Stafford County Hospital bosses fear a winter beds crisis

Discussing the winter plan for 2016/17 at a University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust meeting, bosses admitted a significant underperformance against local and national targets in relation to patient flow last year and shared their concerns that this may happen again this year.

Deputy chief operating officer Vivek Khashu said: "Winter 15/16 placed extreme pressures on UHNM, particularly in relation to admitted patient flow, resulting in significant underperformance against key national and local targets.

"Current levels of activity and length of stay predicts that the UHNM will also face a bed capacity deficit in the coming winter. We need to talk about what we are going to do to deliver a safe winter."

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Senior figures at the meeting expressed their concern over a lack of a clear plan so close to winter.

Chairman John MacDonald said: "If we wait until the next board meeting it will be too close, it isn't until November. We need to formulate a solid plan and make sure our service is managed correctly throughout the winter."

New chief executive Paula Clark said: "We need a good Christmas period and a good start to January. We are all aware that this can be a tricky time, but that is what needs to happen."

Plans to combat a potential winter crisis this year include assigning board directors to specific areas so that they can oversee proceedings and introducing a plan B of looking to place people in community care beds.

Mr Khashu said: "UHNM has formally requested a risk summit as the current position is not acceptable from a risk perspective on patient flow.

The chief nurse has now instituted a twice weekly review of nurse staffing levels across the divisions to oversee the provision of safe and effective nurse staffing levels."