10:09am Friday 19th December 2008
A shortage of staff forced nurses to abandon plans to open two wards at St Helier Hospital last week despite full wards and an surge in patients from other boroughs, staff have claimed.
A staff member claimed nurses were unable to open daytime wards B4 and C2 when they were needed in the evening because of a lack of resources.
The claim came a day after St George’s Hospital in Tooting was forced to close its doors to emergency ambulances on Monday due to lack of space.
Patients were diverted to neighbouring hospitals including Mayday in Croydon, Kingston Hospital and St Helier in Sutton.
Epsom and St Helier Hospitals denied the closure of the wards and said that while the hospital was under pressure it was coping.
However a spokesman did confirm that they experienced a 20 per cent surge in demand last weekend compared to the same time last year.
In an email leaked to the Sutton Guardian a senior staff member said at one point they were “very short of staff across the site’’ and “needed to try and fill some of these shifts’’.
After several hours of calling nurses they were still unable to meet staffing issues and eventually realised they would not be able to open wards B4 and C2 despite needing the spare beds.
Sutton and Cheam Member of Parliament Paul Burstow called the reports “disturbing’’.
Campaign group Health Emergency spokesman Geoff Martin called on the Government to make cash available to open additional beds and draft in extra staff to cope with the growing crisis on wards.
An Epsom and St Helier Hospitals spokesman said reports of wards B4 and C2 “closing’’ were incorrect.
He said: “These wards are day units and, as such, close on a daily basis. On occasions, we will use them to house patients overnight during busy periods, but only if they are needed and we have nurses to staff them.
“Local people should be reassured that we have robust plans in place to deal with the pressures associated with winter and, as a result, we have opened approximately 50 extra beds at St Helier Hospital and approximately 20 at Epsom.
“We are also working closely with our primary care partners and social services to ensure patients are transferred from our hospitals as soon as they are clinically fit, freeing up beds for others.’’ Medical director Dr Jonathan Kwan said in order to help the trust, local people should only visit the accident and emergency departments if they have a genuine emergency or accident.
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