£533,000 cash to slash beds backlog in hospital
MORE than half a million pounds is being pumped into Staffordshire's biggest hospital to help cure bed-blocking before the winter sets in.
The money is being used to recruit 15 more social workers to be based at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire to make sure recovering patients can leave as soon as they are fit enough.
-
MISSED TARGET: A&E at Hartshill.
Improvements in discharge arrangements brought in during spring and summer have already slashed blocked beds from more than 100 to around 40.
But with huge numbers of patients continuing to flood into the accident unit and the onset of cold weather to come officials admit more still needs to be done.
The new sum of £533,000 from Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust will enable the city council to extend the time social workers are on duty from 5pm to 8pm, providing enough community support for patients to be safely discharged earlier.
And crucially the new staff, on top of the 18 already at the Hartshill complex, will for the first time place social workers at the hospital at weekends. Patients traditionally have had to wait until Monday to go home.
Mark Palethorpe, city council adult services director, said: "This means we will be working closer than ever with the discharge liaison nurses to bring in care packages more quickly for patients and their families.
"We have consulted with the trade unions on the extended working hours and are now recruiting ready to have staff in place in the next month or so before the winter arrives."
Despite initiatives to urge patients to use services other than the A&E, last Sunday saw 345 patients pouring into the unit.
That surge of 70 to 80 more than the daily average led to the hospital missed its Government target of seeing 98 per cent of patients within four hours for the first time in six months.
Hospital chief executive Julia Bridgewater, pictured left, said: "That was the busiest take for one day I have ever seen and it makes it all the more important to discharge existing patients safely and on time so more beds are free.
"We have already significantly reduced delayed discharges, but we still need to do more because every 30 delays is the equivalent of losing an entire ward.
"And with the prospect of losing wards to norovirus and swine flu this winter, we must use our remaining beds as efficiently as we can."
Health officials aim to eliminate all delayed discharges by three years' time when the area's £400 million superhospital opens with 240 fewer beds than the existing 1,200.
More health stories:
Hospital's brain tumours apology
Shake-up will cut smear result wait
Purple power is sweeping wards
Comments
by JOHN, newcastle
Tuesday, October 06 2009, 10:50AM
“Had the hospital not closed wards to make more office space for managers there would not have been a problem.What was the point of bed managers i have seen 3 bed managers all sitting next to each other doing the same job ringing wards and asking if they have any beds.get rid of some of the managers and re open the wards.....”