Patients visiting Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester face longer waits than usual because of winter pressures including a rise in flu cases – and more than 100 patients across all county acute hospitals have flu.
Staff at hospitals across the county including the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre have been praised by leaders for working ‘exceptionally hard’ during a time of high demand for services.
MASKS: Masks have been reintroduced at county hospitals including Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester (Image: Getty Images) Stephen Collman, Managing Director of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our emergency departments have been extremely busy over the Christmas and New Year period. Despite the best efforts of our teams who worked exceptionally hard, this has meant longer waits than we would want for some of our patients at times, and we apologise for that.
“With high levels of flu and other winter infections in our community, and with a cold snap and snow forecast for the weekend, we are doing everything we can to keep our patients safe and keep our services running effectively.
“We currently have more than 100 patients with flu in our hospitals. To protect our patients, visitors, and staff we have reintroduced mask wearing across our sites, including all clinical areas, public areas such as restaurants and all offices. We are also limiting visiting to our hospitals as follows:
- One visitor per patient in our Emergency Departments and Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) areas
- A maximum of two visitors to a bed in all other areas
- We are advising that children under the age of 16 do not visit general ward areas
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Visiting advice for the public has been updated on the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust website.
Mr Collman added: “All these measures will be reviewed on a daily basis, but our hospitals are likely to remain extremely busy for some time to come. We would ask local people to help us by doing everything they can to keep themselves well over winter.
“This may include taking up the offer of the covid or flu jab when invited so that they can keep themselves, their loved ones and their friends protected, and ensuring they are using the NHS 111 service to access the right health services for non-emergency health needs.”