Harrogate District Hospital is set to review security arrangements at its emergency department.
Officials at the hospital commissioned T3 Security, which is based in Newcastle, to provide security officers overnight on a trial basis in May 2022.
The move came as staff reported receiving abuse and aggressive behaviour from patients and visitors.
At the time, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the trust made the decision reluctantly.
However, the trust is now set to review the measures despite describing the trial as “successful”.
A spokesperson for the trust said:
“The service aim has been to provide a visual deterrent to those who may seek to be violent and aggressive, and create a more secure environment for patients and staff.
“While the security trial has proven to be successful and helped reduce instances of violence and aggression, we now need to review the temporary arrangements and formalise the service in line with our longer term plans.
“A security service will be in place within the next week to ensure the continued safety of visitors to our emergency department and the staff who work within it.
“We will not tolerate violence, or physical or verbal aggression towards our staff or patients and abuse of any kind may lead to prosecution.”
Security staff were in place at the emergency department between 7pm and 7am.
The move came amid complaints that staff had been abused by patients and visitors when they were asked to wear face masks.
Speaking at a council meeting in November last year, Mr Coulter said it was “a bit of a shame” that the trust had been forced to appoint its own security officers.
He said:
“We were always reluctant to have our own security service on the hospital site because we felt we were a health service, not anything else. I know other trusts went much more quickly into having dedicated security personnel on site.
“We have in the last six months introduced, between 7pm and 7am overnight, our own security service, which is a bit of a shame that we’ve had to do that, but it was something that made the staff feel safer, particularly in the early hours with the emergency department where Harrogate has never had a problem before, but has had an increasing problem.
“I wouldn’t say it’s anything like we get lots of these incidents, it’s a handful of incidents but they don’t need to happen very often for it to be disturbing and for people to get concerned about it.”
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Harrogate hospital reports improved A&E waiting times
People attending A&E at Harrogate District Hospital are experiencing much shorter waiting times than earlier in the year when some patients were forced to stay at the hospital for 12 hours or more.
The department has been under-pressure throughout the winter due to a higher average number of admissions as well as a fresh wave of covid and flu inpatients that has saw the hospital almost completely full every day.
Harrogate has also been a high number of patients aged over 70 attending A&E compared to nationally.
While attendance figures have returned to near pre-covid levels, many patients have experienced longer-than-usual stays due to the high bed occupancy.
It meant some A&E patients had to stay overnight, which has put further strain on staff who have had to conduct medicine rounds, serve meals, wash patients and conduct ward rounds.
Industrial action by paramedics, nurses and junior doctors has also put pressure on the hospital.
To improve the situation in A&E, the hospital introduced a new streaming model for minor injuries so staff can focus on patients with more serious conditions.
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Speaking at a public board meeting of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust last week, chief executive Russell Nightingale said the changes have worked.
Mr Nightingale said the number of people waiting for 12 hours was down to the single figures in March.
He said:
“It’s come down hugely and we’re aiming for zero by August. It’s been driven by improvements in the streaming model. That’s been the primary driver.
“We’re working through some of those sticky admittance issues plus the industrial action.”
As the hospital moves out of its most challenging winter period, next week’s junior doctors strike means there is likely to be some disruption for patients.
The strike is set to take place from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of HDFT, told the meeting the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the strike goes ahead as planned.
He said:
Harrogate hospital ‘almost completely full on a daily basis’“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”
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.
Harrogate hospital urges people to stay away from A&E amid ‘very busy’ week
Harrogate hospital bosses are urging people to stay away from its emergency department this week unless it is a life-threatening injury or illness.
Officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said they are expecting a busy week, which may cause long waiting times.
It comes as health leaders in the district warned that covid and flu cases may increase at Harrogate hospital this winter.
In a statement, the trust urged people with non-threatening injuries to stay away from the emergency department.
A spokesperson said:
“This week we are expecting our hospital in Harrogate to be very busy. As a result, visitors to our emergency department with less urgent issues may experience longer waiting times than usual.
“We know that visitors to our emergency department can be in pain, stressed or scared, and our dedicated time will do everything they can to help.
“Your health is our utmost priority and all we ask in return is our staff are treated respectfully as they try to do their job.”
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Health managers in Harrogate have said they expect to see more covid patients in hospitals in the coming weeks.
Dr Bruce Willoughby, Harrogate GP and part of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, said:
“Health and care services in North Yorkshire and York, like everywhere, are already extremely busy. We do expect to see more cases of covid in the coming weeks as people mix freely again and spend more time indoors as the weather gets colder. The risk of catching covid is highest indoors and in crowded places.
“More people are likely to get flu this winter as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to it during the pandemic. The best time to have the flu vaccine is in the autumn or early winter before it starts spreading.”
Officials have urged people who are eligible to get a covid booster vaccine this autumn.
In Harrogate, vaccinations are available at the Great Yorkshire Showground until November 23.
People aged 50 and over, pregnant women, carers, frontline health and care workers, care home residents and people of all ages who are vulnerable are eligible for a covid jab now.
Those who are able to book their vaccinations can do so via the NHS website.
Harrogate hospital A&E performance remains ‘well below’ national standardA&E waiting times performance at Harrogate District Hospital remains “well below” the national standard as health bosses urge people to only attend the department if necessary.
Latest figures show that the hospital had 4,554 attendances to its emergency department in August 2022.
The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.
According to NHS England figures, 62% of patients were seen within that timeframe at Harrogate hospital.
Meanwhile, a total of 82 patients waited longer than 12 hours to be seen.
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In a report to its board, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the performance remained “well below” the standard set nationally.
He said:
“The board should be aware that our A&E performance in August remained well below the national standard and we had a higher number of 12 hour waits in the department than in previous months.
“The situation has improved in September, but the changes that we have initiated and highlighted earlier need to be delivered in order for us to provide the improved urgent care service that we all want to have in place.”
Visiting the Emergency Department at Harrogate District Hospital pic.twitter.com/8cITeTrHkj
— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) October 3, 2022
The move comes as the trust has urged people to only attend its emergency department if they have a life-threatening or severe illness or injury.
In a statement, the trust said it expected to see a high number of patients at A&E this week.
It said:
“This week we are expecting our hospital in Harrogate to be very busy. As a result, visitors to our emergency department with less serious issues may experience longer waiting times than usual.
“This isn’t ideal and we will endeavour to keep waiting times as short as possible.”
Have you experienced a long wait in Harrogate’s A&E department? We’d like to hear from you. Email contact@thestrayferret.co.uk or call us on 01423 276197.
Harrogate hospital to spend £900,000 on A&E streaming serviceHarrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is to spend £900,000 on an emergency department streaming service aimed at reducing waiting times.
Under the plans, Harrogate District Hospital patients will be assessed on arrival at A&E.
If they have a less serious illness or injury will be transferred to another part of the hospital, which will have its own designated clinical practitioners.
Hospital officials said this will allow the emergency department to “focus on patients who require urgent stabilisation, resuscitation and/or further assessment in our hospital”.
As part of the £900,000 spend, new staff will be hired and enhancements made to the existing department.
The trust said the streaming model will be introduced gradually over the next four to six months as training and building work takes place. It aims to have the new system fully operational by winter this year.
A spokesperson for HDFT said:
“The streaming model in the emergency department at Harrogate District Hospital is focused on improving the experience and timeliness of care for patients attending the emergency department.
“It will help us to reduce delays and some of the pressure in the main emergency department, which is a significant area of concern for all trusts.
“Patients arriving at the emergency department will be rapidly assessed and if they have a less serious illness or injury they will be transferred into the new stream which will have its own trained clinical practitioners with injury and minor/moderate illness skills.
“This will allow the main emergency department to focus on patients who require urgent stabilisation, resuscitation and/or further assessment in our hospital.”
Long waiting times
Latest figures show that Harrogate District Hospital had 4,331 attendances to its emergency department in April 2022.
The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.
Harrogate District Hospital
According to NHS England figures, 66% of patients were seen within that timeframe at Harrogate hospital.
In April, West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which is a partnership of six hospital trusts including Harrogate, urged patients to only attend emergency departments for life-threatening injury or illnesses.
Dr Andrew Lockey, consultant physician in emergency medicine with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which is part of the association, warned that units were “extremely busy” with waits of up to 12 hours.
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Officials at Harrogate hospital hope that the new streaming model will help to relieve pressure on the department.
The move comes as other hospital trusts across the UK have introduced similar measures.
In 2018, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust spent £500,000 on expanding Boston Pilgrim Hospital’s emergency unit in order to introduce a streaming service.
At the time, ULHT said it felt there were too many patients attending the emergency department who could be seen by a general practitioner instead.
Health officials warn of 12-hour waits at Harrogate hospital A&EHealth managers are warning of waiting times of up to 12 hours at Harrogate District Hospital’s emergency department.
West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which is a partnership of six hospital trusts including Harrogate, has urged patients to only attend the department for life-threatening injury or illness.
Hospital officials have warned that some patients are waiting as long as 12 hours for treatment.
Latest figures show that Harrogate District Hospital had 4,595 attendances to its emergency department in February 2022.
The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.
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According to NHS England figures, 65% of patients were seen within that time at Harrogate hospital.
Dr Andrew Lockey, consultant physician in emergency medicine with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which is one of the six trusts that belong to West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, said:
‘Critically busy’ Yorkshire Ambulance Service: ‘Only call in emergencies’“It’s really important that people only come to an accident and emergency department if they really need to. Our hospitals are extremely busy, and people are having to wait a long time to be seen.
“Over the past two weeks we’ve faced huge challenges with the sharp uplift in the number of people attending accident and emergency. This places additional pressure on our teams who are responsible for treating patients with serious and life-threatening conditions.
“If you are unwell and are unsure which healthcare service you need, call NHS 111. A highly-trained clinical advisor will direct you to the most appropriate service.”
Yorkshire Ambulance Service said today it was critically busy and urged people only to call in the most serious circumstances.
Nick Smith, executive director of operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said in a series of tweets:
“We are currently experiencing extremely high demand and this is having a severe impact on our operations. We are implementing a number of actions in order to protect our core services for patients and respond to the ongoing demand.
“We are asking members of the public to only call us in a serious or life-threatening emergency to help us focus our efforts on our most poorly patients.”
“Our dedicated staff are working extremely hard to reach patients as quickly and safely as possible.”
Nick Smith
Elliott Carter, a 999 emergency medical dispatcher in the emergency operations centre for Yorkshire Ambulance Service, asked people to consider making their own way to emergency departments.
‼️We are CRITICALLY BUSY at present‼️Please do only call us for immediate life saving help. Do consider, if safe to do so – making your own way to the Emergency Department. This enables us to send our Ambulances to people who desperately need them. #ChooseWell @YorksAmbulance pic.twitter.com/PFSZc0yWbF
— Elliott Carter (@YAS_ElliottC) July 4, 2021
Yorkshire Ambulance Service tweeted that it was “extremely busy this afternoon” and added the NHS Health A to Z was a good resource for information and advice on health conditions and how to get help.
It asked people to “use our services wisely”, adding.
“Emergency ambulances are for life-threatening and serious incidents only. For urgent medical advice, please use NHS 111 Online at 111.nhs.uk.”
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