HOSPITAL bosses are using ever more innovative ways to keep the doors of the area's accident and emergency department open - despite mounting pressure for beds.

Those in charge of Furness General Hospital launched plans to improve patient flow through the wards nine months ago - a move which has helped free essential space in the system this winter as a national beds crisis gripped the NHS.

The forward-thinking approach has enabled the hospital to continue to admit an unprecedented number of sick patients -while other trusts across the country have been forced to declare black alerts.

The woman leading the charge to manage capacity within the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, its chief operating officer Foluke Ajayi, pledged the doors to Barrow's accident and emergency department would never close.

In an interview with the Evening Mail, Ms Ajayi said: "The pressure on the hospital has been constant now since October 2015 but we will never shut the doors to A&E in Barrow where people have nowhere else to go.

"We began our plan in the spring. This has helped us to reduce the numbers of patients with a delayed discharge by quite some way.

"If we hadn't started that piece of work I don't know what position we would be in now.

"The numbers of patients coming in this winter is comparable to last year but we have more ambulance arrivals. Patients' acuity is greater, they are sicker than before which is one of the issues behind the pressure and this chronic shortage of beds."
Barrow's hospital, in Dalton Lane, has now been under sustained pressure for 15 months.

UHMBT is funding a home care project to provide some treatment for patients once they are discharged from hospital if a social care package is not yet available.

It has saved 499 bed days at FGH, as well as at Westmorland General in Kendal and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, in just eight weeks.

A new Home on Time initiative is also under way, to make sure anyone well enough to leave hospital can go home earlier in the day.

But Ms Ajayi said the public could do more to help the hospital as it struggles to accommodate all patients.

She said: "It's far better for patients if they can return home in daylight, but it also means we have beds ready for people being admitted as they arrive.

"But also, we need families to play their part in helping to care for their loved ones once they no longer need acute care.

"We often have patients ready for discharge in the morning, but relatives tell us they will be there to collect them in the evening.

"It means we have one less bed free for a patient waiting in accident and emergency. These things all help.

"We have excellent, committed staff who help us to find new and more innovative ways to help us overcome the challenges we are facing."

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