Health bosses working 'around the clock' to keep hospital beds available

Sandwell Council and NHS partners are planning how to prevent 'avoidable admissions' and speed up how quickly people leave hospital once they are well enough.

The borough has benefited from an extra £11.5 million of Government investment into the Better Care Fund during 2017/18.

This will help protect social care services and ensure the council is able to fully meet the care and support needs of the borough's vulnerable people.

The funding will also provide extra winter capacity across of community services, allowing more care to be delivered at home and freeing up intermediate care beds.

Chiefs said this will 'help to prevent avoidable admissions to hospital and enable people to return home quickly and safely after a stay in hospital'.

Rachel Barlow, chief operating officer at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We welcome the support for our patients from social services opening up extra beds in our community and have implemented additional measures to improve the movement of patients through our hospitals.

"This includes speeding up the discharge process by ensuring common prescription medication is available on our wards to reduce delays whilst pharmacy fills prescriptions for patients to take home.

"We've also allocated lead consultants to be based full-time on medical wards, so that decisions about ongoing care can be made without delay."

Dr Nick Harding, chairman of NHS Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "There is no doubt that winter is a challenging time, but all of our patients can be assured that we have taken important measures to ensure that they receive the right treatment at the right time.

"This winter, patients in Sandwell and West Birmingham are benefiting from a GP extended access service on evenings and weekends.

"Evening and weekend appointments are now available with GPs, practice nurses and other healthcare professionals.

"Our priority is to keep our patients safe. So, if you’re not sure what the appropriate service is, call NHS 111 and speak to someone who can provide advice on the best course of action."

The bed situation is being monitored daily, with extra staff and care spaces on standby if there's greater demand than expected, according to bosses.

The Older Person's Assessment Unit and Joint Discharge Team are based at Sandwell Hospital.

They both bring together health and social care workers and help asses and support patients to ensure safe and timely discharges from hospital.

Sandwell Health and Wellbeing Board chairman Councillor Ann Shackleton said: "I want to thank everyone who's working so hard in our hospitals.

"Health and social care workers work very closely together to assess patients' individual needs, support their treatment and help them home or into suitable care as soon as they are ready."