Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital facing high demand at A&E

Dr Paul Harrison, acting chief executive, revealed the A&E service at the Dudley-based hospital was seeing 'more patients than ever'.

He said the reasons for the increase in demand was due to the outcome of a 'demographic time bomb' in terms of the ageing population.

The A&E, run by the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, has seen increases in the number of patients and ambulances attending in the last 12 months. Dr Harrison: "There has been a 12 per cent increase in the number of emergency ambulances coming to A&E and a seven per cent increase in patients. More patients are coming to the department than ever before." The department has been under 'extreme' levels of pressure since the start of the year, hospital bosses said during a board meeting in January.

Patients

More than 600 patients poured into the A&E everyday during the Christmas and New Year period.

The trust had a winter plan that looked at ensuring all ward space was opened and staffed to cope with the predicted demand, along with a workforce plan that utilised all of the teams to support patient safety.

He said: "In common with NHS organisations across the country, we have experienced extreme pressure on our services over the recent busy winter months. This is a result of an increase in emergency attendances and admissions, combined with a higher than normal proportion of patients with complex needs."

Dawn Wardell, chief nurse at Russells Hall, confirmed staff from other areas of the hospital had been providing support for the A&E. Dr Harrison said that the hospital's partners in adult social care had also been working 'hard' to get patients back into the community.

A move to close the A1 ward at the hospital and reduce temporary staff was also abandoned because the A&E department was experiencing increasing demand.