New £3.8m Hull care facility to free up hospital beds
‘THIS WILL IMPROVE THE FLOW OF PATIENTS’: Hull hospitals chief executive Chris Long
By Simon Bristow
Hull is to open its first state-of-the-art care facility to free up hospital beds for people most in need of care.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) is investing £3.8m in Paragon Intermediate Discharge Suite for patients no longer receiving hospital treatment but still requiring care and support.
Each day, Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital has a shortage of beds because up to 200 people are waiting on wards for social care support in the community and other reasons, despite being well enough to be discharged.
This has a knock-in effect on NHS services including extended waits for ambulances, long waits for admission to wards from Hull’s Emergency Department and the cancellation of some non-urgent operations.
Now, HUTH will transfer people with “no criteria to reside” in hospital into Paragon Suite to increase bed capacity for the sickest patients.
Chief executive Chris Long said: “We are optimistic the new facility will enable us to free up some of our beds, improve the flow of patients through our hospitals and help us make further improvements to our waiting lists.
“Reducing the number of patients with ‘no criteria to reside’ is imperative to reduce waiting times for patients and enable our specialist staff, including our surgical teams, to do what they do best every day.”
Paragon Suite will open on the site of the former helipad on Gladstone Street, close to Hull Royal Infirmary, in the next few weeks with up to 60 beds.
Patients will move out of Hull Royal infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital into Paragon Suite once they have been assessed by medical staff as being well enough to be discharged.
The specially designed facility includes a dedicated therapy space and separate dining area so patients can continue their journey back to health or regain their independence following hospital stays.
Social care packages will be prepared as soon as possible so people can return to their own homes to continue living independently with support.
Other people will stay in the facility, cared for by specially trained staff employed by HUTH, before they move into supported accommodation such as care or nursing homes, depending on their needs.