Poole Hospital: Delicate hospital patient balance for Christmas

The BBC spent the day with staff and patients at Poole Hospital in Dorset

With the holiday period fast approaching, hospitals are trying to keep new admissions down and get patients home for Christmas.

It is a delicate balance as sickness makes few concessions to the festivities all around us.

At Poole Hospital in Dorset, the first shift typically starts with more patients than beds at this time of year.

Teams from across the trust gather at a 09:00 meeting in the clinical site office to plan the day ahead.

It is a well-practiced routine: How many patients came in overnight? Which wards can find room by discharging patients to take on new ones?

Clinical lead Kelly Williams says it is often a case of "one [patient] in, one out"

Kelly Williams, clinical lead at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We spend most of our day with one in, one out, quite often. It's purely about working together to create that space."

Marilyn Botham was brought in to the hospital's emergency department by ambulance suffering from breathing difficulties.

But with no available bed, she had to wait in the corridor of A&E.

Marilyn Botham was brought in to the hospital's emergency department by ambulance suffering from breathing difficulties

A&E matron Georgina Bianchi said: "She [Ms Botham] is 10th on the list and we have had an extra consultant come in and I hope that will reduce," she said, adding: "I predict a three-hour wait to be seen.

"But if, she does need to be admitted, the current wait is around 10 hours for a bed... unfortunately I do think she will be in the department for quite a while."

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Same-day emergency care is increasingly the focus at the hospital, offering a rapid turnaround that prevents additional patient admissions.

Its Rapid Access Consultation and Evaluation Unit (RACE) runs a clinic, led by an advanced nurse practitioner, where older patients can be diagnosed without the need for an inpatient admission.

Patients can be referred to clinic by their GP, intermediate care teams and the emergency department.

The RACE clinic significantly reduces the waiting times for assessment and diagnosis in a quiet, friendly and non-threatening environment.

One of its nurse practitioners, Kerry Porter, told the BBC: "It's intensive, it's ongoing, it's relentless but we do our best to make a difference to people.

"They are still people at the end of the day, they're not numbers, they're not flows, they're people."

Nurse practitioner Kerry Porter says it is "relentless"

Back in A&E, Ms Botham has been moved to a quiet bay after two-and-a-half hours in the corridor.

"It feels like something is being done because I think sometimes, if you're in the corridor, you feel like you've just been left, so I'm happy to be in a cubicle," she said.

Poole Hospital has seen a rise in patients with Covid and flu, with all 25 beds in a respiratory ward full.

This week, the hospital had a 99% occupancy. On the day the BBC visited, the A&E department started the day with 37 patients and ended with 57 - but, while patient numbers rose, the wait to be seen by a doctor fell to a manageable three-and-a-half hours.

And it is a happy Christmas for Ms Botham - about six hours after arriving, she was given a CT scan which came back normal and she was able to return home.

"It has been lengthy but the staff have been excellent," she told the BBC, adding: "I can't fault anything... it's been a good experience."