Junior doctors strikes last month led to patients waiting in ambulances
The Chief Exec of the local integrated care board that looks after hospitals in Swindon, Bath and Wiltshire has praised staff for keeping services running
Strikes by junior doctors over the Christmas period led to patients waiting in ambulances outside hospitals in Swindon, Wiltshire, and the Bath area.
At a meeting of the integrated care board which oversees services in the area, chief executive Sue Harriman said that the strikes had come at one of the “busiest times” for NHS and care services but that services across the area had managed to work together to keep services running and flowing. But she said: “It didn’t mean there wasn’t pressure in key areas.”
One area of pressure was “ambulance holes,” where patients who are taken to hospital by ambulance have to wait in the ambulance outside the hospital because there is not the capacity inside.
Ms Harriman said: “The system does remain fragile but it is in a more stable position.”
She said that the NHS had been aided through the strikes by non-NHS partners working with them too, such as local authorities helping to make domiciliary care available. She added that there had also been a “significant increase” in the use of virtual wards, where patients stay at home instead of in a hospital but are still monitored by NHS staff. More pharmacy capacity was also put on and, as it was junior doctors on strike, senior staff were also still working but Ms Harriman warned that consultants could not do everything.
She said: “There’s a possibility that there will be future industrial action and the learning from over the Christmas period will be taken forward.”