Winter pressure building for Hull hospitals
Hull hospitals have previously struggled with long ambulance handover times.
Hull hospitals are already starting to feel the pressures of winter, according to their chief deliver officer. A cold start to winter is believed to be putting greater strain on the health service earlier than in previous years.
Hospitals in Hull have previously ranked as some of the worst at discharging patients in Yorkshire and the North East, a situation which could worsen in the coming months.
Shaun Stacey, chief delivery officer for Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust said: "There's no doubt: in the Hull area we have a higher than average stay for people are well enough to go home but for whom the facilities to support them at home are not there.
"We've seen quite considerable pressure in terms of managing sicker people, so people who have conditions where we're struggling to get their health to improve so people's stay in our hospitals is longer than we would have liked or anticipated."
Issues with freeing up beds has, and is continuing to cause issues in handing over patients from ambulance to the hospitals. Hull Royal Infirmary recorded record-long handover times this summer.
Shaun Stacy said a lack of uptake in both covid and flu jabs may have contributed to the rising number of patients at their hospitals, amid reports of high cases of noravirus at Hull Royal Infirmary.