Pressure Remains in Yorkshire Coast Health Service

Sunday, 23 October 2022 07:00

By Matthew Pells

The NHS on the Yorkshire Coast remains under huge pressure according to health leaders.

The Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership says that over one thousand people a day are attending emergency departments across their region and the Chief Exec of the York and Scarborough NHS trust - Simon Morritt - says Scarborough Hospital is also experiencing high demand for services and difficulty discharging patients.

Health leaders say extra discharge rounds have been added in hospitals in a bid to identify more patients who are ready to be discharged home without needing a care package.

But Simon Morritt says that's not always possible and in part that's due to staff shortages across the health and care sectors.

The Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership pressure says pressure has significantly increased over the last few weeks – especially in hospitals and GP surgeries – and is compounded by rising cases of Covid and flu.

Stephen Eames, Chief Executive, said:

“We are working together, as partners in health and care, across the Humber and North Yorkshire to address some of the key challenges in our system.

“As a partnership we are continuing to prioritise a recruitment drive across health and social care ahead of winter – with the aim of being one workforce.”

The partnership say that as well as boosting their workforce , lower category ambulance calls are being diverted to community services (single point of access) where healthcare professionals can signpost patients to a more convenient service for them, if they do not need to attend hospital.

Stephen Eames added:

“Ambulance services across England have been under considerable strain all year and there is no straightforward solution to ease this, but as one measure, additional paramedic staff are being located where they are needed the most to support ambulance crews with patient handover and helping ambulances get away quicker to respond to emergency calls. We also have Hospital and Ambulance Liaison Officers at each hospital helping maintain patient safety standards and again helping with handover times.”

“Our GPs and practice nurses are also working incredibly hard to give extended access to patients, in fact, we are seeing more primary care appointments available to patients than ever before. A patient that needs to be seen the same day and face-to-face, will be seen that day.

“We continue to see thousands of patients a week across our region book a GP appointment and then not attend and I would urge people to cancel their appointment if it is no longer wanted. That consultation can then be given to a patient who has an urgent need.”

While many patients in hospital are very unwell, health and care services are urging people to seek other health services if their condition is not serious or life-threatening: