Hospital prepares for a "challenging winter"

Friday 24 September 2021

Plans have been made by the Princess Elizabeth Hospital to manage the current issues of bed capacity and waiting times for elective surgery, ahead of what could be a challenging winter.

As expected, waiting times for procedures have increased due to the pandemic, and they are taking longer to recover.

An ongoing challenge is the number of patients who remain in the hospital with no real need to be there. 

It has been reported that very few beds are available in the care home sector, which has had a knock-on effect on the capacities of both hospital and community care services.

Dr Gary Yarwood, Chair of the Medical Specialist Group, said: “The simple fact is that when community care patients occupy medical beds, acute medical patients have to move to surgical beds, and we then lack the inpatient beds for surgical patients."

A lack of critical care beds has an impact on hospital efficiency, as many elective procedures can only take place if there is a critical care bed on standby.  

Despite the lack of beds, Associate Director, Elaine Burgess, offered reassurance that they “would never discharge someone if it wasn’t safe to do so.” 

A new Critical Care Unit has been prioritised in the first phase of the Hospital Modernisation Programme due to start in the first quarter of 2022, and will increase the current seven beds to a 12-bed capacity. 

Additionally, an adjacent Theatre Recovery Unit will have 10 beds that can be easily converted into critical care beds to support any future demands.

It's hoped that a successful recruitment drive into the reablement service will also help with any challenges faced by the PEH.