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| Hospital beds to be ditched
in shake up |
Boss reveals scheme for promotion
to big league
Beds in one of Westminster’s leading hospitals are to be
“closed” in a bid to slash the time patients spend in
care, it was announced on Tuesday.
St Mary’s Hospital, in Paddington, wants to acquire foundation
status giving it greater freedom with its finances.
But the chief executive Julian Nettel admitted that this could only
happen if dozens of beds go.
He said: “Three to four years ago the climate in the NHS was
to campaign for more space following a national beds inquiry.
“Things have gone in 180 degrees and the understanding is that
patients have been kept in hospital too long. If you could be safely
discharged it’s not a place to want to stay. This followed
increasing evidence that we’re not using our beds efficiently.”
He added: “Staying in beds before an operation is sometimes
unnecessary and it is clear we can reduce time before operations
and empty out beds.
“The NHS is very strapped for cash and north west London is
worse off than many other areas of the country.”
He could not say how many beds are to go and did not deny that wards
could close.
Mr Nettel also announced that a plan has been hatched to rebuild
the hospital after a previous plan to build a health campus on the
site of the nearby North Westminster Community School collapsed.
He told the meeting that talk some months ago to “completely
scrap” St Mary’s had been shelved and replaced with plans
for a foundation trust to be set up with Imperial College and the
Hammersmith Hospital Trust.
“We are keen to proceed as a foundation trust. We have been
a three-star trust for four years but in the early days we weren’t
sure of the benefits,” he said. “Now the government has
said all UK hospitals should be in the position to apply to be a
foundation trust by 2008.
“We need to show we have enough patients to fill demand. It
doesn’t look good.”
A spokeswoman for St Mary’s added that in some areas of care
patients were spending more time in care than they would at other
hospitals.
Time in St Mary’s could be reduced with more community care,
allowing patients to return home sooner, she added. |
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