Some Greater Manchester hospital patients are waiting ‘more than 24 hours’ for a bed.
Hospitals across the country are being crippled by mammoth winter pressure. Flu cases have continued to skyrocket, leaving an extreme shortage of beds in hospitals.
The scarcity of beds has led to numerous hospitals around the country declaring critical incidents. The Manchester Evening News understands that there have been ‘no formal critical incidents’ at any of Greater Manchester’s hospitals – but staff inside say the wait for beds in some parts of the region has topped 24 hours.
About 20 NHS trusts in England have declared critical incidents this week, because of long delays in A&E. It comes as flu cases have continued to spiral, with the average number of patients with the virus in hospital in England topping 5,400 a day last week – around 1,000 higher than a week before.
NHS England medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis said hospitals were under “exceptional pressure” and facing “mammoth demand”. In a worrying claim, some staff say the strain being placed on them felt “like some of the days we had during the height of the pandemic”.
This week, staff in some Greater Manchester NHS hospitals say waits in A&E for a bed to come free are ‘more than 24 hours’. Senior NHS sources the M.E.N. has spoken to say the crippling demand is coming from ‘lots of Covid, flu and RSV patients’.
Making matters worse, the cold snap has brought with it ‘lots of falls and broken bones due to the weather’ in A&Es.
In the days before Christmas, staff told of standing room only in the region’s A&Es, waits of more than 36 hours for a bed, frail patients breaking limbs, and elderly people in their 80s and 90s spending hours lying on trolleys in corridors.
There were stories of ‘extreme overcrowding’, where emergency departments have been filled with as many as 180 people. Now, data has shown that hundreds of patients in Greater Manchester were stuck in ambulances for more than an hour, waiting to be admitted to scarce hospital beds over Christmas in Greater Manchester.
There are also hundreds of patients who are medically well enough to go home, but cannot be discharged because there is no care available for when they leave the ward. It’s an ‘exit block’, say hospital staff, as people who are medically fit enough for discharge are left languishing in desperately-needed beds by an underfunded social care system that has no more capacity.
NHS England National Medical Director Professor Sir Stephen Powis
(Image: PA)
Sir Stephen Powis said: “It is hard to quantify how tough it is for front-line staff at the moment – with some staff working in A&E saying that their days at work feel like some of the days we had during the height of the pandemic.”
The number of patients with flu is more than three times higher than this time last year and on par with early 2023 – one of the worst flu seasons for many years.
Saffron Cordery, of NHS Providers, which represents health managers, said the combination of cold weather and flu had meant a “brutal” start to the new year.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” she said. “Things are likely to get worse before they get better. Stresses and strains on emergency services are a huge concern, with many patients facing long waits for ambulances and in A&Es.”
NHS Greater Manchester has been approached for comment.