Latest A&E waiting time figures at Harrogate hospital a ‘scandal’, says MPFirefighters called to Harrogate hospital to remove girl’s ring

Firefighters were called to Harrogate District Hospital last night to remove a ring from the finger of an 11-year-old girl.

An appliance from Harrogate Fire Station on Skipton Road was summoned to the hospital ay 6.16pm last night.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident log this morning said:

“A Harrogate fire appliance attended A&E to use an electric saw to remove a ring from the finger of an 11-year-old girl.”

It added the request to attend was made by medical staff and the unnamed child and mother were unable to travel to Harrogate fire station.

Last night also saw Knaresborough firefighters respond to a fire in a back garden on Whincup Avenue at 9.42pm.

The incident log said household items were being burned and advice was given.

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Harrogate hospital reports improved A&E waiting times

People attending A&E at Harrogate District Hospital are experiencing much shorter waiting times than earlier in the year when some patients were forced to stay at the hospital for 12 hours or more.

The department has been under-pressure throughout the winter due to a higher average number of admissions as well as a fresh wave of covid and flu inpatients that has saw the hospital almost completely full every day.

Harrogate has also been a high number of patients aged over 70 attending A&E compared to nationally.

While attendance figures have returned to near pre-covid levels, many patients have experienced longer-than-usual stays due to the high bed occupancy.

It meant some A&E patients had to stay overnight, which has put further strain on staff who have had to conduct medicine rounds, serve meals, wash patients and conduct ward rounds.

Industrial action by paramedics, nurses and junior doctors has also put pressure on the hospital.

To improve the situation in A&E, the hospital introduced a new streaming model for minor injuries so staff can focus on patients with more serious conditions.

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Speaking at a public board meeting of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust last week, chief executive Russell Nightingale said the changes have worked.

Mr Nightingale said the number of people waiting for 12 hours was down to the single figures in March.

He said:

“It’s come down hugely and we’re aiming for zero by August. It’s been driven by improvements in the streaming model. That’s been the primary driver.

“We’re working through some of those sticky admittance issues plus the industrial action.”

As the hospital moves out of its most challenging winter period, next week’s junior doctors strike means there is likely to be some disruption for patients.

The strike is set to take place from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of HDFT, told the meeting the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the strike goes ahead as planned. 

He said:

“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”

Harrogate hospital A&E waiting times improve but strikes loom

Accident and emergency department waiting times at Harrogate District Hospital have improved since the Christmas peak but the hospital remains under “considerable pressure” with almost no unoccupied beds available and two days of strike action expected next week.

A challenging winter at the hospital on Lancaster Park Road has seen a higher than average number of admissions to its A&E department as well as a fresh wave of covid and flu inpatients.

The hospital will be under further pressure on January 18 and 19 when members of the Royal College of Nurses strike over pay and conditions.

Workers at Yorkshire Ambulance Service are also expected to walk out today as part of a 24-hour strike.

Members of the royal college who work for Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust are on the list for the second wave of action in an escalation of its pay dispute with the government.

Two days of strikes were held in England, Northern Ireland and Wales on December 15 and 20 but Harrogate nurses did not take part.

Visitors to A&E have experienced long waiting times as healthcare staff have prioritised patients with serious and life-threatening conditions.

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Between December 19 and January 1 a total of 1,993 people attended A&E, an average of 142 a day.

Of these, 524 were then admitted to the hospital for further treatment.

However, since the new year the average number of daily visitors to A&E has fallen to 127, helping to reduce waiting times and ease the burden on under-pressure staff.

The overall situation at the hospital also worsened due to the high number of beds filled with patients suffering with covid but since January 4 that figure has fallen from 22 to 17.

The number of patients with flu has also dropped to single digits from over 30 last week.

A trust spokesperson said the fall in covid and flu patients has “made flow through our hospitals a little easier”.

To further ease pressure at A+E, the hospital recently introduced a new “streaming model” for minor injuries so staff can focus on patients with more serious conditions.

Last Friday, the hospital had its largest-ever discharge day with 81 patients returning to their homes or care home.

The spokesperson said: 

“We would like to thank everyone involved at HDFT and our partners in social care who helped us which made the weekend a lot easier.”

Two free beds

But despite an improving situation with more free beds in certain wards, the spokesperson said that yesterday there was just two unoccupied beds out of 298.

They added there are still many patients who are able to return home but cannot as they are waiting to be placed into a care home or home.

The spokesperson said:

“We would ask for the families of patients to help us support their loved one’s discharge home as soon as their medical condition allows.

“For people who require medical assistance and are considering visiting our emergency department, unless it’s a life-threatening or severe illness or injury, we would ask them to contact NHS 111 first either by calling or going online. The NHS will help them right away and if they need urgent care, the NHS can book them in to be seen quickly and safely.

“People with life-threatening illnesses or injuries should continue to dial 999 and anyone who arrives at A&E without calling NHS 111 will still receive medical care, with those needing emergency treatment prioritised.”

Harrogate hospital employs security staff for first time

Security staff have been employed for the first time at Harrogate District Hospital in response to a growing number of reports of aggressive and abusive behaviour.

The security officers work overnight, particularly focusing on the accident and emergency department, to offer reassurance to staff.

Speaking at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee today, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We were always reluctant to have our own security service on the hospital site because we felt we were a health service, not anything else. I know other trusts went much more quickly into having dedicated security personnel on site.

“We have in the last six months introduced, between 7pm and 7am overnight, our own security service, which is a bit of a shame that we’ve had to do that, but it was something that made the staff feel safer, particularly in the early hours with the emergency department where Harrogate has never had a problem before, but has had an increasing problem.

“I wouldn’t say it’s anything like we get lots of these incidents, it’s a handful of incidents but they don’t need to happen very often for it to be disturbing and for people to get concerned about it.”

Mr Coulter was responding to a question from Cllr Michael Schofield, who said he had read about an increase in verbal abuse from patients and visitors when they were asked to wear face masks.

Cllr Schofield, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harlow & St George’s division, added:

“I find it quite alarming that staff and volunteers have to deal with this situation.”

Mr Coulter said compliance with mask-wearing was “amazingly” high early in the pandemic and at the beginning of each lockdown, but had dropped since then and some volunteers were being verbally abused for asking people to put on masks.

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Harrogate hospital has ‘robust plan’ to tackle winter demand, say officials

Harrogate hospital bosses have given assurances that a ‘robust plan’ is in place for winter as it faces increased demand.

The hospital says it expects to face further pressures from seasonal flu, covid and staff absences.

It also faces long waiting lists for operations and high demand at accident and emergency.

However, a spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the organisation has put a plan in place to cope with demand.

It comes as NHS chiefs wrote to health bosses across the country this week conceding that some hospitals may struggle to cope this winter.

‘Robust winter plan’

In Harrogate, the hospital is currently dealing with a 90% bed occupancy rate, high demand at A&E and a long waiting list for operations.

A spokesperson for HDFT said despite some of the winter pressures, a plan was in place to help maintain services for patients.

They said:

“We have faced and dealt with significant challenges over the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic and our recovery from it – in particular, reducing our waiting lists and waiting times for treatment.

“We will undoubtedly face further challenges in the months ahead as winter is always a busy time of the year as we deal with a variety of seasonal infections such as flu, in addition to all other regular activity.

“The trust has a robust winter plan in place to ensure we are able to maintain our services so that our patients’ care is not disrupted and all areas are staffed to safe levels and monitored throughout all shifts.

“During the winter period, staff absences at the trust can create pressure for our teams; for instance, fewer nursing and medical staff means that whilst we are still able to treat our patients for their illness or condition and ensure their safety, we are sometimes not able to provide the level of holistic support that we would like.

“Currently, bed occupancy at our hospitals is around 90%. Due to the increased number of planned operations that are being performed we have more patients occupying beds following their surgery.

“However, bed occupancy is also impacted by patients who no longer require hospital care, but are unable to be discharged as they do not have a suitable location where they can continue their recovery, such as a residential care home, or appropriate home care to support them in their own homes.”

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The trust has already sought to introduce a home care service to free up beds and has trialled an emergency department streaming service for less serious injuries and illnesses at A&E.

The hospital also continues to urge people to call 111 for non-urgent illnesses.

It comes as NHS chiefs, regulators and Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, wrote to hospital bosses this week reassuring them that staff would not face disciplinary action if care standards fell due to “significantly increased national pressure”.

The letter said:

“In such challenging times, when you may need to depart from established procedures to care for people, we understand some could be fearful that they will be referred to your regulator. 

“Please be assured that your professional code and principles of practice are there to guide and support your judgments and decision-making in all circumstances. 

“This includes taking into account local realities and the need at times to adapt practice at times of significantly increased national pressure.”

Harrogate hospital urges people to stay away from A&E amid ‘very busy’ week

Harrogate hospital bosses are urging people to stay away from its emergency department this week unless it is a life-threatening injury or illness.

Officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said they are expecting a busy week, which may cause long waiting times.

It comes as health leaders in the district warned that covid and flu cases may increase at Harrogate hospital this winter.

In a statement, the trust urged people with non-threatening injuries to stay away from the emergency department.

A spokesperson said:

“This week we are expecting our hospital in Harrogate to be very busy. As a result, visitors to our emergency department with less urgent issues may experience longer waiting times than usual.

“We know that visitors to our emergency department can be in pain, stressed or scared, and our dedicated time will do everything they can to help.

“Your health is our utmost priority and all we ask in return is our staff are treated respectfully as they try to do their job.”

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Health managers in Harrogate have said they expect to see more covid patients in hospitals in the coming weeks.

Dr Bruce Willoughby, Harrogate GP and part of the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, said:

“Health and care services in North Yorkshire and York, like everywhere, are already extremely busy. We do expect to see more cases of covid in the coming weeks as people mix freely again and spend more time indoors as the weather gets colder. The risk of catching covid is highest indoors and in crowded places.

“More people are likely to get flu this winter as fewer people will have built up natural immunity to it during the pandemic. The best time to have the flu vaccine is in the autumn or early winter before it starts spreading.”

Officials have urged people who are eligible to get a covid booster vaccine this autumn.

In Harrogate, vaccinations are available at the Great Yorkshire Showground until November 23.

People aged 50 and over, pregnant women, carers, frontline health and care workers, care home residents and people of all ages who are vulnerable are eligible for a covid jab now.

Those who are able to book their vaccinations can do so via the NHS website.

Harrogate hospital A&E performance remains ‘well below’ national standard

A&E waiting times performance at Harrogate District Hospital remains “well below” the national standard as health bosses urge people to only attend the department if necessary.

Latest figures show that the hospital had 4,554 attendances to its emergency department in August 2022.

The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.

According to NHS England figures, 62% of patients were seen within that timeframe at Harrogate hospital.

Meanwhile, a total of 82 patients waited longer than 12 hours to be seen.

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In a report to its board, Jonathan Coulter, chief executive at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said the performance remained “well below” the standard set nationally.

He said:

“The board should be aware that our A&E performance in August remained well below the national standard and we had a higher number of 12 hour waits in the department than in previous months.

“The situation has improved in September, but the changes that we have initiated and highlighted earlier need to be delivered in order for us to provide the improved urgent care service that we all want to have in place.”

Visiting the Emergency Department at Harrogate District Hospital pic.twitter.com/8cITeTrHkj

— Harrogate NHS FT (@HarrogateNHSFT) October 3, 2022

The move comes as the trust has urged people to only attend its emergency department if they have a life-threatening or severe illness or injury.

In a statement, the trust said it expected to see a high number of patients at A&E this week.

It said:

“This week we are expecting our hospital in Harrogate to be very busy. As a result, visitors to our emergency department with less serious issues may experience longer waiting times than usual.

“This isn’t ideal and we will endeavour to keep waiting times as short as possible.”

Have you experienced a long wait in Harrogate’s A&E department? We’d like to hear from you. Email contact@thestrayferret.co.uk or call us on 01423 276197. 

Harrogate hospital officials ‘confident’ A&E streaming can tackle waiting times

Hospital bosses in Harrogate have said they are confident a new streaming service will help tackle waiting times in A&E.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust revealed in June that it was to spend £900,000 setting up a service to assess patients at its emergency department.

As part of the plan, those who have a less serious illness or injury will be transferred to another part of the hospital which will have its own designated clinical practitioners.

Officials have now confirmed that the streaming service will be in full operation seven days a week from November this year.

Hospital bosses have so far been running the service four days a week when staff are available.

While there are no formal figures on how many patients the service has seen in that time, the hospital estimates that up to 50 people a day can be triaged through streaming.

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Currently, between 130 and 150 patients attend the hospital’s emergency department daily.

The Stray Ferret asked the hospital whether it was confident that the measure will help to cut down waiting times at A&E.

A spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:

“The streaming model will have a significant impact on waiting times in the ED [emergency department] – ensuring those walk in patients are seen promptly and allowing the sickest patients to have the focus of senior clinicians.”

Waiting time targets

Latest figures show that Harrogate District Hospital had 5,663 attendances to its emergency department in July 2022.

The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.

According to NHS England figures, 71% of patients were seen within that timeframe at Harrogate hospital.

The move to create an A&E streaming service comes as other hospital trusts across the UK have introduced similar measures.

In 2018, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust spent £500,000 on expanding Boston Pilgrim Hospital’s emergency unit in order to introduce a streaming service.

At the time, ULHT said it felt there were too many patients attending the emergency department who could be seen by a general practitioner instead.

Harrogate hospital to spend £900,000 on A&E streaming service

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust is to spend £900,000 on an emergency department streaming service aimed at reducing waiting times.

Under the plans, Harrogate District Hospital patients will be assessed on arrival at A&E.

If they have a less serious illness or injury will be transferred to another part of the hospital, which will have its own designated clinical practitioners.

Hospital officials said this will allow the emergency department to “focus on patients who require urgent stabilisation, resuscitation and/or further assessment in our hospital”.

As part of the £900,000 spend, new staff will be hired and enhancements made to the existing department.

The trust said the streaming model will be introduced gradually over the next four to six months as training and building work takes place. It aims to have the new system fully operational by winter this year.

A spokesperson for HDFT said:

“The streaming model in the emergency department at Harrogate District Hospital is focused on improving the experience and timeliness of care for patients attending the emergency department.

“It will help us to reduce delays and some of the pressure in the main emergency department, which is a significant area of concern for all trusts.

“Patients arriving at the emergency department will be rapidly assessed and if they have a less serious illness or injury they will be transferred into the new stream which will have its own trained clinical practitioners with injury and minor/moderate illness skills.

“This will allow the main emergency department to focus on patients who require urgent stabilisation, resuscitation and/or further assessment in our hospital.”

Long waiting times

Latest figures show that Harrogate District Hospital had 4,331 attendances to its emergency department in April 2022.

The national standard for emergency department waiting times is to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients within four hours.

Harrogate District Hospital.

Harrogate District Hospital

According to NHS England figures, 66% of patients were seen within that timeframe at Harrogate hospital.

In April, West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts, which is a partnership of six hospital trusts including Harrogate, urged patients to only attend emergency departments for life-threatening injury or illnesses.

Dr Andrew Lockey, consultant physician in emergency medicine with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, which is part of the association, warned that units were “extremely busy” with waits of up to 12 hours.

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Officials at Harrogate hospital hope that the new streaming model will help to relieve pressure on the department.

The move comes as other hospital trusts across the UK have introduced similar measures.

In 2018, United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust spent £500,000 on expanding Boston Pilgrim Hospital’s emergency unit in order to introduce a streaming service.

At the time, ULHT said it felt there were too many patients attending the emergency department who could be seen by a general practitioner instead.