Bed Crisis At North Cumbrian Hospital

Due to shortage of beds at hospitals in north Cumbria, emergency patients are diverted to other centres.

14:28 20 March 2015

Due to the growing number of patients and admissions, hospitals in north Cumbria is have now shortage of beds. Among those that are affected include Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven. 

 

All non-emergency operations have been postphoned until Friday while emergency cases are diverted to hospitals in Newcastle, Hexham, and Morecambe Bay. 

 

Dr Jeremy Rushmer, medical director at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our prime concern is making sure we can continue to provide safe care for patients and this becomes increasingly difficult when our hospitals reach capacity.

 

"Given the continued and significant pressures our teams have faced over recent months, our hospitals are now struggling to admit any more patients until we can get patients flowing through the system and into appropriate community settings or home with the right package of care."

 

Meanwhile, Joanna Forster Adams, director of operations at Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We have taken actions to create as much capacity as is safely possible, including opening up a small number of additional beds in community hospitals.

 

"We would like to thank staff and patients who have been affected by changes in recent weeks."