Hospitals boss apologises for 'clumsy' comments on safety

Nick Hulme said he was referring to people in hospital who should be recovering at home

A NHS boss has apologised for being "clumsy" when he said hospitals were not safe places.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich and Colchester hospitals, said he was talking about patients who did not need to be in hospital.

He earlier told a Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) meeting hospitals were "awful, they are not safe places, so unless you really need to be there you shouldn't be there".

But speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk, Mr Hulme said: "I apologise if the language that I've used has offended anybody, particularly our staff, perhaps I was a bit clumsy."

He said he was emphasising that patients should recover at home where possible.

The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust boss said: "Hospitals are unsafe unless you need to be there, unless you have a clinical reason to be there, because your condition will get worse".

He said there was a "long term impact on your health unless you clinically need to be [in hospital]".

Nick Hulme said emergency departments had been under pressure this winter

Mr Hulme said he was not referring to patients in Accident and Emergency, but those on wards when "the best place to be is at home" for their recovery.

"We still have people believing hospital is the best place for them," he said.

A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokeswoman said the government has provided £500m "to speed up hospital discharge and free up beds" this winter.

It is also "supporting and growing the health and social care workforce", the spokeswoman said.