‘At the Royal Derby we are only one part of the puzzle’
GAVIN Boyle, chief executive at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB), says it continues to be a particularly busy time for the NHS.
He said: “Normally summer is the quieter season, but we’ve been exceptionally busy, particularly with high numbers of emergency and cancer patients.
“Despite the challenges, our staff continue to go above and beyond to provide exceptional care to every patient who needs us.
“We’re working hard to restore services with a view to ultimately returning capacity to pre-pandemic levels, including meeting the national targets such as emergency department waiting times, surgery waiting lists and the maximum time an ambulance should wait at an emergency department, but we can’t achieve this alone.
“At UHDB we are only one part of the puzzle. It’s critical that we work with our partners across health and social care to address challenges at every part of a patient’s journey.” He says that patients being able to be discharged from hospital, often through social care arranged in partnership with Derby City Council, are part of the “puzzle” which then frees up bedspace for incoming patients waiting to be transferred from an ambulance.
Rachel Traveller, assistant service manager for the acute care unit at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, said: “We’re continuing to see an increase in the number of people coming through the doors of our emergency department, but we have a good record for seeing, treating, admitting or discharging within the national four-hour standard.
“There has been a significant demand on services across the entire NHS system, coupled with a staff shortage caused by illness and Covid-related isolation that has increased this pressure and impacted our ability to consistently meet the 15 minute target to handover ambulance patients.
“But at no point will our patients be left to wait outside or in ambulances; they wait in our emergency department upon arrival whilst the handover takes place.”
On the role of the city council in keeping the health system moving, Cllr Roy Webb, the authority’s cabinet member for adults, health and housing, said: “The role of adult social care service’s in making sure hospitals are able to treat all patients is not widely known among the general public, but is a vital cog in the wheel. Any delay at this stage in the care journey sees a ripple effect back through the rest of the hospital, which ultimately can result in possible ambulance delays at the hospital front door.”