Hospitals in crisis 'run on good will'

Photo: Darren Robinson

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which oversees the Royal Oldham Hospital, temporarily diverted ambulances away from its A&E departments.

HOSPITAL trusts in the North West were forced to register a black alert as they faced "unprecedented pressures" this month.

These major alerts indicate that trusts are unable to deliver all-inclusive care and "patients are being put at risk", the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned.

Delays in A&E also prompted the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to divert ambulances away from their A&E departments to provide short-term respite.

It was one of three trusts in the region which made the decision in the first week of January due to mounting bed shortages.

Pennine Acute, which oversees Royal Oldham Hospital among other hospitals, was joined by the University Hospital of South Manchester and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust.

The world's largest professional union of nursing staff, the RCN called on the Government to address the health and social care crisis after four hospital trusts in the region also declared a major alert.

North West regional director Estephanie Dunn said: "Our own members working on the front line are telling us about the significant pressures they are experiencing hour by hour across the system.

"We welcome that ministers recognise the commitment of staff to deliver effective front-line care. However, relying on the good will of staff to keep the system going is not sustainable over the long term and must now be urgently addressed.

"The long-term implication of maintaining the system at these unprecedented levels is unrealistic and dangerous as highly skilled nursing staff will no longer be willing to work in the service and the NHS will no longer deliver an appropriate service."

In the first week of 2017 an Opel (Operational Pressures Escalation Level) 4 incident, known as a black alert, was sounded by Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust and Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust.

This indicated they were unable to deliver comprehensive care and there was an increased chance of patient care and safety being compromised.

A further nine hospital trusts in the North West declared an Opel 3 incident to raise the alarm that a significant deterioration had been seen in meeting four-hour A&E targets.

Hospital trusts included East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and East Cheshire NHS Trust.

Ms Dunn said: "There are already 24,000 vacant nursing posts in the country and we can only expect the situation to worsen. Since the Government announced the withdrawal of student funding for would-be nurses, it's been reported that there is a 20 per cent drop in applications for graduate nursing courses."

She called on the Government to re-instate student funding and to get rid of the one per cent pay cap, to encourage more people into nursing.