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Contact
              • About
              • Donate
              • Privacy policy
              • Bylines network
              • Back Editions
              • Shop

              © 2022 Central Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Home
              • News
                • Brexit
                • Education
                • Environment
                • Health
                • Transport
                • World
              • Politics
              • Back in the news
              • Opinion
              • Lifestyle
                • Dance
                • Food
                • Music
                • Poetry
                • Recipes
                • Sport
              • Business
                • Economy
                • Technology
                • Trade
              • Regional Events
              • Donate
              • Newsletter sign up
              • A Cotswold Diary
              • Authors
              • BYLINES NETWORK
              • Contact

              © 2022 Central Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              Welcome Back!

              Login to your account below

              Forgotten Password?

              Retrieve your password

              Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

              Log In
              X