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Hospital under highest level of pressure
Dear colleagues,
This is the end of a difficult week at the hospital and we are now heading into a weekend of unprecedented pressure on our services.
First of all I would like to thank all of you for everything you have done to pull together as a team and make sure we put patients first over this Christmas period. Some of you have gone above and beyond, working overtime during anti-social hours and being willing to do whatever it takes to keep our hospital and patients safe. I know many of you are exhausted and mentally drained by the effort it has taken to get this far.
The situation we are in is caused by a number of factors but the main issues are high numbers of very sick patients, two wards (or around 15% of our bed stock) closed due to norovirus and staff absence in nursing due to sickness. We are one of the best teams in the area at dealing with pressures and the situation here at West Suffolk Hospital is far better than our surrounding trusts as a result. However as the situation worsens around us, we will need to help our partners to manage their patients safely and that means the demand on our beds looks set to increase. We are considering contingency plans to open additional beds this weekend and are expecting to make some difficult judgements to prioritise patient safety.
We know what works best in this situation and need to stay calm and carry on focusing on the things that help patients flow through the hospital and out again as quickly and smoothly as possible. In very simple terms, we must focus on making sure we know the critical conditions for discharge for all patients in our beds. There must be a plan for every patient with a view to moving them out of the acute setting as soon as possible. Please help in whatever way you can to keep working on this.
Our goal is to manage our hospital safely and effectively during this period of pressure and then recover from this surge in demand as soon as we possibly can, getting the hospital running smoothly and effectively again. Patient experience can suffer at these times as waits are inevitable, and I feel very lucky that we can count on your kind and compassionate approach to providing care, even at the hardest of times.
Please remember to care for yourself and if you are not working this weekend try your best to have a good rest. To those of you who are working on Saturday and Sunday, please know how grateful I am for the sacrifices you make to do jobs that are absolutely vital and help people in their times of the greatest need.
With best wishes
Steve Dunn
Chief executive
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