MP welcomes move to ease hospital crisis
AN MP today welcomed the opening of 81 extra beds in the community to help ease a crisis at the area's main accident unit where desperately ill people face marathon delays for treatment.
The measure was unveiled on Wednesday in an attempt to move recovering patients out of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire more quickly so their beds can be used for new emergency cases.
That will free a major bottleneck behind much of the gridlock at the hospital which has been left reeling by life or death cases being brought in by ambulance on average every four minutes.
The new beds are mainly either in private nursing homes, purchased by the area's two primary care trusts, or at the PCT's own community hospitals.
But eight of them are at the city council-run St Michael's House in Hewitt Street, Chell.
Stoke-on-Trent North MP Joan Walley said: "With the enormous problems we have seen at accident and emergency, and problems further down the line with delayed discharges, that measure will make a small but important difference and the PCT is to be congratulated for responding so positively."
The move comes as Ms Walley has also tabled parliamentary questions addressing the problems caused by delayed discharge from hospitals.
She has asked for details of the number of beds being blocked by delayed discharges and the reason for them.
Ms Walley added: "When a patient has completed their treatment they should not be kept in their bed for want of alternative accommodation."
Comments
by Louise Davies, Newcastle
Friday, December 05 2008, 12:00PM
“Well, why is the MP Joan Walley & the rest of the local population so surprised that this catastrophe happened at the UHNS?
I would have thought that the closure of many elderly care beds in the community in the last 2 years had a major part to play!!!!
As a Staff Nurse who's worked at the UHNS for the last 12 years, the delay in discharging frail & vunerable patients back to the community (when previously to their admission, many lived at their own home) IS NOT A NEW THING!!!!!
At this time of year, emergency admissions for acute medical problems & people collapsing with them &/or slipping over on ice IS TO BE EXPECTED!!! Also, staffing levels at the hospital become critical as we go off sick with the same viruses & bugs as the rest of you-we are human too!! We even have to take leave to care for our own sick children as they cannot go to school!
The bed managers & hospital site managers are in a catch 22 situation-they need beds for emergency admissions, but every day many are blocked by patients who HAVE GOT NO WHERE TO GO!!!!!
The answer???-i'm not an MP or an expert, but what i do know is, that shutting elderly care beds in the local community, to save money or whatever the pathetic reason was at the time, was the real crime & the real reason why we are in this 3rd world situation now!!!!”