University Hospitals Dorset set to move patients to hotel

University Hospitals Dorset said the patients being transferred are medically ready to leave wards

Hospital patients are to be transferred to a hotel amid "severe demand" for services, an NHS trust has said.

University Hospitals Dorset confirmed it will move up to 16 people who are medically ready to leave, but who need short-term support before going home.

Private care company Abicare has been contracted to look after the patients.

The trust, which runs Poole, Christchurch and the Royal Bournemouth hospitals, said it was a temporary measure to "ease the flow of patients".

In a statement, it added that it would "help with waiting times in the hospitals' emergency departments and with the ongoing recovery of elective surgery following the Covid-19 pandemic".

Earlier this month the trust declared a critical incident due to staff shortages and Covid-19 admissions.

It lasted 24 hours but the trust warned at the time that it faced "difficult weeks ahead".