BHRUT maintains hospitals safe

I asked the following questions earlier today at the BHRUT board meeting of Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of BHRUT who referred them to his deputy Steve Russell.


a) If he agrees that the non-maternity beds need to go back into KGH?
b) Has BHRUT identified what beds have been lost from KGH since the publication of the HfNEL KGH A&E closure plan
c) Will BHRUT publish separate bed numbers for KGH and QH on their website each month so that bed numbers can be tracked accurately in future?

Pleased to report that BHRUT will be reporting bed numbers each month on their website. However, BHRUT is unable to describe what type of bed has been removed from KGH. 86 KGH beds in total have been closed since 2010 and it seems that BHRUT accepts not all of these are maternity.

Steve said there were no plans to put any beds back into KGH which is a disappointment because both KGH and Queens consistently fail to reach 95% 4 hour waiting times and have long periods when the bed occupancy is more than the recommended 85% bed occupancy level.

Steve disputed my assertion that Queens and KGH are unsafe. I say this because of the consistent failure to reach the 95%  A&E 4 hour waiting times.

I quote from a Guardian Article http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/06/accident-emergency-overcrowding-costs-lives-doctors

Dr Cliff Mann, the CEM's president, said: "There's clear evidence from America and from the UK that if you have overcrowded emergency departments then the mortality rates for patients going through that department increases."

The BHRUT board papers mention the case of a patient who was waiting on a trolley for 12 hours before found a bed. Delays like these must increase the risk of poor patient outcomes.

BHRUT distributed a paper on how overcrowding increases the risk of poor care at their October meeting. The link is here http://savekinggeorgehospital.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/report-from-bhrut-board-meeting-exit-block-kills-at-queens-and-king-george-ae/

The pledge made by Andrew Lansley, the then Secretary of State for Health, back in 2011 about no changes to KGH until it was safe to do so, appears to not only been broken but also contributed to QH and KGH being unsafe. I hope our MPs and Councillors and will ask questions about this.

BHRUT need to provide more information on what beds have been lost from KGH.