DON’T GET ILL THIS WINTER

Hospitals to suspend operations and send patients home early as Scots NHS faces overcrowding crisis over next three months

HOSPITALS will suspend routine surgery and even send some patients with serious conditions home as the NHS faces a winter overcrowding crisis.

Planned operations are set to be put on hold for around three weeks in some areas as Scotland’s health boards consider drastic measures.

In an effort to free up beds, NHS bosses have also set out plans to avoid admitting patients with chest pains, seizures or who have had falls. And anyone whose condition is not deemed serious enough will be directed away from A&e departments.

NHS boards have published the measures in their winter plans as they batten down the hatches in preparation.

Last winter the health service was almost brought to its knees after an influx of patients coincided with staff shortages and holiday closures of GP surgeries.

But critics have warned that a winter crisis in Scotland is ‘all but inevitable’.

The NHS is usually under greatest strain in december, January and February.

Scottish Liberal democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-hamilton said: ‘This raises serious questions about how people will be

able to access the care they need during cold winter months when pressure on the NHS is at its most intense.

‘People will be worried about the robustness of diagnoses in these circumstances and the consequences for patients whose procedures are pushed back. This is yet more evidence of the severe pressure our NHS is under. Ministers must lay out clear plans to ensure it gets the resources it needs.’

Several boards will put routine surgery on hold for up to three weeks over December and January.

Only people most in need of urgent care, such as cancer patients, will have surgery scheduled during this period.

One of the worst-hit hospitals last winter was the £1billion Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, where patients ended up being treated on trolleys while hooked up to drips.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) will roll out an ‘ambulatory

‘Deeply troubling revelations’

care pathway’ across its hospitals, meaning patients with certain common conditions will not be admitted, and will instead be treated as outpatients or at local clinics.

These ailments include abdominal pains, chest pains, falls, seizures and breathing problems where the patient is not deemed an emergency.

This means ‘patients are seen as quickly as possible and discharged home if a hospital stay is not needed’, an NHSGGC spokesman said.

Bosses hope this will prevent overcrowding in wards.

In another scheme, patients will be redirected at the ‘front door’ of A&E units. NHS Lanarkshire has outlined this in its winter plan.

But Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: ‘These are deeply troubling revelations that will leave staff and patients extremely concerned. A winter crisis due to SNP mismanagement is now all but inevitable.

‘The truth is the SNP has left NHS staff over-worked, under-valued and underresourced. Patients and staff in Scotland deserve better.’

Health boards said operations will not be ‘cancelled’ over the festive period but activity is being scaled back.

NHS Tayside plans a ‘reduction in non-urgent, elective operations’ for three weeks, beginning in the week before Christmas. Last winter, emergency patients were diverted from Perth Royal Infirmary to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee after ‘exceptional demand’.

A number of other boards are implementing similar measures.

Professor John Connell, chairman of NHS Tayside, said: ‘We have always had a step-down in the number of operations carried out over the festive period. Patients across Tayside should be abso- lutely reassured that all emergency, urgent, cancer and elective surgeries which have been prioritised by doctors will be unaffected and will take place as normal.

‘We decided to plan for this reduction in some procedures over the festive period when we looked at what has happened in previous years.’

Professor Connell added that this included cases when patients who had been booked for surgery around Christmas either asked to have operations postponed or had procedures delayed because of pressure in the NHS. A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire said: ‘We will be focusing on making sure people are redirected from our emergency departments if there are more appropriate places to be treated.

‘For example, if you have had an illness for more than three days, or you have already seen your GP, you may be redirected back to either NHS 24 or your GP. Often there is a more appropriate community health expert to manage nonemergency issues.

‘This ensures we have the capacity within our hospitals to deal with the very sick who need emergency care.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Scotland is well prepared to head into winter and we are working hard to ensure boards have the right support in place to cope with extra demand, including an additional £14million winter and A&E funding.’

‘Emergencies to be prioritised’