This came in from the IW NHS very late last night. In their own words. Ed
Since 1st January 2012 St. Mary’s Hospital has experienced a surge in admissions of elderly frail patients and patients with respiratory conditions. In early February NHS Isle of Wight reopened 16 beds on Appley Ward to increase capacity in the healthcare system on the Island to cope with these patients.
Ward closes today
With the onset of Spring, improving weather and a reduction in the number of excess admissions the decision has been taken to close Appley Ward again.
Carol Alstrom, Chief Nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital and the lead Director at NHS Isle of Wight for patient safety comments: “St. Mary’s has to flex its capacity to deal with busier times and winter is naturally a period where we see higher levels of illness and as such, more people are admitted to hospital than we would see in the warmer summer months.
“During winter, particularly in the months after Christmas we therefore need more beds to accommodate patients than we would do in the relatively quieter months, hence our decision to re-open Appley Ward. A number of hospitals ‘flex’ their capacity in this way to ensure they have the right level of beds to meet the needs at any given point in the year.”
Reduction in the number of excess admissions
She went on to say, “We have now decided to close Appley Ward because we are seeing a slow reduction in the number of excess admissions and we were finding it difficult to staff the additional beds. There is a limited pool of qualified nursing staff on the Island and we now need to ensure that these nurses are focused on our Wards that are open throughout the year. With demand reducing, albeit slowly, we believe the time is now right to close Appley.
“During this period our staff and the agency staff we have had to bring in have worked very hard to maintain levels of service set out in our ‘We Care’ initiative. I would like to thank them for their dedication and commitment to patient care. We have found it necessary to move patients around the hospital more than we would have liked during this time to ensure that staffing levels were adequate and the safety of patients was not compromised. I would like to thank our patients, their relatives and carers for bearing with us during this extremely busy period.”
Remaining patients transferred
Appley Ward will close on Friday 16th March. Any patients remaining on the Ward at the time it closes will be transferred to other Wards.
Technically, Appley Ward was originally closed on 1st May 2011 to support planned redecoration throughout the main hospital wards (though patients were still admitted to Appley after this time as another ward was closed to be re decorated).
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Auntie P/a>
