Winter plan drawn up to reduce stays in hospitals in Sandwell and Birmingham
Plans have been drawn up by health chiefs to reduce admissions to A&E departments and discharge patients quicker to help free up bed space this winter.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust leaders will focus on three main areas – including maintaining elective services across its two sites.
Health chiefs say they will focus on cutting back admission to A&E where necessary and increase access to services in the community to cut down stays.
These points will help improve patient flow and therefore have an impact on ambulance handover delays which were described as "variable" over the period to July.
Johanne Newens, acting chief operating officer, said if they "get these things right" they can steadily maintain the elective plan wherever possible over winter.
And it's something she described as being crucial, adding: "It's not about capacity, we've got evidence our patients are deteriorating as a result of long waits so we're making a commitment this winter to maintain this elective plan wherever possible."
Plans have already been put into motion due to a steady rise in the number of attendances at hospital, both self-presentations and ambulance conveyances. It has led to the opening times for the primary care team at the Sandwell Urgent Treatment Centre being extended to assist in patient flow.
Meanwhile reducing stays in hospital – and reducing the number of people who need to attend A&E – will have an impact on ambulance handover delays at both Sandwell General Hospital and City Hospital in Birmingham.
A report, covering the period up to the end of July, said: "Handover performance within 30 minutes decreased in July but there were positive improvements for over the hour offload performance.
"As an organisation we remain of the most effective in this area within the West Midlands."
