By Lauren Monaghan, Junior Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham’s main hospitals have successfully freed up around 100 hospital beds since a peak in patients earlier this year- but bosses warn “significant amounts” of corridor care could still be seen this winter.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) currently has around 100 fewer medically safe patients waiting more than a day to be discharged from hospital – compared to a peak of around 250 at one point in January this year.
These are patients who clinically no longer need to be in hospital but are unable to be discharged due to other factors.
There were also 92 ‘medically safe’ patients waiting for discharge across the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital this morning (November 12) – which is between 50 and 100 patients lower than around the same time last year.
The reduction is helping patient flow through the hospital, meaning shorter waiting times for those waiting to be seen in A&E and those waiting for a bed on a ward.
However, the Queen’s Medical Centre’s emergency department is the second-busiest in the country, with peak patient numbers double the centre’s original capacity.
Throughout October 2023 A&E at the hospital saw roughly 687 people a day-the department was originally built to look after only 350 per day.
The increased pressure facing hospitals in the winter months increases the risk of ‘corridor care’ – when patients are forced to wait on beds in corridors until they can be properly seen or admitted.
Today (Tuesday, November 12) the Queen’s Medical Centre saw around 340 patients between midnight and 1pm – some were waiting on trolleys in corridors.
As of 1pm on Tuesday there were 180 patients in A&E, with 30 of them being in the majors unit – meaning they are significantly unwell – 22 were waiting for a bed in the hospital.
One patient had waited around 26 hours for a bed to free up on a ward.
Between 500 and 600 patients a day currently go through the QMC’s A&E- roughly similar to this time last year.
Dr Mark Simmonds, Deputy Medical Director at the hospitals trust, said: “We’re still seeing patients waiting far too long in our emergency department.
“If you were to come with a minor injury or illness you may be waiting between eight and 12 hours when it’s extremely busy.
“We also have people waiting for a bed in our ED for longer than we would want.
“We recognise if we don’t have flow through our hospitals that results in ambulances not being able to offload patients at the front door.”
When asked if ‘corridor care’ was likely to be common again this winter period, he responded: “Corridor care is something we don’t aspire to but unfortunately the risk that we are describing this winter is we may still have that problem.
“Unfortunately patients may have extended delays, we may end up with significant amounts of corridor care but they will continue to get the care that they need.
“I want to reassure people while you might find yourself not in a cubicle space you will have had the care that you need.”
The trust is opening two temporary wards to help with capacity over the winter period at QMC and City Hospital.
City Hospital’s ward will open for 17 weeks and QMC’s for between four and six weeks, with both holding 28 beds.
The Trust is calling on people to help support their aims to reduce corridor care and better patient flow.
Dr Simmonds said: “We’re asking the people of Nottingham to support us and do their very best to use the NHS only when they need to- especially our emergency department.
“If you have a loved one in hospital, do your very best to work with us to ensure we can get the patient back home as soon as we possibly can.”
