Hospital facing bed cuts crisis (From Western Telegraph)

Hospital facing bed cuts crisis

PEMBROKESHIRE'S community health watchdog is desperately concerned over the beds crisis at Withybush Hospital and the knock-on effect it is having on other services.

"The worst-case scenario we have witnessed on one occasion is that of five of the county's fleet of six ambulances lined up waiting outside the hospital due to lack of available beds," said Pembrokeshire Community Health Council chief executive Ashley Warlow.

"The inevitable delay, in the event of an emergency call to another part of the county for a coronary or an accident, does not bear thinking about.

"We have been concerned for a long time about this 10% reduction in bed capacity. Ward closure for refurbishment was supposed to be temporary, but now the beds may never be returned to service, which is worrying for us and for the consultants."

The seriousness of the situation has been highlighted in a letter to patients by consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician Chris Overton, who claims that cost-saving measures underly the situation in which patients have suffered llth hour cancellations of planned surgery.

"It seems to me that we have hit rock bottom in the ability to reduce bed capacity," he said, adding that he had written to patients so that they would appreciate the scale of the problem.

A 30-bed ward at the hospital remains closed since last year, when it shut for refurbishment, and further bed capacity changes are being considered by the Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust.

A Trust spokesman said they are committed to improving patient services, including reducing waiting times for elective treatment and meeting emergency demands. The new day surgery unit will enable more patients to have day case treatment, and they are also providing more community-based care, so avoiding the need for hospital admission.

Emergency cases have to take priority, which sometimes means postponement of elective, non-urgent cases, and patients are advised to telephone the hospital to avoid unnecessary journeys.

"We have seen a steady improvement in our A&E waiting times over the first quarter of the current year, with 96% being seen, treated and either admitted or discharged within four hours," the spokesman added. Past pressures on A&E were largely due to outdated facilities and rebuild plans should overcome this problem.

l Asked about the prospect of matrons being reintroduced to Withybush Hospital, a Trust spokesman said this role was undertaken by senior nurses, but they were looking to strengthen this role in line with other recent management changes.

THE total number of outpatients waiting was 4,924 in March 2000 and 6,207 in July 2004, of these 2,336 and 3.307 had waited over three months. These needed to be considered in the light of 19,250 referrals in 2000-01 and 24, 273 in 2003-04.

There are potentially 280 acute adult beds available but recent actual figures were 236 in 2000, 268 in 2001, 267 in 2002, and 250 in 2003 and 2004. The numbers of patients having cancellations on the day of operation were 2002-03 - 287, 2003-04 - 290.