King's Mill Hospital under pressure with ambulance handover delays and high bed occupancy​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made addressing the strain on the NHS one of his five pledges in his first major speech of 2023.

Here is the latest situation at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Sutton’s King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark hospitals:

Flu patients

The latest NHS England figures show there were 91 flu patients being treated at SFH as of January 1, up from three the week before. Of them, 86 were in general and acute wards, while a further five were patients in critical care.

It represents an increase from the start of the winter – no flu patients were being cared for at Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust on November 14, the earliest available figures for this winter.

On Monday, January 9, there were 25 inpatients with flu, while that had dropped to 19 today, January 10, alongside 46 patients with Covid-19 and eight with respiratory syncytial virus

David Selwyn, SFH medical director, said: “Although we do have flu in our hospitals, the number of cases has decreased over the past week, whether that fall is sustained now schools have returned, we will have to see.

“That said, we are treating people every day who are really poorly with flu and Covid, including several in our critical care unit.

“If you’re not feeling well, protect others by staying at home and avoiding close contact with others if you can. Get vaccinated against Covid, and flu if eligible, and when you visit our hospitals, please wear a mask in areas where they are required.”

Ambulance delays

Ambulance delays at A&E departments across the country also reached a new high in the week to January 1.

More than a quarter of patients waited more than an hour to be transferred, while 44 per cent of handovers took longer than 30 minutes.

At SFH, 2 per cent of the 641 ambulance arrivals took more than an hour, while 15 per cent waited 30 minutes or more.

NHS targets state trusts should complete 95 per cent of all ambulance handovers in 30 minutes, with all conducted in less than one hour.

A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance as they could have been moved into an A&E department but the handover was not completed.

Mr Sunak said: “We are supporting NHS staff with billions of pounds of extra funding, but in particular this winter, What we want to do is ensure we move people out of hospitals into social care, into communities.

“That is one of the most powerful ways we can ease some of the pressures on A&E departments and ambulances that are waiting too long.”

Maggie McManus, SFH deputy chief operating officer, said: “We’re doing all we can to release ambulances from our A&E as quickly as possible, so they are back on the road and available for the most seriously ill people in our communities.

“SFH is one of the top performing trusts in the Midlands for ambulance turnaround times, which is testament to the work our staff do with ambulance colleagues to prioritise our patients’ needs.

“If you need urgent medical attention but it’s not an emergency, please think ‘111 first’ – you can visit 111.nhs.uk online or call NHS111 for advice on where to go to access the treatment you need.”

Bed occupancy

As of January 1, 96 per cent of the 684 beds across adult and paediatric general and acute wards at Sherwood forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were occupied.

Of the occupied beds, 632 were for adults beds and 28 for children.

Meanwhile, all of the 13 critical care beds were occupied.

Phil Bolton, SFH chief nurse, said: “Last week, we opened a further 49 beds to take the total number of inpatient beds open across the trust to 773, the most ever opened by the trust at any one time.

“There is huge demand for NHS services across the country and our hardworking staff are going to extraordinary lengths every day to be there for the patients they care for.

“We know our hospitals are the perfect place to receive vital medical attention when needed, but they simply aren’t the best place for patients to continue their recovery.

“We are asking our local communities to support their NHS.”

" This could be as simple as ensuring our loved ones are supported to travel home or have food in the fridge as soon as they are ready to leave hospital.”

The trust has also opened a dedicated transfer-of-care hub at King’s Mill where a number of partner organisations now work together under one roof to accelerate patient discharges.