THE chief medical officer for Bournemouth and Poole's hospitals has urged people in Dorset to play their part in a bid to ease the “immense pressure” on hospital staff.

University Hospitals Dorset's (UHD), Dr Alyson O’Donnell has responded to reports of rising hospital admissions, primarily in Royal Bournemouth Hospital, which has seen patients waiting in corridors due to bed shortages.

“For me, the big thing is that the whole system needs to work together to solve this problem,” said Dr O’Donnell.

“We did suffer from being holiday destination with so many coming into the area and that’s partly why our numbers are higher than the national average. It’s a juggling act every day to do our best to treat acuter patients and those who need planned care.

“15 per cent of our beds are occupied by those who don’t need the care anymore and another six per cent are Covid patients – that’s over 20 per cent accounted for right away.

“If we can speed the process for people at the end of their stay with us, we can be far more accommodating to emergency admissions. 

"We’ll be able to get patients into the correct wards, the correct beds and with the correct team. That way, they’ll also be out quicker.”

However, Dr O’Donnell also said the public has their role to play in keeping hospital admissions low.

She said: “We’re dependent on the public doing the right thing, which means only coming to the emergency department when necessary, only ringing an ambulance when needed and if you’re not sure just contact 111.

Bournemouth Echo: Staff inside Royal Bournemouth HospitalStaff inside Royal Bournemouth Hospital

“Also, get vaccinated. The main bulk of people in our Covid wards are unvaccinated. Here in Dorset, we got the vaccine programme going very quickly which means the vaccine immunity is waning in the older population and that’s why the booster is vital.”

The eventual closure of Poole A&E has also been heavily criticised by residents since the move was announced. Dr O’Donnell, however, says the move will benefit the community.

In a bid to reassure residents, she said: “It’s not that Poole A&E is closing and not being replaced. The new planned emergency department in Bournemouth is enormous, bigger than both put together.

“It will work much better and means we can expand the urgent treatment centre in Poole.

“I don’t think there’s one single bullet that would fix everything. Demand is high and GPs are working incredibly hard.”

Regarding whether she felt there was enough staff to cope with the demand, Dr O’Donnell said UHD was always considering different staffing models.

However, she added: “There isn’t a magic staffing tree that you can shake and get doctors and nurses.

“Currently, what we’re really doing is asking our current staff to work smarter, not harder. We know how tired they are and that’s not something we want.

“We’re all feeling the pressure in different ways and I’ve got confidence that we’ve got really great people working with us. I have a lot of confidence that they’ll get us through this.”