More beds opened as Milton Keynes Hospital sees busiest winter

The hopsital's chief executive says it is using 106 extra beds to cope with an influx of "very sick" patients

A hospital has opened more extra beds than ever before due to a high number of "very sick patients".

Joe Harrison, chief executive of Milton Keynes University Hospital, said it was treating "significantly more patients than last winter".

He said there was no "single cause", but blamed "normal respiratory issues" along with other "serious conditions".

"We have 106 additional beds open at the moment, which is the most we've ever had," he added.

MK Hospital put out a tweet asking the public to only attend A&E for "urgent and emergency care".

But Mr Harrison said although they would sometimes "get people turning up to A&E who don't need admission, at the moment they are being admitted as they're very unwell."

The chief executive of Milton Keynes Hospital, Joe Harrison, said the hospital was experiencing its busiest winter yet

He said that despite building the Maple Centre to add capacity, the hospital still needed to open additional beds.

"We know the hospital population is growing every year, so whether we have already outgrown the Maple Centre and need to develop, is another thing we are looking at," he said.

As well as opening new beds, Mr Harrison said the hospital had stopped "routine activities such as standard meetings, in order to focus on emergency care", but that no appointments were being cancelled.

It comes the same week that South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which covers Milton Keynes, declared a critical incident.

It said the decision was made because of the severity of emergencies rather than the number of calls, and that handover delays at acute hospitals had compounded the pressures.

Mr Harrison said: "It comes as no surprise that the hospital is under pressure given that the ambulance service is under pressure.

"We don't keep ambulances waiting. We have a really good relationship with SCAS and we offload patients as quickly as we can."

He said he was "profoundly grateful" to staff, who were "working very hard indeed in very difficult, demanding roles".