Sherwood Forest Hospital Trust: Hospital trust draws up plans for extra beds to meet winter pressures

The trust, which runs King’s Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community Hospitals, has already created extra capacity for the winter period.

But the ‘bed gap’ – the number of beds available versus those needed – is expected to peak at about 47 in December.

When 96 per cent of beds are occupied, the trust will bring in its ‘full capacity protocol’ which creates emergency space in other parts of its hospitals.

Increased staff could be brought into areas under the greatest pressure, and elective procedures transferred to Newark Hospital from King’s Mill.

The trust has approved £988,000 to create extra beds for the winter months, and another £1.2m to keep patients flowing through their hospitals quickly.

However, a report on the winter plans acknowledges the safety risk to patients waiting for admission if hospitals become this full.

Specific plans for the busy Christmas and New Year period will be developed in the next few weeks.

The protocols have also been used during periods of extreme strain such as the junior doctors’ strikes.

The trust’s board also expressed worry about how it would cope with the years ahead as it discussed its plans on October 3.

Graham Ward, acting chair, said the board “reluctantly” approved the winter plan as it was the best they could achieve without extra funding.

He said: “I don’t like a bed gap like this at all. I’m conscious of the impact on elective surgery.

“If we don’t have a strategy to manage it going forward, it will only get worse and we can’t afford that.”

Rachel Eddie, chief operating officer said: “Demand keeps rising and rising, and we are struggling to keep up with beds.

“It doesn’t matter how much good work we do, demand is predicted to just keep going. It might slow down, but it’s unrealistic that it will plateau.

“We’ve exhausted our ability [to create extra beds] without significant capital injection. We need to focus on transformational schemes.

“This does worry me – I think it will be a difficult winter. The year ahead could be even more challenging.”

This year’s flu season is also expected to be more severe than previous winters, the meeting heard.