Health / NHS staff ‘putting patients first’ as at-capacity hospital remains under pressure
Around ten elective procedures have been cancelled at the Gilbert Bain, which is operating at capacity
NHS SHETLAND’s director of nursing and acute services has praised the work of the “flexible and accommodating” staff at Lerwick’s Gilbert Bain Hospital as they remain under significant pressure.
Kathleen Carolan said the hospital has effectively been at capacity on and off for the last 16 weeks.
Speaking to local media on Wednesday morning, Carolan said around ten elective procedures have been cancelled so far.
Emergency and urgent cancer treatment is still going ahead as planned.
The health board has also had to draft in six agency nurses for this week and next to ease pressure on existing staff.
When asked how long the situation might continue for, Carolan said the health board expects to be “reviewing what can safely happen in the hospital on a daily basis probably for the next two weeks”.
It appears there is a perfect storm putting pressure on the Gilbert Bain – increased respiratory illness, a number of frail/elderly people at hospital and lots of people admitted with serious acute illnesses.
Carolan said NHS Shetland plans for winter well in advance and has “escalation plans” in place.
“In Shetland we tend to have a late season for flu and respiratory illness compared with the rest of Scotland, and that’s really playing out just now,” she explained.
“There’s a lot of respiratory illness in the community, and there’s been a number of people who have been admitted to hospital with respiratory illness.”
These admissions have predominately been for flu but there are also other respiratory illnesses at play too.
Carolan also said that flu cases in hospital add an extra challenge in terms of how patients are spaced in the building – as for example someone without flu cannot be put in a bay next to someone who does have it.
She also said there are “quite a lot of people in hospital who are frail/elderly who have got complex care needs, and therefore they need support in order for them to go back into the community – whether that’s to home, or to a care home or with a package of care”.
“We’ve had lots of people who have been admitted with all sorts of serious acute illnesses over the last ten days, which you can’t really legislate for,” Carolan added.
The hospital is using all of its beds, including ten which are meant for contingency purposes.
Carolan also denied that a decision taken last year to reduce the number of beds on the surgical unit from 20 to 13 has caused the current situation.
“The reason that we’re under pressure is because there are lots of people who are frail/elderly in the system, and it isn’t safe to discharge them without there being care in the community for them, and we’ve got an unprecedented number of people who are acutely unwell who are in hospital and genuinely need to be in hospital,” she said.
“So we are using our escalation plans in order to make sure that we’ve still capacity for people to come in an as an emergency. Because unlike hospitals on the mainland, who are also under a lot of pressure, we’re not a bypass hospital – we have to have that capacity so people who need urgent care can receive it.”
She also said the “wave upon wave of people who need additional support” – be it acute care, or whether they are in hospital because they are frail/elderly – mirrors the picture nationally.
Carolan also took the opportunity to thank staff who are putting in hard work to keep things ticking over.
“Staff are used to working under pressure, but what we’re not used to working under is this prolonged period of pressure,” she added.
“We’ve been on and off full occupancy for the last 16 weeks. So I think it’s the duration that we’ve been working like this for which is unusual.
“Certainly from a winter outlook perspective, and I’ve managed many winters, we’ve tended to have peaks and troughs, whereas this winter we’ve had more peaks than we’ve had troughs.”
Carolan added: “Everybody has been very flexible, and accommodating and adaptable and putting patients first. I’d like to thank staff for all of the work that they’ve done.
“Because if it hadn’t been for their flexibility, I’m sure the situation would be a much more difficult thing to manage for everyone.”
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
