Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge fills up amid huge winter pressures - and turns to Royal Papworth for space

Hospital bosses at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge say huge pressures are compromising its ability to provide “safe, kind and excellent care”.

Staff are working with system partners, including Royal Papworth Hospital, to create more capacity for patients who are medically fit for discharge, but who are unable to be moved home or to the next stage of care.

An update to staff said today (Thursday, December 29) said bed occupancy levels at the hospital during the Christmas period have been at their highest “in many years”.

This is putting “huge pressure” on capacity and staff, with the hospital also experiencing longer waits in the emergency department, and ambulance handover delays.

The update, signed by chief operating officer Nicola Ayton, chief nurse Lorraine Szeremeta and deputy medical director John Firth, said the hospital was seeing a “higher number of patients with flu, and other winter illnesses”.

“We know you’re all working incredibly hard, in very challenging circumstances. Thank you for everything you are doing for our patients, their families and each other,” they said.

The update continued: “Like NHS hospitals across the country, we went into the Christmas period with more patients being cared for in our hospitals than would usually be the case. These patients have also been sicker and more complex both within the Emergency Department and on our inpatient wards.

“For the first time in the last few years, we discharged fewer medical patients than we admitted in the run up to Christmas day, which meant we weren’t able to create the capacity needed ahead of the weekend and into Christmas.

“We’ve also seen a higher number of patients with flu, and other winter illnesses, which has added pressure and complexity in terms of placing patients in side rooms and on cohorted wards.

“This has resulted in moving back into contingency areas, and a number of medical patients not yet able to be placed in their speciality area.

“We’ve also experienced longer waits in our emergency department, and ambulance handover delays.

“This is making it harder to provide consistently good quality, responsive care for our patients, and makes it much more difficult for you and your teams.

“We are continuing to prioritise safe emergency care, urgent surgery and support for staff.”

The hospital will be opening ‘inpatient discharge to assess beds’ in the Cambridge Rehabilitation Unit on January 4., which will be supported jointly by the Cambridge University Hospital Discharge Planning Team and Cambridgeshire South Integrated Care Partnership.

Addenbrooke’s will also be opening and running a 20-bed ward at Royal Papworth Hospital in January for patients who are medically fit for discharge but who are awaiting a package of care. This will free up 20 medical beds within Addenbrooke’s.

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust declared the ‘Business Continuity Incident’ last night (Wednesday, December 28) for the second time this month due to 999 call volumes and hospital handover delays.

EEAST called a critical incident earlier this month on December 19, standing down again on December 21.