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Walsall Manor Hospital wards to get extra beds for winter

Nearly 100 extra beds will be made available in the new year to tackle winter pressure.

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Walsall Manor Hospital

Bosses at Walsall Manor Hospital identified wards and departments across the hospital, which could accommodate up to 97 beds and trollies.

However, some areas will only be opened up if the Manor is under ‘extreme’ pressure.

The measures form part of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s winter plan for 2017/18.

Philip Thomas-Hands, the trust’s chief operating officer, will have to sign off permission for the extra space to be opened up.

He said: “We have additional beds that we can use for emergency cases if necessary and these will be reviewed by our capacity on a daily basis.

“We wouldn’t expect to use these over the Christmas period but anticipate there may be a need in January.”

Initially, 48 beds could be made available in surgical wards 10 and 11, ward seven for cardiology, ward 20c for day case patients, and ward 26 for gynaecology.

A further eight trollies could also be freed up in the surgical assessment unit, while under ‘increased’ pressure another two beds would be opened on ward seven, four on ward 29’s short-stay unit and another four in endoscopy (the department that handles procedures using an endoscope – a long thin tub inserted into the body with a camera and a light attached.

Then under ‘extreme’ pressure another six patients could be placed in endoscopy and another four in the radiology department. The trust has identified a further 27 beds in ward 14 for acute medicine but has not stated at what level of pressure they will be opened up.

The decision on where to open certain areas will depend on the type of need; whether the patient is male or female and requires surgical or medical attention.

Pressure has already been building at the Manor according to the latest performance figures – for October.

While the number of patients in A&E being dealt with in the required four hours improved from September, performances still languished at 83 per cent – way below the 95 per cent benchmark.

The month also saw a ‘significant’ increase in ambulance handover breaches with 193 patients having to wait more than 30 minutes to be transferred and 35 people having to wait for more than an hour. That issues is typically associated with a lack of available space in the hospital.

More recently the Manor has had to battle with a norovirus outbreak with up to three wards closed off last week due to the winter vomiting bug.

While 102 beds are currently being occupied by patients declared ‘medically fit for discharge’, a number bosses vowed to reduce to 80 this week.