Hospitals warn of significant winter pressures

About 71% of ambulance patients at Northampton General Hospital (pictured) had to wait more than 30 minutes to be transferred into A&E

The two main hospitals in Northamptonshire have been grappling with "unprecedented" winter demand, leading to its chief executive apologising to some patients.

In a board meeting on 6 December, the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN), which runs Northampton General and Kettering General hospitals, said A&E departments were becoming overwhelmed, with long ambulance handover times.

Last month the UHN declared a "critical incident" across the sites, due to mounting strain on services.

Its chief executive Laura Churchward told the meeting there were patients waiting in corridors for urgent care.

"We know that we're not providing the service that we would want for our patients, and I would like to apologise to some patients who are going through our emergency departments and are sat for a very long time waiting for a bed to come up," she said.

"We've seen an unprecedented amount of patients through the two emergency departments which was leading to ambulances queuing outside of our front door, which is not something you can sustain.

"Subsequently, things have got better because we've opened a few more beds.

"We're doing what we can to improve and make it the best situation for patients possible in Northamptonshire, but I do think winter's going to be really difficult throughout the whole of the NHS."

Interim chief nurse Julie Hogg commented that she thought the demand seen in November had come early and "caught a lot of organisations out".

The hospitals are looking at converting areas of their estates into new wards next year

NHS England data, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, revealed Kettering had the second-worst ambulance handover delays nationwide, with 75% of patients waiting more than 30 minutes for a transfer to A&E, in the week ending 1 December.

Northampton ranked fifth, with 70.8% of patients facing similar delays in the same time period. This was an increase on the September and October figures for both hospitals.

To alleviate pressure, Kettering has opened the second floor of its Spinneyfield step-down care facility, adding 60 beds for patients nearing discharge.

The hospital said the move had eased A&E capacity, but remained a limited solution.

Ms Churchward said the hospitals were working with the East Midlands Ambulance Service to ensure that every part of the hospital estate was being used in the "most maximum way".

She added that the hospitals were looking at the feasibility of converting areas of the estates into new wards from next year, to increase the number of beds available and "get on the front foot" with demand.