Harrogate District Hospital is ‘almost completely full on a daily basis” and has urged patients’ families to help free beds.

Hospital officials appealed for help today amid growing concerns about the NHS’ ability to cope with winter pressures.

More than a dozen NHS trusts and ambulance services declared critical incidents over the festive period. Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, has said up to 500 people could be dying each week because of delays to emergency care.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has not declared a critical incident but a spokesman said 50 patients were currently unable to leave because they were waiting to be allocated care or a placement.

This bed-blocking was compounding “significant pressure due to the number of people requiring our help and the challenges of a difficult winter”, the spokesman said.

He added:

“Over bank holidays, our emergency department is usually busier than normal, and this has been the case over the period since Christmas.

“Our hospital is also affected by the high numbers of covid and flu patients we are currently caring for. These patients often require a longer stay in hospital before they can return to care or residential homes.

“This, in addition to around 50 patients who are waiting to have care or a placement allocated so they can leave our hospital, means Harrogate District Hospital is almost completely full on a daily basis.”

The emergency department at Harrogate District Hospital.

The spokesman said this was leading to “long waits for beds to become available” and visitors with less urgent issues experiencing longer waiting times.

He added:

“We do know that when patients are starting to improve and no longer require hospital care, the remainder of their recovery happens much quicker in their own homes.

“We would ask for the families of patients to help us support their loved one’s discharge home as soon as their medical condition allows.

“Some patients may be fit to be discharged to their own home, but still require additional support to help them in their recovery. Our teams will work with patients and their families to support them as best we can.”

The spokesman also appealed to families to show understanding if the hospital had to return care home patients to different care homes for short periods.

He reiterated the message to only visit the emergency department for life-threatening or severe illnesses or injuries.

A plan by Harrogate hospital to introduce a home care service in a bid to free up bed space could “distort the market”, says a councillor.

Cllr Michael Harrison, who is cabinet member for adult care at North Yorkshire County Council, said the authority had already had to prevent one social care provider from folding this week.

It comes as officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust revealed in September that they want to trial the service as the hospital was unable to discharge medically fit patients because of a lack of private care services.

However, Cllr Harrison told the county council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee last week that there was a risk the move could cause problems because the health service would be competing for staff with other providers.

Cllr Harrison said:

“I do think there is a real risk of distorting the market.

“Already this week, the county council have stepped in to prevent one domiciliary care provider from folding and I know that we are working on over 30 packages of care that have been handed back this week.

“The pressures out there are very tangible.”

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, speaking at Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of the hospital trust, said it was not the intention for the hospital to take work away from private care providers.

He added that he was aware the move could look critical of the care sector, particularly because the health service has been “well funded for some years”.

He said:

“We are absolutely not trying to be critical or trying to take any work away.

“We are just trying to find a solution. We are working well with the team at the county council to work this through rather than doing anything that would upset that.

“We are really aware of the issues, but we are just trying to collectively make it better.”

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Mr Coulter added the hospital was already carrying out interviews for the service, but stressed that it would still be a pilot at this stage.

He said:

“I know there is some concern that we could distort the market because the NHS pays a bit more than other areas, that is an issue.

“But, at the moment, we have said this is a six-month pilot and we will see how it goes.”

The trust’s home care service will initially run as a six-month trial and cost around £146,000 to provide care for 36 patients.

If the trial is a success, it is estimated around 15 patients who otherwise would be stuck in hospital could be moved back into their own homes each day.

North Yorkshire County Council has been awarded £2 million to tackle bed blocking in hospitals.

The Department of Health and Social Care announced a £500 million fund to help speed up the discharge of patients across the country.

The county council, which is responsible for adult care, has been granted a total of £2,019,667 of this to increase its social care workforce and increase capacity to take on more patients from hospital.

Two months ago  Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the problem of patients staying in hospital longer than they should because of a lack of private care services was the “biggest issue” the trust faced.

The government said local authorities and health trusts will be free to spend the money on initiatives which have the “greatest impact in their area on reducing discharges into social care”.

Helen Whately, Minister of State for Care, said:

“People should be cared for in the best place for them, but discharge delays mean patients are spending too long in hospital.

“Our discharge fund will get more people cared for in the right place at the right time. We’re asking hospitals and the social care system to work together to help patients and carers too, who often take on a lot of the burden of caring when someone leaves hospital.

“The discharge fund will boost the social care workforce and in turn reduce pressures on the NHS and hospital staff, as it frees up beds and helps improve ambulance handover delays.”

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Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has already sought to introduce a home care service to free up beds.

A spokesperson for the trust said previously:

“Currently, bed occupancy at our hospitals is around 90%. Due to the increased number of planned operations that are being performed we have more patients occupying beds following their surgery.

“However, bed occupancy is also impacted by patients who no longer require hospital care, but are unable to be discharged as they do not have a suitable location where they can continue their recovery, such as a residential care home, or appropriate home care to support them in their own homes.”