Health bosses warn East's health system is under “extreme pressure”
Directors say they're working to urgently boost capacity
Health bosses have warned that the region’s health and care system is coming under “extreme pressure” due to high demand, rising staff sickness and bed-blocking.
Norfolk and Waveney’s NHS chiefs said they were working to create additional capacity, but warned that “many patients in less urgent need of care may have to wait longer than we would like”.
It comes as NHS bosses across the country report coming under huge pressure from extreme levels of demand, with some even considering setting up ‘field hospitals’ to deal with a surge in patients.
Marcus Bailey, winter director for NHS Norfolk and Waveney, said: “Our health and care system is experiencing extremely high levels of demand and emergency department staff are working closely with other health and care colleagues to make sure patients are seen as quickly as possible.
“We are seeing large numbers of very unwell people attending emergency departments, calling NHS111, accessing GP services and calling 999; as well as an increase in seasonal illnesses such as flu, norovirus and Covid-19.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the national NHS Confederation, said on Monday that some trusts across the country had experienced incidents in which where their oxygen cylinders have run out temporarily.
Shaun Lintern, health editor at the Sunday Times, tweeted a photo on Sunday evening, which he said showed 36 ambulances queuing outside the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), “with crews forced to swap oxygen cylinders with each other as they ran out because some patients were stuck many hours in the back of ambulances”.
A spokeswoman for the region’s integrated care system has since said there are currently no issues with oxygen supplies across Norfolk’s hospitals.
Mr Taylor also revealed that some 12,000 medically fit patients were stuck in hospitals across the country because of delays in being able to discharge them and create space for those in need.
Those delays can often be caused by a wait for care packages or extra support being supplied to people at home, as other parts of the social care system in turn comes under strain.
According to the latest available data, which runs up to and including Christmas Day, Norfolk’s three hospitals had more than 500 people waiting to be discharged each day, for several days in a row in December.
By December 19, the county’s health workers had succeeded in whittling that daily figure down to below 400 people.
But bringing the numbers down significantly further could take some time.
By Christmas Eve morning, some 332 people were waiting to be discharged from Norfolk’s hospitals.
While 232 of that number left hospital that day, new people entering the hospitals and undergoing treatment meant that by Christmas Day there were 322 people awaiting discharge – a net reduction of just 10 people in one day.
Increasing staff sickness levels, partly caused by the winter rise in respiratory illnesses, have made it harder to deliver treatment.
But Mr Bailey said his team was working hard to free up bed capacity, including “providing additional support to care homes to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and redeploying staff and using reservist and other staff including those from the VCSE voluntary, care and social enterprise sector where help is needed most”.
He added: “Our first priority has to be providing the most urgent and lifesaving care. Patient safety must take priority and we need to take action to make sure that those who are more clinically urgent get the help they need as quickly as possible.
“Essential services are open for those who need it most.
“This means that many patients in less urgent need of care may have to wait longer than we would like.
“We apologise to those patients and ask for their understanding during this time of extreme pressure.
“People are being urged to only attend an emergency department if it’s absolutely necessary.
“The best way to get the medical help you need is to think NHS 111 first. Visit 111.nhs.uk or call 111 for anything that feels urgent, or if you are unsure what to do.”
While the region’s hospitals have come under strain, GP surgeries are also feeling the pressure, a doctor has said.
Tim Morton, a GP partner at Beccles Medical Centre, said: “We’re equally finding we’re overwhelmed and it’s been going on for several weeks.
“There are huge volumes of respiratory illnesses – a combination of Covid, influenza, Strep A, and another respiratory virus – RSV – all combining, so it’s hitting all age groups.
“It’s also affecting staff sickness levels, so a perfect storm really.”
“We are trying to prioritise those most in need but the pressure is just unrelenting.”
Dr Morton said there was little sign of the situation improving.
“It’s been a really busy two or three weeks and we can’t see any let-up,” he said.
“It’s about trying to deal with patients’ expectations, with the background of trying to run practices with huge numbers of staff sickness as well, both clinical and non-clinical.
And the GP said that the problems in surgeries were less visible than in hospitals.
“It’s very challenging, and it’s exactly the same issue which is facing accident and emergency departments as well.
“It’s no different… it’s just that we don’t have shiny yellow and green ambulances stacked up in front of our surgeries.”