This in from the IW NHS last night. Ed
Following significant pressures on the health and care system across the Island over the last 24 hours and difficulties in discharging patients from St. Mary’s Hospital, it has been necessary to postpone some routine in-patient and day case surgery, Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th September 2016.
This is to create capacity at St. Mary’s to care for patients who need immediate care. All patients affected by these postponements have been advised and will be rescheduled as soon as possible.
Discharge level well below requirements
To achieve a consistent flow of patients through St. Mary’s Hospital the aim is to discharge 50 people per day subject to their medical care and an assessment that they are safe to discharge being complete.
The level of discharges achieved has been well below the 50 required. On Wednesday, against a predicted 28 admissions, we saw 34 admissions (between midnight and 17:30hrs) with the possibility of more before midnight. Whilst 37 discharges have been achieved it is still below the level required to stabilise the situation.
Creating additional capacity
A spokesman for Isle of Wight NHS Trust, commented:
“The difficulties in discharging patients from hospital has meant that we have had to create additional capacity to cope with the number of patients we are currently caring for.
“We can only create additional capacity by releasing the space and staff we use for surgery and that means that we have had to regrettably postpone some patient surgery. We only do that as a last resort, but the current difficulties we find ourselves in mean that we have no choice. We have apologised to every patient whose surgery we have had to postpone.”
Plan ahead for discharge
They went on to add,
“We recognise that patients, supported by their families, want to be discharged to a location that they feel comfortable with, whether that is the patient’s own home, to stay with a relative or to a nursing or residential care home.
“We would encourage patients and families to plan for discharge as soon as they are admitted to hospital. Sometimes we will need patients to move, when they are medically fit for discharge, to interim locations in the community to free up beds for those who are ill and need to be in a hospital bed.”
Call 111
We are appealing for Islanders to call the Island based NHS 111 telephone number if they feel they need urgent medical help before making a visit to St. Mary’s.
Dr Mark Pugh, Medical Director at Isle of Wight NHS commented:
“We really need people to think about whether they need to attend St. Mary’s. If you think you should we would ask you to phone NHS 111 first and they may well be able to offer you alternative treatment options like seeing your GP, a pharmacist. On the other hand, if it’s an emergency, the NHS 111 service can send out an ambulance directly to you if that’s what’s required.
“When you call 111 the call is answered by a highly trained call handler, supported by nurses and paramedics based at St. Mary’s Hospital. They will assess the symptoms and put the caller directly in touch with the people who can help; for example, an out-of -hours doctor, a district nurse, an emergency dentist — or it may be something as simple as a 24 hour pharmacy.
“999 is for emergencies and life-threatening situations only and the Emergency Department (A&E) is for serious, life-threatening injuries and illnesses that need urgent medical attention.”
Vomiting and/or diarrhoea?
It is vitally important for those who have been unwell with vomiting and/or diarrhoea recently, especially if they have had these symptoms in the past 48 hours, not to come to the hospital unless it is an emergency.
Good hygiene is important during outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting as it is highly contagious. Keeping hydrated and drinking plenty of fluids is very important, particularly for the elderly and the very young that are most at risk. If the symptoms persist, telephone NHS 111. Further details of symptoms are available on the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk.
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Auntie P
