Hospitals in beds crisis

Amanda Crook

October 05, 2007

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CRISIS: Bed shortage

PATIENTS are having to wait on trolleys in a beds crisis that has stretched hospitals across Greater Manchester to breaking point.

Others are having to spend the night on chairs - and ambulances are being diverted to other hospitals around the region.

Health chiefs have put hospitals on `red' status, the highest crisis state because they don't have enough beds to meet demand. People arriving by ambulance at Manchester Royal Infirmary waited on trolleys with paramedics caring for them for up to 45 minutes until they were found a cubicle.

The hospital's observation unit has also been full - forcing patients who need monitoring for potentially-serious conditions to spend the night on chairs.

MRI has been on red status for much of the last three weeks.

Along with the Royal Bolton Hospital, it has been so busy that ambulances have had to be diverted to take patients to other hospitals.

Pennine Acute trust, which runs hospitals in North Manchester, Bury, Oldham and Rochdale, has narrowly met national A&E waiting time targets over the last few weeks and says it is coping with the pressure.

Health bosses say the last three weeks have been extremely busy, with 100,000 students returning to the city for Freshers Week and many people suffering heart pains.

Michael Joslin, 20, a student from Withington, was taken to MRI on Monday after being knocked off his bike. "I waited an hour-and-a-half to be seen," he said. "I had a head injury, so I had to be kept in for observation, but there were no beds and I had to try to sleep on a chair in a waiting area."

A total of 473 patients arrived at MRI's emergency department on Monday - a 20 per cent increase on the same day a year ago.Up to eight ambulances had to wait to drop off patients on Tuesday afternoon. Simon Brown, an MRI medical manager said: "We have been extremely busy over the last two to three weeks and pressure has been building on the system."

A spokeswoman for the Royal Bolton Hospital said: "We have had a very busy August and September and had to briefly divert ambulances - but this is standard protocol for hospitals at very busy times."

What do you think? Have your say.

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Bejjy ex Salford now Malta, Malta (05/10/2007 at 08:51)

With all the investment that we are told is being pumped into the NHS by the Government, why is this still happening? In 2000, I was taken to A&E at Hope Hospital at 7.00 in the evening and left there at 10. 00 the next morning (15 hours) having spent the night sitting in a chair in the observation ward. It is not a pleasant experience I can assure you.

Grimnir (05/10/2007 at 09:28)

Frankly, I am not surprised at this. Privatising the NHS is a stupid idea. It no longer a medical establishment it is a business now.

Too many people treat A&E like a free Doctor's Surgery and it does have to cope with the lack of Withington A&E now too.

The best thing that could happen here is for this NHS Trust to ditch PFI - whilst they can get out. The amount of Staff that leave due to PFI is massive.

The Bobelesque, In The Rye (05/10/2007 at 09:39)

Let's hope we don't get a bad winter, or a natural catastrophe or a terrorist attack.

The nhs is being run by incompetent people. Put it back in the control of medical people, sack the managers, sack the targets and start providing what we are paying for.

S P In exile, Tameside (05/10/2007 at 11:05)

There are supposed records amount of money being pumped into the NHS so where is it going, more spin from a Labour government.

I have just heard that the government are going to spend 16 billion pounds on a new rail line through the centre of London. Funny how money can be found for anything London.

chris (05/10/2007 at 11:21)

joke. where is the money? who are these incompetent people in charge of state-run bodies, i.e. hospitals, schools, military, police, prison service etc etc?

Grimnir (05/10/2007 at 11:23)

The Babelesque - these 'managers' you speak of are actually Westminster. Ask ANY NHS Manager and they will tell you of the unrealistic 'targets', massive overspend, etc, etc - as a result of - yep - PFI. More Westminster. So - it nothing to do with 'manager' then.

The Bobelesque, In The Rye (05/10/2007 at 11:35)

So, if these £100 000 plus a year flunkies don't actually do any managing what are we paying for?

J Sheldon, UK (05/10/2007 at 14:07)

This is the normal NHS pre winter whinge. When their inability to manage and budget becomes news, when people are blamed for falling over untreated pavements, getting ill through cold and social neglect.

Billions are collected in ever increasing UK tax burdens. But how much is spent wisely, how much is totally wasted. The NHS is a good place to look for the latter.

ebble (05/10/2007 at 15:50)

It's not all bad on the NHS waiting list front. I never have to wait weeks to get an NHS dental appointment anymore. That's because I can't find an NHS dentist anymore. I've been forced to go private. Things can only better - whoever told us that in 1997 was lying.

wkdboy1, Woodley (05/10/2007 at 20:11)

Well i hope that GB does hold an election so we can get rid of Labour, they are ruining the NHS and its time for them to leave office and let someone else fix the NHS because will not fix this mess and never will.

Franco Bellocini (05/10/2007 at 20:23)

Put this down to the Labour Party and Mr Brown. The public know the score and know the facts. Brown and his cronies out now. Perhaps one day we will see the return of an honest politician. Blair thanks for nothing you should disappear now!

Amounderness Lad, Caithness (06/10/2007 at 03:14)

Isn't this the same hospital that keeps pushing for others to be closed down and everything centralised on them?
They can't deal with what they already have so why should people believe they could cope with more patients? Could it be that what they are really doing is hoping to grab other hospitals' budgets without considering the increased numbers of patients that would entail?
Of course, bigger hospital equals bigger budget equals bigger responsibilities equals bigger importance equals bigger, much bigger, stupendously bigger salary for those at the top. Seems to me that whilst they are day dreaming about all that the job they are being paid to do is being ignored.

Jane Smith, Vancouver Island (07/10/2007 at 03:12)

Your hospital situation sounds no different from mine in Canada. We have people dying in our hallways our health care system is so devastated.

I don't know about the current UK system, but when I lived there (and worked at Wythenshawe Hospital, this sort of thing was unheard of.

Some seem to blame the labour government. Well, it's the same here, and we do NOT have a labour government, either provincially, or federally, sad to say!

The burgeoning cost of health care here is simply because of the numbers of people choosing to live here from "everywhere else", and then whine about it all. A hospital that met the needs in the 70's does not even begin to meet the needs now.

Jane Smith, ex Manchester, now Canada. And yes, that's my name.

ace, manchester (07/10/2007 at 16:33)

Iould like to thank all the staff and doctors at the MRI for all the emergency help i received a few weeks ago when i thought i was having a heart attack . but to mar the hospital i had to wait until a bed became empty for me .no fault of the staff at the sharp end Its terrible managent .the doctors and nurses do a exellent job in some terrible conditions in our hospitals .And that goes for all the ambulance crews...WELL DONT TO YOU ALL..

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