What University Hospitals Dorset is doing to ease pressure on NHS

However, there could be some “light at the end of the tunnel” as tangible changes on a small and large scale are being made by those at the helm.

In a visit to Poole Hospital on December 15, consultants and other staff spoke of the impact lack of social care funding was having on patient flow through the hospital – with 25 per cent of those in a ward bed ready for discharge but unable to leave.

University Hospitals Dorset’s chief operating officer Mark Mould spoke to the Echo shortly after finishing a call with representatives from their community partners in local councils and health and social care providers.

Mr Mould is frank about the hardships the NHS is facing locally and nationally. However, his overarching feeling after the call was one of optimism.

University Hospitals Dorset’s chief operating officer Mark Mould

“I believe at UHD I have enough beds to be able to respond to the emergency presentations that come to our front door – I absolutely believe that” he said. “What I haven’t got enough capacity for is to accommodate those people who could be cared for in another location.

“But what I can say is that today we along with the wider health and social care system have now agreed significant investment in out of hospital care. We’ve agreed to commission and fund a significant number of additional beds in nursing and residential homes with wraparound services.

“So, additional capacity with BCP Council and Dorset Council, which means we might now be in a position where we can see some light at the end of the tunnel.”

It is understood the additional capacity is a multi-million-pound investment.

Mr Mould added: “This should unlock a lot of capacity for us to aid this patient flow issue, decompress our EDs and take pressure off our teams.

“Our partners in the community have been working incredibly hard to find the capacity we need, because issues in workforce that we have, they have too.”

Further tactics are being explored by Poole Hospital to free ambulance crews from being stuck at the emergency department entrance.

An agreement has recently been reached between UHD and South Western Ambulance Service which will see corridor space utilised within the hospital for ambulance patients.

One paramedic crew will be assigned to look after four ambulance admissions – freeing up three quarters of all ambulance crews who would ordinarily have had to wait at the hospital.

Mr Mould said of this idea: “From the public’s perspective that might not sound great, but we have to get the message across that it’s better to get patients in a corridor that’s warm as opposed to being stuck in a cold ambulance outside.

“I’m not proud of ambulances having to queue outside.

“No, its not perfect but it allows three of the four ambulances to be released back into the community. Would you rather be in the back of a cold ambulance or in a warm hospital, being supervised with doctors nearby?”

Ambulances outside Poole Hospital (Image: NQ)

As well as the additional funding confirmed by Mr Mould, the Echo spoke to geriatrician Tom Bartlett who described the plight of older patients that are medically ready to leave hospital but cannot as “heart-breaking”.

But, again, plans are being put in place which could dramatically change this. He said: “We are devising ‘hospital at home’ where we’re taking people who’d need to be in an acute hospital bed and giving them hospital level treatment in their own home. That’s from child’s health right up to geriatric care.

“This decreases lots of the associated risks of being stuck in hospital and gives people a chance to be where they want to be. We have evidence that shows people get better quicker at home.”

Eventually, a hospital at home scheme will be run jointly between UHD, Dorset County Hospital Trust and Dorset HealthCare for a county-wide service.

While Mr Mould states the entire NHS is two or three years away from returning to pre-Covid levels of running, he is confident the various partners involved know what must be done to fast track this.

“There’s always going to be things that we can do better,” he said. “We achieve and fail as a system but we are creating solutions to make sure we achieve results far more often than not.”