CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF CARING
Seven decades of NHS healthcare from our archives
BUSY HOSPITALS issued highlevel safety alerts as they battled to care for patients as a surge in demand on A&E departments led to the NHS facing its toughest ever winter.
Some hospitals had crisis measures in place constantly last winter, according to figures obtained by The Yorkshire Post which show the scale of pressure facing the health service in its 70th anniversary year.
They are revealed amid warnings of an “all-year” crisis in the health service and doctors in fear of making medical errors due to pressures in the workplace.
NHS trusts are required to issue alerts known as Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) to flag up pressure on the system. The highest level signals they could not cope with a surge in demand for care.
Figures obtained under Freedom of Information rules show that Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS trust was on OPEL level 3, which is the second-highest alert, meaning urgent action is needed due to “major pressures compromising patient flow” on 69 days during 2017-18.
A trust spokesperson said: “We experienced significant winter emergency pressures, in line with the rest of the NHS, but throughout patient safety remained our number-one priority while continuing to deliver high-quality care.
“Our staff worked extremely hard and showed great support, flexibility and commitment to ensure our patients continued to receive the best possible care in very challenging circumstances.”
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust had to declare OPEL level 4, also known as a “black alert”, on two days in February.
A trust spokesperson said: “Our hospitals were under extreme pressure at that time due to a high level of staff sickness and a number of ward closures due to diarrhoea and vomiting.”
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust had OPEL 3 in place on 140 days during 2017-18 and OPEL 2, which means services are starting to come under strain, on 222 days.
The trust said the OPEL levels helped it communicate the pressures it was facing to its staff.
The OPEL alerts were not always related to bed shortages, staffing and A&E problems, the trust said.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust had OPEL 3 in place almost every day in the last three months of 2017-18.
Chief operating officer Robert Harrison said: “Throughout January and February the trust experienced significant pressures due to a surge in demand for urgent and emergency care. This resulted in the trust declaring regular OPE 3 statuses during these months.
“The trust worked in partnership with York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to balance the demand for care across North Yorkshire, which resulted in additional patients being seen in Harrogate.
“During this period of sustained pressure we continued to focus on the safety and responsiveness of the care we provided to our patients and the wellbeing of our workforce.”
During 2017-18, 88.4 per cent of patients were seen in four hours at English hospitals, against a target of 95 per cent.
A report by NHS Improvement found that high demand on A&E caused an increase in the number of patients having to wait more than a year for planned treatment.
Some 2,647 were waiting 12 months or more in March, compared to 1,513 a year earlier.
Dr Nick Scriven, a Halifaxbased consultant and president of the Society for Acute Medicine, welcomed a recent announcement of new funding for the NHS, but said measures were needed to ease the pressure on hospitals as the NHS prepares for next winter.
He said: “The big issue that will loom in the next months will be how the NHS is going to initially recover and then prepare for the next seasonal rise in pressure.
“Year on year the NHS has, in effect, panicked every winter but has never taken the time to truly reflect on what may or may not have worked.
“There will be examples all over the NHS of local projects that made a difference and this is the time to review them and spread the learning.”