Speaking on the Trust’s winter planning, Karen Croker, Director of Operations for Weston Area Health NHS Trust said: “We’re pleased to announce that the Trust has just secured £955k in winter monies. With this extra funding we are putting several new initiatives in place to reduce admissions, especially among the elderly and frail, speed-up discharges and increase staffing in key areas, such as our Emergency Department.
“We’ve recently created a new ‘leaving hospital ward’ where patients who aren’t acutely ill will be placed in readiness to go home.
We’re also investing into other priority areas, such as more staff support for our emergency department and extending Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) from five to seven days a week. We’re also recruiting more staff so that we can extend our Frailty Assessment scheme for patients 75+ to five days a week (currently two days a week).
“Winter will be a challenging time for the Trust, as it will be for others throughout the country. We’re responding to that by working even more closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and our other partners in social and primary care to find new solutions and ways of working to relieve pressures during the winter.
“The public can also help us during the winter period by referring to their GP, pharmacist, or by calling 111 in the first instance if they have a minor illness or injury. People should also avoid hospital altogether if they think they might have norovirus as it’s extremely infectious.”
Before visiting hospital, please visit www.nhs.uk/symptom-checker to check your symptoms and get advice on what to next.
Also check out www.nhs.uk/staywell to find out the symptoms of common winter illnesses and understand your treatment options.