“We are going into winter with one hand tied behind our back.”
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust has said it is facing so much pressure it has had to go back to the drawing board for its winter plan.
Over the summer the trust, based at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, declared two critical incidents as its health services were under significant and sustained operational pressures.
The main problem facing the health service is a blockage of patients causing congestion throughout the hospital.
At one end, there are no care places in the community which leads to an average of 67 beds a day at St Mary’s filled with patients who could be discharged.
Those beds are needed by people who come into the emergency department seeking urgent treatment, who either need to be admitted to hospital or face long waits for care.
Speaking at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust Board today (Thursday), chief operating officer at the trust, Joe Smyth, said he was very concerned about winter as pressures had not changed, they were getting worse every month.
He said the trust had had a plan for an increase in admissions between three and five per cent going into winter however, the actual figure was around 13 to 15 per cent.
The trust would not manage in winter if it stuck to its original plan, he said.
Mr Smyth said ‘winter was worrying’, and he could not give assurances the trust had a plan in place on how it would manage the added pressure the season brings.
He said it was going to be really challenging and he did not see a solution yet, so they were going into winter with one hand tied behind their back.
The winter plan was being developed though, Mr Smyth said, and he hoped it would be completed in the next month.
To help fill the care gap currently on the Island, Mr Smyth said carers were being brought in from the mainland but also patients were being sent off the Island for care.
The care shortfall, he said, was a real challenge; one he did not see the trust had a comprehensive plan to address.
The trust was also looking at increasing domiciliary care provision by extending its day hub provision — currently based in Freshwater — with new hubs in the Central and East Wight areas.
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