ERI 'emergency' winter ward still open despite summer sun

Published on Wednesday 3 June 2009 10:00

AN EMERGENCY ward at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary which is only supposed to be used to cope with a rise in patients during the coldest months of the year is still open.

Keeping the winter ward operating is helping NHS Lothian meet targets and ease pressure on beds, but it is costing more in cash and nursing resources.

Critics have said this proves there is a general bed shortage in the Lothians, but health bosses said an increase in patients meant it was necessary to keep it going.

Margaret Watt, the chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "The fact that we are enduring some scorching temperatures while the winter ward stays open speaks volumes. Unless it's open for people with heat exhaustion, this should not be the case.

"It proves what we and our patients have been saying for years, there simply is not enough hospital beds in the Lothians. They keep chipping away at them and it's got to stop.

"The number of beds in this ward is the amount too few that the hospital has."

Every year health chiefs prepare for the winter surge by creating extra space within winter wards at Little France and the Western General. Capacity at St John's is also boosted.

Elderly people are the main focus of this, with more coming down with seasonal infections, as well as becoming more vulnerable to trips and falls on ice.

The wards are usually cleared by around February, but that has not been the case in 2009. The ERI ward, with its 20 to 30 beds, is still in use.

One ERI source said: "This is a ward that is budgeted to stay open for a few months during the winter so when it stays open it does cost extra cash, and needs extra bank or agency nurses to fill the space.

"It's simply because, since we moved up here from town, there have been less and less beds, and that's why they have to keep wards like this open."

NHS Lothian's chief operating officer of acute services, James McCaffery, said: "We have a number of flexible capacity beds available for use during busy periods to ensure patients in NHS Lothian receive their treatment as quickly as possible.

"We know patients don't want to wait any longer than is necessary for treatment and as a result we have this flexible capacity to meet that demand."