UNPRECEDENTED numbers of patients who arrive at A&E sicker than ever before are contributing to a perfect storm of pressures upon Barrow's hospital.

Doctors and nurses within the trust that runs Barrow's Furness General Hospital are said to be working "flat out" to treat, admit and care for people who have multiple illnesses while hospital managers are struggling to find enough beds for everyone who needs one.

The situation has led healthcare leaders to abandon their goal of being able to reduce the number of patients admitted to the Dalton Lane site by a dozen every day by March next year.

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Jackie Daniel, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, described pressure on the hospitals as "relentless".

"We are stretched beyond belief and we are facing demands that we have never seen the like of.

"We are trying to reconcile what are irreconcilable demands nationally.

"It's really difficult," Mrs Daniel added.

"I am just trying to talk to as many staff as possible to thank them for their hard work because they are keeping the ship sailing."

Last week the NHS was dealt a series of operational blows as chiefs within NHS Improvement announced additional cuts to funding, demanded hospitals submit plans for further financial savings and promised to fine those it considered to have "over-recruited" nursing staff.

UHMBT's board of directors is now to write to MPs across the area in a bid to ask for cross party support on the work they are doing to treat growing volumes of patients while the Department of Health demands more and more efficiencies.

Mrs Daniel went on: "We need to make better use of our MPs.

"They can really help with looking at how we are resourced."

A project to close 60 beds across the trust by April next year - the equivalent of two wards - by treating people in the community instead of in hospital is now unachievable, hospital directors have claimed.

And an innovative scheme aimed at reducing the number of "bed-blockers" by 50 per cent in 12 weeks has also now missed its ambitious target.

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Sue Smith, UHMBT executive chief nurse, said: "It's leading to a perfect storm, and placing an awful lot of pressure on our staff.

"Both acuity and demand are rising - patients are sicker and there is a greater number of people needing mental health assessments in the emergency department.

"Some people are having their planned operations postponed because we are dealing with admitted patients and those who can't yet be discharged because they are waiting for a nursing home placement or assessment.

"This is probably the most difficult time we have ever had."

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