Southern Trust planning ahead of ‘challenging winter months’ | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Southern Trust planning ahead of ‘challenging winter months’

Shane Devlin, Chief Executive of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust says local health and social care services will face some major challenges this winter.

The UK-Wide shortage of medical and nursing staff combined with the growing demand for hospital beds is putting extra strain on existing services, despite on-going efforts to increase staff numbers over the next four months.

 

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The Trust recently recruited 238 extra staff following a new campaign to increase the number of domiciliary care workers.

“The Southern Trust has one of the fastest growing populations in Northern Ireland and the number of people attending our emergency departments and Minor Injuries Unit has increased by 20% in the last five years,” he said.

 

 

“This Trust and others continue to face serious pressures particularly during winter when there are more ill patients who need admitted to hospital.

“The Trust is planning ahead to help ease pressure on services this winter – working to open extra beds; ensuring our patient journey through the hospital is as efficient as possible and managing planned surgery to limit the number of last minute cancellations.

 

 

He continued, “We have also done a lot of work in recent years to develop alternatives to hospital admission as there is a lot of evidence that people recover faster in familiar surroundings – the new Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit and Direct Assessment Unit, the Older Person Assessment Unit and Acute Care at Home are just some examples of this work.”

Shane also appealed for the public’s help in making services work better this winter. “I am asking people to work with us this winter by not coming to the Emergency Department unless it is an emergency and to take friends/ relatives home from hospital as soon as possible after discharge.

“Also please don’t come to any of our hospitals/facilities if you (or anybody else in your house) have cold/flu, vomiting, diarrhoea and infections as this can spread infections among vulnerable patients and the staff caring for them. There’s plenty of advice on www.nidirect.gov.uk .”

 

 

Shane added, “We all need to take care of our own health this winter – simple steps like getting the flu jab and taking exercise can make a big difference.”

SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh Justin McNulty welcomed the move by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust to plan ahead in preparation for a difficult winter in our hospitals.

McNulty said, “Pressures facing hospitals across the North are well documented and reported. Growing demands for additional beds and services is mounting pressure onto our already over-stretched staff.

“I want to commend the Southern Trust for their forward planning by developing alternatives to hospital admissions, opening up extra bed space and managing planned surgeries to limit cancellations, all in anticipation of what is set to be a challenging winter for hospitals.

 

 

“The SDLP are only too sorry we are prevented from mitigating against our health crisis in the Assembly chamber because of the continued political deadlock that is unhelpfully adding to healthcare pressures here instead of working to alleviate them,” he added.

 

 

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Posted by on Dec 3 2018. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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