MORE hospital beds may be brought in this year in Worcestershire to avoid a repeat of last week's bed crisis, the county's hospitals chief has said.
John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, said he is looking into the cost of extra beds following the sudden influx of sick patients last week, many with respiratory problems, which resulted in 45 non-urgent operations being cancelled as Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch's Alexandra hospital struggled at near-maximum capacity. Yesterday more than 100 beds around the county normally earmarked for patients undergoing routine surgery were still occupied by people admitted as medical emergencies.
As the wave of admissions starts to subside, non-urgent surgery was expected to resume today - but Mr Rostill is keen to avoid a repeat of last week's crisis.
"I have already commissioned work to determine the costs of providing more capacity for next winter, in order to reach a reasonable bed occupancy rate," he said. "We currently operate close to 95 per cent bed capacity, whereas figures suggest it should be nearer to 85 per cent for our trust. "
Yesterday, your Worcester News reported the comments of Dr Richard Taylor, Wyre Forest MP, who said a shortage of beds across Worcestershire meant the county was ill-prepared for medical emergencies. But Mr Rostill said efficiency has improved at county hospitals over recent years.
He said: "When I first came to Worcestershire four years ago, everyone told me that because of the closures at Kidderminster and the building of the Private Finance Initiative hospital in Worcester, that the county was short of beds.
"I said then that I would not accept that and I felt we had enough beds, but not necessarily in the right locations.
"Over the last four years we have increased our efficiency - the length of stay per patient has gone down at the rate of half a day a year."
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