The opening of a dedicated winter ward at a Nottingham hospital has bolstered efforts to protect elective care, with no cancellations of cancer care, surgery, or outpatients’ appointments due to winter pressures.
The new 28-bed ward – the first dedicated general medicine winter ward to open at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in 10 years – is playing a vital part in moving patients out of the Emergency Department and maintaining flow through the hospitals.
D56 is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team drawn from across Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). It follows the opening of Newell ward – another dedicated winter ward – at City Hospital last month, and the repurposing of a ward to treat people with respiratory conditions in November.
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Tasso Gazis, Divisional Director for Medicine, said D56 was one of a number of initiatives NUH had introduced to manage winter pressures, the planning for which started in July last year.
“The consequence of having the extra emergency capacity is that we then don’t have to cancel cancer care, elective care, and operations.
“If we don’t plan urgent and emergency care correctly, then we end up overspilling into all those other areas. We have not, to date, cancelled any elective care due to winter pressures – part of that is because of staff going above and beyond, and part is due to initiatives like this.”
He added: “Like elsewhere in the NHS, we know that people are still waiting far longer than we’d like them to wait. We’ve worked closely with system partners to make sure that people can be discharged as soon as it is safe to do so.
“As a result, we’ve got around 100 fewer people waiting to leave our hospitals than we did at this time last year. And that is due to collaborative working with our system partners – the hard work of our colleagues inside the hospital, and the hard work of colleagues outside the hospital.
“We owe our thanks to colleagues in ED, acute medicine, and other specialty teams – and we know there is still more to do.”
Patient Stephen Roberts, 69, has seen firsthand the difference the extra capacity brings. In October 2023, he waited more than 20 hours for a bed in the Emergency Department.
The former taxi driver said: “I was brought into ED a few days ago and was in a bed in just over an hour – that’s really quick!”
And Nick Wright, 61, waiting for an MRI scan, was equally positive. He said: “The NHS is under huge pressure – it needs more resources. This idea of opening up an extra ward is excellent.”
Ward Sister Megan McNulty said: “It’s a great honour to lead such a fantastic team that is working so hard to deliver high standards of care to our patients. Feedback from patients has been really positive, and it is amazing to see everyone coming together to make the ward run smoothly and support the wider goal of relieving winter pressure within the Trust.”
Victoria Fensome, Divisional Nurse, said: “The ward provides a high standard of care supported by a multi-disciplinary team from across the organisation. This is us – as a Trust – everyone coming together to support the delivery of care and support each other over a really hard winter – and I’d like to acknowledge all the hard work of our colleagues to bring this ward together – from estates and cleaning services through to clinical teams.
“It’s the first time in many years we’ve had a dedicated winter ward at QMC – allowing us to bring patients up from our ED and assessment areas.
“The majority of people who come here are short-stay. We are really well supported by our discharge team and aim to get patients well and home within a week.”
Lisa Kelly, Chief Operating Officer at NUH, said: “This extra capacity will allow us to mitigate the impact of winter pressures and provide a more positive patient experience. The safety of our patients and the quality of the care we provide will always be our priority.
“Please only attend our ED in an emergency and use alternative services where possible, including 111 online, pharmacies, or urgent treatment centres. By choosing the right service, you will be freeing up staff and vital hospital beds for those that need them the most.”
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Ward D56 and Newell ward are part of a wider winter capacity plan to support and maintain the flow of patients through Nottingham hospitals.
Other measures aimed at improving flow through our hospitals to free-up beds, and protecting elective activities include:
- A short hip-and-knee pathway aimed at same-day discharge, with 58% of patients sent home the same day, compared with 10% previously. The average stay has reduced by 2.5 days, freeing up much-needed beds and reducing waiting lists.
- Our Elective Orthopaedic Team is using a dual-operating method to maximise capacity and reduce wait times. The ground-breaking technique means one surgeon runs two theatre lists at the same time, doubling the number of hip or knee replacements to 10 a day. The approach has seen almost all orthopaedic 65-week waits eliminated.
- Weekend high-intensity theatre lists for non-emergency surgery to reduce backlogs.
- Collaborating with social care organisations across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to improve discharge processes.
- Committing to a 45-minute ambulance handover to free-up ambulances to respond to other emergencies.
