News

How the NHS is preparing for winter across the region and how you can help

The NHS in Cumbria and the North East has developed comprehensive plans to manage the expected increased health care pressures that winter brings.

Winter preparations began earlier than ever before this year with hospitals, community services, GP practices and other NHS organisations developing plans to deal with winter pressures and surges in demand.

The pressures are often most visible in A&E departments, so in response monitoring systems are in place to highlight any issues quickly and to help manage patient flow across the region.

A range of initiatives have been introduced in A&E departments to meet increasing demand, such as direct access to specialists and direct booking for emergency outpatient assessment and care.

Front-door clinical streaming is in place in every major A&E to ensure that patients with non-emergency illness are appropriately cared for.

Dr James McFetrich, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, Cramlington, said: “We get sicker, older and more complex patients coming to A&E in winter so it is more difficult to manage. We’ve really worked hard this year on the way we decide who is best to care for patients in the first 15-30 minutes and stream patients so that they receive more appropriate and quicker treatment.

“Through gathering important patient information early in their assessment in A&E and organising relevant investigations, the patients are aware that they are continuously moving through the system. When their turn comes to be fully assessed all the information from these investigations is in place and helps us plan at that point any further treatment.”

For patients admitted to hospital, timely ward rounds are being prioritised to enable patients to be seen quickly, and to return home promptly if they are ready to be discharged. This year most hospitals in the region have introduced discharge lounges to free up beds on wards and ease the transition from hospital to home.

Cumberland Infirmary, in Carlisle, has set up a discharge lounge with a combination of 12 beds, seats and trolley spaces to alleviate pressure and assist streaming.

NHS England’s Medical Director for Cumbria and the North East, Professor Chris Gray, said: “We are reassured to see how partners and staff have worked together to prepare for winter – it is a huge team effort across every part of the health and social care system.

“We all have a responsibility to use our NHS services wisely and there are also things we can all do to take care of ourselves. It is vital that the most vulnerable people take preventative steps to stay well such as wrapping up warm, stocking up medicine cabinets and making sure prescription drugs are collected well before bank holidays.

“A high number of winter A&E attendances are due to issues which could have been avoided had people asked for medical advice at the first sign of illness.  Advice is available by calling 111, on the NHS Choices website or from your local pharmacist or GP.”

Work is also being done to actively reduce admissions of older people to hospital. A scheme in County Durham is running a Proactive Home Visiting Service to support patients in care homes identified by GP practices at high risk of hospital admission. A nurse-led home visiting service has also been set up supported by GP telephone advice and home visiting where required.

Dr. Stewart Findlay Chief Clinical Officer at Durham Dales and Easington Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We’ve been looking at additional support that we can put in place this year focussing on proactive visiting for vulnerable patients, this includes weekends to ensure patients receive support when it is really needed.”

In Darlington, Community Matrons and GPs are aligned to a number of care homes across the town. They work together to implement care plans and manage daily concerns to ensure residents are supported in the best way possible at home. As a result, emergency attendances and admissions continue to reduce from these care homes through proactive care planning.

To support this, Darlington CCG is seeking to make more use of assistive technology so they can identify early the onset of infection and provide proactive intervention to avoid an unnecessary unplanned admission to hospital.

Charities and voluntary organisations are also playing an important role in providing help and support when a patient leaves hospital to go home. From December, the British Red Cross will provide an Assisted Discharge scheme at Wansbeck Hospital, Northumberland, supporting discharge, including transport home from hospital, with resettlement assistance provided in the home for up to 48 hours.

The project supports individuals with low level needs and who have been assessed as medically fit to go home from hospital wards, A&E, medical assessment and primary care units. The service contributes to the prevention of unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions, and includes assistance with transport, short term support with essential food shopping, home safety checks and falls prevention.

By working closely within hospital trusts, referrals are received via medical and social work teams within the hospital.