North Bristol Hospitals: Patients squeezed into rooms amid demand

Ambulances have been ordered to not queue for longer than 120 minutes

A leaked memo has revealed hospital patients are sharing rooms designed for one person due to overwhelming demand.

The memo shown to the BBC says North Bristol Trust hospitals had to make the "unpalatable decision".

Officials say the move is helping to manage patient safety risks amid long waiting times and the extreme heat.

Chief nursing officer at North Bristol NHS Trust, professor Steve Hams says the service is "incredibly busy" and under "extreme pressure".

The memo said the new measures being taken include:

• Early discharge before midday. (For patients who do not require any package of care or assessment)

• Ambulances must not queue for longer than 120 minutes at acute wards in any circumstance

• Three admitted patients will be moved from the emergency department every two hours to acute wards (irrespective of bed availability)

• Selected [room] double occupancy will be enacted

The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said it is also under "extreme pressure" due to similar issues.

Its doctors warned of ambulances taking several hours to reach patients and even longer to admit them to hospital.

Mr Hams said North Bristol Trusts hospitals are under "extreme pressure"

Prof Hams said the rising Covid rates across Bristol and surrounding areas are also to blame.

"Patients can not wait too long in the back of ambulances because they are too hot," he said.

"We are distributing our patients throughout the hospital to ensure efficient flow through our emergency departments.

"We do this incredibly carefully when we place two patients in one of our single rooms.

"It's something that we inherently dislike but we have to be clear that we manage risk across the entire hospital and what we have discovered and seen is that the risk in our emergency department is far too great."

He said the trust's hospitals currently have about 60 patients with Covid and an increasing number of staff who are contracting the virus.

"We are taking these decisive and clear measures to protect the safety of our patients and ensure that our ambulances can offload very quickly," he added.