Shropshire hospitals need 99 extra beds and £2.5 million to help them through winter

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has said the cost of covering the winter plan this year is estimated at £2.4 million.

Hospital bosses have already received £1 million and said the remaining £1.4 million is within the financial recovery plan, but is still subject to discussions with other health officials.

Simon Wright, chief executive of SaTH, said they have also identified ways to create 103 beds – four more than the extra capacity required of 99 beds.

He said: "We have been looking at getting surgery more efficient so they rely on fewer beds to deliver the care - what we don't want to see are planned operations being cancelled.

"Another one is over the years you do find that ward space gets used for different things - e.g. offices, quiet rooms etc. What we have done is found about 31 bed spaces that today are not used by patients but can be reactivated for the winter.

"The biggest way to create the bed spaces is to make sure the patients that have finished their care in a hospital setting can be sent home quicker - for example by giving therapy at home.

"The other is increasingly the availability of packages of care to be ready on day one instead of days five or six. We are working very hard with both councils to get something in place by the end of October. That will free up about 50 beds.

"We are also looking at a mobile ward and theatre at whatever site needs it the most."

A weekend discharge team will also be set up as part of the winter plan.

It is hoped this will increase the number of patients sent home at the weekend.

Health bosses are also hoping to set up a discharge lounge at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

This will be a new area where patients are sent to while they wait for their final checks before they can go home.

In a report due to be discussed at a SATH board meeting in Shrewsbury tomorrow, Debbie Kadum, chief operating officer at the trust, said: "There is a requirement to improve the time of discharge on both sites to enable flow from the emergency department before 10am each day.

"Discharge from hospital requires the coordination of a number of disciplines, which can lead to delays in a patient being discharged.

"Patients within acute beds can be delayed whilst awaiting transport, discharge summaries to be written, medication to be dispensed and external care to commence.

"Significant work is required to coordinate a timely discharge and therefore the creation of a discharge lounge on the RSH site would support this process.

"The objective is to improve patient flow by timely access to inpatient beds, with the aim to reduce trolley waits within the emergency department and acute medical unit, improving patient experience, quality and reduced clinical risk."