No beds for 47 patients during 'peak' pressure at Walsall Manor Hospital, chief says
No hospital beds were available for almost 50 people who required treatment in Walsall as pressure on the service soared, chiefs have revealed.
Professor David Loughton said a total of 47 people had arrived on January 4 but the spaces Walsall Manor Hospital were fully occupied.
It represented the "peak" of resulting pressures on the hospital and West Midlands Ambulance Service, with chiefs praising staff for tackling it.
Professor Loughton, chief executive of the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust which runs the hospital, told a board meeting: "We've been through probably the most difficult period I've seen in 30 years.
"It's not easy when you came in, in a morning (and see that). The peak was on January 4 when we came in there were 47 'minus' patients – there were 47 who needed to be admitted to hospital and there were no beds for them.
"It's a really difficult situation and I think we supported staff really well. And as the pressure ramped up miraculously, it also just turned and we're now back to Walsall having no over one-hour offload times.
"We seem to be through the worst of it now but I really admire the staff who go home and come back again and the problem they fix then they have to fix tomorrow."
The hospital chief said several meetings were held to help speed up discharges at the hospital amid the pressure. At the end of December the trust cancelled all teaching for doctors, citing "extreme pressures" on care services.
Professor Loughton, during the meeting, also paid tribute to Dr Helen Paterson, the outgoing chief executive of Walsall Council, as he hailed the relationship between the organisations.
"I do have to say the relationship we've got with Walsall Council is superb," he added.
