We can find places for animals but not for human beings!

[Terry Skyrme]

Today we needed to find a psychiatric intensive care unit ( PICU, in the jargon ) bed for a patient. Of course, no bed was available in Norfolk or Suffolk, in fact, no kind of bed. The Bed Management duty worker phoned round the country and no bed was available in any part of England. No, one bed was available in an NHS hospital in Peterborough, but they have decided not to admit patients from outside areas because they then have to place their own patients in other parts of the country. Our patient had his dog with him and we managed to find kennels with one phone call. We never found a PICU bed, but a designated female bed was found for our male patient, another wonderful juggling act on the part of the Trust. Today also there were no older patient beds available in Norfolk and Suffolk for functional illness. One became available on Sandringham Ward, Julian Hospital, when a patient was discharged. Then we were told we could not use it because it is designated for closure. How long must this madness go on?

[Terry Skyrme]

Currently there are 21 patients from Norfolk placed in Out of Area beds mostly in private hospitals at enormous cost around the country; there are 7 patients from Norfolk placed in Suffolk psychiatric hospitals. The demand for beds is unremitting as patient after patient goes into crisis due to the lack of specialist care in the community and due to the pressure placed on vulnerable patients by the Government’s cruel austerity measures. When will the Trust and CCGs and Norman Lamb acknowledge that this is a serious crisis which needs urgent action not words.

[Terry Skyrme]

As of 29/5/14 there are now 25 patients in Out of Area beds, and by out of area we mean as far away as Darlington. The Trust continues to deny the crisis by claiming that they have not closed any beds in Central Norfolk; we estimate that we have lost 50 beds in Central Cluster acute services. We used to have 4 acute wards – Thurne, Glaven, Waveney and Yare, plus two overspill or long-term rehabilitation wards. We now have two wards – Glaven and Waveney. Add to this the loss of beds at the Julian Hospital, and the loss of beds in the West and East Localities. Add to this the cuts in communiy services and the Crisis Resolution Teams, and then add the increased demand for mental health services brought about by the economic recession, and you have a recipe for disaster. When the Assertive Outreach Teams were set up they were allocated those patients who had had the most time as inpatients in previous years. Is it therefore a surprise that when you abolish such teams that these patients end up in crisis and require inpatient care? I haven’t mentioned the pre-discharge beds ( the Hostels ) which have been reduced from 13 to 9 beds and are now managed by only two staff instead of the previous 10.

[angellily]

Hello

this is too bad if any hospital manangement is not providing good facitlities for patients. there should be best facilities and best management too.so patient find good environment not too rush.doctors should come at time everyday.and all staff should come at time and must completed his duty with careness of everyone.

best regards

angellily

Volunteer in UK.