BRI hit by ‘winter pressures in summer’
THE Bristol RoyaI Infirmary is “experiencing winter pressures in the summer” partly because of the city’s busy programme of summertime events, according to a new report.
Almost one in three A&E patients were waiting more than four hours as the hospital faced high demand for its services in June.
A number of large events and festivals draw thousands of revellers into the city centre in the summer, and these have been partially blamed for the unusually high volume of people seeking urgent treatment, according to a report to University Hospitals Bristol Trust (UHB).
It said the organisation failed to admit or discharge 2,153 out of 11,625 patients within the fourhour target at its three emergency departments, which also include the children’s hospital and Bristol Eye Hospital.
That equals 18.5 per cent of people who visited the trust’s A&Es in June, although the figure for the Bristol RoyaI Infirmary (BRI) – which struggled by far the most – was a huge 31.2 per cent, way above
the NHS-set limit of only five per cent.
By contrast, the children’s hospital dealt with 93.6 per cent of patients within four hours while the eye hospital achieved 97.6 per cent.
The report said performance at the BRI remained “below trajectory”, adding: “One of the key drivers of this is sustained high levels of attendances, some of which is associated with key events during the summer in Bristol, such as the various music festivals.”
A spokesman for the hospital told the Post: “Events bring more people to the city centre and, because of where we are, we really feel the brunt of that.
“The kinds of things we’re dealing with are what you would expect – alcohol-related, drug-related, and this time of year we also see patients with heat stroke.”
He said there was not “just one thing” which caused the rise in demand, but having a higher volume of people in the city centre led to more people accessing services.
The report said extra staff were being recruited to cut waiting times.
New roles would include an additional middle-grade doctor overnight in the BRI’s emergency department, more resuscitation nurses and two full-time consultants who are due to start in October, with a third also being recruited. There will also be a new frailty team comprising a consultant geriatrician, specialist nurses and a pharmacist.
The trust’s overall figure of 81.5 per cent of A&E patients admitted or discharged within four hours is actually an improvement on the previous two months, when it stood at around 78 per cent.
UHB deputy chief executive and chief operating officer Mark Smith told the board: “The hospital is still at full tilt experiencing winter pressures in the summer in terms of admissions.
“We have seen some impact on elected programmes in surgery in terms of the amount of activity going through. However, overall the trust is performing very well across its range of indicators.
“ED (emergency department) is showing some signs of improvement.
“We have still got challenges and they’re particularly around volume, recruitment and physical space. But we’re in the midst of successful recruitment to our frailty service.”