Stark extent of winter pressure at Nuneaton's hospital revealed as more than 100 patients 'boarded'

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For ten days the George Eliot Hospital was on the highest alert level possible



The stark extent of winter pressure on Nuneaton's hospital has been revealed. Back in January, CoventryLive reported that the George Eliot Hospital was teetering on the brink of declaring a 'critical incident'.

At the time, Dr Catherine Free, the Eliot's managing director, said they were on 'level four' in terms of coping with demand - the highest alert level possible. Now the length and impact of this has emerged in hospital board papers.

The paper revealed that, during January, the Eliot was on an internal level four for 27 days, with ten of the 27 days also on an external level 4. The external level four is the most serious.

As a result of this, it had to activate its full capacity protocol. It led to ‘boarding’ of patients, which is when they are temporarily placed on a ward and is used when emergency departments are full.

The hospital said that a total of 140 patients were 'boarding' throughout January with 125 patients 'boarding' for more than 24 hours. As a result of the hospital being under so much pressure, so was its staff.

The Eliot reported that it needed to use 'bank' NHSP staff due to cover shifts. It is commonly recognised that the traditional increase in pressure on hospitals over winter is now felt regardless of the season.

But this winter has hit the local hospital, as well as others, especially hard. However, in recent weeks, it has celebrated being given a 'good' rating by the CQC.

This was a huge turnaround in the hospital's fortunes having previously been 'requires improvement' for years but Dr Free said that they were determined to aim for the 'outstanding' rating.

She paid tribute to staff at the local hospital saying: "The demand on services in NHS is increasing all of the time and it can be hard so to see such a positive report, when are services are under such pressure, is a testament to the commitment and dedication of our staff no matter what the pressure.

"The report (CQC) is littered with tributes to the compassionate way our staff look after patients, I could not be happier."